Hub involved in conversations related to local policy ecosystems

Platform Cooperativism Stream lead Bronwen Morgan is in conversation with some exciting developments related to local policy ecosystems that could nurture platform cooperativism.

In November 2018, following on from the Allens Hub-funded Sydney launch of the ‘Sharing Cities’ book at UNSW, Professor Morgan was invited by the chair of that event, Sydney City Councillor Jess Scully, to attend a Commons Roundtable. While not an official City event, this was held with the purpose of catalysing wide discussion on the topic of commons-based approaches to urban development and policy. The questions addressed by the Roundtable were first: how, at a local level, can a commons strategy help to create opportunities and address challenges that Sydney will face in the coming decades, including climate change, wealth inequality, and social division? Secondly, what ways are there to prototype alternative models for commoning and the sharing economy in Sydney? 

The Roundtable attracted a broad range of diverse individuals pictured above who are involved in commons-related work, hailing from industry, academia, policy, civil society and independent professional advisors. One aim of convening the Roundtable was to potentially feed into the development of Sustainable Sydney 2050, the City Council-led community strategic plan for the next 30 years. The perspective developed at the Roundtable emphasised the proactive nature of commons, best captured by treating it as a verb (commoning) rather than a noun, meaning “the practice of governing a resource, not by government or market, but by a community of users for collective benefit. It is community-defined, community-led and evolving. It is governed by rules co-created by the community of users and requires ongoing negotiation”.

This perspective has critical implications for a range of important public goods and shared infrastructure. The roundtable identified a number of areas that could benefit from commons projects, including food systems, housing affordability, the care sector and the impact of extractive digital platform business models on cities. These are all sectors coming under increasing pressure as identified in the Sydney City Council in its August decision to commission and consult on the 2050 strategy. The City already has commons-related projects happening such as FoodLab Sydney, a collaborative project launched on 4 February 2019 that links UNSW, the University of Sydney, Tafe NSW, FoodLab Detroit and the Sydney City Council to incubate community-owned food social enterprises. Australian Research Council Linkage funding helps support FoodLab Sydney, and Professor Morgan is awaiting the outcome of a different Linkage funding application which would support the growth of Australian platform cooperatives, including Open Food Network which has built a software platform that can support community-owned food distribution entities that directly link local producers and consumers. Roundtable participants are now engaged in discussions about the creation of a Sydney Commons Lab, and the potential utility for Sydney of a city-scale commons transition plan such as that developed for the Belgian city of Ghent. These developments illustrate just a few of the possibilities embodied in this stimulating approach to urban policymaking and its implications for cities.