I have a blog post on ChangeEverything.ca about something I’ve been thinking about on this trip I call Independent Collectivism. Take a read.
There is one area in Vancouver that I think comes closest to this model. After several years of living in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood, it strikes me that the attitude of that area, the number of coops, both retail and housing, the defiance but focus on equity, and the Italian roots is perhaps something we should be looking closer at for inspiration.
Those funky areas in your town where the coop bookstore is and the indie bands play may be that same kind of neighbourhood in your town. Maybe there is something we can learn from those neighbourhoods and how they operate.
Hi Chris. I don't think that's the vibe of life here. It may be the sense some people give off from the place, but to live and shop and spend time here, I don't sense bitterness. There are definitely rough edges, no doubt about that, but people here are doing their own thing.
Interesting. Though I don't spend a tonne of time on The Drive, I have found it to be probably the only area of the city that has an active intolerance for others. There is certainly a faction there that seems to harbour a bitterness towards the west side of the city. Perhaps Kevin Potvian and the often-ludicrous "Republic of East Vancouver" (which I admittedly haven't read for a couple of years) isn't entirely representative, but I don't think I've seen this sort of attitude anywhere else.