Cities have become hotspots for addressing sustainability challenges such as rising resource use and growing inequality. However, due to emphasis on state- or market-based initiatives, insufficient attention has been given to the potential of urban commons to offer pathways to sustainability. This research project focuses on urban resources managed as commons – both in Ghana and Switzerland. It examines how the collectives that manage them help to address overconsumption and inequality, and how these strategies could be transferred to other environments.

What can we learn from urban commons in Ghana and Switzerland? We posed this and other questions about the research project to Jean-David Gerber, Professor at the University of Bern’s Institute of Geography and CDE member. “Our hypothesis is that customary law in Ghana enables collectives to play a greater role than in Switzerland”, he says in our interview.

In the Sambirano watershed of Madagascar, small-scale farms cultivate high-quality cocoa. Building on the achievements of initial work by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation along Madagascar’s cocoa value chain, the project aims at collectively engaging local stakeholders in the development of a sustainably managed landscape in the Sambirano Valley.