A governance commons to support the commons economy? Conversation with Dr Sonia Bussu

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Stroud Commons in conversation with Sonia Bussu, Associate Professor in Public Policy at the University of Birmingham and project lead for INSPIRE (looking at democratic innovations and their limitations – particularly around marginalised people), about participatory democracy and its role in helping build the commons economy.

Distaff Day

The irony is that in this economy, women do distaff work for wages — usually benefitting women of higher socio-economic class — and struggle to keep their own home functioning because their wages and time are insufficient for the household work they can no longer do for themselves.

Bringing about the bioeconomy

Biological systems are optimized for circular production systems because they follow the template of ecosystems, where spare nutrients are scavenged and waste is utilized by decomposers. Building technology from these systems allows us to model industries based on ecosystems, in lieu of the linear models pursued today, allowing us to unlock true sustainability.

Convivial Economics

I’ve no desire to make strong claims about what is achieved by serving mince pies to neighbours and strangers, but I will say that, from these humble, stumbling experiments in convivial economics, I am learning things that I would not have caught sight of, had I tried to do all my thinking through books and screens and the kind of conversations that come with footnotes