How should we distribute resources? Often, the market is considered to be the best system for distributing resources. However, the market distributes resources to those who can afford them, not necessarily those who need them. The state may also help to distribute resources that are considered too important to leave to the market, as well as regulate them. But the state is a big and complex system that tends to move slowly. It also makes normative decisions about what things are considered "needs" on behalf of citizens.

When we talk about addressing things like access to housing, land, water and food, the conversation tends to revolve around these two systems, and how they interact with each other.  Which things should the state provide access to? What things should the market provide? Should the state regulate the market more or less?

However, there is a third way that exists in parallel to both these systems; The Commons.
These are spaces in which access to resources is not based on ownership but on participation, where distribution is not motivated by profits but by needs and values, and where the guiding principle is cooperation instead of competition. In the commons,  governance is in the hands of those who use resources and creates value that goes well beyond the financial.

In this episode, I talk with Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse about Creating Commons. In the interview, we talk about the contemporary commons and their history,  the properties of resources that are important to consider when working out how to govern a commons, and what makes a good commons work. We also explore the tensions in keeping a commons open, so that it doesn't become enclosure by a group, but well managed.

Find out more about Mary's work here
Get the Commons Cookbook here- available for free as a PDF