Citizens coming together to rebuild local communities

We bring people together and develop new commons to rebuild strong and resilient local communities.

Some of our latest projects include:

  • Brussels Pay, a local payment network as a common
  • Commons Hub Brussels, a common space for citizens rebuilding the commons
  • citizenwallet.xyz, an open source wallet for your community currency
  • regensunite.earth, bringing people working on regenerative solutions together (in Brussels, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, ...)
  • citizengarden, bringing nature back to our streets
  • citizencorner.brussels, reclaiming an empty building to create a new common for the neighbourhood (Schaerbeek, Brussels)
  • dao.brussels, citizens of Brussels coming together to rebuild their city as a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation

Brussels Pay

We used to transact for free using cash. Today, most of us use digital payments because it’s so much more convenient. The downside is that all our transactions are now taxed by privately owned companies. For a city like Brussels with about 25,000 shops, this represents at least €5M/month. Brussels Pay aims to create a new citizen payment network so that transaction fees can remain in Brussels and feed a local participatory budget.

👉 https://pay.brussels 

 

Commons Hub Brussels

Located just in front of Central Station in Brussels, the Commons Hub is a common space for citizens to rebuild the commons. A space to co-work, meet, organise events, cross-pollinate & inspire.

👉 https://commonshub.brussels 

Regen Village

A one week side event alongside EthCC Brussels 2024 to bring together people working at the intersection of blockchains and regeneration. First major event at the Commons Hub.

👉 read the report

Citizen Wallet

Why is it easier to make money working for corporations that make us consume more resources than working for the community, to take care of each and of our commons?

We came to the conclusion that this has to do with the monoculture of a single currency, a single way to contribute to society, a single north star (GDP). That’s why we are now working on enabling communities to create their own currency and their own economy. We dream of a permaculture of many different currencies. One piece of that puzzle is a Citizen Wallet. A simple wallet to enable any citizen to receive and send tokens created by their community.

👉 citizenwallet.xyz 

Regens Unite

Through our past experiences, we have been part of various communities that all want the same thing: a regenerative future. Yet, most of them barely know about each other. Worst, they often are misinformed (clickbaits and social media don’t help) and they judge and dismiss those other communities (“I don’t know much about crypto but I’ve read somewhere that you are burning the planet, so you must be a bad person”). We decided to do something about it. We took the opportunity to have a space (the Citizen Corner) to organise the first “Regens Unite” conference, a 2-day event without powerpoints, only powercircles, where we invite people from a wide range of backgrounds to meet, learn about each other, relate, and unite.

In September, the second edition took place in Berlin at the fantastic Moos Space. Here is the aftermovie:

What happens when citizens spring

Blog post

Presentation

When everything around us is burning, the only thing we have is community. Community is immunity. But our communities have been destroyed after decades of a rat race to earn more, produce more, consume more. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can rebuild our communities and it’s not as complicated as it may sound like. The solutions are right in front of us.

In 2021, we started doing presentations about our work with Citizen Spring to rebuild communities and create a more sustainable future.

We did a 2h lecture at the Erasmus Hogeschool in Brussels and two 1h workshops at the Cohabs Retreat.

Get in touch if you’d like us to come share this presentation to your community / classrooms. info@citizenspring.earth 

Imagine.brussels Solarpunk NFT contest

 

Call to artists and artist schools in Brussels to make sketches, drawings, videos, animations to re-imagine the streets of Brussels. The goal is to make us dream, imagine a different future where the issues of pollution, climate change and social justice would be a thing of the past. We use NFTs to teach artists a new way of funding their art and to enable all citizens to own a piece of the artistic renaissance.

Citizen Corner

There are so many empty spaces in our cities. Even more so now that companies are letting their employees work remotely. We citizens need to reclaim that space. Imagine what we could do if every neighborhood had a common space where we can meet, organize activities, learn, co-create, party, … In other words, a place to rebuild community.

The Citizen Corner is a temporary occupation of an old building that used to belong to the post office. This is how we got the keys. Head to the website to learn more about the activities happening there.

People Assemblies Online 🔅

It’s easy to get caught up in our respective social media bubbles. We end up seeing things as black or white. We stop understanding each other and we become blind to solutions that can help increase the resilience of our communities.

That’s why we are organizing People Assemblies. It’s an opportunity to learn about a topic with experts but also with fellow citizens.

Citizen Spring Academy 🌱☀️🌻

Incubator for starting new sustainable places in the city. In a world that has to change, we need entrepreneurs more than ever. We need them to turn our cities into 15-minute cities, where we can all enjoy a fun and sustainable lifestyle within a 15-minute radius, walk or bike. If you have ever dreamed of starting your own sustainable shop, this is for you!

Citizen Garden 🌱 🌻

In February 2020, we moved to Schaerbeek, Brussels. Since we don’t have a car, we decided to use the space in front of our garage door to put a mini community garden that we called “Citizen Garden”. Many adventures followed!

Citizen Bike Garden 🚲 🌱

Building with neighbours a bike shed for 6-8 bikes with two citizen gardens on top.

Play streets 🤸‍♀️

Organising together play streets on all the streets of the neighbourhood during the summer.

More videos:

More on https://playstreets.brussels

Kidical Mass 🚲 👧

Every last Sunday of the month at 5pm, we do a critical mass for kids. We bike around in the city with a few dozen kids and parents and some music!. Great atmosphere

Rainbow bike lanes 🚲 🌈

Life is more exciting in colours! Draw new bike lanes or put some colors on existing ones. You just need a large cardboard to make a stencil (125cm x 15cm) and some spray paint.

Citizen Spring icon

Citizen Spring

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