Since October 2016 the Montevergini complex has been directly managed as a commons by a self-governed community. Working through an assembly and a series of thematic tables, the community has drafted a regulation of collective use, which takes the form of a civic use declaration.

The urban civic uses are being experimented in different Italian and European cities, following the example of Naples, where different occupied places were recognized as commons by the local administration.

This resolution is the first important step of complex process which aims at generating a new urban paradigm based on the commons and on citizens’ participation.

Contact : posta@che-fare.com

 A Toolkit for the Waltham Forest Council was created by Kaizen (an award-winning social business that specializes in designing and delivering projects in the community sector) and  Social Life (established in 2012 by The Young Foundation, it works on the relationship between people and places). The aim of the Toolkit is to help officers, councilors, residents and other agencies become more confident in how to engage residents. Waltham Forest Council has ambitious plans for growth, and wants these to benefit all of the borough’s residents.

They want to: 1) improve the way we engage residents in planning and delivering new developments 2) build an understanding of the range of different engagement methods that can be used 3) understand what works in different parts of the borough and for different types of project.

The toolkit uses the experience of testing different engagement methods in four pilot areas: Blackhorse Lane, Highams Park, Lea Bridge Road and Priory Court Estate in spring 2016. It also includes other examples of engagement in the borough, and links to a range of engagement materials produced by other organizations.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php

Contact : Local Plans Officer Kelvin.Bathie@walthamforest.gov.uk

London CLT was born as the  East London CLT in 2007, set up by London Citizens. It was the result of a long-lasting grassroots campaign led by Citizens UK,  with its roots lying in the 2004 bid for the Olympic Games.  In 2015, local community groups in Lewisham, Croydon and Southwark asked to work on the construction of CLT’s in other areas.

London CLT is an independent organization, governed by its own members according to the principles of community organizing. Anyone who lives or works in the area can buy a share for £1 and become a member. Each year, the members chose the components of the Board through an election process.

Apartment’s prices are set according to local wages, based on the idea that a person should not spend on housing more than 1/3^rd of his salary. Houses are allocated by an independent panel.

The first CLT to be created is the St. Clement’s CLT.

This lab is aimed at the study, development and practical application of participation processes that can foster direct, deliberative and distributed democracy. To this end, we analyse participation processes that combine physical and digital spaces, focusing our work on the impact of these processes and the degree to which citizens are taking ownership of these tools.

The internet offers infinite possibilities for peer interaction that have yet to be explored. Developing these possibilities will pave the way to a society that’s increasingly involved in political action via new processes based on inclusiveness and representativeness.

Contact : info.m@medialab-prado.es

The residents established the Granby Residents Association in 1993, with the aim of preventing the demolition of the remaining Victorian houses, and of rebuilding the community. Since 2010, when the demolition project was stopped, resident groups began to work to transform the neighborhood in a better place where to live. Over two decades they cleared, planted, painted, and campaigned in order to reclaim their streets.

In 2011 they entered an innovative form of community land ownership, the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust (CLT) with the intention of bringing empty homes back into use as affordable housing. The CLT worked together with the London-based collective Assemble (that already developed numerous regeneration and temporary re-use projects around the country) to present a new sustainable vision of the neighborhood, involving refurbishment of housing, public space and the provision of new work and enterprise opportunities. The group has been able to gain the City Council support and to involve housing associations in the projects.

http://assemblestudio.co.uk/?page_id=862

http://assemblestudio.co.uk/?page_id=1030

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/27/liverpool-locals-took-control-long-neglected-streets

Contact : granby4streetsclt@gmail.com