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New Commons 56 Pine Street Providence RI 02903 click here for directions +1 401 351 7110 (tel) +1 401 351 7158 (fax) email: inquiries@newcommons.com


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History

		New Commons History

New Commons was born in June 2003 through the vision of Robert Leaver. In its early years it focused on a primary proposition – ‘how do you build organization through community?’ At the time, Robert’s interpretation of organization related to any form of organization – business, agency, community, city or team. In bringing this proposition to life Robert unravelled the ‘un-commonsense’ of industrial thinking in a post industrial era, and began to raise new questions and offer new thinking that challenged the underpinning ideas and fixations of 20th century social, economic, cultural and built environment planning and development. A passion of Robert’s has also been to reconcile the understanding and connectivity of questions and ideas of the poetic and conceptual, and their relationship and meaning to the concrete. For instance: ‘In questioning what is soul and the city – how does this relate to affordable housing?’ And. ‘If we live in a creative economy - how does this create better paid work for all levels of society?’ In taking on these questions, New Commons was born as a place and a way of thinking that bought seemingly disparate groups together, to discuss and blend minds and action to create a new wisdom and a new sensibility for the future. In 2004 Robert and his partner Michelle Gonzalez commenced to expand the thinking behind New Commons, and importantly, how New Commons might broaden its ‘mind-power’ and impact to tackle a broader range of the ‘tough stuff’ of the 21st century. In 2005 New Commons was morphed to include two new principals: Larry Quick and Jeff Deckman. Larry and Jeff brought to New Commons a range of varied capability, and also catalytic perspectives that have been honed after many years at the thinking and creative coal-face. The first application of their collective thinking was to create the ‘new’ New Commons, and to begin to build the new structure that would carry it. Both outcomes were created in tandem. The New Commons 'kernel' – the central premise or proposition for why New Commons exists, and an organizational model based upon a form of 'living structures.' The New Commons 'kernel' – as laid out on the About New Commons page– speaks to the need for a new commons - a new way and place to connect, collaborate and to create a new common sense, toward a new conventional wisdom, for a new century. It also speaks to the ability to bring to bare the best of local and global minds through providing – access to a world-class "faculty" of researchers, thinkers and practitioners(who) specialize in solving both precedent and unprecedented problems. The New Commons ‘living structure’ is based on an organic, open-platform based organizational model (Linux style) where principals create and act as custodians of the kernel and the capability. From this platform they are then able to engage many other thinkers & doers in joining the spirit of the platform, and work in partnership on a varied range of problems, projects and issues – for a varied range of clients and situations. In this way the idea of a new commons thinks, learns, lives, grows and morphs to solve any challenge that is thrown at it. As we say at New Commons: give us a problem and we muster our forces to solve it. In doing so, New Commons also acts as an example of what is possible with new thinking, in a new century.

The call for a new commons: by Robert Leaver

In William Butler Yeat's poem, The Second Coming, he notes that it is the center of our humanity that longs to hold together, but..."things fall part...mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."

In the spirit of Yeats, I call upon you to say it is time for a new commons to help find a way to re-establish many "centers" or many new commons so people and ideas come together, across unusual boundaries to connect in meaningful ways.

History: When America began, the commons was the land held in common by all, for the use by all. Today, when you drive through New England the town commons is where you experience the remnants of this idea. The idea of "the commons"--where ever people still come together to connect or get some work done -- is still alive. Starbucks is our 21st centruy application. Office water coolers create "the commons", albeit it is fleeting. Historically, parts of Cetnral Park in NY, recreated the commons. Well thought out downtowns in villages and cities throughout the world still express the essence of the commons.

Today: In early America, on the commons, the cows of everyone grazed, town meetings were held there, people posted notices to either buy or sell something and people met on the commons to foster community, information sharing, and innovation. Today, times have changed. The call for a new commons is not nostalgia, pulling us back to what was. Rather, it is about creating the next generation of places--many new commons--for people to gather to commune and get work done--both online and in person. The call today is for an intercultural milieu not vanilla or exclusion. It is about bringing together, for impact, differences in thinking, disciplines, culture, and ways of working.

This is what New Commons is about.

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