Benjamin Life and Kevin Owocki
Civic Utilities and Commons Architectures
It’s easy to imagine that the world is neatly divided up into for-profit and non-profit activities. We’re conditioned to go after “mine” and make donations to take care of some less fortunate “other.” But what if we could go after ours? What if not every part of our local economy was based on a profit motive? What if we cut out the middle man profiting on our basic human needs?
These are the questions that civic utilities and commons architectures aim to address.
Through dynamic, self-governing communal ownership of shared infrastructure, we can use the power of coordination and aligned incentives to provide utility and value that has traditionally been reserved for the private sector.
These civic infrastructures serve communities, cooperatives, and the commons by supporting the creation of value without extracting a profit, able to lower costs through the participatory means of cooperativism, volunteerism, and mutual responsibility.
Civic utilities increase the quality of life of our community through agent-centric coordination, enabling members of our communities to contribute what they have and receive what they need.
To illustrate this concept in practice, let’s take a look at a case study currently underway in Boulder, CO.
Case Study: The Regen Hub
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated an existing pattern of “work from home,” a trend that initially seemed liberatory for many as a means to avoid stale corporate workplace culture. But a few years into this new paradigm, after the peak of the pandemic had subsided, the lack of camaraderie, connection, and in-person collaboration had taken a toll.
Knowledge and tech workers faced a choice: continuing working from home in their bedroom or home office, attempt to find an increasingly rare and often noisy or crowded public third space like a library or coffee house, or pay exorbitant fees to get a desk at one of the many new co-working spaces that had sprung up in many urban and suburban places.
An alternative was needed, and all it took was a spontaneous post into a group chat of an existing high trust network of friends in the Boulder decentralized tech scene to realize that many peers and allies were in a similar situation, seeking a co-working space that was community-centered, affordable, and values-aligned. Already knowledgable in the principles and infrastructures of decentralized coordination, this group of friends quickly realized that a simple DAO with a minimal governance structure and a set of operational volunteer roles could provide the entire community with a low cost alternative to corporate co-working spaces.
Using one of the friends’ LLC, they were able to secure a 2 thousand square feet of office space in downtown Boulder, CO, taking advantage of the depressed commercial real estate market to lock it in at an incredibly low monthly rate. Using a friend’s truck, they filled their new office space with furniture they were able to find for free on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Another friend donated monitors from an old office space they had to close down a few months prior. Some of the more network-savvy of the friends bought a new router and configured the network, expensing the bigger costs to the DAO treasury. Others brought in plants, art, books, and zines.
The space was starting to come to life. A participatory governance model was established with all key decisions occurring at weekly family meetings.
Six months into this experiment, the community around the Regen Hub has grown, with weekly happy hours hosted at 4:20pm every Friday serving as a schelling point for the social impact tech scene in Boulder, strengthening the network by providing a reliable third space for community gatherings, workshops, and events.
To help you create your own version of a thriving third space, below is a simple playbook to help you get started.
What Is A Regen Hub?
A Regen Hub is a community third space that utilizes revenue from co-working membership to provide a physical hub for localists, innovators, and change-makers to converge, coordinate, and collaborate, strengthening local networks by increasing the number of spontaneous interactions between aligned individuals. Co-working membership is not limited to individuals working in the impact space but the hub itself is explicitly oriented to regenerating our communities and commons via decentralized networks.
Regen Hubs are deeply connected to the localist movement, implying a highly contextual identity based on the emergent local contexts wherever they’re located. For that reason, Regen Hubs can look and feel very different depending on the local social ecology in which they emerge, but what unites Regen Hubs is their provisioning of novel types of third spaces that utilize coordination and co-working revenue to provide value to their extended communities.
The concept of a “third space,” originally coined by sociocultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha, describes a space where different cultures, perspectives, or paradigms intersect to create something new and transformative. In its standard definition, the third space is a hybrid zone where boundaries blur, fostering dialogue, negotiation, and the blending of ideas or identities.
