Short Course on Commons, Conviviality & Community

In these times of strife, discord, and confusion, how can we create common ground on which we cultivate the conditions for flourishing lives — in ourselves, our communities, and the ecosystems we depend on? Finding meaningful answers to this question feels more urgent than ever if we’re to chart pathways to better futures.

Together, we’ll explore not only how to build this common ground, but also how to reconnect with our own personal sense of purpose and learn what it means to create with others — with care, courage, and imagination. Along the way, we’ll discover that there are many pathways forward — and that we don’t have to walk them alone.

We’ll explore the themes of commons, conviviality, and community, grounded in nature connection, relational governance, and phenomenological approaches. We’ll discover more questions along the way - how can we develop our intuitions about ‘community’ and bringing people together for common purpose? We’ll call upon some useful wisdom from Elinor Ostrom and EF Schumacher, as well as dozens of other thinkers. And we’ll experience an embodied, holistic approach to learning that will, in itself, become an important part of our living inquiry.

This course is an exciting collaboration of Schumacher Action Labs (NL), Schumacher Center for New Economics (USA), and Schumacher Wild, the ‘regeneration phase’ of world renowned Schumacher College (UK). This new initiative strengthens our translocal partnerships and helps grow the European learning ecosystem we’re co-creating — one rooted in care, participation, and lived experience. Is this kind of learning needed in the world in these times? Might this course be a spark that helps it spread far and wide? Come and be part of something wonderful.