THE

S
I
E
R
FUTU
P
I
H
S
R
E MY
N
W
O
C ECONO
I
T
A
R
C
E
O
H
M
T
E
19
F
D
0
O
2
R
E
B
M
E
C
E
M
D
A
5
D
R
4–
E
AMST

E
C
N
E
R
E
F
N
CO GRAMMEPROWHY WE GET TOGETHER
We are living in crucial times. Cities are on the front lines of today’s
most urgent challenges, dealing with the climate crisis and rising global
inequality. Such global problems call for public solutions. We want tosupport migrants and provide universal access to public services that areconsidered human rights, including housing, drinking water and sanitation
services, energy, health care and education.
A growing network of progressive, green municipalities is developing strategies to tackle
these and many other critical issues. Cities are well positioned to explore direct democracy
and advance innovative economic models that build community wealth and create
decent jobs. At the same time, we need country-wide political coordination and ambition
to reverse market fundamentalism, which is at the root of our collective economic andsocial crises. Profit-driven, market-based policies led to the privatisation of our public
services and to the denigration of solidarity.
During The Future is Public Conference we discuss how to put the “public” back into
public services and build democratic public ownership of the economy.
The conference venue is located in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood, which is home
to almost 50,000 people of over 150 nationalities. This conference, together with thefollowing ‘The City of Tomorrow: Democratising the Neighbourhood Economy’ (6-7
December), are opportunities to work with local communities and to embrace equality,
justice and solidarity.

For more information about the conference and key resources:

www.futureispublic.org
To communicate online about the conference please use#TheFutureIsPublic

HOSTED BY

The Transnational Institute andDe 99 Van Amsterdam

C O - C R E AT E D B Y

The Neighborhood Platform“Hart Voor de K-Buurt”
CO-ORGANISED BY

I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H
Asia Europe People’s Forum (with financial support from EC DEVCO), Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED),Vigência! (Brazil), Eurodad (Europe), Platform for Public Community Partnerships in the Americas (PAPC),
M-Power project (Municipal Power), Corporate Europe Observatory, Food and Water Watch (USA), Transform!Denmark,Platform for the Remunicipalisation of Public Services in Madrid, ITF (International Transport Workers Federation),ODG (Observatori del deute en la globalització, Spain), Universidad Abierta de Recoleta (Chile),
openDemocracy (media partner) and The Laura Flanders Show (media partner).

DAY ONE 4 DECEMBER 2019
8:30–9:15

11:30–12:30

Registration

Keynote Speech by David Harvey

Location: Ghanaian Church

Location: Ghanaian Church
Importance of municipal socialism to reclaim cities

9:15–9:25
Welcome and conference introduction
Location: Ghanaian Church
Tanja Jadnanansing, chairperson of the Executive Board of
Amsterdam Zuidoost, a borough of Amsterdam

Reflection by Rutger Groot Wassink, Alderman for Social Affairs,
Diversity and Democratisation of Amsterdam

12:30–13:30
Lunch buffet available
Location: Buurthuis de Bonte Kraai

PLENARY PANEL 1 (TWO SESSIONS)
Location for both sessions: Ghanaian Church

13:30-15:00

Moderator: Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show (US)

Democracy and our climate in crisis:
New municipalism as the response
Radical municipalism is on the rise across the globe because cities
are the sites where the boldest policies are developed to tackle
the climate crisis and build economic democracies. Many cities
are strategising to shield energy, water and housing from private
profiteering and to recenter public services to fulfill the needs ofthe more marginalised groups, while others are actively projecting
labour rights and localising the economy in order to foster collective
well-being.

9:30–10:25
Strategies for energy, water, and housing
for all• Eloi Badia, Councillor of Climate Emergency and theEcological Transition of the Barcelona City Council• Renate Brauner, Special Representative of the City, Vienna• Anne-Sophie Olmos, City Councillor, Grenoble• Philip Glanville, Mayor, London Borough of Hackney• David Dessers, Deputy Mayor, Leuven (Belgium)

10:30–11:25
Strategies for strong local economies andworkers’ rights
Location: Ghanaian Church• Asima Shaikh, City Councillor, London Borough of Islington• Gilles Perole, Deputy Mayor of Mouans-Sartoux (France)• Freddie Bailey, City Councillor, Preston (UK)• Rodrigo Hurtado Osbar, Executive Director of the Open
University of Recoleta, the first municipal university in Chile

PLENARY PANEL 2

National and supranational policies
enabling democratisation of local
economies
Location: Ghanaian Church
Moderator: Laura Basu, openDemocracy• Kate Aronoff – Green New Deal for climate, racial andgender justice• Charles Santiago, Member of the Parliament of Malaysia –Affordable public services for all• Ernest Urtasun, MEP (Greens / EFA Group) – Municipalize
Europe!
• Cat Hobbs, We Own It – Democratic public ownership of
public services• Duncan McCann, New Economics Foundation – Publicly
generated data as a public good, the role of cities in data
sovereignty
Private finance and privatisations have resulted in massive amountsof public money going to waste and public services that are crumbling
away. The solution? Building public services and local economies
that are fit for the social, ecological and democratic challenges of
our time. This requires assertive policies and public investmentson the national and international level: from calls for a Green New
Deal and a progressive Europe that are committed to climate, racial
and gender justice, towards data sovereignty and democratic public
ownership on all levels!

15:15–16:45

17:00–18:00

THREE PARALLEL SESSIONSWORKSHOP ROUND 1 (60 MINS)

1. Democratic public ownership at the
local, regional and national level to fightprivatisation (with ES/FR interpretation)

A. Public control of the food system (TNI with
Voedsel Anders, Scottish Farm Land Trust/
Nourish Scotland)

Location: Ghanaian Church

Location: Mosque Room 1.3

Moderator: Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper and Transnational
Institute• Thomas Hanna, Democracy Collaborative• Sylvia Chi, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)• David Hall, former director of Public Services International
Research Unit
• Edurne Bagué, Water Observatory of Terrassa, Spain
Public ownership has the potential to be a key strategy fordemocratising our economy and society. However, public ownership
does not guarantee more democratic and equitable outcomes.
This panel will focus on efforts and approaches to make public
ownership more democratic, participatory, transparent, accountable
and resilient to privatisation. This includes multi-stakeholder
boards, participatory planning, citizen observatories, work councils,
empowered trade unions, governing assemblies and new online
platforms and tools.

