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Welcome to the School of Commoning!

The School of Commoning is a growing worldwide community of people participating in the global and local commons. We support the developing commons movement, as well as interested organizations and individuals, with well-organized knowledge resources and educational programs on commoning and the commons.

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Social Banking and the Commons

on Fri, 01/11/2013 - 21:28

"The Swiss are known for their highly secretive banking services for the super-wealthy. Who would have guessed that they would inaugurate a Summer School on Social Banking and the Commons?"

Re-posted from David Bollier's blog.

Seeds for a New Narrative of the Transition to a Commons-based Society?

on Mon, 12/24/2012 - 11:50

The title of the seminars series led by James Quilligan in London in May 2012 was The Emergence ofa Commons-Based Economy. In October 2012, and with the 5 more Commons seminars facilitated by James, we laid foundations for better understanding the potential of the Commons and commoning to usher in large-scale social renewal.

While we, at the School of Commoning, were working on co-organizing, hosting, and documenting those evens, unbeknown to us, a group of Commons scholars inspired by Elinor Ostrom’s work, at Indiana University, conducted a fascinating research in a Working Group on Managing the Health Commons.

The Practice of Commoning: (excerpt from) an interview with David Harvey

on Tue, 12/18/2012 - 17:09

I think the commons is a very important concept and it seems to me that we have to treat it as a political concept. It is about how we develop a common purpose. It is not simply about common usage, it is about developing a common purpose.

The Commons as a New/Old Paradigm for Governance, Economics and Policy

on Sun, 12/16/2012 - 21:53
Remarks by David Bollier
Commons Strategies Group
American Academy in Berlin
December 4, 2012
 

The Commoning of Patterns and the Patterns of Commoning: A Short Sketch

on Tue, 12/04/2012 - 00:00

In our increasingly complex urban age where the rate of change and innovation is rapidly increasing, the rigidity of outdated linear and analytic Cartesian design methods are being exposed as insufficient to meet the needs of the environment and the people.

From Labour as Commodity to Labour as a Common

on Fri, 11/23/2012 - 07:06

 

Excerpted from a draft of an article by Hilary Wainwright,  via Michel Bauwens:

Another implication for our own organisations, political and economic, is the importance of building into them the nurturing and development of this commons. We need to do this in both a prefigurative sense and as an immediate means of strengthening their transformative capacity.

The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market & State

on Mon, 11/19/2012 - 11:41

This book review by Leo Burke, advisor to the School of Commoning, was published in the Winter 2012 edition of  the Kosmos Journal 

An Architektur: The term “commons” occurs in a variety of historical contexts. First of all, the term came up in relation to land enclosures during pre- or early capitalism in England; second, in relation to the Italian autonomia movement of the 1960s; and third, today, in the context of file-sharing networks, but also increasingly in the alter-globalization movement. Could you tell us more about your interest in the commons?

Our worldview determines our health, how we see ourselves and the world around us. If we see ourselves merely as consumers of healthcare, we cannot create sustainable healthcare. But it becomes easier for people to engage in a new approach when they understand that it is already part of what they do. We begin by helping people understand that they are already part of their own health commons. Simply recognizing that we are co-producers of our own health changes the way we view the healthcare system. This can only be done through personal relationships and accountability.

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