Introduction

This chapter explores whether community development can contribute to building alternative economics and for this task it refers to the commons as an economic model. After outlining the concepts of ‘alternative economics’, ‘community development’ and ‘commons’, it looks at their differences, commonalities and mutual learning opportunities. In the chapter's last section several examples show both the possibilities and limitations of community-based economies arising from community development and commoning. From the outset it needs to be acknowledged that considering these issues involves a triple challenge. The first concerns the Austrian context specifically, as the term ‘community development’ is not widely used in German-speaking contexts. Therefore this chapter must find those fields and concepts that most closely approximate to the theory and practice of community development. The second challenge is to analyse the relationship between community development (or the corresponding German concepts) and ‘commons’, to highlight commonalities, intersections and differences. The third challenge lies in defining the term ‘alternative economics’ and relating it to community development. These tasks are complicated by all three terms eluding easy definition: they have different meanings in different contexts and they do not signify ‘things’ but processes that are dependent on culture and situation. Given this background, the following contribution might be understood as an exploration of a field rather than as a conclusive assessment of this potential relationship.

What is ‘alternative’ about community-based economies?

Talking of ‘economies’ in this context does not address a specific sector of society. The ‘disembedding of the economy’ (see Polanyi, 1957) – its separation from its social context, which was an essential characteristic of capitalist development – is overcome when processes of production are organised by the community. The commons is not only concerned with ‘economy’ or ‘production’; it always reflects ideas about democracy, social relationships and the public sphere where people may organise themselves and act together to defend their interests. Similar aspirations characterise community development. It too aims at establishing a political platform where people ‘act together publicly and politically’ (Penta, 2007: 7) and can ‘continuously and obstinately claim the participatory opportunities of a democracy’ (Penta, 2007: 9). If alternative forms of production and reproduction emerge, then ‘economy’ must be understood more in the sense of a household economy, that is the totality of all the activities needed to reproduce a good life.