WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.300 Well, it's a great pleasure for me to be able to introduce our speaker today. 2 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:08.280 That's Darren Sharp from Melbourne. 3 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:13.060 Darren is a sharing economy strategist, consultant and researcher. 4 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:17.620 As a director of Social Surplus and Australian editor of Shareable, 5 00:00:17.740 --> 00:00:23.400 he works with stakeholders to design programs that amplify the strengths of people and communities 6 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:28.520 through sharing and envisioning the transition to socially just and sustainable futures. 7 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:36.480 Among many other roles, he is the convener of the Platform Cooperatism Australia Working Group, 8 00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:39.360 co-founder of the Commons Transition Coalition, 9 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:42.880 the steering group member of the New Economy Network Australia 10 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.940 and a founding mentor of Beehive Co-op. 11 00:00:47.080 --> 00:00:54.220 He's also one of two contributing authors from Australia to sharing cities activating the urban commons. 12 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.640 Please welcome him to the stage. Thank you. 13 00:00:59.800 --> 00:01:03.240 Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much, Robert, for that lovely introduction. 14 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.600 It's great to be back in Adelaide. 15 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:10.520 I always love coming to Adelaide, such a creative and innovative city 16 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:13.360 with so many amazing projects and people going on. 17 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:18.580 Today, I just want to start by acknowledging the Kaurna people, 18 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.540 the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today 19 00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:24.820 and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. 20 00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:28.360 I'd also like to thank Green Industry, 21 00:01:28.520 --> 00:01:31.900 South Australia for sponsoring my trip over here. 22 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:35.300 I've been down for a few days now since Wednesday, 23 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:38.240 lots of talks and workshops and meetings, which have been very productive. 24 00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:42.500 I'd also like to thank the Adelaide Festival of Ideas 25 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:45.760 and importantly, thank all of you for being here today. 26 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:51.040 Today, I'm here to talk about sharing cities, communities driving urban innovation. 27 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.180 It's a story of how grassroots community action, 28 00:01:54.300 --> 00:01:56.380 along with municipal leadership, 29 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:58.220 is coming together. 30 00:01:58.520 --> 00:01:59.300 It's a story of how cities around the world 31 00:01:59.300 --> 00:02:02.700 to distribute the benefits of the sharing economy more widely 32 00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:05.480 through shared infrastructure, cooperative entrepreneurship 33 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.760 and by strengthening the city as a commons. 34 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:14.780 So it's important to recognise the impact that the sharing economy is having in cities. 35 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:19.360 But to begin with, let's clarify what I'm referring to as the real sharing economy, 36 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:22.460 because it's a contested term, it's a contested area. 37 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.360 And to a large extent, it's been co-opted by commercial platforms 38 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:28.500 who have worked very hard to make it happen. 39 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:32.200 And it's a contested area where we've had to monetise and extract value from our assets, time and our labour. 40 00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:38.040 But where I'm coming from, the real sharing economy is a new story for a new economy. 41 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:41.340 It's about connecting stuff, space and skills. 42 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:46.340 It's about democratising infrastructure for sharing, for making and for repair. 43 00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:51.900 And it's about matching offers and needs person to person to strengthen local communities. 44 00:02:52.220 --> 00:02:57.380 One of the main themes when we talk about the sharing economy is access over ownership. 45 00:02:57.380 --> 00:02:59.520 And you might be familiar with that term. 46 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.760 And there's lots of examples that are happening in every city, including right here in Adelaide and cities around the world. 