Skip to main content

Ownership and control of our local economies

Sarah McKinley

Sarah McKinley

European Representative for the Next System Project more

Community & Place

To truly reshape our economy so that it acts in service to people and planet, we must transform ownership and control of our local economies so that they are regenerative and not extractive, cooperative and democratic by design rather than competitive and opaque. To do so, we must explore broad and plural models of ownership in our cities – from employee-owned cooperatives and community-owned land and real estate to municipally-owned public enterprises.

In this “Transition Talk” organized by Cities for Change, speakers share concrete examples of how this can be done in cities from Barcelona to London and discuss some of the challenges and changes that need to be confronted in order to build the new economy that we need. 

Sarah McKinley

Sarah McKinley

European Representative for the Next System Project more

More related work

Regeneration not gentrification

A “new direction”: Rediscovering community wealth building in an age of gentrification

To preserve communities in the throes of displacement, cooperative movements and new economy advocates must pivot in a new direction that blends place and the democratic economy. This “new direction” actually borrows from an idea nearly 50 years old. read more
Revisiting community control of land and housing

Revisiting community control of land and housing in the wake of COVID-19

As the nation’s housing crisis deepens during the COVID-19 pandemic, we urgently need new approaches and institutions that center permanent affordability, community ownership and control, and the long-term goal of decommodification. read more
Water manhole cover

From pragmatic to politicized? The future of water remunicipalization in the United States

As with many countries, the United States has experienced swings of public and private operation of its water services for more than 150 years. Most water services in the country began as private enterprises in the 1800s but were municipalized from the late 19th century into the 1930s. read more