A conversation on the Commons with guest Georgia Nicolau, founder of Procomum Institute São Paulo, Brasilien.

How do communities all over the world relate to the idea of the commons? How can cities establish a long-lasting governance of shared resources on the citizen’s behalf? What are the different local approaches towards activating local networks and building urban commons?
In this conversation, our guest Georgia Nicolau will share her learnings from building the Instituto Procomum in the city of Santos, southcoast of São Paulo, Brazil, where she works social innovation from the bottom up.
Procomum is working as a network in the construction and promotion of common goods and using citizen innovation and free culture to improve people’s lives and solve local problems. Among other projects, they have a citizen lab, a 1500 square meters space, the LAB Santista (LABxS), that they call a Cultural Center for the Commons. LABxS carried out the two editions of LABxS Circuit – a citizen innovation festival in which around 15 ideas are selected in a public call and carried out actions to promote common goods in the Baixada Santista, that is the name of the region where the LAB is and that comprises 9 municipalities, most of them at the coast. The festival is marked by collective work and strengthening of citizenship. With all that thy have learned, the Procomum team has developed the Maral methodology, so that the festival can be replicated in other territories and by other organizations.

This evening offers a chance for local commons activists to get together and discuss their projects, while learning from international initiatives.