47 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:09.260 So you might be familiar with bike sharing programs, which have copped quite a bit of flak lately, 48 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:14.820 especially some of the overseas operators who've dumped thousands of bikes in cities around the world. 49 00:03:14.880 --> 00:03:17.980 But when it's done well, it obviously is providing an important resource. 50 00:03:18.160 --> 00:03:22.640 So people here in Adelaide can go to get a free bike from Bike SA and others 51 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:24.720 and get access to those bikes and ride around the city. 52 00:03:25.220 --> 00:03:27.360 You don't have to own unnecessary bikes. 53 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:28.760 You can literally rent your own office. 54 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:32.500 You can access all the different co-working community spaces that are out there. 55 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:36.800 And of course, car sharing is sort of like an early example of sharing in cities. 56 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:38.960 It's been around for a number of years, which has numerous benefits. 57 00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:44.620 We're also witnessing the emergence of thousands of examples of grassroots innovation. 58 00:03:45.320 --> 00:03:49.980 This is when empowered communities come together to share stuff, space and skills 59 00:03:49.980 --> 00:03:55.560 and to co-produce a range of shared resources and create stronger social networks and thicker social connections. 60 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:59.760 If we think about all the food swaps that are happening every weekend, 61 00:04:00.040 --> 00:04:03.100 the repair cafes, which bring people together who've got broken appliances, 62 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.780 broken footwear or apparel that they want to keep using, 63 00:04:06.940 --> 00:04:09.480 and they'll be matched with people who've got repair skills. 64 00:04:09.720 --> 00:04:11.680 And so there's a skill share that's going on there as well. 65 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:17.520 It's about the plethora of community gardens, urban agriculture and urban food forests that are happening everywhere. 66 00:04:17.820 --> 00:04:24.860 The cooperatives, the tool libraries where people can pool common resources and share tools without having to own those tools themselves. 67 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:25.540 And of course, the food. 68 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:29.980 It's about maker spaces and a new era of distributed manufacturing and local making. 69 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:33.780 It's what happens when people make the conscious choice to become empowered, 70 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:40.140 play to their strengths and come together in solidarity with their workmates, friends and neighbours 71 00:04:40.140 --> 00:04:42.280 to make change happen in local communities. 72 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:46.540 It's also about infrastructure for sharing, making and repair. 73 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:49.960 And this example here is from the city of Malmo in Sweden. 74 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:55.060 So they've converted underutilised space and vacant buildings into a maker space. 75 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.180 For locals to develop new skills for the new economy. 76 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:03.720 They've also enabled the creation of a bike kitchen for bicycle repair and maintenance, 77 00:05:04.020 --> 00:05:08.600 a textile workshop, an education centre, amongst many other initiatives. 78 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:15.740 All of these initiatives feed into Malmo's vision of becoming a sustainable city that supports innovation in the new economy. 79 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:21.620 Commons advocate David Bollier has described the commons as the wealth that we inherit or create together 80 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.700 and must pass on, undiminished or enhanced, 81 00:05:24.700 --> 00:05:25.740 to our children. 82 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.080 Many of these initiatives that I've been describing are part of what's known as the new commons 83 00:05:30.080 --> 00:05:32.320 or non-traditional common pool resources. 84 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.920 Such as knowledge commons, like open source software communities, 85 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.040 which all of us use every day. 86 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:41.160 If you think about various, like Firefox web browser, 87 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.940 if you think about WordPress blogging platform and so on. 88 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.880 Of course there are infrastructure commons that we don't even really think about or pay much attention to, 89 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:53.860 like the World Wide Web, which is managed by the World Wide Web Consortium, 90 00:05:54.700 --> 00:05:56.160 and protocols for the global web. 91 00:05:56.420 --> 00:06:00.640 Cultural commons include the myriad forms of music, language, fashion and food. 92 00:06:01.140 --> 00:06:04.580 Neighbourhood commons, like community gardens, tool libraries and many others. 