Strategies for Cultural Change: Degrowth and the Use of Space

By Francesca Van Daele, Degrowth.de

Henri Lefebvre, a French philosopher from the 20th century, argues that if ideas or values are not physically implemented in space, they become mere fantasies. As such, if degrowth wishes to prevail, it has to leave its mark on space, just as consumerism has successfully done. This article considers ideas of creating space and human-nature connectedness, which in combination, seem to be a perfect match in forming a strategy for degrowth.

Why the Time-Honored White House Protest Needs Defending

By Frida Berrigan, Waging Nonviolence

There is a lot for us to do, and unless we have public space — unless we push back against all the ways that politicians at all levels try to privatize, monetize or securitize space — we can’t do the work of building a different kind of society and a different kind of world.

Come for the Fun, Stay for the Revolution

By Kate Duva, Transition Network

In a world that’s been increasingly paved over and privatized, it can be hard to find open places and spaces to gather. As Lucy Gomez-Feliciano of Logan Square Neighborhood Association says, many grassroots collectives have to operate as a “road show” – occupying whatever living room, church basement, library or community center they can find– or heading outside to organize.

Permaculture, Commons and Community

By Helen Iles, Grassroots Economic Organizing

In the individualistic society which is promoted by global capitalism, it’s a radical act to choose to live collectively. Sharing, be it space, food, or resources, has not been strongly promoted by those who want us to consume as much as possible...

Black Lives and the (Broken) Promise of Public Space

By Staff, PPS, Project for Public Spaces

The promise of our public spaces is the assurance that we can live well together, creating places that we can all enjoy and call our own.

Placemaking and Place-Led Development: A New Paradigm for Cities of the Future

By Staff, PPS, Project for Public Spaces

What's the difference between "public space" and "place"?

Practicing Commons in Community Gardens: Urban Gardening as a Corrective for Homo Economicus

By Christa Müller, The Wealth of the Commons

“In these times of ever more blatant marketing of public space, the aspiration to plant potatoes precisely there – and without restricting entry – is nothing less than revolutionary,” writes Sabine Rohlf in her book review of Urban Gardening.1 Indeed, we can observe the return of gardens to the city everywhere and see it as an expression of a changing relationship between the public and the private. And it is not only this dominant differentiation in modern society that is increasingly becoming blurred; the differences between nature and society as well as that between city and countryside are fading as well, at least from the perspective of urban community gardeners.