2. De-privatisation, public ownership andcommunity control as strategies for energy
democracy and climate justiceLocation: Mosque Central Room
Moderator: Lavinia Steinfort, Transnational Institute• Abeer M. Butmeh, PENGON Friends of the Earth Palestine• Arnau Piqué, Ingeniería Sin Fronteras Catalonia• Johanna Bozuwa, Democracy Collaborative• Daniel Chavez, Transnational Institute
Which political strategies can deliver an energy transition? How can we
ensure that the new energy systems are deeply democratic in orderto tackle energy poverty and inequality? From Spain and Palestine
to South Africa and the United States, this session explores how thefight against privatisation can be won by combining the struggles
for climate justice, ecofeminism and democratic public energy.

B. Countering health care privatisation in the
Global South (Wemos)
Location: Mosque Room 1.1

C. Municipalize Europe! Overcoming EU
obstacles to reining in Airbnb (Corporate
Europe Observatory)
Location: Mosque Room 2.1

D. Regenerative city (TAMBO ROCA)
Location: Mosque Central RoomE. Young Scholars Initiative – Researching
remunicipalisation (Young Scholars Initiative& Department of City and Regional Planning– Cornell University)
Mosque Central Room

F. Who profits? A research into the public
assets of Amsterdam
Mosque Room 2.2

18:00-19:30
Dinner buffet available

3. Communities reject for-profit public
services: New corporate strategies,
privatisation and de-privatisation of water
waste, health care and education

Location: Central Mosque Room

Location: Mosque Room 1.1

Transformative Cities 2019 People’s Choice
Award (in English)

Coordinated by Iris Strutzmann and Oliver Prausmüller,
Chamber of Labour Vienna (AK Wien)• Leonhard Plank, TU Wien
• Vera Weghmann, Public Services International Research Unit
• Cecilia Gondard, Eurodad• Thomas Enghausen, Deputy Chairman of FOA, Denmark• Olivier Petitjean, Multinational Observatory, France
The global crisis of the privatisation agenda of the 90s andthe continuous public resistance against cutbacks is growing,
while attempts to retrench the welfare state is ongoing. These
contradictions increased in recent years due to the strong demandsof municipalities. Against this background we want to focus especiallyon recent developments in the areas of waste, water, health careand education and discuss future perspectives to strengthen an
alternative agenda.

20:00-22:00

Location: Ghanaian Church
Moderator: Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show (US)The Transformative Cities Initiative brings eight finalists of thePeople’s Choice Award to Amsterdam to debate and discuss theopportunities and challenges for transforming our local contexts
so that we address the global challenges we are facing. During thisunique event we will announce which initiatives received more
popular support and who will receive the Transformative Cities
2019 People’s Choice Award.

DAY TWO 5 DECEMBER 2019
The main focus of Day Two is the de-privatisation of public services and strategies
for democratic local public ownership, building on lessons from the worldwide
remunicipalisation movement.
9:30–9:45
Recap of Day One
Location: Ghanaian Church

9:45–11:15
PLENARY PANEL 3

Remunicipalisation today:
achievements and challenges
Location: Ghanaian Church

11:30-12:30
WORKSHOP ROUND 2 (60 MINS)

A. Feminist approach in public services (Debt
Observatory in Globalisation -ODG)
Mosque Room 1.3

B. De-privatisation of public services: lessons
from the Abidjan Principles on right to public
education (Global Initiative for Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights)
Mosque Central Room

Moderator: Ana Méndez de Andés, Madrid 129

Eau de Paris – 21st century innovation in a
public water company by Benjamin Gestin
Norway – Readiness for private bankruptcy
brings waste services back to the public byUnni Bjerregaard Moe, Norwegian Union
for Municipal and General Employees(Fagforbundet)
Ireland – Stronger local government means
better local services by Mary Murphy
Canada – Services back in-house, mobilising
workers` knowledge by Robert Ramsay,
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Public sector efficiency by Jan Willem
Goudriaan, General Secretary of EPSU
Reclaiming and creating public services:
remunicipalisation global overview by Satoko
KishimotoThe resistance to privatisation is growing and joining forces toremunicipalise and reinvent public services. Civil society organisations,trade unions and academics are partnering with cities to deprivatiseand democratise how our services are owned and organised. The
most fearless municipalities are finding ways to engage users andworkers in decision-making. The hot-off-the-press Future is Public
report will demonstrate that (re)municipalisation is an effective
strategy to put ‘public’ back into public services and build 21st
century public ownership.

C. The future is public transport! (International
Transport Workers’ Federation -ITF with KPTU,
We Own It, PSIRU)
Ghanaian Church

D. Building a pro-public research network(Queen’s University)
Mosque Room 1.1

F. Learning from the Yugoslavian model of selfgoverning socialism (Zajednicko.org, Belgrade)
Mosque Room 2.1

G. Housing as the catalyst to defend the rightto the City
Mosque Room 2.2

12:30–13:45
Lunch buffet available
Location: Mosque Central Room

14:00–15:30
THREE PARALLEL SESSIONS

1. Worker and Citizen Alliances in the Fightfor Remunicipalisation
Location: Mosque Room 1.1
Moderator: David McDonald, Municipal Services Project• Seoul (urban transport)- Wol-San Liem, Korean Public Service
and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU)• Jakarta (water), Tommy Albert Tobing, Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute Foundation• Lagos (water and waste), Akinbode Oluwafemi,
Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Nigeria• Berlin (housing), Aaron Bruckmiller, , researcher on ‘Deutsche
Wohnen enteignen’ campaign• Ireland (waste), Adrian Kane, SIPTU – Public Administration &Community Division• Chile, Alexander Panez Pinto, Movement for the Defense of
Water, Land and Environment• Barcelona (water), Míriam Planas, Engineering Without
Borders, Catalonia
Citizens and workers are part of a growing global movement toreclaim and reimagine ‘public’ services. This session highlights theopportunities, successes and challenges faced by these organisations.

2. How pension plans play a role in theprivatisation of public infrastructurearound the world.
Location: Mosque Room 2.1
Moderator: Daria Cibrario, Public Services International• Kevin Skerrett, Senior Researcher of the Canadian Union of
Public Employees (CUPE)• Fernando Toro Cano, Researcher, University College London• Stuart Fegan, GMB – Britain’s General Union• Vera Weghmann, Public Services International Research Unit
Pension funds are major players in public infrastructure privatization.
From Canada to Australia, large public-sector pension investmentboards have taken advantage of cash-strapped countries looking toraise revenue or build the infrastructure their residents sorely need.
In this session we will examine how pension funds have sought
out these investments, the effects this form of privatization has
had on the ground and how communities and labour unions havepushed back. Finally, we will propose options – such as publicfinance and public-public partnerships – that avoid the negative
consequences of privatisation.

