Volume 2, Number 2 www.ideasthatmatter.com IN THIS ISSUE

Local Currencies: Making Money, Making Change Susan Witt and Robert Swann

Efficiency and the Commons Jane Jacobs and Janice Gross Stein

The Waterworks – Photographs 1967 Noel Best

Jane Jacobs Prizewinners

C5 Report – Vancouver

A quarterly to stimulate public discourse .... Editor’s Notes Ideas That Matter We were first in contact with Susan recent recipients of the Jane Jacobs Volume 2, Number 2 Witt, Executive Director of the E. F. Prize. Now numbering eight, this affili- Schumacher Society (www.schumach- ation of community leaders is finding a Executive Publisher: Alan Broadbent Editor: Mary W. Rowe ersociety.org), in 1996 during the early critical mass. Their interests and exper- [email protected] preparation of events for Ideas That tise vary, yet they manage to find com- Matter: Jane Jacobs ’97 in Toronto. Her monality and points of intersection in Contributors to this issue: Noel Best, Alan Broadbent, John Harrison, Jane Jacobs, Janice presentation at that time, on the power their approaches and experience. They Gross Stein, Robert Swann, Susan Witt and opportunity of local currencies, were instrumental in the mounting of spurred locals to conceive of The Grazing on the Commons, an event Copyright: All articles © the author, 2002 Permission to reproduce should be requested Toronto Dollar project, which has since from which we have excerpted here an through the publisher. grown to become one of the best exam- edited transcript of a conversation ples of this community economic between Jane Jacobs and Professor Submission information: We want to hear from you. Readers are encour- development device. We’re pleased to Janice Stein, Director of the Munk aged to submit their opinions in letters to the edi- provide, in this volume of ITM, more Centre in International Studies at the tor. Published letters may be edited for style or info about the local currency move- University of Toronto, and the 2001 length. In addition, we welcome articles, and ment, as well as a short recent volume Massey Lecturer. The title for Stein’s would prefer to receive them in an electronic for- mat. The publisher cannot accept responsibility of essays by Witt, Schumacher and Massey Lecture, The Cult of Efficiency, for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Wendell Berry, which, coincidentally, suggests the extent to which the mar- is dedicated to Jane Jacobs. Witt notes ket value of efficiency has been Subscriptions: • In Canada, $26.75 Cdn (includes GST) for that since September 11, we’ve seen a ascribed an almost sacrosanct impor- four issues. renewed discussion of the importance tance. Seeing a connection to the con- • In the US, $32 for four issues. of regions and what Berry is to our cerns Jacobs raised in her 1996 volume, • Elsewhere, $40 for four issues. understanding of agrarian regions, Systems of Survival (New York: Random Call 1-800-463-9937 in North America, Jacobs is to our understanding of House, 1992), when the separate values or (519) 376-4233 to subscribe using your credit regional economies. of the trader and guardian syndromes card; otherwise send your cheque or money order, payable to Ideas That Matter, to the address listed Noel Best is a renowned Canadian become enmeshed, we invited the two below. Or subscribe on-line at: architect, principal of the Vancouver firm to meet, for the first time, at Grazing. www.ideasthatmatter.com Architectura (www.iarchitectura.com). Finally, our last issue chronicled the Ideas That MatterTM is a quarterly to stimulate We came by his remarkable photos by inaugural meeting of the C5: five of public discourse published by accident, rather than design, as they Canada’s mayors in their early stages of The Ginger Press were part of his student portfolio in the problem-sharing and consensus-build- 848 Second Ave East, Owen Sound, late 1960s. They’ve been transformed ing. Since that time, there have been Ontario, Canada N4K 2H3 here from their construction paper meetings with the provincial ministers P: (519) 376-4233 F: (519) 376-9871 backing to a high-resolution format, and premiers, a federal task force, the E: [email protected] and reflect so aptly the enduring beau- federal Minister of Finance, and a sec- TM ty of some of the built forms that are ond meeting of the C5, the opening of Ideas That Matter is a registered trademark of Avana Capital Corporation Inc. unesthetically termed infrastructure. which is summarized in these pages. We appreciate Best’s willingness and The C5 meets again in June in Cover Photograph: assistance in reproducing these images. Montréal. We’ll keep you posted. Copyright © Noel Best Also included are profiles of four

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HISTORY AND THEORY OF within them. Yet centralized banking monetary system has served to cen- LOCAL CURRENCIES IN is only a recent development in the tralize the benefits of the system as well. THE UNITED STATES United States. The customs of bor- rowing and lending and money-print- The effect on small farmers and BY SUSAN WITT AND ing grew up over generations in towns rural economies has been devastating. ROBERT SWANN and rural communities to form what The ongoing “farm crisis” is a dram- we now call our banking systems. atic manifestation of what is really a Susan Witt, Executive Director of the These systems were small-scale, monetary crisis that began in the E. F. Schumacher Society in Mass- regional, and decentralized. Paper deep depression of the 1870s and achusetts, presented at Ideas That money was made standard, or nation- 1880s and was later codified in the Matter: Jane Jacobs ’97. Robert al, in 1863 in order to raise funds for Federal Reserve Act. Credit for Swann is Founding President of the the fight against the Confederate small-scale farming and the small rural businesses that are a part of the farm E. F. Schumacher Society. States, but it was not until 1913 that a central system became formalized community had dried up long before with the Federal Reserve Act. the Depression of the 1930s, and . F. Schumacher argued in Small Centralized banking and control of the United States government had is Beautiful: Economics as if money called for large banks and to create the Farmers’ Home Admin- EPeople Mattered that from a wealthy investors who could assemble istration in order to help replace–with truly economic point of view the huge, unprecedented sums of money. tax money–some of the rural capital most rational way to produce is “from These banks in the money centres, that had been lost to the large cities. local resources, for local needs.” Jane with their industrial customers, could The “housing crisis” is also in part a Jacobs, one of today’s foremost schol- pay a higher interest rate to deposi- monetary crisis. Investors place money ars on regional economies, empha- tors than could the smaller, often in land as a hedge against inflation, sizes Schumacher’s point through her rural, banks which began sending which drives land and housing prices analysis of a healthy region as one their deposits to the large cities. The up. The high cost of land is a major creating “import-replacing” indus- national currency made money more factor in the present shortage of tries on a continuing basis. A well- developed regional economy which A well-developed regional economy which produces produces for its own needs is possible only when control of its resources and for its own needs is possible only when control of its finances lies within the region itself. Throughout North America, the resources and finances lies within the region itself. ownership of land, natural resources, and industry and the determination fluid and allowed rural dollars to sup- affordable housing, and it takes home of conditions for receiving credit port urban industrial growth. Rural ownership out of reach for the major- have become increasingly centralized creditors were pleased with this ity of Americans. at the national level. Now all but a arrangement until the first time a The local and decentralized bank- few large urban areas find that their New York bank closed and carried off ing systems of a hundred and fifty economic resources are controlled the savings of a small town or until a years ago had the advantage of diver- from outside the area. local farmer couldn’t secure a loan sity. The failure of a local bank–even a because a Chicago bank was borrow- New York bank–was still a local fail- History ing from his bank at a high rate of ure, and its costs were internalized. The U.S. banking system is one of interest. But today we are facing the failure of the most centralized institutions of A national currency facilitated the an entire system. Consider the billions our economy and one of the major industrialization of the United States, of tax dollars spent by the national obstacles to strengthening regional which in turn created many jobs; deposit insurance system to bail out economies and the communities however, the centralization of the the Savings and Loan industry. And

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 3 Local Currencies: History and Theory Susan Witt and Robert Swann recall that billions were added to the value relative to other currencies. located in small towns, the bankers national debt in order to bail out Imports are cheaper, and trade is knew the people they were dealing large banks when developing coun- more equitable–or even skewed in with in a personal way and could tries defaulted on their loans. These favour of the self-reliant or “import- make loans on the basis of “charac- systemic failures are bound to occur if replacing” region. ter,” not strictly on the basis of how local economic control of banking Jacobs describes currencies as much collateral an individual had to customs and money supply is compro- “powerful carriers of feedback infor- secure the loan. A more striking dif- mised by centralization and sacrificed mation…and potent triggers of ference is that each bank could issue to serve the heedless demands of adjustments, but on their own terms. a local scrip. Unlike a national cur- growth. A national currency registers, above rency, which easily leaves the region in which its value is created, the local currency could circulate only in a The dependency on national currencies actually limited regional area; local currencies deprives regions of a very useful self-regulating tool. and local capital could not travel to the money centres to finance the operations of multinational corpora- This predicament calls for a reor- all, consolidated information of a tions or interest payments on debt. ganization of economic institutions nation’s international trade.” This Credit decisions were made by local so that they will be responsive to feedback informs economic policy- bankers with particular personal local and regional needs and condi- makers. But should the industrial knowledge not only of the borrowers tions. These new institutions would Great Lakes region or the farm-belt but also of the needs of the region as decentralize the control of land, nat- states adjust their economies in the a whole. ural resources, industry, and financ- same manner as the sun-belt states or One of the major objections to ing to serve the people living in an the Silicon Valley of the West Coast? “free banking” in the nineteenth and area in an equitable way. We need to A very significant part of any region’s early twentieth centuries has been create an infrastructure that encour- economy is governed by a monetary that some of these local banks failed ages local production for local needs. and banking system over which mem- and some printed money to speculate Community land trusts, worker- bers of a community have little or no in land and to make unproductive owned and worker-managed business- control. The dependency on national loans. The argument is that such es, nonprofit local banks, and region- currencies actually deprives regions of abuses can be controlled if money is al currencies are some of the tools for a very useful self-regulating tool and issued centrally. But it was unity–a building strong regional economies. allows stagnant economic pockets to shared belief in communal responsi- Because we have all learned to go unaided in a seemingly prosperous bility and vigilance–rather than uni- assume that national currencies are nation. What the E. F. Schumacher formity that was needed. Community the norm, a regional currency is per- Society proposes instead is the estab- development banks like Oregon’s haps the least understood of these lishment of a system with community Shore Trust, Chicago’s South Shore tools. Jane Jacobs, in her book Cities accountability. Bank and the Grameen Bank of and the Wealth of Nations, views the Regional currencies are not a Bangladesh make up an intellectual economy of a region as a living entity recent invention–the practice is cen- diaspora–they are decentralized and in the process of expanding and con- turies old. The so-called free banking unified. The Savings and Loan indus- tracting and a regional currency as era of U.S. history, when many cur- try is uniform. the appropriate regulator of this rencies circulated, contributed sub- ebbing and flowing life. Just like a stantially to bringing about Thomas Decentralization and nation, a region which does not pro- Jefferson’s dream of a nation of small, Diversity duce enough of the goods it consumes independent, self-reliant farmers who Decentralization and diversity have comes to rely heavily on imports and found ready credit with community the benefit of preventing large-scale finds that its currency is devalued. banks to produce and sell their goods. failure. This is as true in banking as it Import costs increase, the exchange Even in the early years of this cen- is in the natural world. Think of of goods is reduced, and the region tury local banks issued their own seeds. If many different strains of corn has to borrow, which means that it currency, which John Kenneth are planted by different farmers and a exports its capital–dollars, not Galbraith says was important for the disease hits the crop, some strains will goods–and ends up importing nearly rapid development of the American resist and the corn will be harvested. everything it needs. But if the region economy. But if all the farmers have shifted to a is supplying its own needs, then its How were these banks different new hybrid seed and a blight hits the currency “hardens” and holds its from banks today? Because they were corn, the result can be widespread

