Funding the Cooperative City focuses on the post-welfare transition of today’s European societies: with austerity measures and the financialisation of real estate stocks and urban services, the gradual withdrawal of the state and municipal administrations from providing certain facilities and maintaining certain spaces have prompted citizen initiatives and professional groups to organise their own services and venues.
24More
shared by Jukka Peltokoski on 20 Aug 17
- No Cached
Book of the Day: Funding an Economy of Civic Spaces in the Cooperative City through Com... - 0 views
blog.p2pfoundation.net/...27
kuntapolitiikka kapinakunta jukkap2p finance kapinakaupunki kansalaisyhteiskunta funding rahoitus municipalism yhteisötalous Cooperative City
![](/images/link.gif)
-
The self-organisation of new spaces of work, culture and social welfare was made possible by various socio-economic circumstances: unemployment, solidarity networks, changing real estate prices and ownership patters created opportunities for stepping out of the regular dynamisms of real estate development.
- ...21 more annotations...
-
new types of investors, operating along principles of ethics or sustainability, or working on moving properties off the market.
-
The question if community capital can really cure the voids left behind by the welfare state has generated fierce debates in the past years.
-
in the course of the economic crisis, many European cities witnessed the emergence of a parallel welfare infrastructure:
-
This collection brings together protagonists from various cities to help shaping a new European culture of urban development based on community-driven initiatives, civic economic models and cooperative ownership
-
some cities chose to support local economy and create more resilient neighbourhoods with self-sustaining social services through grant systems
-
The granted projects, chosen through an open call, have to prove their economic sustainability and have to spend the full amount in one year.
-
the public sector plays an important role in strengthening civil society in some European cities, many others witnessed the emergence of new welfare services provided by the civic economy completely outside or without any help by the public sector
-
n some occasions, community contribution appears in the form of philanthropist donation to support the construction, renovation or acquisition of playgrounds, parks, stores, pubs or community spaces. In others, community members act as creditors or investors in an initiative that needs capital, in exchange for interest, shares or the community ownership of local assets
-
Besides aggregating resources from individuals to support particular cases, community infrastructure projects are also helped by ethical investors.
-
Creating community ownership over local assets and keeping profits benefit local residents and services is a crucial component of resilient neighbourhoods.
-
The fact that many of the hundreds of projects supported by civic crowdfunding platforms are community spaces, underlines two phenomena: the void left behind by a state that gradually withdrew from certain community services, and the urban impact of community capital created through the aggregation of individual resources.