3. Public partnerships: from capacity
building to transformative public services(with ES/FR interpretation)
Location: Ghanaian Church
Moderator: Bertie Russell, Sheffield Urban Institute• Julie Perkins, GWOPA- Global Water Operators Partnerships
Alliance / Not-for-profit, peer-to-peer partnerships in thewater sector• Samuel Ventura from El Salvador, Platform for Public
Community Partnerships of the Americas (PAPC)• Milo Fiasconaro, Aqua Publica Europea/Public knowledge
creation and sharing• Thomas Marois – SOAS University of London /Democratising Public Investment Banks for a Green New
Deal
Public actors such as local authorities and locally rooted community
organisations have a natural advantage in sharing knowledge in theco-management of local resources. Learning from not-for-profit,
solidarity-based partnerships in the water sector, this session will
explore deeper possibilities for the co-ownership and co-governanceof our essential life-support systems such as energy, water,
housing and transport. The session will also explore the place of
public-public partnerships - and how they can be democraticallyfinanced - in delivering a Green New Deal. Lessons from existing
public partnerships will be crucial to the development of newmodels of democratic ownership, such as the public-common
partnerships (PCPs) model recently proposed by Common Wealthand the P2P Foundation.

15:30–16:15
Walk from Mosque to Ghanaian Church
Alternative Sinterklaas celebration with special guest and music:
history of Black Pete by Black Archives

16:15-17:30
Panel discussion: The way forward,
reflections on next steps and what unites
us
Location: Ghanaian Church
Moderator: Roos van Os, De 99 van Amsterdam• Daria Cibrario, Public Services International• Andrew Cumbers, University of Glasgow• Míriam Planas, Engineering Without Borders, Catalonia• Alexander Panez Pinto, MODATIMA (Movement for the
Defense of Water, Land and the Environment), Chile• Alana Dave, International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)• Rutger Groot Wassink, Alderman for Social Affairs, Diversity
and Democratisation of Amsterdam

VENUE MAP

WORKSHOP ROUND 1 (60 MINS)
On 4 December 17:00–18:00

A. Public control of the food system
Coordinated by Sylvia Kay and Katie Sandwell, Transnational
Institute and ERPI (Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative) with
Voedsel Anders, Scottish Farm Land Trust/Nourish Scotland
How can we reclaim democratic control over our food systems? In
the Netherlands, ‘Voedsel Anders’ (Food Otherwise) brings together
farmers, fishers, civil society and policymakers to discuss foodsystems. In the Basque Country, peasant farmers, with municipalities,
are developing policies for territorial food sovereignty. In Scotland, a
new ‘community right to buy’ is bringing decision-making closer tohome. What can we learn from these initiatives? How can we build
solidarities and connect rural and urban spaces? In the context ofauthoritarian or anti-democratic backlash, what challenges do these
initiatives face, and how can they help to revitalise our democracies?

B. Countering health careprivatisation in the Global South
Coordinated by Barbara Fienieg, Wemos, Finance for Healthteam
Evidence shows that universal and equitable access to essential
health services requires strengthening of public resources andgovernance. Despite this, Official Development Assistance (ODA)
is increasingly used to support or leverage the engagement ofprivate for-profit actors in the health sector in low- and middleincome countries. In this workshop, we will clarify this issue, review
trends, and discuss its implication and concerns with reference tospecific examples of donors (Netherlands, UK, and EC) and recipient
countries (Tanzania, Kenya, India). The workshop is interactive,
and we will explore options to counter the push for privatisationof health and development.

C. Municipalize Europe! Overcoming
EU obstacles to reining in Airbnb
Coordinated by Kenneth Haar, Corporate Europe Observatory(CEO)Transformative cities are building new bottom-up ways of doing
politics and defending the common good. In this workshop we will
explore which obstacles transformative cities and urban movements
are facing when promoting progressive municipalist policies, focusing
on the battle to stop the aggressive expansion of Airbnb and on
efforts to ensure access to affordable housing. EU Single Market
legislation gives corporations and their lobby groups strong tools
to challenge the agenda of transformative cities. The workshop
will be an opportunity for city officials and activists to strategise
about how to tackle obstacles to progressive municipalist policies.

D. Regenerative city, models fromthe future
Coordinated by Roque Saenz Esposito, TAMBO ROCA
With rapid population growth, are cities able to ensure a peaceful,fair and healthy life for all? This workshop focuses on creating
new pathways for cities based on regenerative models for urban
future scenarios. We will use the themes of peace, environmentand citizenship as guides for resilience:
1. Check-in: Welcome and short presentation of participants.
2. Dreaming future cities: How can we imagine the city in the
future?
3. Creating tools for design: Which tools do we need to startand to get there?
4. Mapping the future: Planning objectives and actions.
5. Check-out: Harvesting ideas, sensations and results.

E. Young Scholars Initiative –Researching remunicipalisation
Coordinated by Simone Grabner, Luca Wettlaufer, Mildred E.
Warner, Young Scholars Initiative & Department of City andRegional Planning (Cornell University)
High-profile cases such as the remunicipalisation of water delivery
in Paris and Berlin have demonstrated how remunicipalisation is nota question of market management; it is embedded in an extended
institutional, geographical and political context. This workshop
will bring together scholars in this area to discuss cutting-edge
work and to exchange knowledge on research strategies that will
benefit academia, practitioners and citizens alike. The aim is toinspire and encourage a new generation of scholars working on
remunicipalisation issues. Workshop participants will gain state-ofthe-art insights into how to design research on remunicipalisation
and receive feedback on their poster presentations.

F. Who profits? A research into the
public assets of Amsterdam
Coordinated by Roos van Os, De 99 van Amsterdam andJohanna Bozuwa, The Democracy Collaborative
There is an emerging understanding across the political spectrum
that publicly owned assets at the local and city level can be anincredibly valuable, yet often underutilized, resource for economic
and community development. The Democracy Collaborative (TDC)
has, assigned by the municipality, conducted an initial mapping
project of public assets owned by the City of Amsterdam. During
this session Johanna Bozuwa of TDC will present the main findingsof the research that we then collectively can discuss how the city of
Amsterdam could leverage its assets to build a more equitable city.

WORKSHOP ROUND 2 (60 MINS)
On 5 December 11:30–12:30

G. Feminist approach in public
services

J. Building a pro-public research
network

Coordinated by Blanca Bayas Fernández, Debt Observatory in
Globalisation (ODG)

Coordinated by David McDonald, Queen’s University

Within the framework of the upcoming 2020 publication Cities versus
Multinationals (European Network of Corporate Observatories), theDebt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG) has been working on a
critique of transnational corporations that profit from caretaking
services.
This workshop will reflect on the following:• Is care/reproductive work necessary for the well-functioningof cities?
• Caretaking services include education, health and social
services. These are often outsourced. Can we identify
common trends, challenges and tactics?
• Feminist mobilisations have defended the (re)municipalisation of the abovementioned services in several
cities worldwide. What are their strategies and how have theysucceeded?

