<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Hey Sudoers,<br><br></div>I wrote a short blog post about that talks about my thoughts on liberating space and why places like Sudo Room are so important..<br><br><a href="http://hackerspa.com/where-are-the-commons/">http://hackerspa.com/where-are-the-commons/</a><br>
<br></div>Full text:<br><div><div class=""><div class="">
<p>I recently came across <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/opinion/what-tech-hasnt-learned-from-urban-planning.html">this article</a>.
The basic argument is that the tech industry, while increasingly using
the terms like “commons” “town hall” and “community center”, is in
practice creating more spaces cut off from the public for employee use
only.</p>
<p>The disappearing commons is not a problem caused by the tech
industry. The tech industry is just following along with the city’s
already poor urban planing. There are very few places that are even
available at all for public use in the Bay Area. In Oakland, you’ve got
the library (where funding is being cut left and right). You’ve got
“public parks”, but we all know what <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CcJeDBIixA">happens</a> if you try to stay past curfew in a public park. There are some <a href="http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/facility/">Recreation Centers</a> but these are mostly for sports and rentals.</p>
<p>Where are the commons? Where are the places I can go to have a
meeting with friends and collaborators without having to pay $3 for a
cup of coffee? Or places where I can go to stay warm and chat with
neighbors when the house is cold and lonely. It is not just the tech
industry that thinks in terms of acquiring space instead of liberating
it. Even in Berkeley, where there are loud echos of the cultural
revolutions of 60′s and 70′s, people have large homes and small or non
existent commons.</p>
<p>We need to liberate more space. In Oakland, as the steel industry
left, spaces that were once industrial centers became repurposed. In the
past decade there has been a migration of artists coming to Oakland
specifically because of the variety of space that’s available. What is
also happening (mainly through the work of post-occupy activists) is
that space is being repurposed for the commons. Organizations such as <a href="https://sudoroom.org/">Sudo Room</a> and <a href="http://bayareapublicschool.tumblr.com/">The Bay Area Public School</a> are leading the way in this movement. But things are just getting started.</p>
<p>One day I would love to see a true community center in every
neighborhood. Where people can go to talk, create, plan, and most
importantly share resources. Sure the tech industry has created walled
off cities for Goolers, Mozillians, and Twits (?), but what’s the
alternative for them? Large fancy strip malls with $15 burritos? Just as
they have used the collective wealth off their companies to provide for
the needs of their employees, we must use the collective wealth of our
communities to provide for the needs of our friends, neighbors, and
comrades. </p>
</div></div><br clear="all"><div><div><br>-- <br>-------<div>Andrew Lowe</div><div><br></div>
</div></div></div></div>