Design for the Commons

September 12, 2020 10:22 AM

A toolkit for "beautifully intelligent" neighborhoods (pdf)
posted by aniola (4 comments total)

So ... this is really interesting, and there's a LOT I like about it, especially the emphasis on delight and possibility ("tools that are functional in getting the neighborhood's needs met while being filled with possibility").

Sadly, as I read through the various ideas, I found my mind focusing a lot on the difficulties with these proposals - like the Pay It Forward cabinet for freecycling things - it does say that someone should take responsibility for donating things to a thrift store once they've been there over a week, but I still imagine that it would be likely to fill up with junk, and require getting a lot of stuff into the garbage system. And for the Neighborhood Emergency Fund, I worry about oversight and how to resolve disputes, not because I believe people are horrible, but because these things can be hard, and it takes time to develop the skills to meet the challenges. And with all of these proposals, I have concerns about sustainability - how hard it could be to find someone willing to fulfill these roles over long periods of time, more than a few months - and I am uncomfortable with so much falling to volunteers, who often end up being 80% women who are otherwise overcommitted and stretched thin (I'm just generally uncomfortable with the exploitation of volunteer labor), and 20% busybodies who can't or won't step back when their own interests conflict with the community's.

It's entirely possible I have too little direct experience with successful initiatives like this. From the things I HAVE seen up close, it just seems like the few people willing to actually invest their time are usually - I keep hesitating to type "exploited," but I think that's what I mean.

Sigh. I really do like the goals, and surely the programs do work in lots of places, because they have all these links to organizations that are actually doing these things. I should go learn more about those groups.

(Also, I don't know why so many downloadable PDFs these days are weird, but trying to select and copy the text in the original, or even search on it, doesn't work - copied text is all BACKWARDS, giving me ".ecnednepedretni dna ,ytisoiruc ,noitarepooc retsof taht secalp era esehT" So weird.)

Thank you so much for posting this, aniola - it's great food for thought, and I'm always delighted to read about people who are doing what they can to make a difference!
posted by kristi at 3:15 PM on September 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I'm getting "File Not Found", any alternative links?
posted by Tom-B at 7:20 PM on September 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

https://geo.coop/articles/design-commons
posted by aniola at 9:52 AM on September 14, 2020 [2 favorites]

thanks!
posted by Tom-B at 10:38 AM on September 14, 2020