4 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Susan Witt and Robert Swann Local Currencies: History and Theory crop failure and disaster. How do we Jones Industrial Average. It was incorporated as a nonprofit so the ensure diversity in banking? As the called the Constant because, unlike public understands that providing economist Frederick Hayek has the national currency, it would hold access to credit is a service not linked pointed out, to keep banking honest its value over time. The Constant cir- to private gain. The organization it would be better to return to a bank- culated in Exeter for more than a should be democratic, with member- ing system that utilizes competing year, proving, as Borsodi had hoped, ship open to all area residents and currencies rather than to rely on a that people would use currency which with a board elected by the members. central system. was not the familiar greenback. At • Its policy should be to create new the time, it received national public- short-term credit for productive pur- Local Scrip ity in Time, Forbes, and other maga- poses. Such credit is normally provid- In the 1930s, a worldwide deflation zines. When asked by a reporter if his ed for up to three months for goods or encouraged many new forms of currency was legal, Borsodi suggested services that have already been pro- exchange that competed with the that the reporter check with the duced and are on their way to mar- national currencies. The town of Treasury Department, which the ket–credit for things which pay for Woergel in Austria created a scrip reporter did. He was told, “We don’t themselves in a very short time. system that drew international atten- care if he issues pine cones, as long as • The regional bank or currency tion. The people in this little town it is exchangeable for dollars so that organization should be free of govern- were able to trade in labour and transactions can be recorded for tax mental control–other than inspec- materials, which they did have, purposes.” tion–so that investment decisions are rather than in Austrian shillings, which they didn’t have, and they A local currency is not simply an economic tool; managed to pull themselves out of the Depression in a matter of months. it is also a cultural tool. Local scrip also sprang up around the United States. A former editor of The This is all that the government independent and are made by the Springfield Union in Massachusetts requires of a local currency, and all community. told us the story of a scrip issued by that a local currency requires of a • Social and ecological criteria his newspaper. He was just a copyboy community is trust. A currency is should be introduced into loan-mak- at the paper during the bank failures only as strong as the confidence that ing. (Community investment funds of the 1930s; he remembers that the people have in one another to pro- also use a positive set of social criteria publisher, Samuel Bowles, paid his duce something of value. Trust is at particular to their own region. These newspaper employees in scrip. It the heart of the successes in funds could join with hard-pressed could be spent in the stores which Springfield and Woergel and Exeter. local banks to initiate regional cur- advertised in the paper, and the stores Borsodi discontinued his experi- rencies.) would then pay for ads with the scrip, ment after a year, but he had accom- • Loan programs and local curren- thus closing the circle. The scrip was plished his purpose: to demonstrate cies should support local production so popular that customers began to local acceptance and verify the legali- for local needs. ask for change in scrip–they would ty of locally issued, non-governmental Local currencies can play a vital see Bowles around town and had currencies. role in the development of stable, more confidence in his local money diversified regional economies, giving than in the federal dollars. Forms of Currency definition and identity to regions, Newspaper money helped to keep the A local currency may be dollar- encouraging face-to-face transactions Springfield economy flowing during a denominated or measured in chick- between neighbours, and helping to period of bank closures, facilitating ens (as Wendell Berry once suggested revitalize local cultures. A local cur- commercial transactions that went for his part of Kentucky) or hours or rency is not simply an economic tool; well beyond the original intent of the cordwood, as long as people know it is also a cultural tool. issue. they can spend that chicken cash or Forty years later in the town of that cordwood note. Confidence in a Exeter, New Hampshire, the econo- currency requires that it be Adapted from: “Local Currencies: mist Ralph Borsodi and Robert redeemable for some locally available Catalysts for Sustainable Regional Swann, founder of the E. F. commodity or service. The Economies” by Robert Swann and Susan Schumacher Society, issued a curren- Schumacher Society recommends the Witt, in People, Land and Community cy that was based on a standard of following policies to maintain confi- (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, value using thirty different commodi- dence over the long haul: 1998). ties in an index similar to the Dow • The issuing organization should be

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 5 Local Currencies: Making Money, Making Change Susan Witt

AN UPDATE ON financing technique. Customers could from more customers. Paul asked the CURRENT ACTIVITIES purchase the notes during a month of owners if they would agree to accept a BY SUSAN WITT sale and redeem them over a year’s local scrip for their goods and services. period after the Deli had moved to its With nothing to lose, people signed n May 30, 1998, the New York new location. Martha Shaw, a local up. Everyone initially enrolled was Times Metro Section carried a artist, donated the design for the notes “issued” forty dollars worth of local Ofront page story about Thread which were dated and read scrip, known as Ithaca HOURS, City Bread, a local currency issued in “redeemable for meals up to a value of denominated in units of hourly labour. Willimantic, Connecticut. Within a ten dollars.” Frank sold ten-dollar Each HOUR note was valued at ten few days CNBC, ABC World News notes for eight dollars and in thirty federal dollars, a fair hourly wage for Tonight, Voice of America, Fox News in days had raised $5,000. Over the next the region. Paul printed several Boston, Northeast Magazine, as well as year, Frank repaid the loan, in sand- denominations of HOUR notes with several regional papers, TV and radio wiches and soup, rather than hard to pictures celebrating Ithaca’s natural stations had swooped into Willimantic come by federal dollars. Berkshire wonders, children, and famous persons. to interview select persons, bankers, Farm Preserve Notes, Monterey Heat-sensitive ink, high rag-content and shop owners about their home- General Store Notes, and Kintaro paper, serial numbers, and embossing made money. Notes soon followed in what looked helped to prevent counterfeiting. Local currencies are experiencing a like a movement. HOURTown, the free newsprint paper revival in North America, but for new listing all businesses accepting Ithaca reasons. During the last decade small Ithaca Hours HOURS, focuses on successful trading towns and inner city neighbourhoods Paul Glover of Ithaca, New York, saw stories to draw in new participants. are discovering that local scrip helps the media coverage of the Berkshire Behind the scenes, Paul is always at to define regional trading areas, edu- notes and liked the idea of hand-to- work to keep HOURS circulating suc- cate consumers about local resources, hand currency that let consumers sup- cessfully. He finds out which business- and build community. There are now port local business through pre-pur- es have too many HOURS in their till, over twenty different communities in chase of products, but he wanted to then sits down with the owners to rec- the United States and Canada where broaden the concept. Instead of each ommend ways for them to expand you can use colourful bills with names business issuing its own notes, why their HOUR usage. Paul knows which like BREAD, BloomingHours and couldn’t the community as a whole carpenter among the HOUR traders Brooklyn Greenbacks for anything issue a local scrip? To learn how this does the finest carpentry work, knows from buying groceries to having your might be done, he spent a week doing if the farmer has a reputation for deliv- hair cut or your computer repaired. research on the history and theory of ering carefully washed lettuce, and The current revival of local curren- regional issue of scrip at the E. F. knows if the guy with the rototiller will cies started in 1989 when Frank Schumacher Library, and had long dis- get the job done before the weekend. Tortoriello, the owner of a popular cussions with one of its founders, Largely as a result of this persistent attention to detail, $100,000 in Ithaca HOURS are in circulation today, rep- Local scrip helps to define regional trading areas, resenting several million dollars in educate consumers about local resources trade in local scrip. A board of direc- tors, fondly called the Municipal and build community. Reserve, keeps an eye on how the scrip is circulating and whether and how restaurant in Great Barrington, Robert Swann, who has spent a life- more should be issued. There are 350 Massachusetts, was rejected for a bank time promoting local currencies. area businesses–contractors, farmers, loan to finance a move to a new loca- Back in Ithaca, Paul talked to those restaurants, movie theatres, masseurs, tion. In a small community, word who were running small businesses out the local credit union–that now spreads quickly. The Berkshires are of their homes. As is typical in rural accept partial payment in Ithaca also home to the E. F. Schumacher areas, many people support themselves HOURS. In fact, when bidding the Society. All of us in the office knew not with one $25,000-a-year job, but contract for improvements to their the Deli; we ate lunch there and rec- with five $5,000-a-year cottage indus- new offices, Bill Meyers, the president ognized that Frank had a committed tries. They bake pies, repair lawn mow- of Alternatives Federal Credit Union, clientele who could afford to take a ers, do landscaping, paint houses, specified that the contractor must take risk to keep the cherished luncheon bookkeep, tutor, and dog sit. Most of part payment in Ithaca HOURS. The spot in business. We suggested that these businesses are undercapitalized message was loud and clear: non-locals Frank issue Deli Dollars as a self- and underpublicized and would benefit need not apply. Meyers explained that

