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Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems
Section 1.3.6 Households, markets, state and commons, which explains four provisioning institutions in the economy and their interconnection
Section 1.3.7 Care in the economy, which explains the importance of care in the economy, the types of care, and why care is undervalued
Section 1.4.4 Caring economies, which explains the five R framework for improving care in societies
Section 2.1.1 The household as a system, which describes households, the basic relationships of household members, and the connection between the household and the rest of the economy.
Section 2.1.3 Functions of households, which explains the various roles of households for human wellbeing and the wider society and economy
Section 2.2.2 Households and the commons, which explains the interdependent relationships between household members and self-organised community resource management
Section 2.4.1 Strengthening households: a systems view, which explains why we need to strengthen households, and some individual strategies
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)
Learning objectives:
describe examples of commoning that strengthen households by sharing resources, providing human needs and a safety net, building social networks, and improving gender equality
In a bustling neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York (USA), the Park Slope Food Coop shows how commoning can support households to meet their needs. Established in 1973, the Coop has 17,000 members who work and grocery shop there. Each member works for two hours and 45 minutes per month without pay, though paid employees manage the store. The Coop also provides free on-site childcare for the shift workers and shoppers, provided by other members.
Figure 1. The Park Slope Food Coop is an example of how commoning can strengthen households
(Credit: JV Santore, CC BY 2.0)
Pooling their labour and not aiming to maximise profit, allows the Coop to offer groceries at 20-40% lower prices, freeing up money for other household needs. Beyond the food cost savings, the Coop fosters community by bringing together diverse people in the neighbourhood to support the store. Members stock vegetables and other goods on the shelves, cut cheese, work the check-out registers, clean, and assist shoppers. They get to know people in their neighbourhood that they otherwise might not have met, widening and deepening social networks. The Park Slope Food Coop is one of many examples of how commoning supports resilient households and communities.
How can commoning support households?
How can commoning support households?
Topic 4 covers the commons in detail, but here are some basics. The commons is a provisioning institution where shared resources are managed by a group through self-organisation, mostly (though often not entirely) outside markets and the state.
Commons come in many forms: natural and labour resources, cultural resources like language and rituals, and digital resources like Wikipedia and even this Regenerative Economics textbook! Commoners collaborate to produce and fairly distribute goods such as food, software, and creative works. This collaboration is called commoning.
Figure 2 outlines general ways commons support households. The rest of this section will provide some concrete examples related to various human needs.
Figure 2. Commoning supports households in a number of general ways
(Credit: Icons from various artists Noun Project)
Food
There are many examples of commoning that supports households to meet their food needs around the world:
grocery stores: there are thousands of cooperative grocery stores like the Park Slope Food Coop around the world.
community kitchens: people in a community cook together to feed themselves and others. Small-scale community kitchens involve a few households cooking large batches of food together to achieve economies of scale, or lower average costs, by sharing equipment, seasonings, and energy.
Figure 3. Olla Común in Peru provide food for those in need, providing an alternative for households during shocks
(Credit: Banco Mundial América Latina y el Caribe, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Some community kitchens, like Olla Común in Peru, specifically feed those in need. These kitchens have a long history and gained attention recently for providing food during social, economic, and ecological shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, and wildfires that destroyed many communities. They also help female Venezuelan migrants integrate into Peruvian communities, building social networks and reducing vulnerability.
community farming and community supported agriculture (CSA): similar to community kitchens, community farming involves a few households sharing land, equipment, seeds, fertiliser, and labour to meet their needs. This cooperation is common in rural areas and increasingly in urban gardens.
In community supported agriculture (CSA), community members buy a share of a farm's harvest at the start of the season. This upfront investment helps farmers with planting costs and ensures a stable income. The community shares the risks of farming and, in return, receives regular deliveries of fruit, vegetables and other farm products like eggs or flowers. CSAs foster a sense of community through member participation in farming and events, such as learning about regenerative farming practices.
The CSA movement started in Japan in the 1960s (called Teikei) and has since spread worldwide, with thousands of CSAs. They strengthen urban-rural networks, relocalise food production, and increase food system resilience.