93 00:06:05.340 --> 00:06:09.580 These are all socially constructed resources that don't appear naturally in the environment. 94 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:15.560 To quote Hess, these new kinds of commons focus on communities working together in self-governing ways 95 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:20.340 to protect resources from enclosure or to build newly open shared resources. 96 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.040 And that word enclosure is important. 97 00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:24.680 The enclosure of the commons is a place where we can build new communities, 98 00:06:24.700 --> 00:06:24.880 and we can build new communities. 99 00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:28.400 The enclosure of the commons is a recurring threat and happens when private sector interests, 100 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:33.740 often working with the support of government, privatise or convert shared resources into private resources 101 00:06:33.740 --> 00:06:35.740 and treat them as tradable commodities. 102 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:37.500 To quote David Bollier. 103 00:06:38.300 --> 00:06:41.220 Enclosure of the commons has been going on for centuries. 104 00:06:41.580 --> 00:06:43.400 If we look back at the English enclosure movement, 105 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.880 where the king and aristocracy stole the pastures, forest, water and grazing lands 106 00:06:47.880 --> 00:06:50.880 used by commoners and declared them private property. 107 00:06:51.700 --> 00:06:52.960 Today we see a new enclosure movement, 108 00:06:53.060 --> 00:06:54.080 as Silicon Valley firms, 109 00:06:54.700 --> 00:06:55.920 again with the support of governments, 110 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:58.640 use proprietary platforms and network effects 111 00:06:58.640 --> 00:07:01.440 to extract and commodify our data 112 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:03.400 and take over critical city infrastructure 113 00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:05.880 under the rhetoric of disruptive innovation, 114 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:08.160 the smart city and the sharing economy. 115 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:10.620 Google is now in the city building business 116 00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:13.020 as seen by the Toronto waterfront redevelopment 117 00:07:13.020 --> 00:07:14.720 under its subsidiary Sidewalk Labs. 118 00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:19.940 This so-called smart city plan involves creating a neighbourhood 119 00:07:20.700 --> 00:07:22.140 quote unquote from the internet up, 120 00:07:22.260 --> 00:07:24.020 powered and served by data, 121 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:27.320 with sensors monitoring everything from air quality to pedestrian traffic, 122 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:28.680 even the flashing of toilets. 123 00:07:29.260 --> 00:07:31.200 Enclosure of the commons erodes community 124 00:07:31.200 --> 00:07:33.260 by turning citizens into consumers 125 00:07:33.260 --> 00:07:35.980 and creates vendor lock-in and walled gardens, 126 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:37.120 which undermines democracy 127 00:07:37.700 --> 00:07:40.760 by colonising our public space with proprietary platforms 128 00:07:40.760 --> 00:07:44.120 that constantly monitor our behaviour and commodify our data 129 00:07:44.700 --> 00:07:46.240 and colonise our mental space 130 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.220 through algorithm-led social media platforms 131 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:50.180 which track us around the web 132 00:07:50.700 --> 00:07:52.100 to deliver unwanted advertising 133 00:07:52.700 --> 00:07:54.360 and fake news powered by AI 134 00:07:54.700 --> 00:07:55.380 and machine learning. 135 00:07:55.640 --> 00:07:57.040 But it doesn't have to be this way. 136 00:07:57.260 --> 00:07:59.980 The city is also an important platform for commoning practices 137 00:08:00.700 --> 00:08:03.960 as communities come together to steward a range of shared urban resources 138 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:06.400 including everything from physical commons 139 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:09.740 like public space, vacant land and underutilised buildings. 140 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.960 Take for example the social enterprise 3000 Acres 141 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:14.980 in my hometown of Melbourne, 142 00:08:15.700 --> 00:08:17.120 which is unlocking vacant land 143 00:08:17.700 --> 00:08:21.080 in negotiation with public and private sector owners 144 00:08:21.080 --> 00:08:24.080 to use that land for urban agriculture, 145 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:25.240 community gardening, 146 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:28.840 but most importantly for community development and community building. 147 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.540 There are also many important cultural commons. 148 00:08:31.640 --> 00:08:33.160 Again, showing my Melbourne bias, 149 00:08:33.260 --> 00:08:34.940 if you think about the rich street art culture 150 00:08:34.940 --> 00:08:36.560 and the laneways which we have, 151 00:08:36.640 --> 00:08:39.100 which attract vast numbers of international and domestic tourists. 