6 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Susan Witt Local Currencies: An Update on Current Activities the winning contractor then became, tea brewing in a bucket over a fire in a nation to foster responsible consumer of necessity, a promoter of Ithaca yurt, and could imagine the days it choices and re-establish a commit- HOURS to subcontractors, further took to cultivate the tea plant on its ment to the community. accelerating trade in scrip and adding mountainside plantation and the new businesses to the growing list of hours of bending to gather the tiny Management of local participants. The use of local scrip new tea leaves. He could compare in currency programs gives a positive advantage to small, his mind the value of a generalized One of the key problems in the local locally based businesses, which recir- brick of tea to that of the actual lamb currency movement has been how to culate the wealth they have generated in his arms. support start-up and management back into the community. Most of today’s national currencies costs. The small home-business owners The Ithaca HOURS Hometown are no longer commodity-based. They who first enroll in the HOUR pro- Money Starter Kit has inspired groups are at best pegged to each other, or grams may be the folks most in need of around the country, each working to tied in a vague way to the general pro- a revitalized local economy, but they develop currencies that are right for ductivity of the country of origin. At lack the income margin to pay for the their particular communities. For Paul the end of the twentieth century administration of such a system. The Glover and other visionaries of the money has become altogether coordination for most HOUR pro- movement, local scrip is much more abstracted from our daily experience. grams has for the most part been car- than a device for revitalizing the local We talk of earning 6 percent interest, ried out by volunteers. As a result economy. It provides a direct way to but have no picture of “what our while they are often showered with respond to the alienation we experi- money is doing tonight,” whether it is media attention, the majority of local ence in an expanding global economy, working to build wheelbarrows in currency systems do not have the staff and restores the possibility of regional Brazil, grow corn on chemically fertil- and financial capability to meet their economies based on social and ecolog- ized land in Iowa, or make shoes in a full potential. ical principles. crowded factory in Thailand. Some local currency systems issue a In a simple barter economy produc- One of the crucial tasks of this new small percentage of the total amount tion methods are highly visible. The century will be to so shape our eco- of scrip in circulation to make a token value of the carrots we offer in trade is nomic system that environmental and payment to administrators–Ithaca directly related to our memories of hoe- social safeguards are built into its HOURS under Paul Glover’s watchful ing in the garden, of building the com- design. Advocacy for better working eye kept a tight cap at 5 percent. But post pile, and of waiting for the rain conditions and nonpolluting methods as a general policy, issuing for adminis- after planting. And though our picture of production will certainly play a part trative purposes can jeopardize the of the cordwood for which we are bar- in this reshaping, but theoretical soundness of the issue. Administration tering is not as detailed, still we proba- knowledge by itself will not necessari- is more appropriately paid from fees for bly have seen our neighbour as he split ly stimulate a change in our consumer service. and stacked the wood from the ash habits. Rather, we need to be able to Other local currency groups are tree. Barter transactions link us inextri- picture the manufacturing processes so organizing as programs of existing cably to a particular place and time. clearly that we are compelled to organizations using the administrative structure already in place. In Calgary, Alberta, for example, the Bow Local scrip restores the possibility of regional economies Chinook Barter Exchange formed out based on social and ecological principles. of a committee of the Arusha Centre and has received substantial organiza- tional funding from the Calgary Money, for all its obvious advan- demand secure conditions for the United Way, which views the program tages, introduces an element of workers, and to restore the waters poi- as a means for creating jobs. Still other abstractness into the economic soned by toxic waste. groups are looking to affiliate with process. This was less so in the past, By intentionally narrowing our established local economic-develop- when real goods were used as currency, choices of consumer goods to those ment organizations. or to back currency or denominate locally made, local currencies allow us Several large social service agencies units of currency. Value was still to know more fully the story of items are embracing local currencies as in- understood in terms of the amount of purchased–stories that include the house projects, as changes in federal labor applied to natural resources. human beings who made them and the welfare laws are forcing them to find When the Tibetan herdsman traded a specific locale of stones, rivers, forests, employment for their clients. Unwill- brick of tea (once used as currency in and fields from which they are fash- ing to take single mothers from their Tibet) for his lamb, he had a picture of ioned. Such stories work in the imagi- homes and place them in low paying,

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 7 Local Currencies: An Update on Current Activities Susan Witt fast food service jobs, the agencies use Corporation mounted a week-long [See box below.] local currencies to develop opportuni- international conference and multi- The Toronto project is just one ties for home businesses, keeping the neighbourhood block party called example of program innovation build- neighbourhoods healthy and mothers Ideas That Matter celebrating the life ing on the influential Ithaca model. In at home when their children return and influence of Jane Jacobs. Toronto the future, local currencies could be issued solely through the making of Broad usage of scrip would assure that wealth is productive loans. Productive loans are loans resulting in new goods circulat- recirculated in the community where it is generated, ing in the economy in excess of the supporting a diverse group of regional producers. value of the loan itself, such as loans to a farmer for seeds in the spring gener- ating a bountiful crop of fall vegeta- from school. In Philadelphia, author Joy Kogawa and merchant bles. The interest rate could be 0 per- Resources for Human Development, a Susan Braun took the occasion to cent, encouraging the development of nonprofit organization contracted to spearhead a discussion about a dream small local manufacturing enterprises distribute state and federal govern- they shared–a local currency for their or renewable energy generating plants ment assistance funds, has invested own St. Lawrence neighbourhood. that currently are not economically significant time and resources to issue Equal Dollars. In North Carolina, Suzanne Kinder coordinates the THE TORONTO DOLLAR PROJECT Dollar program of the Down East Partnership for Children (DEPC). Clients are paid for work at a number 1st Issue: December, 1998 of nonprofit organizations in DEPC Currency: The Toronto Dollar trades at par with the Canadian dollar Dollars which can be spent for donat- and is backed by Canadian dollars. Initially, consumers can exchange ed food, clothing, toys, and other their Canadian dollars for an equal amount of Toronto Dollars (1 items in the DEPC store. Canadian dollar buys 1 Toronto Dollar). Each time a Toronto Dollar is While these agencies have been purchased from Toronto Dollar Inc., 90 cents is deposited in a reserve effective in operating a limited local fund and 10 cents goes to the Toronto Dollar Community Projects Fund. currency system, they are constrained Participating businesses have agreed to accept Toronto Dollars on par by federal tax code to serving only with Canadian dollars. A business can continue to spend at par the their low income clientele. If they Toronto Dollars it receives or it can redeem its Toronto Dollars for wish to continue to support the newly- Canadian dollars at 90 cents on the dollar. The bills have a three year formed small businesses created expiry term, with the expectation that 12 percent of the Toronto Dollars through their efforts, they will soon sold will never be redeemed so that the total new money created is about need to evolve their local currency 22 percent. The main challenges experienced with this program were: 1) programs to include the banking com- getting supporters to purchase Toronto Dollars because of the potential munity, Main Street businesses, and inconvenience, and 2) dealing with inherent risks involved with a system professional service providers. tied to cash, i.e. having tight controls as one expands. Ultimately it will take a coalition of Participation: Approximately 250 businesses in the St. Lawrence Market nonprofit groups and for-profit busi- and Riverdale areas have agreed to accept Toronto Dollars. nesses, working together, to form the Approximately 40,000 Toronto Dollars are in circulation at any one time. kind of regionally based, democratical- Background: Organized by a volunteer group, the Toronto Dollar ly structured organization needed to Community Project Inc., the Toronto Dollar was launched December 5, provide long-term management of a 1998. Originally located in the St. Lawrence Market area, circulation has local currency program. In such a recently expanded to include businesses in the Riverdale area of Toronto. model, administration costs would be Overhead for the program is covered by interest on the reserve fund and paid from membership fees. Broad usage of scrip would assure that wealth donations. The Toronto Dollar Community Projects Fund is used to give is recirculated in the community Toronto Dollars to people as “thank-you honorariums” for volunteer work where it is generated, supporting a with a focus on supporting those who need more income. In its first two diverse group of regional producers. years of operation, the Community Projects Fund was able to donate Several groups are already laying the $25,000 to 22 agencies and community groups. groundwork for these developments. In October of 1997, Avana Capital