Figure 4. Shared Harvest Farm in Beijing is an example of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
(Credit: Ian Teh for Panos Pictures/Food and Land Use Coalition)
Water
In many rural areas, communities share water resources equitably to meet their needs while protecting the water cycle (Section 1.2.6).
crop irrigation: the Subak System (Figure 5) in Bali, Indonesia, is a traditional irrigation method used for over a thousand years. Managed by farmers in cooperatives called subaks, it ensures equitable water distribution and shared system maintenance. The Subak System is based on the philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, promoting harmony among people, nature, and god.
domestic water supply: in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the Maria Auxiliadora community collectively funded and built a 69-metre well after markets and the state failed to meet their water needs. This community-run system provides steady, piped water to hundreds of households at fair prices, with payments based on use and contributions to maintenance costs
Figure 5. The Subak System in Bali is an example of water commoning for crop irrigation
(Credit: Georgi Kovachev, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Figure 6. A march to celebrate the 10th anniversary of water protests in Bolivia that brought about more water commoning, as in Maria Auxiliadora
(Credit: Peg Hunter, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Housing
Housing is essential for human survival and wellbeing. Commoning can provide affordable housing managed by residents.
shared housing: in Zurich, Switzerland, the Kalkbreite cooperative transformed an old tram depot into a community space with 91 apartments, offices, shops, and cultural venues (Figure 7). Residents collectively own and manage the property democratically. This model ensures affordable housing and fosters a strong sense of community with shared facilities like kitchens, laundry rooms, and gardens, encouraging interaction and cooperation.
Figure 7. The Kalkbreite cooperative in Zurich, Switzerland
(Credit: Bub37, CC BY-SA 4.0)
land trust: in 1999, a group of homeless women in Cochabamba, Bolivia, started Hábitat Para La Mujer Comunidad María Auxiliadora (see water section above, same group) using a community land trust model for low-income families (Figure 8). One woman secured a loan to buy land, then divided the land and sold it to members at low cost. The community now houses hundreds of low-income families who built their homes with mutual help and contribute to shared facilities like childcare, a library, and a recycling centre. Collective ownership reduces cost of living, emphasises gender equality with ownership in women's names, and reserves leadership roles for women. This approach empowers women, reduces domestic violence, and fosters social cohesion.
Figure 8. Community members from Hábitat Para La Mujer Comunidad María Auxiliadora help each other build homes
(Credit: World Habitat Awards)
Care
Commoning can provide various care services that reduce household care responsibilities while building community. Here are two examples:
childcare: in Vermont, USA, the Burlington Children’s Space is a parent-cooperative childcare centre where families share management and maintenance of the facility. Parents participate in decision-making and volunteer for various tasks, ensuring high-quality, affordable childcare while fostering community and shared responsibility.
healthcare: the GeKo community healthcare centre in Berlin, Germany, offers general and children's medical care, advice, self-help, and a café in one place (Figure 9). Located in Neukölln, it serves low-income residents and migrants who lack regular medical care. The centre is accessible, multilingual, and free of charge, funded by the state and foundations, and managed cooperatively by clinic workers. Wages at GeKo are more equal than typical medical practices, and there is no profit motive.
Figure 9. The GeKo health care cooperative in Neukölln, a district of Berlin, Germany
(Credit: GeKo)
These examples demonstrate the diverse and interesting ways that commoning can strengthen households. Commoning expands household care relationships to the wider community, building more resilient households through social cooperation. In the activity below, you will evaluate various examples of commoning to understand how it strengthens households.
Activity 2.4.2
Activity 2.4.2
Concept: Regeneration
Skills: Thinking skills (transfer)
Time: 30 minutes
Type: Individual, pairs, or group
Option 1: Connecting example commoning strategies to broad goals
Alone, in pairs or a small group, consider each of the strategies discussed in this section on how commoning can strengthen households.
To what extent does each strategy address the general ways that households can be supported by provisioning institutions (Figure 2)?
You can use Table 1 to help you organise your thinking.
Are there one or more ways of supporting households that are not addressed well by commoning? If so, why?