152 00:08:39.780 --> 00:08:40.940 Now imagine if you will, 153 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:42.440 if these shared spaces were enclosed 154 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:44.580 and you had to pay for access, 155 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:47.080 either as a tourist, as a local 156 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:50.780 or as an artist who wants to use those walls to express yourself 157 00:08:50.780 --> 00:08:52.240 and to put your art out there. 158 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:54.920 Democratic commons like participatory budgeting, 159 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:55.780 citizen juries, 160 00:08:56.020 --> 00:08:57.280 strengthen the public sphere. 161 00:08:57.500 --> 00:08:59.940 Think about the Fund My Neighbourhood initiative here in SA. 162 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:03.180 And digital commons like Barcelona City Data Commons 163 00:09:03.180 --> 00:09:05.680 treat this important asset as a shared resource 164 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:07.780 to increase collaboration within government 165 00:09:07.780 --> 00:09:08.980 and between government and citizens. 166 00:09:09.400 --> 00:09:11.580 When you see the city as a commons, 167 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:13.520 you realise that our urban environments 168 00:09:13.520 --> 00:09:16.040 are much more than just spaces for work and consumption. 169 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:18.240 To say that the city is a commons 170 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.380 is to suggest that the city is a shared resource 171 00:09:20.380 --> 00:09:22.220 open to, shared with and managed. 172 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.820 For instance, 173 00:09:26.820 --> 00:09:27.840 four people live together at four different stations. 174 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:28.420 For instance, 175 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:31.780 four people live together at four different stations. 176 00:09:31.780 --> 00:09:32.280 For instance, 177 00:09:32.280 --> 00:09:33.280 four people live together at four different stations. 178 00:09:33.280 --> 00:09:33.980 For instance, 179 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:34.980 four people live together at four different stations. 180 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:35.740 For instance, 181 00:09:35.740 --> 00:09:39.600 four people live together at four different stations. 182 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:40.420 For instance, 183 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:46.820 four people live together at four different stations. 184 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:47.560 For instance, 185 00:09:47.560 --> 00:09:50.740 four people live together at four different stations. 186 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:53.780 society organisations and knowledge institutions all working together. 187 00:09:54.400 --> 00:09:58.360 According to Foster and Ione, the process of constructing a commons, what some refer to as 188 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:02.360 commoning, involves a collaborative process of bringing together this wide spectrum 189 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:06.480 of actors that work together to co-produce and co-govern shared common goods and services at different 190 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:10.480 scales. So this is about co-production. It's the empowerment of citizens, 191 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:14.420 about reframing, a reframing exercise from seeing people as city users to 192 00:10:14.420 --> 00:10:18.600 city makers. It's also about co-governance, so seeing city government 193 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:22.040 as an important collaborator and an enabling partner, 194 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.480 not a monopoly decision maker. As we know, cities are where we 195 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:30.320 experience some of the most urgent challenges we face today, including inequality, social 196 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.620 isolation and climate change. To meet these challenges head on, 197 00:10:34.380 --> 00:10:38.100 empowered communities, organisations, local governments, they're all sharing their labour knowledge, 198 00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:42.080 stuff, space and skills to overcome scarcity and create abundance 199 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:46.420 by building and maintaining vital common resources. They're showing how sharing leads everyone 200 00:10:46.420 --> 00:10:48.420 to have more together. I'm very proud to be 201 00:10:48.420 --> 00:10:52.340 part of an international team that wrote the book Sharing Cities, Activating the Urban 202 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:56.440 Commons, which I have here and which will be available for sale afterwards, if you want 203 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:00.280 a copy. It's a two-year labour of love. I'm one of two Australian contributors, along 204 00:11:00.280 --> 00:11:04.540 with Sharon Ede, who's here in the audience as well. So this is really a two-year 205 00:11:04.540 --> 00:11:08.220 labour of love, as I mentioned, and we put together best practice case studies 206 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:11.800 from all around the world, model policies. It's there to inspire 207 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:16.360 citizen innovators, urban innovators, people working in government, people 208 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:17.620 working on grassroots projects. 