Shared Community Assets

How do we make best use of collective assets, such as processions, skills and spaces, that encourage more sustainable lifestyles through reducing waste whilst connecting people, improving trust and developing new skills in communities.

Our approach

Sharing Community Assets aims to reposition our relationship with ‘stuff’; from needing to buy, own and retain things for ourselves, to creating imaginative spaces and methods to access and share things we use in our daily lives. These things include tangible and intangible assets such as possessions, skills, knowledge and time. Sharing community assets will bring local and global communities together, increase altruistic values and actions, and improve well-being across society whilst reducing needless waste.

Sharing - the joint use of a resource, space, skill or other entity

Community – geographical neighbourhoods, online networks, communities of interest or communities at work

An Asset - anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or freely open to produce positive value or benefit including:

• belongings and items
• skills and volunteering
• space and land
• education and training

Our work

We have started to explore how we can collectively establish a network that represents and increases the capacity and influence of organisations and individuals working towards a collective goal of Shared Community Assets.

We kick started this process in June 2011 through holding a workshop to begin to understand what is required to make sharing rather than owning common across the UK. The workshop included participants from across the sharing sector. We are now looking for funders to get this project off the ground. If you are interested in participating or funding our work in this area please contact Lizzie Kenyon – lizzie.kenyon@wastewatch.org.uk

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