Publications
A postgrowth economy needs new institutions
It is an insight we can no longer ignore: the economy cannot keep growing on a finite planet. The illusion of infinite growth disrupted the natural processes that provided a stable living environment, with ever more frequent heat waves, forest fires, hurricanes, and...
Resilience Under Shock: Time for a Paradigm Shift
Governments compete on the global market for medical equipment produced elsewhere. Squeezed public sectors are stretched beyond their limits and the social consequences of shutdowns reverberate across the world. The coronavirus crisis has fundamentally questioned how...
Emancipation in the neoliberal era: Rethinking transition with Karl Polanyi
Emancipation in the Neoliberal Era: Rethinking Transition with Karl Polanyi The economic historian Karl Polanyi charted the development of market society. Moving beyond a simple opposition between the state and the market, his seminal The Great Transformation...
Creating socio-ecological societies through urban commons transitions
The new role of cities in our society. Almost 75% of Europeans live in cities nowadays. At the same time, cities are becoming a crucial transnational governance level. They are organising themselves in a whole tissue of networks, like Eurocities, Fearless Cities or...
Public-Civil-Partnerships for a Better City
Imagine: an urban politician wants to impose that some streets become car-free during summer. Even if reasons are good – better air quality, kids get room to play – the result is quite predictable. The residents of the streets would revolt, for different reasons. Some...
A new social contract for the 21st century
From the gilet jaunes to young climate marchers around the world, a new surge of protestors is voicing discontent and demanding a change of course to ensure a sustainable future that is fair to citizens and environment. Dirk Holemans gives his take on striking a new...
When citizens take matters into their own hands
A closer look at citizen collectives established in 2015 and 2016 In order to find responses to current societal challenges, citizens increasingly take control, including in the form of citizen collectives that produce goods or services themselves, usually...
Op Grond van Samenwerking
Housing, food and slow roads as reinvented commons Land has been privatized, parceled and marketed for more than two centuries. And for a while there are timid attempts to stop or reverse that process - think of rent, social housing, nature restoration or...
Appraisal of the new wave of commons in the light of Polanyi’s double movement
A case study of newly established commons in Belgium By Dirk Holemans, Stijn Oosterlynck and Tine De Moor This paper about commons in Belgium has been presented at the 3rd EMES-Polanyi International Seminar: 'Welfare societies in transition' (Roskilde...
(W)E-Democracy: Will Parliament survive the Digital Era?
Hopeful approaches to democracy in digital times The 21st century democracy in Europe is in dire straits. Citizens feel disconnected with politics. Many people, especially youngsters, no longer see the traditional democracy as a good system of governance. Democracy...
Freedom & Security in a Complex World
Context People all over the world are taking their future back into their hands. Together, they are taking initiatives in the fields of renewable energy, local food production, sharing tools, and so forth. This is the most hopeful movement of our time....
Citizens Building a New Europe
While the European Union struggles with a declining confidence from its citizens, we do see many sparks of hope arise at grassroots level. More and more citizens set up initiatives to make society more resilient, offering alternatives for a better, more...
Freedom & Security: Towards a Socio-ecological society
Samenlevingen veranderen doorheen de tijd. Zo zorgde de welvaartsstaat vanaf de jaren 1950 ervoor dat burgers van toenemende vrijheid genoten, terwijl de overheid voor zekerheid zorgde. Vanaf de jaren 1980 maakte de neoliberale markt van vrijheid en...
The politics of sufficiency: a new approach to ecological production
The ecological production project of the Green European Foundation (ECOPRO) centralises its focus on the development of sustainable green technologies in a post-growth society. The core idea integral to the project is that the deployment of such green...
Solidarity in Superdiversity
Vlaanderen is ondertussen superdivers geworden. In onze steden – zeker in bepaalde wijken ervan - is er amper nog sprake van een culturele meerderheid. Als leraar, leerling, werkgever, werknemer, buur, buurtwerker, vakbondsmilitant, vrijwilliger,...
Mensen Maken de Stad: bouwstenen voor een sociaal-ecologische toekomst
Onze steden staan voor een immense uitdaging. De stadsbevolking neemt fors toe, en nog nooit woonden er zo veel groepen mensen met een verschillende achtergrond. De kloof tussen arm en rijk blijft groter worden, en ook de ecologische voetafdruk van de stad...