8 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Susan Witt Local Currencies: An Update on Current Activities

competitive. Eventually a nonprofit issuer could untie the local scrip from SUSAN WITT WRITES … the federal dollar, establishing a local backing such as cordwood, or a basket he events of this past fall have our rural communities is well-known. of commodities–corn, soy beans, and helped to end the lingering 2002 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of wheat for instance–as was done in the the publication of Wendell Berry’s experiment in Exeter, New Hampshire, Tenchantment with the mono- in the 1970s. In such a scenario, cur- culture of the global economy. The classic work, The Unsettling of rency would retain a constant local consequences are more visible. The America: Culture and Agriculture. value related to a natural resource and cost is too high in the discrepancy of A whole new generation of place- make visible once again the connec- income and resource use, environmen- based nature writers are describing life tion between the health of a local tal degradation, displacement of peo- in rural America and pointing to the economy and the health of the land. ples, disruption of local cultures. It economic forces displacing the patterns Such ideas, while not new, might breeds resentments and hostilities that of that life. Agrarianism is again a have seemed utopian until a few years can only be subdued through a danger- topic of earnest discussion at universi- ago, when the HOURS programs and ous and volatile world wide police ties and cultural gatherings. other alternative currencies began to Jane Jacobs remains the single most gather momentum. Today when local- force. currency activists get together, there is But quietly and surely, around the powerful voice for the renewal of our no mistaking the positive dynamic at world, new attention is given to the urban villages. It will take thousands work. The movement has all the ener- renewal of village economies. The of villagers working to renew thou- gy, idealism, and mobility of young leaders of this movement in village sands of villages around the world to adulthood–still experimenting to find after village are those whose roots run shape a lasting economics of peace. the right form, not afraid to take risks, deep in their local community. Who We will need map makers and story able to alter direction as needed, and knows from direct experience the nat- tellers to guide and encourage this determined to change the economic ural riches and human skills available renewal. Jane Jacobs helps chart the system to reflect their deeply held to shape new patterns of local produc- course for our cities. social and environmental values. tion and local trade? Who are using their imagination to craft new local Susan Witt Adapted from “Printing Money, Making Great Barrington, Mass. Change” by Susan Witt, originally pub- institutions to support this renewal? April, 2002 lished in Orion Afield, November 1998. The literature for the renaissance of

Recently published by the E. F. Schumacher Society…

An Economics of Peace E. F. Schumacher, Wendell Berry and Susan Witt Great Barrington, MA: E. F. Schumacher Society, 2001. $10.00 In the weeks following the tragedies of September 11, the Schumacher Society received numerous requests from around the world for Fritz Schumacher’s essay, “Buddhist Economics.” This essay was first published in 1973 in the classic Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. It is now reprinted along with Wendell Berry’s “Thoughts in the Presence of Fear,” written in response to September 11. Accompanying these two essays is “A New Peace” – comments made at the Global Dialogue for Peace Gathering in Sussex, England, on September 17, 2001 by Susan Witt, Executive Director of the E. F. Schumacher Society. Taken together, these three essays sound a clear call for alterna- tive economic systems as a means to lasting peace the world over. [To order, see page 23.]

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 9 About Susan Witt Susan Witt has served as Executive establishing credit for the borrowers. at Forest Row. Director of the E. F. Schumacher Deli Dollars, Berkshire Farm Preserve Never having done this kind of Society since its founding in 1980. Notes, and BerkShares all followed as work before, she depended on the The Schumacher Society is a North methods for customers to support cooperation of local bankers, lawyers, American, nonprofit organization that existing businesses during hard times. builders, land use planners, and town promotes and supports grassroots ini- From SHARE emerged SHARE- officials to work with the nonprofit to tiatives to develop more self-reliant croppers, a local newsletter connecting accomplish its goals. In the process regional economies. It conducts annu- Berkshire consumers and farmers. strong community partnerships were al lecture, seminar, and publication SHAREcroppers drew Jan Vander Tuin built. Vacation-home owners loaned programs that have hosted such speak- to the Schumacher Society in 1984 to money to a second mortgage pool ers as Wendell Berry, Jane Jacobs and discuss an approach to farming he had called the Fund for Affordable Ivan Illich. The 8,000 volume E. F. seen in Switzerland whereby con- Housing, enabling families without Schumacher Library is a premiere col- sumers contract to pay a yearly sufficient downpayment to purchase lection on decentralist thought and income to farmers in exchange for a the units. The project was completed action. share of the harvest. Witt introduced without government subsidies—a true Witt has no formal background in Vander Tuin to Robyn VanEn who local citizen initiative. economics; she was a literature teacher owned nearby Indian Line Farm and In 1997, Robyn VanEn died tragi- at a small private Waldorf high school cally, and her Indian Line Farm came in New Hampshire and loved the up for sale. If it were to be affordable world of great books that surrounded for farmers, the community would her. She came to believe, however, have to help. Witt worked with the that some of the world’s most pressing The Nature Conservancy and the social and environmental problems Community Land Trust in the could be solved only by changes in the Southern Berkshires, to purchase the economic system, and she wanted to land value. Two young farmers pur- help make that change. In 1977, at age chased the buildings and lease the thirty-one, she received a small inher- land. The lease stipulates organic pro- itance from her grandfather that duction methods and places a cap on enabled her to volunteer for organiza- the resale value of the buildings. In tions working to bring a renewed this way the ecological integrity of the moral dimension to economic activity. land is maintained and the buildings When she happened to turn on a remain affordable for future farmers. Photo courtesy of E. F. Schumacher Society Boston radio program and heard It is these stories of her Berkshire Robert Swann speaking about E. F. who was looking for a partner on her neighbors working together to shape Schumacher, her course was set. Three farm. Out of that partnership grew the the future of their local economy that years later, at the request of the British first Community Supported Witt describes in her articles and Schumacher Society, Witt and Swann Agriculture (CSA) farm in this coun- talks. She finds their striving and their founded a North American Society try. There are now over one thousand struggles compelling and hopeful in an located in the Berkshire region of CSA farms around the country, age so dominated by faceless global Massachusetts. The new organization thanks to Robyn’s perserverance and corporations. She believes that a sys- pursued both the conceptual develop- commitment to the concept. tem of vibrant and diverse local ment and practical implementation of Concerned about the lack of economies best meets the challenge to tools for a sustainable economy. affordable housing in the region, in conduct our affairs on earth in a man- In 1981 Witt organized the 1985 Witt worked with the ner responsible to the natural world SHARE micro-credit program as a Community Land Trust in the and to one another. model for consumers to collateralize Southern Berkshires on a four year, Susan Witt may be contacted loans to local small businesses. one point five million dollar building through the E. F. Schumacher SHARE facilitated over twenty small project, resulting in eighteen units of Society, 140 Jug End Road, Great loans in its first three years of opera- affordable housing for year round fam- Barrington, MA 01230 (413) 528- tion, without a default. Many were to ilies. Witt oversaw the land purchase, 1737, www.smallisbeautiful.org women without credit histories who land use planning, permitting process, Adapted from Environmental Activists, were starting new businesses. The construction financing, contracting, edited by John Mongillo (Westport, CT: loans were handled by a local bank, lease development, and sale of units Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001).

10 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly The Waterworks Photographs 1967 Noel Best

In 1967, I was leaving home in Toronto to attend the School of Architecture at UBC in Vancouver. I bought my first real camera –a 35mm slr – to record for myself what I thought were two of the more interesting aspects of my hometown: the streetcars and the waterworks. The RC Harris Filtration Plant has since been recognized as a unique and spectacular part of Toronto and its history – it appears in movies, novels and architectural surveys; but back then it was just this odd, surrealist extravagance in the neighbourhood where we grew up. This is where we swam, played baseball, and tobogganed. Like most of my old neighbourhood, where my parents still live in my childhood home, very little has changed here thirty years later – except there used to be more children. The Waterworks then had, and still has, this evanescent quality, dreamy, quiet – symmetry and serenity. Looking inside, you could see in the upper building the central skylit corridor that went on seemingly forever, flanked by this succession of still pools. In the lower building there were these giant turbines – and never a soul to be seen. Noel Best is a principal in the Vancouver firm Architectura. He specializes in airport design and educational and cultural facilities. His projects include the Contemporary Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery (with Arthur Erickson), the Centre for the Study of Global Issues and the Koerner Library at UBC; and airports in Bermuda, Santiago, Fort Saint John and London. These photos were selected from the larger suite of original 1967 photographs – bound in two volumes, the first the single images and the second the collages.

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 11 THE TORONTO WATERWORKS

12 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly THE TORONTO WATERWORKS

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 13 Grazing on the Commons: The Public Good Project “Come with one good idea and leave with five more.”

Historically, citizens gathered on com- mon ground to pasture their livestock, trade their wares, and discuss the issues of the day. From this shared place– which every citizen had a vital interest in maintaining as produc- tive–came innovation, creative expression, and wealth creation. The use of the Commons fundamentally shaped a community’s definition of the public good. Grazing on the Commons is the first in a series of events to focus on the public good.

