NOT THE CHICKEN, NOT THE EGG, BUT THE NEST!

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1 NOT THE CHICKEN, NOT THE EGG, BUT THE NEST! NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6 October 2003 In this newsletter we are highlighting the debate that took place at the High Tea & Talk in Arnhem on the subject of Money and other forms of capital for urban development. At the previous High Tea & Talk (see our last newsletter) we explored the different forms of capital that inhabitants contribute to neighborhoods. This time we built on that experience by looking at ways to link the different forms of capital coming from different players in the field. This is one of the main issues we are addressing in the Nest! Project. We are also including in this newsletter the outline of one of the sub-studies, notably the one that deals with economic alternatives. Content: HIGH TEA&TALK IN ARNHEM ON MONEY AND OTHER FORMS OF CAPITAL 2 Introduction 2 Lessons Learned 3 Transferring different types of capital 4 Local Economic Trading Systems (LETS) 5 Applying Lessons to Schuytgraaf 6 OUTLINE OF STUDY ABOUT SAVING AND CREDIT SYSTEMS 7 Content and goals 7 Questions 8 QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE 8 Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 1 of 8

2 High Tea&Talk in Arnhem on Money and other forms of capital Introduction At the previous High Tea and Talk (see our last newsletter) we explored the different forms of capital that inhabitants contribute to settlements and neighborhoods. One of the challenges coming out of this perspective in regard to urban planning and development is how to link the different forms of capital coming from different players in the field, how to create conditions for what one could call bridging capital or linking knowledge to develop. This is one of the main issues we are addressing in the Nest! Project. Other forms of investments Creating a temporary settlement in the time and space slots available during the development process of a new settlement is an approach of stimulating the exchange of different forms of capital as a way of enriching the quality of new neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are defined both by the quality of housing, design and physical infrastructure, as well as by the quality of the social relations, interaction and exchange of the people that live there. Creating cheap accommodation and experimental space in the form of a temporary settlement, in locations where agricultural use has ended, but building has not yet started is a way to attract and mobilize pioneer energy. This investment of students, artists, refugees and also starter families adds social, cultural and symbolic capital to the process of developing a Vinex location. The temporary settlement thus fuctions as a kind of social warming up of new neighborhoods, creating community life before and during the development process of the neighborhood, so that people find and can connect to a community when they settle there. Looking at conditions for exchange of capital This is a new approach to urban planning. Its success depends on the realization of interaction and exchange between the inhabitants of the temporary settlement and the permanent neighborhood. At the August High Tea and Talk we concluded that by creating a location with opportunities for cheap space, for building up a future, for creativity and for recognition, people will spend their social, cultural and symbolic capital there. In the last High Tea&Talk of the 2003 season we continued on the subject. We wanted to take a closer look at what conditions are needed for this investment and exchange to happen. Existing experiences and examples were examined under this respect. Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 2 of 8

3 Lessons Learned Awareness Building and Asset Mapping Often people are not aware of the resources, skills and qualities they have, that they are indeed forms of capital. People only become aware of these qualities, when they are not around any more. Many refugees when they come to this country are flabbergasted at how socially cold it is in Northern countries, because they are not used to it. They notice the difference, we from the North only notice that something is lacking. So what is needed is to create awareness of the social capital they bring with them and to find ways to acknowledge and value it and to channel it into the host society. How do you make it work for more invisible forms of social capital? If you are a warm person (the capacity to be gezellig as the Dutch say)? How do you transform that also into a contribution that counts and is validated? Making people feel welcome is a very important quality, that is however not so visible and measurable. If meeting places work and are alive it often is the case that there are people involved that have that quality. Often it is women who contribute the more invisible but very crucial forms of social capital to projects. It is important for awareness and valorization to happen also in this respect. Identifying resources There are many methods being developed currently in the area of informal learning and community development that follow a skill and resource based approach. The skills audit for migrants, an instrument developed by the German Youth Institute in Munich is one example, the ABCD method (Asset Based Community Development) is another. In this approach an assessment is done via interviews of what skills talents, assets and resources of people exist in the neighborhood. The audit includes skills and competencies developed in informal learning settings. The next step is to put a value on them and to create a system which makes this value interchangeable. Social Meeting Places in the Neighborhood For people to bring in and exchange their talents and resources they need opportunities to meet, to interact and to do things together. When people meet, they start exchanging their knowledge, information and care. That is what often is lacking in neighborhoods. Creating starting points, common themes and common spaces to meet is crucial. Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 3 of 8

