Taking Shape: Grassroots experiments in commoning for circular economies

This research looks at the diverse strategies within local communities for moving toward more sustainable and fair urban societies, through the practices of commoning, or coming together, around waste. I look specifically at three grassroots initiatives of a local food system, a tool library, and a sustainability hub for material reuse in Naarm (Melbourne). I find that in trying to live more sustainably at the local level, these groups also create social and political spaces for engaging more people in the power, responsibilities, and benefits of transitioning urban economies to more sustainable and ethical practices. This process of sharing shapes a 'commons' around waste, for a wider sharing of urban governance across grassroots organizers, local government staff, private landowners, and urban residents, offering strategies for how local communities can work together to create broader socio-institutional change.