RECLAIMING overgrazing the Commons, or fencing a part interested and powerful people. It has been THE COMMONS for private use, reduced productivity, which fenced, sold, resold and, in many cases, reduced the production and weight of the overgrazed. What we once all held in com- Alan Broadbent livestock, which reduced the wealth and mon has become private property which we From his opening remarks at health of the village. Over time, the village are increasingly being asked to pay to use. Grazing on the Commons, learned the best balance of use of the What we once all owned together, we must November, 2001 Commons. now seek permission to use. In Canada, we have built an enviable It is time for us to reclaim the Commons. he image of the Commons has society based in good part of the concept of It is our experience that great things emerge always been an attractive one for the Commons. Much of what has been built from the community, that activities and Tme. I think of the village common in this country we have built together: an groups which self-organize will find inge- where livestock was grazed. Those animals excellent system of public education; a pub- nious ways to do things. It is time for us all were a significant part of the wealth and well lic health system that Canadians value; and to stand up to the privatizers and marketiz- being of the village, and it was in every- cities and neighbourhoods that are secure ers and tell them that we will not have what body’s interest that they be well fed. This and supportive. While there is much to Canadians have built together, so carefully, necessitated that the Commons be main- improve, there is much we have achieved. over so many years, sold off, piece by piece, tained as a productive source of nutrition. It Over the course of the past couple of for a song. was in everyone’s interest. Such things as decades, the Commons has been seized by

EFFICIENCY AND care, public schooling, accountability register political effectiveness. Rather, THE COMMONS and choice. It invites stupid police and the bottom line for political organiza- slap dash justice. It undermines whole- tions is success at winning or retaining A conversation between Jane some communities. It cheats the inter- power to govern. In Canada, this Jacobs and Janice Gross Stein ests of posterity and toys very danger- means winning elections. at Grazing on the Commons ously with all types of security–from No matter how specious the cult of water to airports. Your question, efficiency is, if enough voters fall for it, November 15, 2001 in Toronto “Efficiency for what?” is the right ques- we get it. So, your brilliant analysis of JACOBS: As you already said cogent- tion with its emphasis on effective the cult’s fraudulence is important ly in your Massey lecture, [published in results. But here’s the rub: Effective civic education. But what about the The Cult of Efficiency, Toronto: Anansi health care, schooling, accountability many, many well-educated experts Press, 2001] efficiency harms medical and so on are not the bottom lines that who help the voters fall for this

14 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Jane Jacobs and Janice Gross Stein Efficiency and the Commons because they, themselves, have? think Michael Adams, who does all this haven’t done a great job in working Do you think miseducation helps lead work on citizens and their attitudes, with citizens to be accountable. So, the civil servants, elected officials, the would say, “It’s not good enough for guardian culture comes in and says, in media and institutional administrators most citizens.” Jane’s words, “We’re going to do it this as well as voters astray? Do universities, Where’s the bottom up conversation way and we’re going to impose these schools, governments, businesses and coming from citizens? How do we get measures, whether you like it or not.” departments of economics and political parents and schools to really engage and My big problem is, where are the science have an important part to play say, “You know, I don’t really like this levers to start this? I see individual citi- in unmasking the fraudulence of this standardized test. My kid is more than zens doing it. I see some communities cult? Is information from the new sci- the ability to answer a multiple choice doing it, but how do we scale this up ence of complexity developed by physi- question.” from small groups so we get some criti- cists, biologists and ecologists, needed JACOBS: Well, we do need account- cal mass? by social scientists and civil servants? ability, obviously. One reason that this JACOBS: I’m always amazed at how Do you think university communities nutty cult of efficiency got power is that many people don’t trust their own expe- are listening to you? I would value your it became clear that throwing money at rience. They don’t think that what hap- pened to them can be important. STEIN: Are you saying selfishness can One reason that this nutty cult of efficiency got power serve the public good? is that it became clear that throwing money at problems JACOBS: Yes, indeed it can. There are many kinds of selfishness and unfortu- didn’t solve them. Jane Jacobs nately greed is what pops into most peo- ple’s heads when they hear the word selfish. But selfishness can mean con- thoughts about any concrete means for problems didn’t solve them. That does- cern for your family and your neigh- putting government efficiency on a n’t mean that nothing works but I think bourhood. It can mean concern for saner, intellectual setting. we’ve got to look at what is sneeringly what touches you, and many things STEIN: I agree with every word you called “anecdotal evidence.” It’s good to touch you besides material things. said, Jane. We just assume that efficien- have statistics but I think anecdotal STEIN: I was working on school cy is an end, not a means. So pushing evidence is often sharper and truer. choice. When I listened to parents talk- that one step further, and asking people, It’s like novels. If you want to find out ing about why choice mattered to them, “Efficient at what?” should enable us to about a part of the world you haven’t I was struck with how strong support for get beyond this myth of efficiency that personally experienced, you probably school choice is in minority communi- drives our public policy and harms our will get a better idea from a good novel ties where their culture, their language public good. The rub is that politicians than you will from any nonfiction. and their community matters to them. run a four-year cycle; their goals are short Novels are like collections of anecdotal Those parents feel their kids aren’t well term. I think the real place this discus- evidence. We should take them serious- served in the larger public school sys- sion has to happen is among citizens. ly and look much more at what happens tem. They want to be able to choose And, it’s a tough conversation to have. with many individuals, not as statistics their kid’s school but still stay within I had an e-mail today from two high but as stories, and use that as an impor- the public school system. They might school principals in British Columbia tant ingredient of accountability. Does be called selfish, but they were telling a who said they were dissatisfied with the that make sense to you? story that was very important to them. accountability measures in schools STEIN: It does make sense to me. One JACOBS: That’s the kind of selfishness because the timelines are too short. of the things I was asking these two high that is so important. What is really the measure of an effec- school principals was, “What about fol- STEIN: That’s right. And when I asked, tive school? It’s how well that school lowing individual students when they’re “Are you worried that if you set up a equips the students to be citizens; how at school and when they leave? What school just for your community, your kids well the school equips people to be pro- about following high school students won’t have the chance to get to know ductive members of society. when they graduate? A year later, do the kids from other communities?” their In my book, I ask one of the vice pres- students feel they have learned what answer was, “We need to provide a safe idents of one of our hospitals, “If it were they needed? Can they tell us what they environment where our kids can learn up to us as citizens, what criteria should wished they had learned?” Let’s make and become more self-confident, more we use to judge a community hospital? the measure of effectiveness the stories secure; then they will be able to go out What is reasonable?” The answer was, of the people involved. and meet kids from other communities.” “Well, we measure work, we can’t be People can identify gaps in the public This is tough for me because, as held accountable.” I bet that wouldn’t institutions that I call “gluey” because somebody who works in international be good enough for you, Jane. And I they stick to citizens. Those institutions politics, I know what happens when

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 15 Efficiency and the Commons Jane Jacobs and Janice Gross Stein people stay only within their own com- We know that. Every town. Every city is today as it was fifteen years ago. So, munities. They develop stereotypes different. Every chain store isn’t differ- even the state, which is, after all, the about others and opinion polarizes. But ent and that’s getting very boring. ultimate hierarchy, is changing on us. if we don’t listen to what these parents STEIN: If one size doesn’t fit all, why is Government today has to reach out. are saying matters to them, we’re not “choice” a right-wing word? When did It has to pull in advice from outside. It going to fix anything. choice become a right-wing word? has to find partners because it doesn’t JACOBS: I think it is absolutely wrong JACOBS: It’s a right-wing word but it’s have the resources or the knowledge to to sacrifice your children to any ideolo- not a right-wing deed. And it leads to do it all. The old top-down hierarchical gy or affinity that you have. You the second question I have for you. state that we had all through the last absolutely have to change it if it’s not Within hierarchies, differing arrange- century is beginning to transform itself. working for your children. That’s your ments are possible. That’s choice. One And that’s the one big positive of effi- first responsibility when you’ve had available choice is called subsidiary, ciency. In a sense we’ve bought the children. Any child is more important meaning that higher governments can argument that old top-down hierarchi- than any idea. delegate various responsibilities and cal structure isn’t very efficient and so When parents want their children to resources downward to governments it’s changing. But here’s where citizens be educated in their own community that are in closer touch with local needs are going to have to weigh in. because they’re safer, there’s something and possibilities. Under this principle, I think citizens are correctly distrust- ful of hierarchies. They’re skeptical about markets, too. It’s that skepticism I think we live in a time of what you might call among citizens–the lack of deference to “dying priesthoods” of all kinds. authority–that I’m counting on to change the way we as citizens relate to Jane Jacobs these institutions. It’s confounding to me that we have a guardian culture very wrong. One thing I have admired the federal government hands many with values. And we have a commercial about Toronto is that there are not functions and resources to the culture with a set of values. But where’s ghettos in the sense that there are in provinces. All federalism is built on this the citizen culture? How do you fit the American cities. The nearest thing we idea. Under the same principle, citizen culture into your picture? have to ghettos in Toronto are the mis- provinces and the federal government JACOBS: The hierarchy, I agree, is guided public housing projects but we’re should be able to yield to municipalities changing. I think we live in a time of finally learning how to do it right. many responsibilities and resources what you might call “dying priesthoods” We also need to look at specific things they badly need but now lack; they can of all kinds. You can’t believe how that make parents feel unsafe. Bullying handle these much better than the intimidated women used to be by doc- is very bad. And it’s amazing how provinces because one size doesn’t fit all tors not so long ago and how intimidat- prevalent it is, generation after genera- municipalities. ed everyone was by lawyers. And, of tion. My husband went to a nice subur- But here’s the rub. For historical rea- course, if you read novels, you will see ban public school and he had many sto- sons that are now long out of date, that people were kept in line by clergy. ries to tell me about bullying and how municipalities must consistently resort We’re also probably living in the last frightened he was to walk home at to begging from higher levels of govern- days of feudalism. It’s been a long term, night. I went to a nice suburban public ment. They’re also forced to embrace thousand-year thing, but change is hap- school and I had no such trouble. But I the cult of efficiency. It seems that pening rapidly lately. So, we are digging remember my brothers did. So anecdo- Marshall McLuhan was right when he away at hierarchy. And I think that’s tal evidence suggests it’s a male problem. observed that you can’t centralize cen- reason for optimism. On the other STEIN: Safety is one of the biggest trally. hand, and there is another hand about issues that concerns parents. The STEIN: You can’t decentralize central- this, if we get too starry-eyed about the strongest support for school choice is ly. But I think we’re on the edge of market and what it can do, we get real- among African Americans who are meeting some of the concerns that ly monstrous things like prisons run by moving to charter schools; the commu- you’ve addressed in your work, Jane. profit-making organizations. That is an nities come together, set up and run The big missing voice in our politics is abomination to my way of looking at it. their own schools. These parents feel cities and communities. We can’t make And yet right here in Canada we have passionately that these exclusive com- that voice heard. What stops us is that it. And we’re threatened all the time munity schools are their highest priority. cities and communities have no politi- with having our health system JACOBS: I think it’s very important cal home in our structures. I think we’re destroyed by the American-type system that such schools should be publicly on the edge of seeing a change because and that’s an abomination to my mind. funded because in real life one size does- I think hierarchy is diminishing. Our We have to be very clear about what n’t fit all. Every individual is different. culture isn’t as supportive of hierarchy we dare make the responsibility of the

