Commons Hub
Brussels

March 4, 2026

Xavier Damman

👨‍👧‍👦 🧑‍💻 🚀

Dad · Entrepreneur · Software Engineer

Silicon Valley · 2009–2019

Telling stories with social media

50K
publishers

850K
users

367M
views

Acquired by Livefyre/Adobe in 2013

2015 — still going

Open Collective

Financial transparency for communities

$140M+
raised

4,000+
collectives

2019 — still going

🌍 All for Climate

allforclimate.earth

Helping climate movements across Europe

€3M+
raised

180+
collectives

2019 — still going

🌱 Citizen Spring

citizenspring.earth

Rebuilding local communities

"Community is immunity"

⬇

🌻 Citizen Garden

citizenspring.earth/citizengarden

🌻 Citizen Garden

citizenspring.earth/citizengarden

🌻 Citizen Garden

citizenspring.earth/citizengarden

🌻 Citizen Garden

citizenspring.earth/citizengarden

🪴 Citizen Corner

citizencorner.brussels

Commons Hub Brussels

What are
the Commons?

🌊 🌳 🧠 📚

Resources shared and managed
by a community

Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Ostrom

1933 — 2012

🏆 Nobel Prize in Economics 2009

First woman to win the Nobel in Economics

Elinor Ostrom quote

Ostrom's 8 Principles

For managing the commons

🚧

Clear boundaries

Who can use the resource and what the limits are

🎯

Local rules

Adapt rules to the community's reality

🗳️

Collective decisions

Those affected participate in making the rules

👁️

Monitoring

Community members monitor each other

⚖️

Graduated sanctions

Start with a warning, escalate only when needed

🤝

Conflict resolution

Low-cost ways to resolve disputes locally

🌱

Self-governance

Recognized by external authorities

🏛️

Nested governance

Governance at every scale

In front of Brussels Central Station

Rue de la Madeleine 51, 1000 Brussels

Commons Hub — common working space and common event space

What happened during the first year — 100+ events, 4000+ visitors

Regen Village 🎬

☯️ Two Currencies

CHT Tokens

☾ Yin

Care · Gift · Trust
Community · Sharing
Invisible labor

CHT Tokens

Euro coins

☀️ Yang

Market · Exchange · Scale
Competition · Growth
Visible output

Euro €

We need both — in balance

Yang and Yin contributions — financial and community tokens

Commons Hub Brussels Stewards — roles and token rewards

🪙 Spend your tokens

Book rooms with euros or community tokens

Ostrom Room

80 ppl · Events, panels, circles

€100/hr 3 🪙/hr

Satoshi Room

15 ppl · Larger meetings

€50/hr 1.5 🪙/hr

Angel Room

12 ppl · Circles

€35/hr 1 🪙/hr

🪙 Spend your tokens

Book rooms with euros or community tokens

Mush Room

10 ppl · Small meetings

€25/hr 1 🪙/hr

Playroom

10 ppl · Kicker!

€25/hr 1 🪙/hr

Phonebooth

1 person · Calls & focus

€10/hr 1 🪙/hr

🛠️ Tech we built

Open source tools for the commons

🚪

Discord Door

commonshub/door

🪙

Token Bot

opencollective/token-bot

👵🏻🤖

Elinor Bot

AI community steward

Discord Door — ESP32 smart door controlled via Discord

Self-service fridge with QR code payments via Citizen Wallet

What's next? 🔮

📋

Open Requests

Manage requests like
open source issues

💡

Open Proposals

Members propose
events & workshops

🌐

Open Commons

Make our tech
available to all

OpenClaworking — cowork with your bot for free, Wednesdays at the Commons Hub

Replicate everywhere 🌍

The model is open source

Every city needs a Commons Hub

Become a commoner 🤝

commonshub.brussels

Visit · Cowork · Host events · Contribute

❓

Questions?

commonshub.brussels