Creating Neighborhood Capital from Strip Malls Strip malls probably don't fit into the definition of progressive urbanism for most people, but maybe they should. Well, maybe after a little organizational tweaking. The small retail centers are ubiquitous in American cities, with their generic shops selling donuts or beer, offering dry cleaning or key-cutting. They're a part of many neighborhoods, but not necessarily an essential part. They bring goods and services to the area, but are ultimately of the greatest benefit to their owners – off somewhere cashing monthly rent checks from the moms and pops running the little businesses within. That model can change, according to Ava Bromberg. "It's part mall, part business incubator, part cultural hub," says Bromberg. But it's also about activating disused retail space for more than retail. This "social entrepreneurial model for commercial real estate" is the basis of Bromberg's PhD research at UCLA. One of them is Market Creek Plaza in San Diego.
Welcome - New Currency Frontiers Free Market Anti-Capitalism: Announcing: The Solidarity Economy Network In the past, I've written on the need for all the diverse facets of the alternative economy to coalesce into a coherent counter-weight to the corporate economy. I've argued that although the numerical weight of people and resources engaged in alternative economic and social institutions (cooperatives, complete or partial self-employment, LETS and other alternative currency and barter systems, household and informal production, community supported agriculture, homeschooling, radical unionism, alternative media, the open-source movement, Konkiniancounter-economics, etc.) were cumulatively a huge portion of the total society and economy, they were still ineffectual in bringing their cumulative weight to bear. In an early blog post, "Building the Structure of the New Society in the Shell of the Old," I wrote: The solution is to promote as much consolidation as possible within the counter-economy. Here are some of the stated goals of the new organization: 1. 3. 4.
Internet Financial EXchange (IFEX) View topic - 65 regional currencies in the EU soon? As people who are following the Transition Towns response to peak oil movement will know, one of the key innovations at Totnes is the issuance of their own currency, the Totnes pound. Rather than calling on the government for financial reform the Transition Town economic and livelihood group are just getting on with it and managing their own financial reform process....which is surely how things are likely to change more widely. (If we wait for the monetocracy to reform the banking system we will wait for ever.) Researching the background of the Totnes pound however I learned that in Germany and Austria (and Italy) local currencies are developing by leaps and bounds. An article in the Telegraph in January of this year explained that there are no less than 16 regional currencies already in existence and 49 further regional currencies in the pipeline. Here's the very informative Telegraph article - it makes clear that the mainstream bankers do not yet see regional currencies as a threat.
Passengers on Beijing subway pay with plastic bottles Contact us Passengers on Beijing subway pay with plastic bottles Posted on August 11, 2013 by elma ‹ What to Buy Organic Have a mosquito problem??? Michael Linton On Open Money ~ Windows Fanatics To summarize Michael Linton’s presentation at this year’s Gnomedex: A paradigm shift happens in its own time, whether we like it or not. Sometimes you can see it coming, and if that happens, it gives you a bit of room. Some time in the next few years, everyone in this room will be using open money in addition to regular money. We went from logs to wheels, which means material and mass to function. The theory of money — the general condition of money is that it is a commodity that is issued in a certain amount. Money is trickling down and pouring away. Community currencies are not replacements or alternatives for money. Markets are conversations, and if there is no money around, the conversation goes away. Money is the ultimate social network. [tags]gnoemdex7, gnomedex, gnomedex07, gnomedex2007, michael linton, open money, open source money, social money network[/tags]
Introduction | QOIN Money is a social construct, a human invention. We can redesign it to fulfil our needs. What is conventional money? Money is not a given. What are community currencies? Since money is man made, it can be reinvented to meet specific objectives within any kind of community, region or economic sector. stimulate local economic development, by localising production and consumption,build an active civil society,stimulate voluntary work,reduce costs to healthcare system,encourage sustainable consumption and improve waste separation. An ecosystem of community currencies Community currencies can be designed and executed in a many different ways. Social Currencies – time based currencies that value everyone’s contribution equally. Deepen your understanding of Community Currencies by getting in touch.
BerkShares: Local Currency for the Berkshire Region The Occupy Money Cooperative Can Consumers Collectively Own "Producers"? In today's world we have for the most part - a strict separation of production and consumption, which together constitute "the market". The incentive for a market economy is a division of labor. Some are good at organizing, others are good at doing various "jobs". A driver behind this set-up is that both producers and distributors are able to charge a fee for their activity, which is generally termed a "profit". Profit is also a source of contention. This is the background to a proposal of Patrick (AGNUcius) to stimulate consumer ownership of productive activities, which would allow to bring some balance back into the commercial equation. To get an idea of what AGNUcius proposes, here some quotes from comments on a different conversation about hosting in the context of p2p systems: As those investments vest to the user who paid them, ownership of the space and tools needed for effective hosting are shared among the participants in a self-balancing manner. and and again:
The End of Money | Witte de With Christodoulos Panayiotou, 2008, (2008) Shredded money 600 (diameter) x 240 (height) cm Courtesy of the artist & Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul Installation photo Witte de With 2011: Bob Goedewaagen Opening: Saturday 21 May 2011 (6 – 9 pm) Performance by Goldin+Senneby at 7 pm Film Screening: Sunday 26 June 2011 (12 – 6 pm) The End of Money is a group exhibition about time and value. Bringing together works by a host of international artists, this exhibition and its parallel publication reflect upon the fears, hopes, and expectations associated with the end of money and its ominous consequence: the dissolution of an absolute standard of value. What limits does the economy impose on our collective imagination, and how is the collective imagination responsible for the current economy? Time, Benjamin Franklin famously said, is money. Curated by Juan A. Publication The accompanying digital publication, edited by Juan A. About the participants Maamoun, Maha Lives and works in Cairo, Egypt.