16 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Jane Jacobs and Janice Gross Stein Efficiency and the Commons market and what we must keep as the ners think up things that aren’t being powers. Beginning with the Korean responsibility of the public service and done and take initiatives–having a War, the U.S. seems to have fallen or the public good. When they get too community bread oven the way Jutta been pushed into this pattern of contin- mixed up–and this cult of efficiency is Mason does, or watching out for the ually sporadic warfare. The anticipated exactly such a mix-up, taken without archeology in the city the way Rollo peace with the end of the Cold War has understanding from commercial life Myers does, or looking out for the not materialized. What do you make of and applied idiotically to govern- homeless the way David Walsh does. this, Janice? Is this an inevitable pat- ment–it hurts the common good. There There’s Margie Zeidler who’s done some tern for empires until they disintegrate are lots of things that are not subject to wonderful stuff with old buildings and or is there plausible reason to believe being judged by financial success. artists’ communities. I am constantly the U.S. could be an exception? STEIN: That’s a short question I could I think as we chip away at the hierarchies, we need to spend the rest of my life answering. My instinctive response is we don’t know. I think of citizenship as a part-time job that we all have. think the U.S. may be the exception and why do I think that? Janice Gross Stein I think that warfare was highly orga- nized, and I think that’s now in our STEIN: Jane, in your book you talked filled with admiration for the people past. We’ll see some of it–just like peo- about two modes of working–the com- who are doing these things. ple duelled even after duelling was out- mercial value structure and the hierar- STEIN: I think we need to think about lawed. But I think that large-scale, chical value structure–and you argued citizenship not just as voting in an elec- mass movement, commanded control that those values don’t move back and tion. We need to start thinking about warfare, which not only defined forth easily. What we’ve done by apply- citizenship as a part-time job that we all empires but which made states, is com- ing markets to public goods is move have. And then we ask ourselves, ing to a close. The modern state, as we across those two value hierarchies in “Okay, which job am I going to take on? know it, grew out of the capacity to ways that don’t make sense. Am I going to go work in my local make war. So did empires. War was the When we look at these two ways of school? Am I going to go help out in the handmaid. Bureaucracies grew around working, how do we develop a culture local clinic? Am I going to help out with war making. I think that idea is com- of working citizens? a community issue?” Because it seems to ing to a close. I really do. And we’re JACOBS: It depends what kind of me that’s what crosses that bridge that moving to a different kind of network: work you’re doing. Just because you’re a we built between states and markets. knowledge-based world will. There citizen, you’re not different from some- We know states do some things and will be lots of struggle. Power will still body governing society or keeping a markets do others–how do we fit this matter. It’s naïve to think it won’t. store. You switch back and forth. part-time citizen into our economy? Work will still matter. Economics will STEIN: But how do we make citizen- JACOBS: I think what you are describ- still matter, but we may have passed ship a part-time job for everybody? I ing has a great deal in common with art through the death of empires through think as we chip away at the hierar- which has always been a big question continuous warfare. chies, we need to think of citizenship as mark. Art done for art’s sake is outside JACOBS: Good. I certainly hope a part-time job that we all have. economic life. Artists do need, some- you’re right. That’s what I would like to JACOBS: Yes, there’s political citizen- how or other, to eat but that’s not why believe, too. ship. I used to go around and canvass. It they do art. They do it because they’re was interesting, you go down your street driven to it. And it’s a gift. And I think and talk to people and figure out who that community things are done not for Janice Gross Stein is the Harrowston they’re probably going to vote for. This livelihood and not for power. That’s Professor of Conflict Management in the is Plato citizenship. I stopped doing it where that work belongs. Department of Political Science and the because there wasn’t any party I felt I In the past, all major empires have Director of the Munk Centre for wanted to help. There must have been gradually become stagnant when they International Studies at the University of some earlier failure of citizenship that were unable to maintain themselves. In Toronto. She is the winner of the Edgar things got to that point. hindsight, we can see that the course of Furniss Prize for outstanding contribu- But there are other ways of being citi- this melancholy pattern is marked by tion to the study of international securi- zens. There are some awards given in warfare that might be described as “con- ty and civil-military education. She is my name to people who do things for tinually sporadic,” which sounds like an currently a member of the International their community and that’s a very oxymoron, in order to combat insurrec- Security Committee of the American important kind of citizenship. Here’s tions, safeguard resources, strengthen Academy of Science and the Committee where innovation is a great thing in unstable borders, bring client states into on International Conflict Resolution of public life. The Jane Jacobs prizewin- line, and oppose rival and would-be the National Academy of Sciences.

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 17 Winners of the Jane Jacobs Prize: 2001 & 2002 Jutta Mason, David Walsh, Amanuel Melles and Mel Greif

he Jane Jacobs Prize is an the Dufferin Grove Park community. park. Every day the benches are in dif- annual acknowledgement of Jutta Mason has a profound belief in ferent positions, depending on Tindividuals who are contribut- public space–the Commons–and its whether they were most recently used ing to the fabric of Toronto in unique value in making neighbourhoods work. for courting or snoozing or hanging up ways that demonstrate the ideas of Born in Germany in 1947, Jutta the laundry for the homeless people’s Jane Jacobs. The recipients’ contribu- immigrated to Canada as a child in washday. Or for rapping at midnight tions have probably not been publicly 1956. She originally trained as a nurse. beside the basketball court. Or as spec- recognized. And, as with the work of Her interests–both professionally and tator benches for a theatre piece. Or as Jane Jacobs, their work reflects differ- as a volunteer–have always revolved a nursing/changing bench beside the ent aspects of city life. This group around communities, and the way in bake-oven on family pizza days. Or doesn’t always agree on what makes which the people who inhabit them piled on top of each other as a bold the city work. Or what the answers are find ways to care for each other. and innocent statement about the to making it work better. But this is all While home schooling her three power of teenagers to rearrange the part of urban life: we learn from each children, Jutta read a book by Alison world. Fun! other’s observations and experiences. Stallibrass about a community centre Over the years, Dufferin Grove Park The Jane Jacobs Prize, created as a in England between the two world has been the subject of much attention tribute to Jane, draws together people wars, called the Peckham Centre. This from communities across North who care about cities, specifically book galvanized her into approaching America wishing to learn from its suc- Toronto, in order to better understand her local community centre with some cesses. But some of what has been writ- how citizens make a difference. It is friends to set up an “indoor park.” It ten and said about the experiments at funded by Alan Broadbent, chair of quickly grew into a once-a-week the park has irritated those who were Avana Capital, who is a longtime pro- “scene” involving 60 to 100 people, actually there. So last fall, a group led ponent of Jane’s ideas and advocate of food, music, and lots of fort-building by Jutta decided it would pre-empt the her work. The prize includes a cash by the kids. It’s still going. When she anthropologists who wanted “to use us award of $5,000 per year for three moved to a block away from Dufferin as their natives” by establishing their years, and membership in an exclusive Grove Park, a neighbourhood with own research centre, the Centre for group of thinkers and doers. three high schools nearby, she attend- Local Research into Public Space. ed a few meetings and heard sugges- “Establishing the Centre was pretty Previous recipients tions that the teenagers who hung out straightforward, since we already had 1999: Mary Lou Morgan (food entre- on the streets and in the park, swear- the park clubhouse and the coloured preneur and activist) and Dan ing and making trouble, ought to be paper and the computer printer to Yashinsky (storyteller). See Ideas That arrested and jailed. She had the make the signs for the door,” said Jutta. Matter Vol 1 No. 1. impression lots of the people who lived One book has been published: Cooking 2000: Rollo Myers (urban historian) in her neighbourhood didn’t know with Fire in Public Space.[To order, see and Iria Vieira (community organizer). each other. She had a suspicion that page 23.] Two more are on the way: See Ideas That Matter Vol 1 No. 3. people living side by side as strangers What is a Park? and Whose Conflict is it would be more likely to see confine- anyway? ment as the only form of social con- 2001 RECIPIENTS: trol. David Walsh – Community JUTTA MASON AND So she helped to create Friends of building from the ground up DAVID WALSH Dufferin Grove Park which now boasts David Walsh is a real estate investor Jutta Mason – Giving a whole a community bread oven, a skating who contributes literally to the build- new meaning to Parks and Rec rink, and a clubhouse and hosts a wide ing of communities. Through Realco Jutta Mason is an urban dynamo. The range of community activities, both Property Limited, in which he is a soul behind the revitalization of formally organized and spontaneous. partner, he has invested in downtown Dufferin Grove Park, she is the yeast Jutta claims one of her biggest achieve- commercial properties throughout that spawned the community bread ments has been hunting up old forgot- Ontario and Quebec for the last three oven which has so much been the hall- ten Parks locker-room benches and decades. Initial investments focused mark of community revitalization for getting them put out all around the on historic buildings such as the

18 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Winners of the Jane Jacobs Prize: 2001 and 2002