H. De-privatisation of public services:lessons from the Abidjan Principles
on right to public education
Coordinated by Sylvain Aubry, Global Initiative for Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
Since their adoption, the Abidjan Principles on the right to (public)
education have spurred support for a rights-based narrative ofmanagement of social services. Several of the Principles’ concepts
could apply to other sectors. In this workshop, we will:
1. Discuss the legal and ethical basis to claim a right topublic services.
2. Discuss the concepts of ‘public’ and ‘municipal’.
This includes a reflection on the ‘commons’ and on what‘public’ means in practice.
3. Review the experience of campaigners who worked on
public education to explore the lessons learned, challenges
and potential synergies with other fields.

I. The future is public transport!
Coordinated by Ali Howes, International Transport Workers’
Federation (ITF) with KPTU, We Own It and PSIRU / CREW at
the University of Greenwich
This workshop will develop ideas around a social model of public
transport that includes organisational and employment rights forworkers and provides a solution to the climate crisis. ITF will launchtwo policy chapters from the People’s Public Transport Policy:
Public Ownership written by We Own It and Public Financing
written by PSIRU / CREW. KPTU will discuss their campaign for
public ownership of the metro (Line 9) in Seoul and present recent
research on democratic public ownership and transportation
operation models.

The workshop is designed to bring together researchers working on
pro-public alternatives to privatisation to (a) learn about each other’s
activities, (b) discuss research methodologies, (c) share findings,
and (d) develop networking and collaboration opportunities for
future research activities.

K. Learning from the Yugoslavian
model of self-governing socialism
Coordinated by Aleksandra Lakic, Zajednicko.org, Belgrade
The experience of socialism in Yugoslavia (considering equally its
benefits, contradictions and limitations) offers valuable and uniqueinsights into the system of workers’ control over social reproduction
conditions. This workshop will compare the Yugoslav self-management
experiment with contemporary counter-movements. An emphasis
is placed on questions of commons and collective property regimes
and the related concept of socialisation of means of production
through workers’ self-management. We will also focus on the concrete
practices of workers’ self-organisation through cooperatives andtheir potentials to eliminate contemporary social and economic
inequalities and to contribute to the creation of an autonomous,
democratic and decentralised workplace.

L. Housing as the catalyst to defend
the right to the City
Coordinated by Niels Jongerius, Transformative Cities Initiative
Housing prices have risen globally, driven by financial speculation.
While access to housing is a basic human right, most people either
carry a debt for decades to pay for a private house or are pushed
ever further out of formerly affordable neighbourhoods. Housing
prices bring together the main forces of contemporary capitalism:
finance, technology and tourism. Nevertheless, a variety of local
initiatives emerge to reverse these trends, showing that the struggle
for affordable housing for all has the potential to make the citiesof the future more democratic and inclusive.

SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS
Aaron Bruckmiller grew up in Austria and is now
based in Berlin, where he studied philosophy,
politics and history. He is working as an editor
and consultant. His PhD project is about utopian
traditions in political philosophy. Aaron has beenan activist in different social movements since his
early teens. He has been active in the ‘Deutsche
Wohnen enteignen’ campaign.
Abeer M. Butmeh is a water and environmental
engineer and the Coordinator of the Palestinian
Environmental NGO Network PENGON - Friends ofthe Earth Palestine. She has over 10 years’ experience
with campaigning, coordination, communicationand facilitation between different bodies. Abeer isa trainer in water, wastewater and environmental
issues and is an active member in many social andenvironmental networks at local and international
levels.
Adrian Kane is Division Organiser of the Public
Administration and Community Division at SIPTU,
an Irish union that represents over 180,000 workers
from almost every category of employment
across all sectors of the Irish economy. As Division
Organiser, Adrian is responsible for Energy andNatural Resources. He is also a member of the
ETUC Sustainable Development, Energy & Climate
Committee.
Akinbode Oluwafemi is a Nigerian environmental
activist and Deputy Executive Director ofEnvironmental Rights Action (ERA), the Nigerianchapter of Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN).
Akinbode has extensive experience working withcorporate accountability. As Deputy Director, heplays a leading role in designing and implementing
ERA’s tobacco control programme and heads
ERA’s campaign to prevent the privatisation ofwater in Lagos and build the movement for public
water in Africa.
Alana Dave leads the International Transport
Workers’ Federation (ITF) global programme on
public transport, which includes a number of strategic
projects on labour impacts and workers issues.
She is responsible for the development of a tradeunion public transport policy to further decent
work, social and climate justice and gender equality
and represents the ITF in external relationships
and policy forums. The ITF’s Our Public Transport
programme links current issues in the sector with along-term vision of a pro-public democratic modelof public transport.
Alexander Panez Pinto is a member of theenvironmental group Movement for the Defenceof Water, Land and the Environment (MODATIMA).
He has a degree in Social Work from Pontificia
Universidad Católica in Valparaiso and a degree in
Urbanism from the University of Chile. Alexander
has worked in Chile, Brazil and Mexico in the fields
of social service, urban issues, participatory planningand the right to the city. His current academic
research focuses on water appropriation and territorialconflicts.

Ana Méndez de Andés is a PhD candidate at theSheffield School of Architecture. She has researchexperience in municipalism and urban commons andis currently working on the production of Common
Codes as juridical tools for commoning of cities.
Ana has been involved in the international Fearless
Cities Municipalist Network and the analysis ofmunicipalism in Spain through the online ‘Atlas of
Change’. She is a founding member of the militantresearch collective Observatorio Metropolitano andhas produced different texts on the municipalist
project and the legacy of the 15-M movement.
Andrew Cumbers is Professor of Regional Political
Economy at the Adam Smith Business School at the
University of Glasgow. He has written extensively on
the problems and prospects for a more democraticand egalitarian economy and society. Before moving
to Glasgow, Andrew worked at the Universities of
Durham, Middlesex and Aberdeen as a researcher
and lecturer in Labour and Economic Geography.
He was formerly Professor of Geographical Political
Economy at the University of Glasgow.
Anne-Sophie Olmos is Deputy Mayor in the City
Council of Grenoble where she works on public
procurement and management control. She also sits
in the Grenoble Metropolitan (wider agglomeration)Council and is the co-chair of the political group that
holds the majority at the Council under the Mayor of
Grenoble. Anne-Sophie does not belong to a politicalparty and defines herself as a municipalist. Her focus
on the management of local public companies has
led her to dedicate herself to local commons andto develop processes of cooperation and collective
management.
Arnau Piqué is a Spanish human rights and politicalactivist. He holds a degree in Political Science andhas completed a specialisation in armed conflicts
at the United Nations Institute for Training andResearch and the Open University of Catalonia.
He is currently working for Engineering Without
Borders Catalonia in the field of energy and extractive
industries. Arnau is a member of the Network forEnergy Sovereignty (Xse) and the Catalan Platform
Against Trade & Investment Agreements. At Xse, he
has co-authored two books on energy democracy
and sovereignty.
Asima Shaikh is Councillor at the London Borough of
Islington where she works as Executive Member for
Inclusive Economy and Jobs. Her field of expertise iscentred around employment, economic regeneration,and community development and resilience. Asima
was first elected as Councillor for Finsbury Park in
May 2014. She has previously worked for the Greater
London Authority, and has extensive experiencein project management and policy development.
Benjamin Gestin is General Manager at Eau de Paris,
the public water utility of the City of Paris. He has
held this position since December 2016. Prior to thisassignment, Benjamin worked as Deputy Director
General at Centre des Monuments Nationaux, anagency of the Ministry of Culture that manages overa hundred historical sites and buildings. He wasseconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between
2009 and 2012 and was posted at the Embassyof France in India, working in the development andgovernance sectors.