4 Transferring different types of capital How cultural capital transfers into real estate value If a place gets hip that will do something. In Vinex location IJburg (near Amsterdam) sales were not going well. Then somebody said, we have so much sand here, we call it a beach. They started selling ice cream, next the whole Grachtengordel came out there because it was hip. It was where you should be seen drinking your rosé and all of a sudden sales went up. The question we have is how to make sure that this added symbolic and cultural capital doesn t just disappear into the pockets of a few or just be seen as the natural course of things. How to get this process recognized, how to make sure that whatever gets built up is for the benefit for all, for the whole community. When inhabitants participate in building In the example of Polderdrift we built 40 new houses. We invited people interested in environmental issues, who wanted to build their own house. The idea was that as a developer I don t care how the houses are built, if you do care, talk to me and create your own place. The house would be owned by our social housing company, but the people would participate in building it themselves. In the process we ran into many difficulties. The contractors said it is all very nice, but if you want to paint yourself, I will not guarantee the wood, I don t take any responsibility for quality if I don t build. In the end the people did small things, like designing the path to their house, painting the fence. It did not save them much and the actual house was already a house without their energy. Still in this settlement there is a group feeling, they have something together. Because of that experience there are interesting things going on there. For instance, they said we can put our tools in sheds half the size you planned, and with the saved money and materials we make another building, a meeting place. It functions very well. Modern Equivalents to Tradition In the part of Africa where I come from, the system: all for one, one for all is frequently used. In a village with 20 families or more when you want to build a house, the village comes to you and builds you the house. The next time you all go to the neighbor and his house gets built. There is no cost. People do not have money, but their houses get built. This only works in a community where everybody knows one another. During the discussion the participants tried to identify modern equivalents. For exchange to happen there needs to be a system that creates visibility, acknowledgement and valorization of different forms of capital, as well as ways to trade them on an equal basis. Money is such a system, but not necessary the only one. One of the challenges in the planned temporary settlement, will be how to set up a local economy, a trade and exchange system, that both makes the temporary settlement economically sustainable and adds to the social cohesion of the neighborhood as well. Several examples were described Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 4 of 8

5 Local Economic Trading Systems (LETS) There are many examples of LETS (Local Economic Trade Systems) that can provide inspiration. For instance the system of time dollars, where voluntary work is paid in points. It is often used in seniors cooperatives, where people support each other in their care needs. For instance shopping for an elderly lady, or taking someone to the hospital. Sometimes local shops or farms participate in the system so the LETS points can be exchanged both for services as well as for agricultural products or other goods. People like to own their environment, be part of it, that can be stimulated by a local currency and trade system. For example when you make a Lets-system, you also print your own currency. Then of course you use the symbols of the environment, this strengthens identification. People will print on their money what they are proud of. That again reinforces the bond with the location. New channels to contribute to society The temporary settlement offers opportunities for unused potential to enter and contribute to society. The labor market blocks energy for those who are excluded. The labor market is seen as the primary way to access money and the only valid way to apply yourself with work. The mainstream qualification system blocks energy for anybody who did not make it through school, or migrants whose certificate is not recognized in the host country. Businesses want a monopoly, economic interest groups organize and set up standards and regulations that block competition. The ones that are in, organize themselves and keep newcomers out. If people cannot contribute their talents and energies inside the recognized channels of society, their potential is blocked from society. Using a LETS system, the temporary settlement can create ways to unblock these energies, to link the energy, talents and resources of people who are outside the formal channels, back into society. What is necessary is a way to equalize different forms of capital, so that everyone can contribute. This principle is often found in cooperatives. Everybody is a share holder. People can buy shares (put in money), or put in time, and then they have the same worth of shares. Cooperatives can create a way where everybody can contribute what they have, be it time or be it money and they all are collective owners of whatever business they are involved in. This way you don t block off those who do not have the dominant currency, which is at the moment money. Money and voluntary work People are often worried, that by creating value and remuneration people will never do anything for free anymore. The experience in the mother centers is quite the contrary. For every hour that is paid, you get at least an hour extra of unpaid work. If you look at voluntary work in society, most voluntary work is done by people who have paid jobs. There is some kind of connection. When there is a basic structure that you are being valued for your work and you have some kind of basic security, then you open up more to do things extra. There is something about getting recognition in form of money and value that gives a kind of security that eases peoples minds. After having gotten that recognition, they will give you something extra. It works somehow like that. Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 5 of 8

6 Applying Lessons to Schuytgraaf The following could constitute ways of applying the lessons coming out of the given examples to the Nest! Project and the Schuytgraaf location. (Only those issues are mentioned here that are not already happening) Neighborhood Care There will be about 200 handicapped people living in Schuytgraaf. They are all looking for integration. They are looking for ways to take care for people in small units. Not in a care factory with 200 people in one institution. They are looking for a different option. When you give care at night, in most projects people can be alone, but there needs to be a night watch for emergencies. But how often will it happen, once a week, something that takes 5 minutes. So that is something people could contribute from the neighborhood. It is also community building, creates a good social climate. In exchange you could get some service back. There is money for this kind of care in institutions, so there will be money left when you solve it in another way. This could be an opportunity for a kind of exchange system in the neighborhood. The parts of the temporary settlement in terms of capital What makes exchanges start is first you need a group, then you need difference. If everyone is the same, then it doesn t work. What you have in Schuytgraaf, once the first fields are done, is a rather uniform extention neighborhood. There will be a lot of people with mainly economic capital (say over 80%) and very little time, a limited amount of social capital. In the center areas, we would like to have intermediate kinds of housing and small businesses. This is not where you will have the wildest pioneers, but people who want to build up their lives. Here you have a 50/50 division of economic and social capital. People who want to start a little business or people who want to marry and own a house, but cannot afford Euro. In this area you have the mother center and the international garden and the services, where Schuytgraaf residents can spend Euro and get services back, where the pioneers can earn their LETS in return for services, or lower rent. Then you have the third part which will be further out on the fields. Far enough away so that it doesn t matter if there is noise there. So here is the more nomadic part of the settlement, the people who can afford the least. Who have 95% of culture and symbolic and social capital, but very little money. It is in this outer region, where you have the temporary settlement. It is set up in succession on suiting fields during the last year before the preparation starts. Creating a Schuytgraaf identity This more nomadic part of the settlement is what will give Schuytgraaf it s events image. There could be the opening with a big bang, the Parade, an art event, a Kermis, a memory event of the battle of Arnhem, or a scout camp. It is alive, dynamic. The caravan part creates an active image of nice things happening there, a bicycle cross tournament, a concert, art events. There should be a whole calendar of activities and events that attracts different groups, a scout camp attracts youth, a memory event mainly older people. So it will be creating meeting places for different groups, by the events happening there. Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 6 of 8