209 00:11:18.420 --> 00:11:23.180 There's chapters on housing, mobility, food, work, energy, land, waste, water, technology, 210 00:11:23.380 --> 00:11:27.900 finance and governance. It's all part of the Sharing Cities network that Shareable set 211 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:32.600 up a number of years ago, and I've been closely involved since that network's founding as 212 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.220 the Melbourne coordinator since 2013. So we've run a number of successful map jams or asset 213 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:43.340 mapping workshops over the years in 50 cities around the world. So these events are basically 214 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:47.220 there to create an enabling environment, to put sharing on the map, to bring all the different 215 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:48.260 sharing innovators together. 216 00:11:48.420 --> 00:11:52.920 And to connect the dots in local communities, to identify opportunities for collaboration 217 00:11:52.920 --> 00:11:57.980 and to find out where there are gaps as well. We also followed up with Sharefest to demonstrate 218 00:11:57.980 --> 00:12:02.120 the transformative power of sharing and build support for the movement. Here are some examples. 219 00:12:02.280 --> 00:12:07.700 So that was the first map jam in Melbourne in 2013. There was one in Canberra in 2014, 220 00:12:08.460 --> 00:12:12.500 one here that Sharon hosted in Adelaide in 2014, and there was another one recently in 221 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:17.560 Sydney in 2018. This is a really fantastic initiative from 222 00:12:17.560 --> 00:12:18.040 Green Industries. 223 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.240 It's called Share and Save. You can go there and you can have a look at all the different 224 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:27.720 sharing services that are in Adelaide across bike sharing, community gardens, tool and 225 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:32.360 toy libraries and so on. And that software has been gifted to the community and is now 226 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:36.220 open source so others can take that and adapt it and utilise it in their own communities. 227 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:40.860 So it's clear that sharing cities are a growing trend. The grassroots projects I've shared 228 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:44.480 with you are driving much of the innovation we see in sharing cities. But these initiatives 229 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:48.400 can benefit greatly from policy and program support by local government, and by the local 230 00:12:48.420 --> 00:12:52.340 government as an enabler and champion. A growing number of city governments are playing 231 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:55.720 an active role by making their own assets and their own infrastructure more amenable 232 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:59.340 to sharing. And they are using this to drive positive social, environmental and economic 233 00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:04.580 outcomes. Some examples include SharingCity Seoul, which became the world's first sharing 234 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:09.380 city in 2012. They've introduced quite comprehensive legislation to support the local 235 00:13:09.380 --> 00:13:14.700 sharing ecosystem. They've opened up around 800 of their public buildings for use during 236 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:18.320 idle hours. So when staff aren't there, the community can get access to these buildings. 237 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:24.680 things. They've invested over 6 million US dollars in 72 sharing organisations or businesses to 238 00:13:24.680 --> 00:13:30.180 address urban challenges through housing, food, mobility, clothing etc. Amsterdam sharing city 239 00:13:30.180 --> 00:13:34.640 became Europe's first sharing city in 2015 and it's quite a different model. They work together 240 00:13:34.640 --> 00:13:38.760 with the private and public sectors, they have a round table, an ambassador group and they come 241 00:13:38.760 --> 00:13:44.920 together and they come up with ideas for how to support sharing in Amsterdam and they agree if 242 00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:49.420 they are part of the program they run various sharing city prototypes or pilots to test and 243 00:13:49.420 --> 00:13:53.900 experiment and make sure that what they're doing is in in alignment with the needs of the city and 244 00:13:53.900 --> 00:13:58.200 the people more importantly. One of the best examples of the city as a commons is in the city 245 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:03.120 of Bologna whose regulation which came out in 2014 is a history-making institutional innovation. 