Sep 19, 2023·edited Sep 19, 2023Liked by Phil Levin
Love it! I'd be curious to know more about the relationship between the staff and the itinerant residents of Feytopia, and what role staff play in decision making processes.
It's a mix - some of the staff members are resident and participate in Feytopia, some are members of the governing bodies of the various initiatives at Fey, and some are simply compensated with money. Many at the chateau are interested in alternative forms of governance for both corporations, commons, and society and so it's a constantly evolving experiment - I wanted to go into this more in this piece but it was already getting a little long, we'll likely expand on it in the future!
> She was able to borrow 90% of the cost from lenders. I hope that Chateau du Feÿ serves as an inspiration and example for just how much can be done with ~€2m.
The ability to buy with a 10% down payment is a crucial detail here. In my experience not achievable by most people/groups on most properties that aren't very typically house shaped in the US or the western European countries I've spoken to potential collaborators about, unless the entire operation can be sustained profitably as a business.
This is super interesting. I’m also so curious about the systems that keep it running. What are the fail safes/consequences (if any) if the residents don’t step up to cook, clean, show newcomers around, etc.
AFAICT there are none. So far it relies on the community self-regulating and it's worked out.
One concept that was coined by Primavera de Filippi and has been expanded on by a lot of Feytopians is notion of an 'extitution' (as opposed to institution). Instead of focusing on fixed rules and roles (e.g. CEO, house manager) the extitutional lens considers that every person who enters and leaves the chateau has an impact on the social dynamics at play. More on that here: https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/an-introduction-to-extitutional-theory-e74b5a49ea53
This is a long way of saying there are a million small things that contribute to making each person feel like they have a responsibility to maintain a sustainable culture where people contribute. And there is a certain self-selecting culture of people who sign up for this in the first place.
Thank you - This is so fascinating! It gives me hope that this experiment has worked. Perhaps I am too cynical about humans’ lazy nature and the tragedy of the commons.
One of our fond hopes with Supernuclear is showing people how many places do work out :) In our experience, tragedy of the commons is less common than a lot of people think - as long as you set proper expectations and choose the right people.
So wholesome and inspirational! Are you aware of other projects that are somewhat similar in Europe (running on doocracy, inspiring crowd, just the vibe that comes accross in this article...)?
Love it! I'd be curious to know more about the relationship between the staff and the itinerant residents of Feytopia, and what role staff play in decision making processes.
It's a mix - some of the staff members are resident and participate in Feytopia, some are members of the governing bodies of the various initiatives at Fey, and some are simply compensated with money. Many at the chateau are interested in alternative forms of governance for both corporations, commons, and society and so it's a constantly evolving experiment - I wanted to go into this more in this piece but it was already getting a little long, we'll likely expand on it in the future!
Awesome! Personally I’d read several pieces on this experiment :) Thanks for all you do -
> She was able to borrow 90% of the cost from lenders. I hope that Chateau du Feÿ serves as an inspiration and example for just how much can be done with ~€2m.
The ability to buy with a 10% down payment is a crucial detail here. In my experience not achievable by most people/groups on most properties that aren't very typically house shaped in the US or the western European countries I've spoken to potential collaborators about, unless the entire operation can be sustained profitably as a business.
This is super interesting. I’m also so curious about the systems that keep it running. What are the fail safes/consequences (if any) if the residents don’t step up to cook, clean, show newcomers around, etc.
AFAICT there are none. So far it relies on the community self-regulating and it's worked out.
One concept that was coined by Primavera de Filippi and has been expanded on by a lot of Feytopians is notion of an 'extitution' (as opposed to institution). Instead of focusing on fixed rules and roles (e.g. CEO, house manager) the extitutional lens considers that every person who enters and leaves the chateau has an impact on the social dynamics at play. More on that here: https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/an-introduction-to-extitutional-theory-e74b5a49ea53
This is a long way of saying there are a million small things that contribute to making each person feel like they have a responsibility to maintain a sustainable culture where people contribute. And there is a certain self-selecting culture of people who sign up for this in the first place.
Thank you - This is so fascinating! It gives me hope that this experiment has worked. Perhaps I am too cynical about humans’ lazy nature and the tragedy of the commons.
One of our fond hopes with Supernuclear is showing people how many places do work out :) In our experience, tragedy of the commons is less common than a lot of people think - as long as you set proper expectations and choose the right people.
So wholesome and inspirational! Are you aware of other projects that are somewhat similar in Europe (running on doocracy, inspiring crowd, just the vibe that comes accross in this article...)?
I'm sure there are many! I recently learned about Fort Llama in the UK which seems similar, and Selgars (https://www.selgars.org/lifeatselgars) is mentioned above. I've heard a lot of rumblings about Traditional Dream Factory, https://www.traditionaldreamfactory.com/. I'd love to learn about more.