Bertie Russell is a Research Associate at the Urban
Institute at the University of Sheffield. He is a memberof the UK organisation Plan C and is part of theinternational MISTRA Urban Futures. Bertie holds
a PhD from the University of Leeds. His researchinterests are centred around participatory anddeliberative democracy; utopianism and directional
demands; and the organisation of the commons andpost-capitalist transition. Bertie has published several
articles on municipalism and urban movements.
Cat Hobbs is the Founder and Director of We
Own It, a UK organisation that campaigns against
privatisation and for 21st century public ownership.
Cat studied philosophy, politics and economics
at Oxford University, and has several years ofexperience working as a campaign leader. She has
been involved in various campaigns throughout the
UK and worked three years at Campaign for Better
Transport, where she lobbied nationally on behalfof bus and train passengers.
Cécilia Gondard joined Eurodad in June 2018 asa Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer working on
publicly backed private finance. Her role involves
research and analysis, advocacy and campaign
coordination. Before joining Eurodad, Cécilia worked
for the Global Progressive Forum and at the European
Parliament. She also coordinated the Europeans
for Financial Reform coalition. Cécilia has a degreein European Studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle
University and a master’s degree in European
Business from the ESCP-EAP European Schoolof Management.
Charles Santiago is an incumbent member of the
Parliament of Malaysia and the Chairman of ASEAN
Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR). He
has held the latter position since 1 November 2018.
Charles holds an MA in Economics from the New
School for Social Research, USA, and is a member ofthe Democratic Action Party (DAP). He has previously
worked as Director of the Malaysian think-tank
Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (MSN)
and Coordinator for the Coalition Against Water
Privatisation and served as Expert Consultant for
the European Commission in Brussels.
Daniel Chavez is a Transnational Institute fellow
and specialises in left politics, state companies, andpublic services. He is an active contributor to theMunicipal Services Project (MSP) research network,
has contributed to the 2012 book Alternatives toPrivatization: Public Options for Essential Services in
the Global South and has co-edited The Reinventionof the State: Public Enterprises and Developmentin Latin America and the world.
Daria Cibrario is Policy Officer at Public Services
International (PSI), in charge of Local and Regional
Government workers and Multinational Enterprises.
Prior to this role, Daria served as Sectoral Secretary
for the Food and Drink Industry at the European
Federation of Food, Tourism and Agriculture Trade
Unions (EFFAT) in Brussels and as International
Officer for the Food and Drink sector at theInternational Union of Food Workers (IUF) in Geneva.
She holds an MSc in International Political Economy
from the London School of Economics.

David Dessers is Deputy Mayor in Leuven, Belgium,
working on mobility, climate and sustainability,
agriculture and food. Before becoming Deputy Mayor,
David was involved in climate activism and in the
North-South movement. He has previously worked
for NGOs such as Oxfam and 11.11.11; he co-founded
Climaxi, a climate-activist organisation; and theCentre for Economic Disobedience (CEO). He is also
a founding member of Leuven 2030. From 2011 to
2018, David organised a yearly solidarity festival in
Leuven called Wereldfeest. David has co-authored
several books, including the 2017 book Leuven inalle straten: voor een stad die durft.
David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of
Anthropology and Geography at The Graduate
Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)
and Director of Research for the Center for Place,
Culture and Politics at CUNY. He holds a PhD fromthe University of Cambridge and honorary degrees
from Bristol University, Goldsmith College and Kent
University, as well as the universities of Buenos Aires,
Roskilde, Uppsala and Ohio State University. He
has published several highly influential books onpolitical economy and has been granted numerous
research awards.
David Hall is Visiting Professor at the Universityof Greenwich, London. His research focuses on
the politics and economics of public services,public finance, privatisation and PPPs. From
2000-2013 he was Director of the Public Services
International Research Unit (PSIRU). David has
published numerous PSIRU reports and otherjournal articles and worked with social movements,
civil society organisations and trade unions on allcontinents. He has also been a guest lecturer at theWorld Bank infrastructure division and invited to
speak at meetings of UNDESA, OECD, UNCTAD,
ILO and other organisations.
Duncan McCann leads the Digital Economy team at
the New Economics Foundation. At the Foundation,
he works on issues of power and accountability andhow they have shifted as the data driven economy
has flourished. Duncan also works in the areas ofownership, land, money and macro-economic policy.
He has previously worked on public platforms andplatform coops, including working with drivers in
the UK to create a worker-owned alternative to
Uber in the UK.
David A. McDonald is Professor of Global
Development Studies at Queen’s University, Canada,
and co-director of the Municipal Services Project.
Edurne Bagué is a PhD candidate in Social
Anthropology at CIESAS in Mexico City, specialisingin water, society and culture. Her PhD thesis wason remunicipalisation: ‘The Remunicipalisation of
Water in Terrassa (Catalunya). The struggle of theTaula de l’aigua for a management model around thecommon (2014-2019)’. Edurne has studied irrigation
communities and community management in Mexico(Valle del Mezquital) and Catalonia (Comunitat deregants del Rec del Molí de Pals in Girona). Recently,
her research has focused on the infrastructures andmanagement impacts over human rights and local
knowledges in Morocco, Spain and the Amazon.
Eloi Badia is Councillor of Climate Emergency and theEcological Transition of the Barcelona City Council.
He has a background in industrial engineering andhas participated in water and energy cooperation
projects in Ecuador, Argentina, India and Paraguay.
Between 2007 and 2015, Eloi was responsible for
the Water Campaign of the Spanish Federation ofEngineering Without Borders. As City Councillor,
Eloi coordinates government actions and steers therepresentation of the City Council in the Metropolitan
Area of Barcelona.

