Cooperatives for the Many
On Friday 5th April, CLES Researcher Grace Brown took part in a workshop session on New Municipalism and Cooperative Development at this year’s Ways Forward: Cooperatives for the Many Conference.
This conference was inspired by a variety of activities that have been attracting attention recently: the rise of ‘new municipalism’ epitomised by what’s happening in cities as diverse as Preston and Barcelona; grassroots activism centred around ideas of the solidarity economy and community wealth building; as well as the ongoing buzz around the potential of platform co-operatives.
These, along with other initiatives, feel like they may be beginning to coalesce, perhaps creating a window of opportunity, a real chance to build something new, something substantial, that could shift the needle towards a new economy that puts people and planet before private profit.
Alongside Gareth Nash from Preston Co-op Development Network and Co-operative & Mutual Solutions and Cllr Martin Judd from Oldham Council and Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, Grace spoke about CLES’ work building an inclusive economy through community wealth building.