246 00:14:03.520 --> 00:14:08.760 It enables Bologna to operate as an urban commons and Neil Goranflo from Shareable tells the story 247 00:14:08.760 --> 00:14:13.980 that how in 2011 a group of women in Bologna wanted to donate park benches 248 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:18.660 to a park, their local park. They approached the council, went from one department to another, 249 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.560 they were pushed on and eventually found out that it was illegal for them to do so. 250 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:27.080 This kicked off a series of discussions, collaboration, prototyping, co-design, 251 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.420 working with researchers, working with community activists, advocates, those working in local 252 00:14:31.420 --> 00:14:35.820 government to eventually getting support from the mayor's office and developing this Bologna 253 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:40.340 regulation. So over the years what they've done is to put together these collaboration agreements 254 00:14:40.340 --> 00:14:43.660 which align deliberative process and intent 255 00:14:43.660 --> 00:14:43.960 and they've done a lot of work on this. They've done a lot of work on this. 256 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:49.500 with a legal contract between citizens and the municipality. So active citizens can now approach 257 00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:55.500 the city of Bologna and come forward with projects and ideas for urban commoning in the city and 258 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:59.560 they'll enter into a legal agreement with the cities. This is a real power sharing initiative. 259 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:04.140 It's beyond engagement, it's beyond participation, it's an institutional innovation and it's a legal 260 00:15:04.140 --> 00:15:09.700 instrument which actually empowers citizens to be change makers in their city. There are now 261 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:13.800 over 280 of these citizen-led projects that are happening with 262 00:15:13.800 --> 00:15:21.320 more in the pipeline according to LabGov's co-founder Christian Ieione. So that example there you can see there's a map which shows you all the urban 263 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:29.900 commoning projects. That's the park where the benches, they tried to donate the benches which is subsequently being put in and there's a group of volunteers working on removing some graffiti in the city. 264 00:15:30.140 --> 00:15:43.600 There's many of these projects obviously just a couple of examples. An ethical boutique that was set up by a women's association using an underutilised building that the city owned that they were given access to and they turned it into a boutique to support female 265 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:50.100 asylum seekers. Social Streets is another project that came out of Bologna which is now spread through hundreds of cities around the world I 266 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:56.840 believe and it's a hyper-local network which brings people out of their homes into their streets and builds that social capital and that really 267 00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:08.080 makes really thick connections between neighbours, person by person, household by household. Getting back to the book, if we have a look at one of the chapters I co-wrote, the work chapter, I want to share some highlights from that just briefly. 268 00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:12.980 It's clear that in today's labour market we're working longer hours. 269 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.140 for lower wages and with less long-term income security. 270 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.540 So in the gig economy, for example, workers lack control. 271 00:16:19.780 --> 00:16:22.760 They lack control over the algorithms which determine what jobs they get. 272 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.920 Platform owners, they're not responsible for the welfare of the people 273 00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:29.200 creating value in these two-sided marketplaces. 274 00:16:29.760 --> 00:16:32.420 So in the work chapter, we profile an emerging area, 275 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:33.880 something called platform cooperatives, 276 00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:36.920 a new breed of enterprise that blend the technology to the sharing economy 277 00:16:36.920 --> 00:16:39.420 with cooperative ownership and democratic governance. 278 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:43.440 So emerging platform co-ops like Stocks United, Green Taxi Co-op, 279 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:47.080 and Beehive work together for mutual benefit 280 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:49.760 and the transition to a fairer future of work. 281 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:54.080 Beehive, which I'll talk about shortly, is set to become Australia's first platform co-op. 282 00:16:54.140 --> 00:16:56.120 They actually are now Australia's first platform co-op. 283 00:16:56.260 --> 00:17:00.500 And they're a sharing economy platform owned and governed by the people of Bendigo. 284 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:03.060 City governments also have an important role to play 285 00:17:03.660 --> 00:17:05.420 through policies and investment support. 