Brave New Alps: Catalyzing a Rural Resurgence through Commoning

By applying commoning practices in rural towns in the Italian Alps, Bianca Elzenbaumer, a community economies designer and cofounder of Brave New Alps, is catalyzing many new forms of rural development and ecosocial transformation. Working from a repurposed railway station in Vallagarina, the group relies on radical pedagogy, "feral approaches" to community economies, and lots of DIY making and organizing. Projects don't aim for market development and conventional investment, but for participatory vehicles that honor social imagination, improvisation, and collective impact. For more on the commons, go to www.Bollier.org.