Mechanism Map
Mechanisms are institutional patterns, not feature categories. Each one changes the software model because it changes who governs, who holds assets, how value moves, which agreements bind participants, and which outside systems remain authoritative.
Terms To Know
Section titled “Terms To Know”| Term | Plain meaning | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Solidarity economy | Economic practice built around cooperation, democracy, justice, sustainability, and care for people and planet. | U.S. Solidarity Economy Network |
| Cooperative identity | A cooperative is an autonomous association of people meeting shared needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. | International Cooperative Alliance |
| Steward ownership | Ownership design that keeps control with people tied to the mission and treats profit as a means, not the purpose. | Purpose Economy |
| Community wealth building | Local economic strategy that uses ownership, finance, procurement, land, and work to keep value rooted in communities. | Democracy Collaborative |
| Value flow | A way to describe requests, offers, commitments, economic events, resources, claims, and agents in economic coordination. | ValueFlows |
| Regulated system | A legal, financial, accounting, public, or compliance system that remains authoritative even when community software keeps useful records beside it. | Boundaries and Bridges |
Current Mechanism Pages
Section titled “Current Mechanism Pages”| Mechanism | Why it belongs | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Community land trusts | Land stewardship, affordability, resident governance, ground leases, and external title systems. | Community Land Trusts |
| Housing cooperatives and limited-equity cooperatives | Resident ownership, occupancy rights, share transfers, affordability formulas, and property-system boundaries. | Housing Cooperatives and Limited-Equity Cooperatives |
| Commons governance and resource trusts | Shared-resource rules, stewardship duties, monitoring, sanctions, conflict resolution, and external conservation boundaries. | Commons Governance and Resource Trusts |
| Cooperative governance | Membership classes, democratic control, board authority, patronage, and cooperation among cooperatives. | Cooperative Governance |
| Platform cooperatives and digital sovereignty | Member-owned digital platforms, data portability, protocol federation, and platform governance boundaries. | Platform Cooperatives and Digital Sovereignty |
| Federation and shared services | Cooperation across autonomous institutions, shared services, inter-cooperative agreements, and protocol governance. | Federation and Shared Services |
| Fiscal sponsorship | Project autonomy meets sponsor fiduciary control, restricted funds, approvals, and reporting. | Fiscal Sponsorship |
| Steward ownership | Mission locks, control rights, purpose trusts, and succession. | Steward Ownership |
| Worker ownership conversions | Succession, valuation, seller financing, member buy-in, governance transfer, and transition records. | Worker Ownership Conversions |
| Public-interest rescue acquisitions | Distressed enterprises, coalition bids, bankruptcy assets, worker and user governance, public commitments, and regulatory restart boundaries. | Public-Interest Rescue Acquisitions |
| Participatory budgeting | Public or community money is allocated through proposal, deliberation, voting, and implementation. | Participatory Budgeting |
| Community benefits agreements | Negotiated development commitments, monitoring, enforcement evidence, and community benefit reporting. | Community Benefits Agreements |
| Community investment | Community development financial institutions (CDFIs), local investment, community ownership, and regulated finance boundaries. | Community Investment |
| Mutual credit | Trusted exchange networks, credit limits, balances, risk rules, and inter-network clearing. | Mutual Credit |
| Community currencies and timebanks | Local credits, time credits, demurrage, circulation rules, issuance, redemption, and trust. | Community Currencies and Timebanks |
| Community procurement and solidarity markets | Requests, offers, commitments, eligibility rules, local benefit, delivery, and acknowledgement. | Community Procurement and Solidarity Markets |
| Mutual aid networks | Care requests, offers, distribution, privacy, consent, and dignity before formal organizations exist. | Mutual Aid Networks |
| Data trusts and data cooperatives | Delegated data stewardship, consent, access, revocation, audit, and collective data benefit. | Data Trusts and Cooperatives |
| Local economy knowledge graph | Local ownership, public-record, regulatory, political, and organizing signals that help communities act before enclosure hardens. | Local Economy Knowledge Graph |
Planned Mechanism Pages
Section titled “Planned Mechanism Pages”This section is the research queue. These pages should stay planned until a research pass can explain the mechanism, name the software modeling pressure, and link readers to stronger outside sources.
| Mechanism | Why it may deserve a page | Useful starting source |
|---|---|---|
| Public and community banking | Public ownership, regulated deposits, community development financial institution (CDFI) or credit-union partnerships, lending policy, and external bank boundaries. | OCC community bank resources |
| Restorative accountability and conflict transformation | Harm repair, consent, confidentiality, facilitation roles, accountability agreements, and community safety records. | National Center on Restorative Justice |
How To Prioritize
Section titled “How To Prioritize”Write a full page when a mechanism adds at least two of these modeling pressures:
- A distinct membership or authority model.
- A distinct asset-holding or benefit-locking pattern.
- A distinct money, credit, or reporting flow.
- A distinct legal boundary with an outside system of record.
- A distinct privacy or consent problem.
- A strong reason to link newcomers to better outside sources.
The map should keep expanding, but each page should stay short. The docs should teach just enough for a newcomer to understand why the mechanism matters here, then point them to reputable sources for deeper study.