286 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:08.860 New York City, for example, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, 287 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:13.300 have introduced the New York City Council Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative 288 00:17:13.300 --> 00:17:13.580 which is a new form of co-operative business development initiative 289 00:17:13.600 --> 00:17:16.620 a city-funded program to reduce poverty and income inequality 290 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.380 through support of worker-owned cooperatives. 291 00:17:19.900 --> 00:17:22.060 So just quickly to give you an example of Stocks United, 292 00:17:22.220 --> 00:17:25.580 if you're familiar with iStockphoto, Getty Images and those kinds of platforms 293 00:17:25.580 --> 00:17:28.220 where you can get stock imagery, very similar offering. 294 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.240 You can go to Stocksy, you can purchase those similar sort of photos, 295 00:17:31.360 --> 00:17:32.040 really high quality. 296 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:33.640 This is a worker-owned cooperative. 297 00:17:33.800 --> 00:17:34.860 It's an artist-owned cooperative. 298 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:35.780 It's based in Canada. 299 00:17:36.020 --> 00:17:39.360 It's founded on principles of equality, respect and fair distribution of profits. 300 00:17:39.760 --> 00:17:43.500 So in this instance, when artists contribute to that platform, 301 00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:45.520 and a purchase is made, 302 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:49.720 Stocksy will then share 50% of the standard licensing fee with the artist. 303 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:52.380 So if you spend $20, let's say, on a photo, 304 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.160 $10 of those dollars will go back to the artist. 305 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:57.460 So you can see here, this is creating an ethical future of work 306 00:17:57.460 --> 00:17:59.400 and actually enabling people to have a livelihood 307 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.840 by participating in these labour markets, 308 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:04.760 in these ethical marketplaces, in this case. 309 00:18:05.300 --> 00:18:06.240 Green Taxi Co-op. 310 00:18:06.540 --> 00:18:07.560 This is in Colorado. 311 00:18:08.120 --> 00:18:11.740 Offer a same service, similar service to the likes of Uber and Lyft, 312 00:18:11.780 --> 00:18:13.500 similar types of convenience and functionality, 313 00:18:13.600 --> 00:18:14.580 and this is a very good example of how this can be done. 314 00:18:14.580 --> 00:18:16.540 In this case though, they share 100% ownership 315 00:18:16.540 --> 00:18:18.640 amongst their 800 member owner drivers. 316 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:23.300 They have about 40% market share in the Denver-Boulder metro taxi market. 317 00:18:23.540 --> 00:18:26.000 They're set to become Colorado's largest taxi company 318 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.400 and the nation's largest taxi co-op and second largest worker co-op. 319 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:32.500 So you can see there, you're using that cooperative ownership 320 00:18:32.500 --> 00:18:35.600 and enterprise structure to enable those folks 321 00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:37.120 to actually have a stake in that business 322 00:18:37.120 --> 00:18:39.640 and actually to distribute any surplus between themselves 323 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:41.860 rather than sending that profit offshore, 324 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.560 usually to Silicon Valley. 325 00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:43.800 So you can see there, you're using that cooperative ownership 326 00:18:43.800 --> 00:18:45.380 usually to Silicon Valley giant and to venture capitalists 327 00:18:45.380 --> 00:18:47.400 and to their shareholders and so on. 328 00:18:47.460 --> 00:18:49.920 This is supporting local economic development. 329 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.080 Beehive, as I mentioned, closer to home in Bendigo. 330 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:55.000 It's a sharing economy platform, 331 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:57.320 a sharing economy platform owned and governed 332 00:18:57.320 --> 00:18:58.240 by the local community. 333 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:00.660 They've raised some initial funds from the community 334 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:01.500 through their crowdfunding. 335 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:04.540 They are applying democratic ownership and governance again 336 00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:07.860 to digital platforms and they're ensuring that the data, 337 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.680 the technology, and the transactions that will be, 338 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:12.000 that will be facilitated on this platform 339 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.800 will generate multiplier effects by keeping that money 340 00:19:15.800 --> 00:19:18.640 and decision-making power in the hands of local communities. 