Gooderham Flat-Iron Building in ily. A lecturer and former Head of been able to forge new partnerships downtown Toronto, the Flat-Iron the Marine Biology and Fisheries within the African settlement com- Building in Atlanta, Georgia, and the department of the University of munity in particular. St. Lawrence Building in Port Hope. Asmara, Aman is an immigrant who In addition to his involvement in Subsequent developments have sees that Toronto must combine the his local Toronto and newcomer included downtown retail properties best of the old world with the new. communities, Aman helped found such as the Carrot Common, a retail He brings a tremendous sense of and chaired Canadians for Peace and development on Danforth Ave that is grace and respect for valuable tradi- Development in Eritrea, a Toronto- a partnership with the Big Carrot tions, but also does not hesitate to based nongovernmental organization Natural Food Market. question the ongoing relevancy of The projects that interest David are that has been vehemently advocat- certain practices and institutions. ones that strengthen a community’s ing for peace and respect for human sense of itself, enrich its history, and empower its future. He is also critical- ly concerned about people’s basic needs. David’s interests and commitment to community and neighbourhood are broad: from retaining the Gooderham Flat-Iron building in which his office is located, to advocating for the residents of Tent City, a temporary shelter that currently houses a few dozen of Toronto’s homeless on a portion of vacant waterfront lands, David Walsh is a force with which to be reckoned. Quiet and determined, his values are put in play every day as he tackles obstacles preventing someone’s access to the basic entitlements of life: food and shelter. His efforts often pit him against bus- iness colleagues who don’t always share his commitment to social justice. Left to right: Iria Vieira, David Walsh, Jutta Mason, Dan Yashinsky, Mel Greif, “I have three children in their twen- Amanuel Melles, Mary Lou Morgan, Jane Jacobs and Rollo Myers (front). ties,” says David. “I know all about having my views challenged on a rou- Amanuel has done extensive com- rights in the context of the war tine basis.” But more often than not, munity work since his arrival to between Eritrea and Ethiopia. David is able to bring others along in Canada, including helping to found Aman has actively volunteered in their understanding and appreciation the Eritrean Canadian Society for grassroots organizations committed of the challenges many in the city face, Youth Advancement. He is a strong to immigrant youth development, and of their obligation to respond and advocate of immigrant communities suicide prevention, social justice and participate in finding practical solu- making an effective transition to community peacebuilding. He is an tions. Canadian life, believing firmly that avid user of electronic technologies, they must rise above any conflicts and has incorporated them into his 2002 RECIPIENTS – they have brought with them. various community building and AMANUEL MELLES AND Having lived within a war-torn advocacy efforts. He is a mentor to MEL GREIF country for many years, Aman newcomer refugee youth, a commu- exhorts settlement communities to nity leader, and a vital example of Amanuel Melles – Organizing put aside their divided pasts, and has the tenacity and commitment newcomer communities spearheaded various efforts to settle required to make the transition to a Originally from Eritrea, Amanuel conflicts and encourage newcomer new culture. (Aman) came to Canada in 1993 communities to engage in Canadian Currently, he is the Manager for with hope of creating a more stable life. Often plagued by fragmentation Community Action at the Family and peaceful life for him and his fam- and competing agendas, Aman has Service Association of Toronto, and

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 19 Winners of the Jane Jacobs Prize: 2001 and 2002

volunteers as a member of the Board ing and building inventory. History An active community member, of Toronto Distress Centres, Co- students are learning about their com- Greif has helped the Annex chair of African Canadian munity as well as techniques of prima- Ratepayers Association as a board Communities Social Development ry research. Additionally, because of member with responsibility for zoning Council and is the Vice President of his long tenure at Humberside and planning, and as a member of the Community Social Planning Collegiate, he has been able to use the Grassroots Albany, where he has been Council of Toronto. He is also a deep school, a historic institution in its own active in the planting of trees, shrubs sea diver, and holds a Masters degree right and a fine example of the and other plants. Currently Greif and in Applied and Fundamental Marine Collegiate Gothic style with Italianate others are bringing back amphibians to flourishes, as a laboratory in which to this special corner of the Annex as an Ecology from Vrije Universiteit in give students opportunities to take experiment in rebuilding the environ- Brussels. Prior to coming to Canada, possession of their heritage. ment. he spent ten years in research and During the Humberside Collegiate academia in Eritrea, Mauritius, Institute Centennial celebrations, Mel JANE JACOBS: I feel very simulta- Kenya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Greif made sure that hundreds of stu- neously very proud and very humbled Germany, Belgium and The dents were involved, over a period of to be associated with this prize, Netherlands. five years. A massive set of Canadian because of these wonderful people and history-based stained-glass windows what they do. And there are a lot of Mel Greif – History in action was installed. Well known Canadian people who haven’t been recognized Mel Greif, like Amanuel Melles, is an glass artist, Robert Jekyll, used yet, so the prize can go on for a long immigrant to Canada who chose research contributed by students in time. Toronto. A refugee, Mel left his home Mel’s grade ten Enriched History class- I’ve been thinking about the win- of Czechoslovakia after World War II, es to compose six massive windows ners so far. They’re all live wires. and as a result is deeply sympathetic to under the enthusiastic direction of Mel That’s one thing they have in com- the issues of building love for a new Greif. mon; another thing is that they have a country, respect for diversity and Humberside and its students have a lot of initiative, obviously. The third accommodating newcomers during dif- long tradition, stretching back to thing is that they’re originals. They ficult times. 1926, of sponsoring Canadian artists. think of things to do–or they just He is the President of the Arthur Lismer was commissioned to stumble over things to do, to hear Czechoslovak (Toronto) Credit paint what is thought to be the largest them tell it–that nobody else is doing. Union, which since the mid 1960s has Canadian mural–The Humberside And the first response they get is, “You enabled hundreds of newcomers from Lismer Mural. This famous painting can’t do that,” or “That’s not allowed,” the old Czechoslovakia to pay their was dismantled, damaged and partially or “That won’t work,” or whatever. first and last month’s rent and buy lost during school reconstruction. Mel These prizewinners don’t pay any their first cars and their first furniture, has raised over $100,000 from alumni attention. We have to get their spirit as well tools with which to start new and government and cultural sources into more people who are in authority. businesses. and arranged for the repatriation and Honouring the prizewinners’ under- A high school history teacher for deaccessioning of the missing pieces. standing of what this city is and what over thirty years, Greif is renowned for After seven years of creative and hard makes it work is really the point behind his inspirational lectures and innova- work by conservators from Queen’s these awards. If these people were just tive teaching style, having experi- University, the glorious mural once lonely atoms doing their own thing, mented with conveying his abiding again hangs in its full majesty in the that would be pretty sad and ineffec- interest in the story of Canada. His school auditorium, renamed Lismer tive. But they do their thing and tell creativity, specific knowledge of and Hall. The story of Canadian values, others, who also get involved, and interest in urban, aesthetic and exploration and settlement is continu- that’s what makes our city possible. human-interest opportunities have ally retold to his students as they take been coupled with boundless energy part in assembly exercises under the and enthusiasm. Mel Greif has a spe- colourful Lismer creation. Without the cial interest in Canadian urban histor- long term initiative, driving force, Editor’s note: Recipients of the Jane Jacobs ical geography and the nature and continual activity and successful Prize are nominated by a diverse group of shape of cities and their architecture. fundraising abilities of Mel Greif, this anonymous “spotters.” Jane Jacobs plays Currently, Greif has partnered his high mural would have remained “lost.” no role in the selection or administration of school Humberside Collegiate with The project is now in its final stage the prize, but is warmly hospitable and, as the West Toronto and Junction with the last missing piece having always, constructively provocative at Historical Society to complete a hous- been located. semi-annual gatherings of the recipients.

20 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly C5 Meeting – Vancouver January 2002

he C5 provides opportunities for fifty years is simply not enough. And enough. So what do they do? The only the Mayors of Canada’s five to have a whole section of the country thing that centralized governments Tmajor hubs to discuss common such as the Atlantic provinces without have ever been able to do in such situ- challenges facing their urban regions and a single creative metropolis in it is a ations is to try to make one size fit all. develop mutually beneficial strategies. great drag and a great waste of human To try to standardize solutions. To try In May 2001 at the invitation of Jane potential as well as a sign that some- to pretend that places are more alike Jacobs, the Mayors of Vancouver, thing is awfully wrong. than they are. This doesn’t work well. Calgary, Toronto and Montréal convened Now I would like to mention some And yet there’s no way out of it except with their host, the Mayor of Winnipeg, catch phrases. One of them is “learned devolving more authority and more to form the C5. The discussions of that helplessness” and we know how bad resources to deal with things down to first meeting were summarized in Volume that is for people. It’s also bad for set- these various different kinds of munic- 2 No. 1 of Ideas That Matter (available tlements and the way that our munic- ipalities. at www.ideasthatmatter.com). ipalities are placed in relationship to The ones that actually can’t handle The C5 met for a second time in the two senior levels of government is these things will need the province to January 2002, in Vancouver. Hosted by just tailor-made for learned helpless- take care of them in ways that the Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen, the sec- ness. It comes from the old sort of more sophisticated, complete and ond meeting included two newly elected Oliver Twist days when the provinces more experienced settlements don’t Mayors–David Bronconnier from were the only ones with the expertise need. Over the course of time, this Calgary and Gerald Tremblay from to run these country-bumpkin places problem of particularity grows more Montréal–and returning Mayors Mel that formed Canada at the time. intense and learned helplessness Lastman from Toronto and Glen Murray Things have changed. Learned help- becomes so demoralizing. Something from Winnipeg. Each Mayor was accom- lessness is very demoralizing to our has got to give and this is what I feel panied by a community delegation of up cities. It has infantilized a lot of their urgent about. to five of his choosing. attitudes, making their own citizens The system that we have inherited The following is excerpted from the disrespect their governments because and have neglected to change not only opening session of this historic second they see they don’t have power. Like victimizes cities, it’s also bad for the meeting, where British Columbia Premier Oliver Twist, cities are always saying, other two levels of government. For Gordon Campbell exchanged ideas with “Please, may I have more?” And you example, the federal government Jane Jacobs. The C5 meets again in June can see a reflection of this in low voter rightly feels frustrated and resentful 2002 in Montréal. turnouts in municipal elections. This when it allocates grants to provinces is bad. that are intended to go for city infra- JANE JACOBS: It’s hard for me to be The second catch word I would like structure such as transit, and the anything but upbeat because I’ve been to mention is “particularity.” We hear province in turn lowers the amount of having such a good time in Vancouver every other day now that Canada is 80 its grant to the municipalities. What and I’ve been seeing such wonderful percent urbanized, which sounds as if has the federal government accom- things. Really, the planners and the 80 percent of us live in cities. What it plished? I mention transit because city administration here are brilliant actually means is that 20 percent of there’s exactly this kind of kafuffle and how they do things in Vancouver the population is living in very rural going on with the federal government, is really very heartening. economies and the rest live in large the province of Ontario and the city of However, a big however, I don’t cities, little company towns and exur- Toronto right now with the transit really feel I can be upbeat at this bias as well as suburbs that work as grant that the federal government point. In spite of it being the best of dormitories–all very different kinds of gave, or promised, the province and times as well as the worst of times, places. Particularity is important the province now thinks, “Ah-ha, we which is usually the case, I feel a great because when senior levels of govern- don’t have to give as much to the sense of urgency that we have to make ment try to micromanage or even cities,” and the federal government changes in our system affecting cities. semi-micromanage all these so-called says, “Well we won’t give you this Calgary has emerged out of a sort of urban places, they’ve got an awful lot unless you restore the amount you city adolescence in the last half cent- of different kinds of problems and dif- were giving.” It’s a very mean mess. ury but, in a country the size of ferent kinds of places. They can’t pos- The provinces are big on their own Canada, one emerging creative city in sibly know them all intimately particularity and they should be. They