In the context of a Regen Hub, a “third space” retains these foundational principles while expanding their application to systemic innovation and regeneration. A Regeb Hub is a participatory environment where diverse local groups—ranging from individuals and communities to organizations and ecosystems—co-create shared solutions that transcend traditional frameworks and ideologies.
These spaces embody the principles of commons governance and open protocols, emphasizing inclusivity, mutual care, and ecological regeneration. Regen Hubs serve as experimental community spaces for prototyping new governance models, community-driven economies, and participatory structures. They are neither entirely formal nor informal but operate as flexible, adaptive zones that prioritize collaboration, creativity, and collective flourishing.
The Regen Hub Playbook
Step 1: Trust
Like all civic utilities and commons architectures, at the foundation of the formation of a Regen Hub is a high trust network of friends and allies able to lean in and contribute to a shared effort for mutual benefit.
A classic challenge in any commons-based effort is the problem of free-loaders. Free loaders latch onto collective efforts to extract where others contribute. Beginning with a high trust network of friends and allies is critical to ensure that everyone participates, adds value, and can be trusted to steward common pool resources.
Start by identifying a core group of friends with pre-existing relationships, trust, and mutuality. Invite those folks into a group chat to get them onboard. A great way to begin developing a trust network is to start by hosting regular meet ups at the intersection of your desired community’s focus and values.
Giving plenty of time to build these trust networks is critical to ensure the individuals you build your Regen Hub with are sufficiently aligned and connected to make it through inevitable challenges, setbacks, or conflicts. This core group will create the “social membrane” or barrier, able to vet new participants based on their general alignment with the vibe of your core. New members should be vouched for by existing members. If no one can vouch for a new applicant, consider inviting them to your weekly meet-up or social hour to vet their general vibe and alignment with the space.
Step 2: Procurement
Finding commercial real estate requires a few key factors: passing a credit check and signing a lease. Identify who in your core group has the best credit or a legal entity that can sign on behalf of your group. Setting initial agreements will be very important to create the security and trust required for the individual using their legal entity to feel confident in entering into a lease contract on behalf of your hub.
Work with a local commercial real estate agent to find a space. Alternative arrangements can be made with non-commercial or existing community spaces, but those relationships can often be harder to manage than traditional transactional ones. Ideally, find a space that can accommodate a range of revenue streams from private offices (higher contribution), shared offices (medium contribution), and common space for hot desks (lower contribution). A central location is key but tradeoffs may be made to find a space with the right affordances.
Create a multi-signature wallet with your core founding team and raise the appropriate amount for the initial month’s rent, security deposit, and basic utilities. Transfer those funds to the LLC signing the contract with the landlord and secure the space. Wait to sign a contract on the space until you’ve put together enough funds to provide a safety net for your space, ideally equivalent to the initial start-up costs and 1-2 months rent to ensure a stable footing as you navigate the rapid development of your core operational and financial systems.
Once the space has been secured, utilize available resources to assemble the basic infrastructure of desks, tables, monitors, and anything you might need for a small kitchenette. Most of these things can be found for free on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace if you’re patient and able to move quickly as new items become available. Some hard costs are inevitable so an early process for reimbursements will be one of the most important initial governance protocols to establish.
Step 3: Governance, Membership, and Roles
Now that your space is coming to life, you’ll need a core council that meets regularly to discuss new members, plan events, evaluate progress, and approve reimbursements. This core council should start with a trusted core of committed members but can grow over time to any co-working member interested in participating in governance.
Regular rhythms are key to ensure the development of the culture and space. Create a public and private group chat for the wider community and members. Schedule your first launch event and invite all of your friends who align with the values, mission, and vibe of the space.
Use this first event to gauge interest from your wider community on becoming a co-working member. Set up a simple website, form and project management space to begin receiving and processing new membership applications.