341 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:21.340 And they're happy to actually share the technology 342 00:19:21.340 --> 00:19:23.200 that they're developing with other cities 343 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.380 as long as those folks agree to actually also form a cooperative. 344 00:19:26.620 --> 00:19:28.560 Then if they are cooperative, they can actually get access 345 00:19:28.560 --> 00:19:29.560 to their technology stack. 346 00:19:29.900 --> 00:19:30.940 The waste chapter. 347 00:19:31.300 --> 00:19:34.480 This is a hugely important area as we have all been sort of 348 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.460 reading the headlines about the recycling crisis 349 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:37.440 over the last few months. 350 00:19:37.660 --> 00:19:40.220 So we clearly need a paradigm shift in city policies, 351 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:43.280 and community initiatives to turn waste into a useful resource. 352 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:46.120 And the waste chapter I co-authored profiles a number 353 00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:48.920 of leading global case studies and policies that demonstrate 354 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.300 how through social innovation, infrastructure provision, 355 00:19:51.520 --> 00:19:53.320 and supportive regulatory mechanisms, 356 00:19:53.620 --> 00:19:55.420 we can actually put our cities on a path 357 00:19:56.360 --> 00:19:57.340 toward a zero waste future. 358 00:19:57.740 --> 00:20:00.360 So Warport Reuse Network is a software service. 359 00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:02.580 Actually creates internal marketplaces 360 00:20:03.140 --> 00:20:04.980 within organisations, councils, hospitals, 361 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:07.060 big educational institutions and the like. 362 00:20:07.820 --> 00:20:09.800 So it enables staff to actually get given loan, 363 00:20:09.800 --> 00:20:12.040 surplus stationery, surplus furniture, 364 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:14.360 and other equipment within that network. 365 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:16.500 Another example there, Compost Peddlers, 366 00:20:16.580 --> 00:20:19.580 is a 100% bike powered compost recycling enterprise 367 00:20:19.580 --> 00:20:20.460 in Austin, Texas. 368 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:23.660 So they collect compostable organic waste 369 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:26.200 from homes and businesses and take it to local urban farms 370 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:27.380 and community gardens. 371 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:30.700 The Curitiba Green Exchange Program in Brazil 372 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:33.080 encourages people living in slums to collect organic 373 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.600 and recyclable waste, separate it and deposit it 374 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:37.800 at the nearest waste stations. 375 00:20:38.800 --> 00:20:39.120 In exchange, 376 00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:41.240 for this labour in exchange for this work, 377 00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:43.680 people receive food, bus tickets, school books, 378 00:20:43.840 --> 00:20:45.840 and other useful items and resources. 379 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:49.760 So my question, as I sort of come to the end 380 00:20:49.760 --> 00:20:52.980 of my presentation, how do we make Adelaide a sharing city? 381 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:55.780 Obviously in many ways, it already is, 382 00:20:55.820 --> 00:20:57.400 as we can see through the amazing projects 383 00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:58.420 already happening here. 384 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.640 Projects like the joinery, Adelaide bicycle workshop, 385 00:21:02.320 --> 00:21:05.040 share and save, tool and toy libraries, 386 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:09.140 maker spaces, community gardens, and repair cafes. 387 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:12.000 But I just want to leave you with a call to action 388 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.820 for some things that we can do to increase 389 00:21:13.820 --> 00:21:14.960 these types of activities. 390 00:21:15.780 --> 00:21:17.040 Firstly, it's about asset mapping, 391 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:19.080 so we can appreciate our local strengths. 392 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:22.600 People often say, but I wish we had access to this stuff. 393 00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:25.040 And in so many cases, there's already grassroots projects 394 00:21:25.040 --> 00:21:27.700 happening on the ground, but they're invisible to many of us. 395 00:21:27.820 --> 00:21:30.300 So asset mapping actually creates an enabling environment 396 00:21:30.300 --> 00:21:33.100 to put these resources and these projects on the map 397 00:21:33.620 --> 00:21:34.240 and connect them up. 398 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:36.880 And it's using the strengths of our local community 399 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.160 as a starting point, as a catalyst for change. 400 00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:41.540 We also need to advocate really strongly 401 00:21:41.540 --> 00:21:43.660