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 21 C5 Meeting – Vancouver all have different problems. They are Vancouver, I saw how much was not provinces, but most importantly to not only different geographically, they happening because of the imposition reinforce people’s own lives and their also have different histories and differ- of provincial constraints and unfound- creativity and stability. ent expectations of different possibili- ed mandates that didn’t allow us to do I want you to be a little more upbeat ties. They bridle very much when the sensible things that we could plan out than you are right now. But I want the federal government, for instance, over time. Cities are, frankly, far better upbeatness to start from the ground up wants to make them too standardized at planning than provinces. as opposed to starting from the top or doesn’t honour their particularity. I think what we have to start think- down. We have to try to liberate peo- However, curiously enough the ing about first is citizens and then ple so they can be part of that. Our provinces don’t see that what’s sauce communities and then cities and then Community Charter will give cities in for the goose is sauce for the gander. provinces and then the feds. And the British Columbia responsibilities and They’ve got to respect the particular- way we created this country in 1867 is resources. There’s no more download- ity within their own provinces. I don’t we started first with the provinces, ing but there’s also no more uploading. need to say how frustrated and resent- then we got the feds, and we fit these It’s time for us to take responsibility ful the cities are at their learned and little tiny responsibilities for cities in for what we’re doing and demand that enforced helplessness. And the people between mental institutions and pub- our provinces give us those responsi- way down at the bottom of the totem lic housing. That pyramid has got to bilities. That demand has got to be pole–the taxpayers, for instance–we change. framed not in terms of “we want more get resentful and frustrated because we In British Columbia, what we’re try- money,” which makes it too easy for know how much we pay in taxes. ing to do with our Community Charter provinces to say no. We hope that cre- We’ve got to get out of these boxes. is start to exercise that change and ating a Community Charter and pro- It’s not just a matter of physical infra- actually get ahead of it because it’s viding local autonomy, local account- structure. It’s not just a matter of eco- going to happen whether governments ability and local responsibility will nomics. It’s not just a matter of more or politicians want it to or not. I think actually reinvigorate the electorate. efficient government. They’re all a lot of the frustration the citizens feel And, if we can be successful with our important and we need to change our is the real world pushing against insti- experiment here in B.C., we believe present arrangements for all those rea- tutional infrastructures that are resis- we’ll then be able to go to the feds and sons and others. But it’s also because of tant to change and we’re losing the say, “See how we did it in B.C.? You this demoralization. If we had some political leadership to move us forward. should do that federally with the other kind of measurement of envy and And I do think it requires political provinces.” spleen in Canada we would see that leadership. The leadership is going to And I just want to say this to the these have been on the increase. This come from you [municipal leaders] mayors while I’ve got the chance: I am is not good. A federation isn’t meant because you are connected the closest not one of the big fans of saying, “Let’s for that; a federation should mean that to your citizens and you can create get a Federal ministry that will dole its various parts support each other that understanding, that literacy out money to municipalities,” because and help each other so everybody can among the electorate, of what you can I will guarantee you that it will not do feel proud and secure about belonging do to meet their needs. it on the basis of your priorities. It will to it. And, the higher the gauge of I don’t really think people stand dole out money on the basis of its own envy and spleen, the more the country around asking themselves, “How do we priorities and they’ll be political and is undercut. As somebody who loves start taking care of cities?” They think, typically they will fail. Canada and is proud and happy to be “How do I start taking care of myself? I think we have to work together. here, it distresses me to see that. How do I make sure I live in a safe and Provincially, we’re going to try to work secure community? How do I live in a with the City of Vancouver and with PREMIER GORDON CAMPBELL: place where there is cultural activity other municipalities to make sure that I think we have to stop talking only taking place–where there’s excitement, they get the autonomy they need, that about cities and provinces and govern- diversity?” they get the resources they need to ments. I think we have to start talking There is a book called Cosmopolitan make decisions. And I’m going to say, about citizens because until we talk Culture (Atheneum, 1987) by Bonnie frankly again, that this is selfish. I’ve about citizens and the services that Menes Kahn that talks about how got enough problems at the provincial they expect and deserve and need, cities can attract people and what they level without dealing with local prob- we’re going to continue with the kind can do to build not only a sense of lems. So, I think that we can make a of wrangling that we’ve had in the belonging to a place but also intellec- major institutional shift here. I think past. tual capital. All those things, I think, we can unlearn our helplessness. One of the reasons I decided to run create the fabric we need to strength- provincially is because, as Mayor of en the federation, to strengthen our

22 Volume 2 Number 2 A quarterly Books That Matter Appearance & Reality of life experience. The last chapter, The Cult of Efficiency Stephen Hogbin Critical Methods, confirms one’s Janice Gross Stein pleasure and profit in revisiting many (BETHEL, CT: CAMBIUM PRESS, (TORONTO: ANANSI PRESS, 2001) 2000) $44.95 parts of the book repeatedly. $16.95 For those who have read and appreciated Hogbin’s earlier work, this book gives one immediate delight and great anticipation. Appearance & Reality is a distilled journal of his life to date as a design- er, his journeys in its service, and his relationship to these global commu- nities encountered. Appearance & Reality is not a closed mechanical system. It is an open invitation to a richer and root- ed complexity in creativity. – John Harrison

Also referenced We live in an age dominated by the Handsomely designed, richly and sys- in this issue cult of efficiency. Efficiency in the tematically illustrated, well-paced raging debate about public goods is and accessible, Stephen Hogbin’s An Economics of Peace, often used as a code word to advance Appearance & Reality is an important E. F. Schumacher, Wendell Berry and Susan Witt. (Great Barrington, MA: political agendas. When it is used cor- transitional treatise for the arts and rectly, efficiency is important: it must design world. As many of the mani- E. F. Schumacher Society, 2001) $10.00 always be part of the conversation festos of design modernism shocked when resources are scarce and citizens their advocates by crumbling mere Systems of Survival, Jane Jacobs. and governments have important decades after their heroic proclama- choices to make among competing tions, late 20th century aesthetic life (New York: Random House, 1992) $17.95 priorities. declined into the “style wars” of post- Even when the language of efficien- modernist fragments versus nostalgic Cooking with Fire in Public Space cy is used carefully, that language alone and limited late modernism. Rather is not enough. Unilingualism will not than argue from either perspective, (Toronto: Dufferin Grove Park, 2001) $10.00 do. We need to go beyond the cult of Hogbin presents a global and refresh- efficiency to talk about accountability. ingly constructive look at the com- Much of the democratic debate of the munity-based approaches recently next decade will turn on how account- emerging in art and design. ability becomes part of our public con- Quadriforms and other diagrams, versation and whether it is imposed or concise probing text, diverse Order these and other negotiated. thoughtful quotations and sump- Books That Matter from: In The Cult of Efficiency, Janice tuous photographs of works Gross Stein draws on public edu- HE INGER RESS OOKSHOP from four regional groups of T G P B cation and universal health care, makers (central Canada, 848 Second Ave East, Owen Sound locally and globally, as flash- southeast England, northern Ontario, Canada N4K 2H3 points in the debate about their 1-800-463-9937 • (519) 376-4233 efficiency. She argues that what California and southeast Fax (519) 376-9871 Australia) are the four-part har- [email protected] will define the quality of educa- mony woven by Hogbin to stim- tion–from Ontario to India–and ulate and reintegrate design Place your order on-line: the quality of health care–from thinking from the more convention- www.gingerpress.com China to Alberta–is whether citizens al structural approach to a new and governments can negotiate new respect for the embodied wholeness standards of accountability.

A quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 23 848 Second Ave East Owen Sound, Ontario Canada N4K 2H3

A quarterly to stimulate public discourse • featuring writing from some of the world’s most interesting thinkers, writers and community leaders • only available by subscription • visit our website: www.ideasthatmatter.com today • future issues will explore the themes of self-organization, ethics and social inclusion