Ernest Urtasun is a Spanish politician and Memberof the European Parliament (MEP), a position which
he has held since 2014. He holds a master’s degree
in International Relations from the University ofBarcelona and has previously worked as a diplomat
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
Ernest has been politically active since his youth
and as an MEP, he represents the green left.

Julie Perkins is the Acting Head of the Global
Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA),
established by UN-Habitat in 2009 to support andpromote solidarity-based partnerships between
water and sanitation utilities around the world. Witha background in Urban Planning and environment,
Julie has worked with UN-Habitat since 2004,
supporting UN member states and cities to deliver
sustainable basic services to all.

Fernando Toro is part of the Directory of the NGO
Ciudad Común. He is an architect by training andholds an MSc in Urban Development Planningfrom UCL and a master’s degree in Real EstateManagement from the University of Chile. Fernando
has worked on issues related to urban segregation,
inequality, neoliberal urbanism, financialisation andhousing policies. He is the former Director of the Villa
San Luis Foundation, and his recent professional
experience includes consultancy work for the InterAmerican Development Bank and the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Development in Chile.

Kate Aronoff is a Fellow at the Type Media Center,
writing on climate change and American politics.
She is a contributing writer to The Intercept, andher work has appeared in The New York Times, The
Nation, Dissent, Rolling Stone, The Guardian andHarpers, among other outlets. She was previously
a writing fellow at In These Times. Kate is currently
editing a forthcoming anthology about democraticsocialism in America and writing a book about thepolitics of climate change, The New Denialism. Bothbooks are set to be published in 2020.

Freddie Bailey is a Cabinet Member for Community
Wealth Building at Preston City Council. He was firstelected in May 2018 and elected to the Cabinet in
May 2019. As a Councillor, Freddie is working on
governing models to empower ordinary people
and to protect Preston residents from Conservative
austerity.
Gilles Perole is Deputy Mayor of Mouans-Sartoux
and responsible for coordinating the town’s foodpolicy development. As an elected representative,
Gilles is active in a number of food initiatives
across France. He also leads the European program
URBACT BioCanteens, which supports six European
cities in improving the food quality of their canteen
and in the development of a regional project ofsustainable food.
Hilary Wainwright is a Transnational Institute fellow
and Editor of the British new-left magazine Red
Pepper. Her research focuses on new forms of
democratic accountability within parties, movements
and the state. Hilary is also Senior Research Associate
at the International Centre for Participation Studies
at the Department for Peace Studies at the Universityof Bradford, UK; Senior Research Associate at theInternational Centre for Participation Studies at
Bradford University; and an Honorary Associate of
the Institute of Development Studies.
Jan Willem Goudriaan is the General Secretary ofEPSU, the European Federation of Public Service
Unions. EPSU is the largest federation of the ETUC
and comprises eight million public service workers
from over 260 trade unions across Europe. EPSU
organises workers in the energy, water and waste
sectors, health and social services, and local, regionaland central government in all European countries.
Johanna Bozuwa is Co-Manager at the Climate &Energy Program at The Democracy Collaborative. Her
research focuses on transitioning from the extractive,
fossil fuel economy and building resilient andequitable communities based on energy democracy.
Johanna holds an MSc in Sustainable Innovation from
Utrecht University. She first joined The Democracy
Collaborative as a master’s student conducting
research on public ownership of electric utilities. She
has previously worked on divestment campaigns
for pension funds in the US and worked alongsidegroups such as Fossil Free NL and BothENDS in
the Netherlands.

Kevin Skerrett is Senior Researcher at the Canadian
Union of Public Employees (CUPE). He holds
a master’s degree in Political Economy from
Carleton University. Kevin’s work involves all levelsof union engagement, from collective bargaining tomembership and staff education to policy work. In
2009 he spent a year working as a researcher andeditor at the ILO’s Bureau for Workers Activities
and was a Managing Editor for the launch of theInternational Journal of Labour Research.
Laura Basu is Europe Editor of ourEconomy at
openDemocracy, a theme section that puts planet,people and power at the centre of the debate about
our economic future. Laura is also a research fellow at
the Institute for Cultural Inquiry at Utrecht University
and fellow at the Media and Communication
Department at Goldsmiths, University of London.
She is the author of the 2018 book Media Amnesia
and co-editor of The Media and Austerity.
Laura Flanders Laura Flanders is the award-winninghost and executive producer of The Laura Flanders
Show, a New York City based TV and radio programthat features real-life models of shifting power in
the arts, economics and politics. Flanders is also
the author of six books including The New YorkTimesbestseller BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical
Species and Blue Grit, True Democrats Take Back
Power From the Politicians. She is a contributing
writer to The Nation magazine and can be followedon Twitter @GRITlaura. Watch/listen/subscribe athttps://lauraflanders.org
Lavinia Steinfort is a social geographer and politicalactivist. As a researcher at the Transnational Institute(TNI), she is working on public alternatives such as(re)municipalisation of public services, a just transition
towards energy democracy and transforming financefor the 99%. Lavinia is co-implementing the mPOWER
project that facilitates peer learning among European
energy transition cities and is the coordinator of
the international Energy Democracy alliance. She
co-authored the book Public Finance for the Future
We Want and the report One Treaty to rule them allabout the Energy Charter Treaty.
Leonhard Plank is Assistant Professor at the Centreof Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy at the
Department of Spatial Planning at TU Wien. Before
joining the Institute, he was a Visiting Fellow at the
University of Manchester, the University College
London (UCL), and the Institute of Human Sciences(IWM) in Vienna. He holds a PhD in Business
Administration from the University of Graz and isa member of the Foundational Economy Collective,
which sets out a new way of thinking about theeconomy and politics.

Mary Murphy is Associate Professor at the
Department of Sociology at Maynooth University,
Ireland. Her research interests include critical social
policy, public institutions, power and civil society, andgender. Before joining the University in 2007, Mary
worked for fifteen years as a campaigner and policy
analyst. She is currently a member of the Councilof State. Mary co-edited The Irish Welfare State in
the 21st Century and recently worked with Forsa,
the Irish public sector trade union, as part of the‘More Power To You’ campaign to strengthen local
democracy and promote public services.

Rodrigo Hurtado Osbar is Executive Director of theOpen University of Recoleta, the first municipal
university of Chile. Created by the local governmentof Recoleta, it aims to develop an active, critical andchange-promoting population of citizens sociallyopen to different ethno-cultural groups. Rodrigo
has participated in numerous public programs
at, among others, the University of Chile and theMinistry of Economy, where he has worked withtechnical coordination and creation of knowledge
and innovation management models. He is anexpert in the field of e-learning and digital platforms.

Milo Fiasconaro has been the Executive Director of
Aqua Publica Europea – the European Association of
Public Water Operators – since 2012. Prior to that, heworked for public authorities on the implementationof local development policies. He holds an MA in
Human Geography from Durham University, UK,and a degree in Political Science from Florence
University, Italy.

