C4R
tools
HERE IS A METHOD FOR VALUING THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ASPECTS OF URBAN COMMONS.
This method draws from and contributes to a broader conception of social or
community returns on investment, using the case and data of a vibrant project,
strategy, and model of ecological resilience, R-Urban, on the outskirts of
Paris. R-Urban is based on networks of urban commons and collective hubs
supporting civic resilience practices. We use data from 2015, the year before
one of the hubs was evicted from its site by a municipal administration that
could not see the value of an “urban farm” compared to a parking lot. We combine
estimates of the direct revenues generated for a host of activities that took
place in R-Urban, including an urban farm, community recycling centre, a
greenhouse, community kitchen, compost school, café, a teaching space, and a
mini-market. We then estimate the market value of volunteer labour put into
running the sites, in addition to the value of training and education conducted
through formal and informal channels, and the new jobs and earnings that were
generated due to R-Urban activity. Finally, we estimate the monetary value of
the savings made by an environmentally conscious design that focused on water
recycling, soil and biodiversity improvement, and social and health benefits,
breaking them down by savings to the organization, participants and households
involved in R-Urban itself, as well as savings to the state and the planet.
Although our article is built on specific quantities from a concrete project,
the method has wide applicability to urban commons of many types seeking to
demonstrate the worth and value of all their many facets and activities.
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