Our challenge is making things work when market and state are not delivering foundational liveability. With the “cost of living crisis” markets are not reliably and affordably providing essentials like energy, housing and food. Governments struggle to manage short term crises and dodge the long term costs of system renewal while “welfare state” entitlements and […]| The Foundational Economy
In 2023 the 6th Foundational Economy international conference will be held at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) on 14th to 16th September. The conference will include keynote speakers and plenary sessions, parallel sessions as well as working groups and city walks. Multiple crises – war, global warming, disasters, famine and social injustice – […]| The Foundational Economy
With Covid in remission, our series of annual international conference resumes. This year in Turin from 13-15 September, Filippo Barbera and the organisers are bringing together Italian practitioners and academic researchers from many European countries for a conference in Turin. The theme is social innovation and public action and more specifically what can we and […]| The Foundational Economy
New Italian book: between profit and well-being What is the state of the foundational economy in Italy? Perhaps large financial players are less deeply involved in the management of essential economic activities than in some other European countries. However, the Italian public sector is increasingly weakened by austerity policies and budget constraints, and the entire […]| The Foundational Economy
New Belgian book: social ecological transition In their new book The Essential Economy: An Engine for Social-Ecological Transition David Bassens and Sarah de Boeck have updated foundational analysis for a Belgian audience. They argue that the global Covid-19 crisis tmade Belgian society’s daily dependence on a number of economic sectors painfully clear. Healthcare, education, public […]| The Foundational Economy
International book: reclaiming economics Here is the latest book in the Manchester Capitalism series: It’s a settling of accounts with mainstream economics by radical researchers from Rethinking Economics, the international movement which came out of the University of Manchester at the same time as early foundational economy research. The new book argues that we need […]| The Foundational Economy
New edition of FE book: Adaptive reuse The foundational project is a body of thinking and doing which develops by reworking earlier statements of position. One of the frustrations is that critics and commentators seize on earlier formulations without recognising how these are now qualified by a process which the French architects Lacaton and Vassal […]| The Foundational Economy
In foundational thinking, places are where essential economic and social needs come together and are met. But, in a time of nature and climate emergency, these immediate needs must be met within planetary limits as part of a social-ecological transformation. Richard Baernthaler’s research report on Atzgersdorf, provides some indications about how to gain majority political […]| The Foundational Economy
After 100 years of deindustrialization, the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in a North Wales slate valley could be condescendingly described as a “left behind “place. Using survey evidence and the Italian concept of “restanza”, this report emphasises that the people of the town and valley are attached to their own place and its social networks […]| The Foundational Economy
SMEs in the Welsh food system (August 2021) This independent report provides a pioneering analysis of a foundational reliance system which challenges romantic preconceptions about local food and al…| The Foundational Economy
The Foundational Economy is an evolving approach to socio-economic development which focusses on the provision of everyday universal basics like food, housing, health services and transport within …| The Foundational Economy