We adopt a model of commoning as a collective, transformative, activist practice, presented by respected commons researchers David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, in Free, fair and alive - The resurgent power of the commons.
Bollier & Helfrich 2019, Free, Fair and Alive - The resurgent power of the commons, Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
They offer a pattern language of commoning that frames practices of commoning under three interweaving aspects, referred to as ‘the triad of commoning’:
- Provisioning through commons
- Peer governance through commoning
- The social life of commoning
We translate these three elements of commoning in this way . .
- Provisioning/curating/cultivating of commoned means of subsistence and wellbeing
- Stewarding of commoned means, and of practice in the commons
- Mobilising/enjoying/celebrating of the commons, by members, in everyday life and work
. . and we represent this visually in this way, as a constellation of practices that constitute a community around shared means of subsistence and wellbeing (‘a commons’):
See: The coop-commons and the meet.coop handbook
See also: Use convivial tools