Neighbourhood networks, community centres, third places, local exchange systems and maps of local initiatives.
Neighbourhood apps are where people lend a ladder, find a babysitter or give a sofa to someone a few streets away. Community centres and third places host repair evenings, courses and meetings, and in a local exchange system members trade hours of help instead of money.
An AMAP (association pour le maintien d’une agriculture paysanne) is a group of households that buys part of a nearby farm’s harvest in advance, for a season, and collects a basket each week at a…
Alternative to supermarket vegetables bought at prices that squeeze farmers
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A Repair Café is a free meeting where volunteers help people repair their own broken things: toasters, lamps, clothes, bikes, toys, laptops. It is an alternative to throwing away a broken appliance…
Alternative to throwing away broken appliances and buying new ones, often because repair seems too expensive
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The Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft is the German association of community supported agriculture (Solawi): farms whose members pay a monthly share of the farm’s costs and get a share of the…
Alternative to supermarket vegetables from heated greenhouses and long-distance imports
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foodsharing.de is a free, ad-free platform run by volunteers in Germany who collect surplus food from shops, bakeries and restaurants and share it, without money, with anyone who wants it, after…
Alternative to shops, bakeries and restaurants throwing away edible food
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The Volkshochschulen (vhs) are the public adult education centres in Germany: 815 centres with about 2,630 branches, most run by towns and districts. They offer affordable courses in languages…
Alternative to expensive private courses and coaching, and online course platforms that sell subscriptions
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VRAC organises group buying of organic, fair-trade and local food in low-income neighbourhoods of France and sells it at cost price. Members order and collect their goods, in their own containers, at…
Alternative to discount supermarkets as the only option in low-income neighbourhoods
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ACORN is a community and tenants’ union in England and Wales whose members act together against bad landlords, to get repairs done, deposits returned and evictions stopped, for a membership fee based…
Alternative to facing a landlord or letting agent alone
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The Community Land Trust Network is the charity for community land trusts in England and Wales: local, member-controlled non-profits that own land so that the homes on it stay affordable for local…
Alternative to speculative housing whose prices follow the market, not local wages
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Habitat Participatif France is the national association of co-housing in France: groups of households who design, build or renovate their homes together and share some spaces, and it helps them find…
Alternative to buying a flat from a developer or renting alone
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Incredible Edible is a movement of local groups that grow vegetables, fruit and herbs in public places, for anyone to pick for free. It started in Todmorden, in northern England, in 2008.
Alternative to buying every vegetable at the supermarket and to ornamental-only public planting
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Les Petits Frères des Pauvres is a French association, founded in 1946, whose volunteers visit isolated older people at home, organise group activities and holidays, and answer a free, anonymous…
Alternative to leaving older people alone, or paying a private company for company
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Quartiermeister is a Berlin beer brand owned by a non-profit foundation: its profits go to neighbourhood projects, chosen by public vote in the cities where the beer is drunk.
Alternative to beer from big brewing groups such as AB InBev, Heineken or Radeberger
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The Wohnprojekte-Portal is a free German directory of about 890 co-housing projects and groups, run by the non-profit Stiftung trias, where people can find a shared housing project with room for them…
Alternative to looking for a flat alone on commercial property portals
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Karte von morgen (“map of tomorrow”) is an open map of sustainable initiatives and businesses: organic shops, repair cafés, community gardens, cooperatives, sharing places, places to eat and more, in…
Alternative to commercial map apps that list whoever pays for advertising first
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Les Frigos Solidaires is a French association that sets up self-service fridges outside shops, associations, universities, schools and companies, where anyone can leave food or take some, free and…
Alternative to throwing away food that is still good
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Rezo Pouce is a free, organised hitchhiking network in rural and suburban France: members wait at signposted “arrêts sur le pouce” stops, show where they are going, and a driver from the network…
Alternative to needing a car, or a second car, in the countryside
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Olio is a free British app for giving away food and household items to neighbours, and for collecting surplus food from shops such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s through volunteer “Food Waste Heroes”, who…
Alternative to throwing away leftover food and unwanted household items
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nebenan.de is a German neighbourhood network where only verified residents of the same area see each other’s posts: they lend tools, give things away, ask for help, recommend tradespeople and…
Alternative to Facebook groups and classified ad sites for local exchanges
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Geev is an app and website for giving things away between neighbours: furniture, clothes, toys, appliances and food that would otherwise be thrown away. Givers post an ad with a photo, and the…
Alternative to throwing away furniture, clothes and toys, or buying them new
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Knowing the people next door
Food and community farming
Repair and do it yourself
Electronics and home appliances
Restaurants and food delivery
Waste, recycling and zero waste
Education and training
Shopping: online, marketplaces and local shops
Renting and tenants’ rights
Political participation and citizens’ initiatives
Housing, building and renovation
Garden, seeds and biodiversity
Ageing, end of life and funerals
Donations, volunteering and non-profits
Drinks: coffee, tea, wine and beer
Mobility, cars and transport
Second-hand, swapping, lending and sharing