Elect roles for community and finance management. These roles are critical to ensure cultural coherence, maintenance of the space, and financial accountability for paying contributions. Set up claimable NFTs and other mechanisms for community members to self-attest and track their volunteer contributions to the space.
Once your inbound revenue exceeds your rent and utilities, consider providing donation-based membership to members able to volunteer their time to help steward and support the space. During weekly or bi-weekly family meetings with the core group, evaluate the vibes, financial health, desired improvement projects and maintenance needs.
Create a lightweight constitution for the space that outlines membership tiers, responsibilities, shared values, behavioral agreements, and roles. Make sure to include a section related to graduated sanctions for those who violate the agreement as well as an off-boarding protocol if a member must be asked to leave by the core council.
Step 4: Vibes and Programming
While financial stability is essential, the vibes and programming in the space are what will attract new members and ensure a thriving third space. Ultimately, the space is about enjoying being in community together so vibes and fun are paramount. Consider community partners who you’d like to invite to host programming in the space.
Determine a security protocol for sharing door codes or keys with these community partners. At the start, you’ll want to have a core member on-site for all community events. As community partners develop trust with the Hub, consider empowering them with 24/7 access to minimize the need for core member volunteers. Establishing a digital lock with personal codes as well as an internet-enabled security camera can empower you to empower others with access while maintaining the security of the space.
Perhaps even more critical than community-partner programming is the creation of weekly social hours. By offering reliable spaces for your extended community to converge in unstructured social connection time, new collaborations and relationships will flourish organically. Ensure the right members of your community are invited to these weekly social hours to keep the vibes high and conversations fruitful.
Step 5: Resolving Common Problems
Invariably, challenges or issues will emerge.
Conflict between members will require a trusted third party mediator to help resolve them.
Delinquent payment of rent contribution can put the entire space into jeopardy if payments to the landlord are missed.
Having hard conversations with community members is essential to call them into alignment with the agreements they have made as a member.
Many of these issues can be resolved through distributed culture and peer accountability. It can often be overwhelming for the volunteer roles of a space to have to take on all of these responsibilities in addition to their baseline contributions so each member must feel empowered and responsible for the collective stewardship of the space from cleanliness to timely payments to behavioral agreements.
If challenges escalate beyond the membership’s ability to address peer to peer, make sure to have a trusted third party mediator in your network to help facilitate. If you or your community don’t have such a person, consider reaching out to one of the many online communities of dialogue facilitators and conflict resolution specialists.
Legally, this type of self-organization doesn’t fall neatly into traditional legal structures. Utilize a member’s LLC for basic protections and filing requirements at first but consider creating a Decentralized Unincorporated Non-Profit Association in Wyoming or a Colorado Limited Cooperative Association to provide better legal protections as you grow. A binding arbitration agreement could also provide some basic legal coverage for members if you’re concerned about members taking legal action against one another or the space.
Ideally, the cultural membrane of the space will be strong enough to only allow in highly aligned members, front running these challenges by doing the due diligence on new member applicants to create the initial conditions for a laid back, coherent space.
Step 6: Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
Even though the steps outlined above provide an initial guide to getting your Regen Hub started, the most critical capacity for any emergent, community-driven initiative is the capacity to iterate and evolve. A minimum viable coordination and governance structure should enable your core group to sense the evolving needs of the community and create new solutions that address those needs.
Meeting regularly is critical to maintain an active sensing of how things are evolving. Creating accountabilities and projects to address the needs you’re sensing helps to establish integrity and ensure follow through. Self-identifying leaders for projects helps to create clear communication and coordination support to respond to the needs you’ve identified.
What’s right for RegenHub Boulder may not align with the needs of your local area. It’s crucial to build your own tools for understanding and decision-making—using your own observations, intuition, and community input to adapt and evolve effectively. Your Regenhub is a journey, not a destination. By staying open to learning and iterating, you can create solutions that truly reflect the unique dynamics of your community.