Roos van Os has been working as a Project Manager
at the GroenLinks Scientific Office since January
2019 and is connected to the municipality andcitizen initiative De 99 van Amsterdam. She hasa background in sociology and international law.
In recent years, Roos has conducted research into
political (macro) economic policy from a social
justice perspective. She has previously worked asa senior researcher at the Research Foundation for
Multinational Enterprises (SOMO).

Míriam Planas is an activist with Engineering Without
Borders in Catalonia and spokesperson for L’Aigua ésVida (Water is Life), an organisation that campaigns
to remunicipalise water in the Barcelona region
and bring it back to public control. As an activist,
Míriam is working for development cooperation toguarantee universal access to basic services. She
is also involved in various citizen platforms andis a member of the European Water Movement.
Olivier Petitjean is the current Chief Editor at theMultinational Observatory, an investigative website
on French transnational corporations. He is a French
writer and researcher and has worked in various
NGOs and in the publishing industry. In addition to
his role as Editor at the Multinational Observatory,
Olivier also writes for the French progressive news
website Basta!
Philip Glanville was elected Mayor of Hackney in
September 2016 and was re-elected in May 2018. Prior
to this, Philip spent three years as Cabinet Member
for Housing, overseeing the delivery of genuinely
affordable homes. As Mayor, he is committing
Hackney Council to tripling the number of council
homes built since 2010, including 800 houses forsocial rent. In addition to serving as Mayor, Philips isalso the Chair of London Councils’ Grants Committee
and Co-Chair of Thrive London and London Councils
Digital Champion.
Renate Brauner is Special Representative for Servicesof General Interest and Municipal Enterprises of theCity of Vienna. She previously worked as an economist
at the Austrian Chamber of Labour. Renate has held
various political functions, starting as a member ofthe Vienna City Council and a member of Vienna’scity and state government. She is currently the Vice
President of Austria’s Social Democratic Party, SPÖ,
and has been President of the Association of PublicServices and Enterprises Austria (VÖWG) since 2011.
Robert Ramsay is Senior Research Officer at CUPE,
the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Robertholds an MA degree in Urban-Social Geography fromthe University of Toronto. Before being appointed
Senior Research Officer, Robert worked as a
Professional Officer at the Canadian Associationof University Teachers. He has also been Chair andExecutive Officer at CUPE.

Rutger Groot Wassink is Alderman for Social Affairs,
Diversity and Democratisation in the Amsterdam
City Council, working specifically on the topics ofSocial Affairs, Diversity and Democratisation. He
is a trained historian and has previously worked
with work, income and energy policy development.
Rutger has held various positions for the Dutch green
left-wing party Groenlinks and has also worked asa policy advisor for the labour union FNV.
Samuel Ventura is a member and spokespersonof the Salvadorian civil society and environmentalorganisation Foro del Agua and Director of the United
Community Association for Water and Agriculture(ACUA). ACUA is an active member of the Platform
for Public Community Partnerships in Americas(PAPC) and La Red VIDA (Inter-American Network
for the Defense of the Right to Water).
Satoko Kishimoto is a researcher and Coordinator of
the Public Alternatives project at the Transnational
Institute (TNI) based in Amsterdam. She edited areport Here to stay: Water remunicipalisation as a
global trend (2014), Our Public Water Future (2015),
Reclaiming Public Services-How Cities and Citizens
Are Turning Back Privatisation (2017).
Stuart Fegan is National Officer at GMB, Britain’s
General Union. Before being appointed as National
Officer, Stuart worked as both Regional and Senior
Organiser at GMB. He has over 15 years of experience
with union work and often features in media as a
GMB spokesperson. Stuarts holds a BA in politics
from the University of Portsmouth.
Sylvia Chi is the Policy Director of the Asian Pacific
Environmental Network (APEN), an environmental
justice organisation that works with frontline AsianAmerican communities in the San Francisco Bay
Area and across California. Before joining APEN,
she worked at the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the US Senate, and the Environmental
Law Institute. She has also worked at Verdant Law,
where she practiced chemicals and green marketinglaw. Sylvia earned her AB in history with a minor inenvironmental studies from Dartmouth College andher JD from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Tanja Jadnanansing, who grew up in Suriname, cofounded and was director of communications at ayouth information center in Amsterdam. She worked
as manager on diversity issues and as editor-in-chiefat the Dutch Public Broadcasting Foundation. In
the 2010 national elections, Jadnanansing was
voted into parliament, representing the Dutch social
democratic party PvdA. As a member of parliament
she engaged with higher education and science policy
and was chairperson of the standing committee for
Security and Justice. Nowadays, Jadnanansing ischairperson of the Executive Board of Amsterdam
Zuidoost, a borough of Amsterdam.
Thomas Enghausen is Deputy Chairman for theDanish Union of Public Employees (FAO), Denmark’s
third largest labour union. He is responsible for theUnion’s economic and political sector, focusing on
tax politics, economic policy and in- and outsourcing.
Thomas holds a degree in pedagogy and has
previously held various positions related to thisfield, including being Chairman for the Associationfor Social Pedagogy for almost ten years.
Thomas M. Hanna is Research Director at The
Democracy Collaborative (TDC) and Co-Directorof the organisation’s Theory, Policy and Research
Division. His areas of expertise include democraticmodels of ownership and governance, particularly
public and cooperative ownership. A dual citizen of
the United States and the United Kingdom, Thomas
has advised the UK Labour Party on democratic
public ownership and has served on the Advisory
Board of two European Research Council funded
academic research projects: Transforming Public
Policy Through Economic Democracy and Global
Remunicipalisation and the Post-Neoliberal Turn.
Thomas Marois is Senior Lecturer in Development
Studies at SOAS, University of London. He completed
his PhD at York University in Canada and has worked
with NGOs and in private and public sectors in
Canada and Latin America. Thomas’ research focuseson public banks and the financing of just energy
transitions. He has written several political economy
books and his articles are published in high-ranking
academic journals. He is also an active member ofthe Municipal Services Project, a global networkof researchers investigating public alternatives toprivatisation and commercialisation.

