As part of the commons creation, continuing education in commoning is essential- so the Community Commons has started developing a Reading Room. The Center of the City Commons place itself can become a “teaching place” in demonstrating sustainability technology, best practices, and green ways of living.
One aspiration is that “Commoning” be included in K-12, college and university curricula, regaining lost knowledge and sharing what is being newly learned. We hope to establish a Reading Room, perhaps in the Public Library, for literature on the commons and will open a “Valuing Knowledge” list for people who want to receive the occasional publications we exchange in our own self education.
Books in our Reading Room
- Think Like a Commoner, A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons, David Bollier
- Free, Fair and Alive, the Insurgent Power of the Commons, David Bollier and Silke Helfrich
- The Magna Carta Manifesto, Liberties and Commons for All, Peter Linebaugh
- Stop, Thief! The Commons, Enclosures and Resistance, Peter Linebaugh
- Red Round Globe Hot Burning: a tale at the crossroads of Commons & Closure, of oved and Terror, of Race & Class , and of Kate and Ned Despard, Peter Linebaugh
- Re-Enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons Silvia Frederici
- Placemaker, Public Art that Tells You Where You Are, Ronald Lee Fleming and Renata von Tscharner
- On Common Ground, Caring for Shared Land from Town Commons to Urban Park, Ronald Lee Fleming and Laura Fleming
- The Art of Placemaking, Interpreting Community Through Public Art and Urban Design, Ronald Lee Fleming
- ReInhabiting the Village, CoCreating our Future, Jamaica Stevens
- Building Commons and Community, Karl Linn
- Places for Peace, Karl Linn and Carl Anthony
- People’s Park, Berkeley, Ca, Still Blooming, Terri Compost
- All That We Share, A Field Guide to the Commons, Jay Walljasper
- Creating Wealth, Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies, Gwendilyn allsmith and Bernard Lietaer
- Governing the Commons, the Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Elinor Ostrom
- Palaces for the People, How Social Infra-Structure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization and the Decline of Civic Life, Eric Klinenberg
- The Toilet Papers, Recycling Waste and Conserving Water, Sim Van der Ryn
- The Donut Economy, Kate Raworth
- To the Village Square, Lionel deLevingne
- Sur la Place Publique, Saint Jean en Royans
- This is Not a Drill, an Extinction Rebellion Handbook
You are invited to donate books, or recommend books you think would be valuable for education for commoning. Reading Room suggestions are welcome in the Forums.
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education and the valuing of knowledge is essential in developing the commons. As the old system is clearly broken, and has brought humanity to the precipice of extinction…a next system is the project for everyone…and the commons, a culture of peace and non-violence, caring and sharing, helping and healing are critical elements in the next system…it seems to me.
authoritarians would take us other paths, centralizing leadership, worshiping money and selling
the commonwealth to the highest bidders, knee on the neck policing.
there is a political struggle going on, to permit, or prevent, the creation and practice of public space and critical debate and democracy.
beyond the politics of those who would close down the center of the city plan, there is the what exactly would people want and do…and for that we need models and study of other experiences, and inspiration as can be found sometimes in books.
we have listed a number of books from my shelf ..imagining a reading room where we could study together .
any one of them will open a world…please read…a good beginning is “Think Like A Commoner”
AS IMPORTANT: dear reader, if you have knowledge to share, a book or article that has stimulated you. please share the knowledge.