Essentiële economie

‘Without heating or energy a person might die.’Sanne Akerboom, founder and director of the Sustainable Industry Lab

Care, water, energy, food, education, housing, public spaces, public transport and mobility are essential to our well-being.

These are the results of dozens of conversations, discussions and exchanges of Cities for Change. Door uiteenlopende deelnemers en organisaties uit Amsterdam en andere steden in Europa.

Transition

The urban economy takes care of the basic needs of all its residents, while keeping our planet, our source, liveable. It’s not market forces, competition and the rat race – benefiting only part of the people - that should be leading, but democratisation, reciprocity, solidarity and collaboration in cooperatives or other local structures.

Essential goods and services are provisions all of us need for a humane existence: care, water, energy, food, education, public space, public transport and mobility. It is up to the (local) government to guarantee these essential services.

The focus on an economy of well-being and essential provisions seamlessly interlinks with the Amsterdam Donut strategy. This comprises a social foundation to protect our minimum standard of living and an ecological ceiling to protect the planet.

‘Together we must define what a public interests are.What really must be taken care of. Health care and education are genuinely public issues.’Rutger Groot Wassink, alderman for Social Affairs in Amsterdam

Recommendations

From market forces to basic needs. The municipality removes care, welfare, child care, infrastructure, energy, education and other essential services from procurement and tendering – these are not exclusively for the market but should be delivered in more democratic arrangements. This requires a broader and more creative interpretation of national and European procurement rules. Or a stronger lobby.
From public-private to public-civil. In essential services, the municipality gives precedence to collaborating with citizens over private market parties. From PPPs, public-private partnerships, to PCPs, public-civil partnerships, in which the ‘C’ may also refer to collective, cooperative, commons or community. This guarantees co-decision for organised citizens and workers – including representatives of future generations. And ensures the city, neighbourhoods and residents benefit from the economic returns.
The needs of residents are leading. Strong neighbourhood networks and alliances help residents gain control over the economy. A Socioeconomic City or City District Council unites these alliances and networks. With a balanced representation of local residents, civil society organisations and social enterprises from local neighbourhoods, larger civil society organisations (welfare, housing, education, trade unions), local government, the business sector and research.
Insight into the well-being of the city and its residents. The city council commissions the development of a dashboard for the well-being economy that measures and monitors value and well-being. Because in the absence of data, there can be no analysis, no policy and no direction in policy and politics.

‘Together we must define what a public interests are.What really must be taken care of. Health care and education are genuinely public issues.’Rutger Groot Wassink, alderman for Social Affairs in Amsterdam

Which problems are the recommendations an answer to?

For decades, competition and privatisation were the magic formulas, from the assumption that the market and competition were better, cheaper and more efficient. Our basic needs – including care, energy, education, housing, public space, waste disposal etc. – have largely been handed over to private companies who have turned them into a commercial product, with profit as the ultimate goal instead of our well-being and that of our planet.

Those services in private hands are not ‘safe’: a business can go bust or bankrupt, sell on the service, raise the price, deliver reduced quality. Furthermore, this system fuels inequality: for large groups of people, these essential services have now become too expensive and inaccessible.

Continue reading, listening or watching

Read more about a just, democratic neighbourhood economy
Read about public-civil partnerships and why they benefit the city
On how we must flip the switch for new economic thinking: watch the entire session on Cities for Change
Read about how market forces and competition fule inequality in The Inequitable City
Watch this video on what foundational economy entails. Or read the manifesto of the Foundational Economy Collective.