Tommy Albert Tobing is a public interest lawyer who
has been advocating for human rights for 15 years.
He started his career as an assistant lawyer at the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, and has been involved
in several strategic litigations initiated by civilsociety groups, including citizen lawsuits proposedby 14 Jakarta citizens against water privatisation in
Jakarta. As a lawyer, Tommy is especially committed
to structural legal aid work.
Unni Bjerregaard Moe is Adviser at the Restructuring
Unit at the Norwegian Union of Municipal andGeneral Employees (Fagforbundet), a position
she has held since 2010. Unni specialises in issues
related to privatisation, tendering and outsourcing,as well as development of municipal services. She
has extensive experience as a senior shop steward
at both local and regional levels in the Union’s Oslobranch and is head of the trade union of one ofOslo’s districts.
Vera Weghmann is a Research Fellow for the PublicServices International Research Unit (PSIRU) at the
University of Greenwich. She is also a member of
the Centre for Research on Employment and Work(CREW). Before joining the University in September
2017, Vera completed her PhD at the Centre forStudy of Social and Global Justice (CSSSGJ) at the
University of Nottingham. Her research is focusedon public services, waste management, energy
policy, energy democratisation, remunicipalisationand public ownership.
Wol-san Liem is Director of International Affairs for the
Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union(KPTU), which represents 230,000 workers in the
public sector, social services and transport industry.
As Director, Wol-san builds solidarity between the
struggles of workers in Korea and other countries
fighting to stop fragmentation, outsourcing, andprivatisation and/or achieve reintegration, public
ownership and public operation of public services.
Wol-san is also Vice-Chair for the Road Transport
Section Steering Committee and the Urban Transport
Steering Committee at the International Transport
Workers’ Federation (ITF).
Mathew Lawrence is founder and director of Common
Wealth, a think tank that designs ownership models
for the democratic economy. Previously he was asenior research fellow on IPPR’s Commission on
Economic Justice. He is co-author of a forthcoming
book with Verso on the economics of systems change.

ABOUT DE 99 VAN AMSTERDAM

ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL INSTITUTE

De 99 van Amsterdam (The 99 of Amsterdam) is a do-and-think tank,consisting of a small team funded by the city of Amsterdam, and a networkof doers and thinkers.

The Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international research and advocacy
institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable world.
For more than 40 years, TNI has served as a unique nexus between social
movements, engaged scholars and policy makers.

The 99 was established to connect Amsterdam initiatives that make thecity fairer and more just, sustainable and inclusive, with each other andwith the international municipalist movement. The think tank is part ofthe municipal ‘Fearless City’ programme.
We collect ideas, experiences and best practices from home and abroad andmake these more accessible. We also do research and develop strategies
and visions. This way Amsterdam can become a City of Change and inspire
Amsterdammers and other cities, starting at the Amsterdam conference.

TNI has a reputation for well-researched analysis on key global issues long
before they become mainstream concerns. As a non-sectarian institutemade up of researchers, scholar-activists and movement-builders, TNI
uniquely combines a ‘big picture’ analysis with proposals and solutions
that are both just and pragmatic. Our capacity to build long-term respectful
mutual relationships with strategic social movements is helping put radical
ideas into movement.

TNI’S VISITING ADDRESS:De Wittenstraat 25
1052 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands

SIDE EVENTS

4 December, 20:00–22:00

Transformative Cities 2019 People’s Choice Award (in English)
Location: Ghanaian Church
Stories of environmental degradation and social injustice seem to dominate the news. But all around the world, people are developing
local solutions to global problems. Through a different lens, we see that another world is not only possible, it is already being built.
We launched an award for people-led initiatives to highlight and strengthen stories of cities and collectives that are experimenting with new
ways to practice democracy and secure access to basic rights. We compiled 33 inspiring stories from 24 countries for our ‘Atlas of Utopias’.
Three transformative initiatives for each category (water, energy, housing and food systems) were selected as the top 12 finalists nominatedfor the Transformative Cities 2019 Award.
Between mid-September and mid-October, more than 5000 people participated in the Transformative Cities vote. The finalists organised
online and physical actions to bring attention to their transformative work. It is time to celebrate them!
The Transformative Cities Initiative brings eight of the finalists to Amsterdam to debate and discuss together the opportunities andchallenges for transforming our local contexts so that we can address the global challenges we are facing. During this unique event wewill announce which initiatives received more popular support and who will receive the Transformative Cities 2019 People’s Choice Award.

Who is coming:
Moderator: Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show (US)Glocalists• Femke Roosma (Fractievoorzitter GroenLinks Amsterdam)• Kauthar Bouchallikht (intersectional activist, journalist, trainer and campaigner)
Energy Finalists• Abeer Al Butmeh, PIGEON – Friends of the Earth Palestine (West Bank & Gaza)• Eloi Badia, Councillor of Climate Emergency and the Ecological Transition of the Barcelona City Council
Housing Finalists• Evan M Casper-Futterman, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative from New York (United States)• Isadora Hastings, Cooperación Comunitaria from Ixtepec (Mexico)
Food Systems Finalists• David Ngige, Dajopen Waste Management Project from Kitale (Kenya)• Lina Mondragón Colyflor Solidarity Economy Circuit from Medellin (Colombia)
Water Finalists• Akinbode Oluwafemi Environmental Rights Action (Environmental Rights Action- Friends of the Earth Nigeria) from Lagos (Nigeria)• Tommy Albert Tobing of Amrta Institute/Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum from Jakarta (Indonesia)
Transformative Cities Coordinator: Sol Trumbo Vila, Transnational Institute

Visit: www.futureispublic.org/transformative-cities6–7 December

2-day conference by the City of Amsterdam about The City of Tomorrow:
Democratising the Neighbourhood Economy (mainly in Dutch)
Amsterdam residents, community organisers, activists and researchers will team up to discuss how Amsterdam can put this new wealthof knowledge on democratic economy into action during the local conference ‘The City of Tomorrow: Democratising the Neighbourhood
Economy’.

Visit: www.thefutureispublicdestadvanmorgen.nl/de-stad-van-morgenEVENT INFONO CONFERENCE FEE
LUNCH & DINNER
The Future is Public International Conference will serve lunch and dinner(vegetarian buffet) on the 4th and 5th at the venue.
Meal vouchers (7.5 Euros each) can be purchased at the venue.

INTERPRETATION (DURING PANELS AND KEYNOTE SPEECH)
Simultaneous translation in French and Spanish will be available during
the international conference.
La traduction simultanée en français et en espagnol sera disponible
pendant la conférence internationale.
La traducción simultánea en francés y español estará disponible durante
la conferencia internacional.

VENUE ADDRESS

Hart voor de K-Buurt
Hart voor de K Buurt is located next to the Kraaiennest metro station(20 minutes ride on metro Line 53 from Amsterdam Central Railway Station)in Amsterdam’s South-East borough, Bijlmermeer.

There will be signs and (occasionally) volunteers to help you
get from the metro station to the venue.

MAIN VENUE (FOR PLENARIES AND REGISTRATION)

Ghanaian Church
Kempering 58 Amsterdam, Zuid Oost 1104 KG

WORKSHOPS
Workshops are at the Mosque in various rooms (address: Kraaiennest 125)

All venues are close to each other and withina few minutes’ walking distance.