Enacting the Commons • La 27e Région

Context

The commons movement is flourishing in Europe and is gradually bringing together elected representatives and public administrations, from whom it must secure support and legitimacy in order to endure. Could it be a potential vehicle for revitalising local citizenship? An alternative path between public management and the market? A catalyst for transformation within public administrations?

In 2018, the 27th Region launched 'Enacting the Commons', a learning project across Europe: to understand what changes and innovations public authorities may implement to embrace the promising avenue of 'shared governance'.

Approach

Designing future experiments

Two years to draw inspiration, document and share knowledge about these initiatives or existing ideas; Two years to set things in motion, in our own modest way: the aim is not to turn ‘the commons’ into yet another buzzword, but rather to strengthen, in France, nascent or emerging initiatives by enabling them to connect, by mapping out possibilities, by facilitating comparisons, by providing an insight into their impacts, and so on; Two years, finally, to map out our next areas for experimentation...

The Erasmus+ programme

A two-year collaborative research project

Between October 2018 and October 2020, we undertook eight learning expeditions to explore inspiring initiatives across Europe: the Cooperation Pact in Bologna, Italy; the Transition Plan towards the Commons in Ghent; new forms of cooperatives in Spain and the Netherlands; and so on. Each trip was organised collectively and involved a representative from each partner organisation.