Emergent Outcomes
Third spaces like a Regen Hub create the conditions for prosocial emergence, helping to activate and support latent capacities in your community. Emergent benefits include:
Free space for community events: You’ve just unlocked a new venue for your community to host free or low cost programming
Friendship and belonging: In an age of isolation where maintaining IRL friendships can be challenging for many, having a Regen Hub in your community offers a place to socialize, bond, and belong.
Civic tech hub: Need a place to host some servers or run some nodes for your community’s p2p or blockchain infrastructure? A Regen Hub can host physical and digital infrastructure for your local non-profit and mutual aid ecosystem.
Collaborative Braintrust: Do you need feedback or support from capable peers? Regen Hubs gather a particular subset of community with related but distinct domains of expertise. Sometimes you need a fresh perspective to take your project to the next level.
Scenius: Scenius is a term coined by musician and producer Brian Eno to describe the collective intelligence and creativity that emerges within a thriving community of people working together. Unlike the traditional idea of a lone genius, scenius suggests that breakthroughs and innovation are often the result of collaborative networks, where ideas are freely exchanged, refined, and built upon.
Network Effects: The Regen Hub serves as an open protocol for a civic utilities, offering templates for self-organizing third spaces. By utilizing on-chain reputation and coordination, locally governed hubs can easily connect and share token registries. This means reputation at one hub can grant access to other sister hubs, fostering a seamless and decentralized network of collaborative spaces.
Please create your own Regen Hubs and let us know so we can federate and start creating network effects.
What We’ve Learned In Boulder
Having engaged in this process in Boulder for 6 months or more at the time of publication, we’ve generated a few key insights.
First, having some financial stability offered by members who can help fill financial gaps is incredibly helpful for a fledgling third space as it launches. Giving yourself some extra runway if at all possible will help you focus on vibes over revenue, a key ingredient for making a space sustainable in the longterm and attractive to new members in the short term.
Finding key contributors who can add a disproportionate amount of volunteer labor as you’re starting out is also key as there will be a heavy lift at the onset requiring more coordination support than once the space has its own inertia and trajectory.
Tracking volunteer contributions is a whole job in and of itself so having a high amount of trust with members volunteering their time in exchange for work space is important. Ideally, there won’t be tons of volunteer labor needed, so avoid overcommitting too many free co-working memberships spaces.
Hosting community events for free is critical but having an easy way for community members to donate to the space is equally important.
The Future Of Civic Utilities And Commons Architectures
As a pattern, using decentralized coordination to provision services to your community at cost is an exciting new strategy for a whole range of community-based initiatives.
Communities in Boulder are already working on innovations like participatory budgeting for localized grants that empower communities to directly shape the allocation of resources. Similarly, early explorations of community currencies as self-governed civic utilities are being explored to unlock the untapped potential of local economies. But this is just the beginning!
Our next local goal in Boulder is the creation of SaunaDAO, collectively owned sauna, cold plunge, and hot tub infrastructure around the city that is managed by volunteers and some basic coordination technology for scheduling, permissions, and maintenance. Next, we might begin to imagine health cooperatives that pay the salaries for a host of yoga, Ayurveda, and holistic medicine practitioners, food system networks that use tokenization to provide food on a donation basis, and housing cooperatives that purchase apartment buildings on behalf of member-owners are among the many innovative strategies that can leverage this type of thinking to provide core services and goods to community members without extracting profit.
We imagine a world where these types of civic utilities are a commonplace aspect of our local economies, empowering collective ownership of the shared infrastructures that add value and improve the quality of our lives. While we’re not against profit as a concept, we see the tremendous unlock that decentralized coordination can provide to remove the profit incentive in the context of the foundations of what make life and community meaningful, rich, and abundant. We hope this guide will inspire you to create civic utilities and commons architectures in your own community. If you end up creating your own Regen Hub, come say hi in our open community Telegram so we can explore creating a loose federation of Regen Hubs around the world.
We Got Us,
– Benjamin Life and Kevin Owocki