Option 2: Connecting example commoning strategies to planetary boundaries
If you have learned about planetary boundaries (Section 1.2.7) in your studies, choose one or more of the commoning strategies described in this section and explain whether and how these strategies also put less pressure on planetary boundaries (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Planetary boundaries model
(Credit: Stockholm Resilience Centre CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
Figure 2. Commoning supports households in a number of general ways
(Credit: Icons from various artists Noun Project)
Table 1. How do the examples from this section on commoning connect to the broad ways that provisioning institutions can support households?
Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 2.5 Taking Action
Checking for understanding
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Further exploration
How The World's Largest Community Kitchen Feeds 100,000 Daily - a short video showing the daily activities of the world’s largest community kitchen at The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Difficulty level: easy
De Torteltuin - the website of a group of Dutch young people, fed up with the housing crisis, who decided to set up a cooperative to build green, social, affordable housing. The website provides information on the project, including how it was funded. Difficulty level: Easy
The Frankfurt Kitchen - an episode of the podcast 99% Invisible that explores the iconic kitchen design called the Frankfurt Kitchen. Though the Frankfurt Kitchen ended up in single family homes, the podcast explores feminist movements that predate the kitchen. There was a movement to design post-WWII social housing to include communal kitchens to reduce the amount of time women spent on domestic work. The podcast is an interesting exploration of the intersection of gender equality and housing design. Difficulty level: medium
Milwaukee Water Commons - an approach to water commoning in a high-income country. Difficulty level: medium
Sources
Sources
Biodynamic Association (n.d.). “Community Supported Agriculture”. https://www.biodynamics.com/content/community-supported-agriculture
Bollier, D. and Helfrich, S. (2019). Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.
Booth, A. (2016). “The communities of Cochabamba taking control of their own water supply”. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/09/communities-cochabamba-taking-control-water-supply-bolivia
Burlington Childrens’ Space (n.d.) Enrich. Empower. Strengthen. https://www.burlingtonchildrensspacevt.com/
GeKo Berlin e.V. (n.d.). Euer Stadtteil-Gesundheits-Zentrum in Neukölln. https://geko-berlin.de/
Genossenschaft Kalkbreite (n.d.). “Willkommen bei der Genossenschaft Kalkbreite”. https://www.kalkbreite.net/
Granados de Orbegoso, G. et al. (2023). The Community Kitchens as an opportunity for migrant women in Peru. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/latinamerica/community-kitchens-opportunity-migrant-women-peru
UNESCO (n.d.). “Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy”. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1194/
World Habitat (2008). “‘Habitat para la Mujer’ – the Maria Auxiliadora Community”. https://world-habitat.org/world-habitat-awards/winners-and-finalists/habitat-para-la-mujer-the-maria-auxiliadora-community/
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 2.4.2 The role of commoning
commoning: when a group of people self-organise to manage shared resources
household: a system where people living together care for each other and do domestic work, often termed the 'core economy'
profit: total revenue minus total cost
commons: a system where people self-organise to co-produce and manage shared resources.
provisioning institution: a group of people and their relationships as they try to meet human needs and wants
market: a system where people buy and sell goods and services for a price.
state: a system that provides essential public services, and also governs and regulates other economic institutions
cooperative: an organisation owned and controlled by people to meet their common economic, social, and/or cultural needs
inflation: a rise in the general price levels of an economy over time
community supported agriculture (CSA): a form of commoning where community members buy a share of a farm's harvest at the start of the season to financially support the farm and share the risks; in return the community receives regular deliveries of farm products
investment: money spent for the enhancement of human or physical capabilities
income: money received from work or investments
regenerative farming: farming in balance with and strengthening natural systems
relocalise: to move production of goods and services to local areas, a reversal of globalisation
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
water cycle: the stocks and flows of all water on Earth
community land trust: a nonprofit business that holds land on behalf of a place-based community, acting as a long-term steward for affordable housing, community gardens, civic buildings, commercial spaces and other community assets on behalf of a community
gender equality: when people of different genders are treated equally
social cohesion: the extent to which people in society feel connected to one another and share common values
planetary boundaries: the limits of Earth systems to absorb the impact of human activity and continue to function
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