Commoning the city, from data to physical space [open access publication]

The article explore the process of commoning of public land in the city by using the commoning of urban data mediated by collaborative mapping. From the examination of two case-studies in Berlin and in New York City, I draw some lessons about the wider phenomenon of commoning the city, from data to physical space.

Collaboratively mapping alternative economies [open access publication]

I recently published in the open-access journal NETCOM a peer-reviewed article on the subject of collaboratively mapping alternative economies. This article is mainly directed to researchers interested in alternative/diverse economies, activists interested in using mapping for leveraging their activities on the field, as well as policy-makers seeking for ways for mainstreaming alternative economies. Abstract The […]

Transition Talks #3: Enspiral and the commons

On 12th of May Chelsea, Derek, Gina, and Genevieve from Enspiral shared their experience with Thinkfarm Berlin.The goal of this Talk was to present the Enspiral model and in particular how money is managed as a commons as well as share insights with contributors of the Thinkfarm Berlin and some other guests. But first what […]

A geography of alternatives: Atlas

In its map exploration, the Transformap collective has collected over 200 maps, but also atlases. An atlas lists, hopefully displays, maps. In our TransforMap inventory, we have marked them as ‘Meta’. Here are some pages that point to interesting maps. Some* do it beautifully. English-speaking Shareable’s community maps. Those 72 maps focus on sharing and […]

Transition Talks #2: Personal commitment in the energy transition

Photo credit: Bürgerenergie Berlin For this second Transition Talk, we invite you to discuss the results (in German) of the study “Prometheus – Menschen in sozialen Transformationen am Beispiel der Energiewende” realized by researchers of the Institut für Protest- und Bewegungsforschung. The Talk will take place on: 18th of February at 18:00 at Thinkfarm Berlin […]

Crowd-mapping: a tool for action research

[Post originally published for SEISMIC blog] Alternative forms of production and consumption are a hot topic in urban research. Cities are the breeding grounds for a wealth of bottom-up initiatives that try to establish fairer and more sustainable models. Researchers try to keep up with this transformation, but aside from the remarkable work of the […]

Transition Talks #1: Urban Commons

On 16th of December at Thinkfarm Berlin, the transition»lab convened a “talk and drink” session around the Urban Commons theme. To feed the discussion we proposed two short inputs followed by an informal exchange: A French perspective on the urban commons by Léa Eynaud, PhD Student at the EHESS Paris (15‘) An update from the […]

From urban commons to the city as a commons: an emerging community

Here is my report from the first IASC thematic conference “The City as Urban Commons” in Bologna, 6-7th of November. I was there to presented my work on crowd-mapping (i.e. TransforMap). The conference was the first of its kind, gathering scholars from the commons community, activists, and local governments. It had very much the feel […]

The transformative potential of meditation in the context of sustainability

Together with the AMA (A Minset for the Anthropocene) team of the Potsdam Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the transition>>lab hosted a workshop around the following question: “What could be the specific transformative potential of meditation in the context of sustainability?” Together we had the pleasure to listen to Boris Bornemann, PhD student at […]

Field report #3: Maps for urban foraging

This is the third intermediary report of exploratory case-studies that I am conducting as part of a research on grassroots mapping initiatives that contribute to a socio-ecological transition. The research generally tries to answer two broad questions: How are such mapping initiatives self-governed or in other words how do groups of citizens co-create information through the […]