Walter Dresscher

Townmaking generates assets for how we move, how we live and how we energize. Reconsidering liveability requires rich diversity and resilience attuned with local environment's needs, oriented by better governance policies, developed from local economies for organized citizens, structured through strong knowledge foundations, and enabled by human-enhancing technology. This is in stark contrast to the narrative of exponential growth disconnected from local needs, environment agnostic scaling, and value-chains that extract and concentrate wealth singularly.

Townmaking organizes and orders knowledge and efforts for the progressive developments of resilient living systems and thriving communities, using the strengths of these different paradigms. We structure this shared space between market of regimes, life worlds, government, and organised citizens as a common. 

Originally conceived across many cultures as a way of sharing common land for grazing, fishing, and forestry (Governing the Commons, Elinor Ostrom), the Commons requires an evolution to incorporate planetary-scale cooperation, intellectual property accessibility and inclusive digital solutions.