7 How a LETS System could work in Schuytgraaf In the temporary settlement we would like to experiment with another kind of welfare mix, which we call subsidized voluntary work. If people are on welfare, they are not allowed to work, otherwise they lose their welfare. Same for unemployment. It is an either-or choice, you work and lose your welfare, or you have welfare, but there is no such thing as working a little bit. Once you are on welfare your work potential is 100% lost. If you create possibilities where you can have your basic security with welfare, but can also do other kinds of work where you do get a reward or a value, a payment of sorts, that will increase your budget, by paying less rent for example, then it is attractive. This could be created through a LETS system. Because the Lets system is local, you can remunerate by in-kind units. You could also make it a condition for pioneers that at least so many hours are invested for the community. Because if they are promising so many hours to give, then they will also have so many points or hours to spend. So that way you can create a guarantee of exchange, a kind of monthly income that they have by putting in so many hours of work that they can then also spend in the community. So that way you have a backing up, a backing up by hours. So pioneers know what they are getting into. At least they have to spend 20 hours in the community, because that is where they get their local income from. It is also possible to set up a double system, using both Euro and Lets. For example in the temporary settlement only a local currency is used, but the trade that goes in and out of the settlement is done with Euro. The interesting aspect of local economic trade systems, is that the rules can be set up in a way that create positive social effects. Outline of Study about saving and credit systems Content and goals As diverse as the pioneers might be, they will probably have one characteristic in common: they won t be rich, or they would not be likely to choose for the settlement. Money poverty does not exclude however, richness in terms of skills. It is just that the monetary value of these skills is not visible, which does not mean that such is not (or could not be) possible. A stuck sink could be unplugged by a professional plumber for 40, by an informal plumber for 15, by the neighbor in exchange for another service, or by a family member for free. Either way the value of the service is the same. Local economic trading systems (Lets) allow people who lack a kin network, to get such services anyway, without money, but in exchange for a locally agreed standard of value. This local money can be obtained by providing services to others. Used in addition to normal money, such systems have proven to localize the economy, strengthen community and make non monetary assets visible. It is one of the examples of systems commonly used in the south to survive the harsh circumstances in poor communities. Another example is the saving-circles that allow poor people to get control over their finances and build up credit. This study will explore such systems and their possibilities in the particular case of the temporary settlement. Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 7 of 8

8 Objective is to describe financial systems that could serve the interests of the individuals involved without enhancing a competition between them, that could endanger the financial strengthening of the community as a whole Principle is that financial sustainability should be in balance with social sustainability. Principle is also that non-monetary assets and contributions should be made visible and comparable with money. Questions How can saving and credit systems common in the South be used in the settlement? How can a barter- or LETS-system be efficiently integrated in the project? How can a community fund be started to make a true WOM (Wijk Ontwikkelings Maatschappij, Neighborhood Development Corporation)? Most of this sub-study will be done by experts on the matter from Stichting Ander geld. For those who understand Dutch: contains more information. Background information in English can be found on or Questions for debate After reading this newsletter, we would like you to consider the following questions for debate: * Where have exchanges between different forms of capital been successfully implemented? * What ways do you know of to mobilise the social, cultural, symbolic and economic capital of inhabitants of neighborhoods for urban development? * Do you know of investors who are interested in collaborating with groups that provide other sources of capital? * Do you know examples of awareness raising about the different kinds of capital that resulted in an equal exchange? The experience is with elderly people when approached by the idea of a local trade system, they first say, well I am old, I have trouble moving, I cant do anything. But when they are asked, well can you do a phone call, why don t you call another person who is lonely, or is also lying in bed? And this is counted the same as someone who drives somebody to the hospital, that gives another focus, everyone makes their effort and it gets recognized. When you save money together, you learn a lot about each other. Taboos around money are lifted, that strengthens people s bonding with each other. (Hot Money Savings Group, Mother Center Stuttgart, Germany) Not the chicken, not the egg, but the nest! Page 8 of 8