Charles Komanoff had a piece on the Grist blog last week exploring the benefits of Mayor Bloomberg’s traffic congestion pricing plan for New York City (apparently it was not required reading for the New York state legislature, which has shelved the plan for now). Komanoff argues that congestion pricing has value because “it establishes the principle that safeguarding ‘the commons’ … requires that we exact from ourselves a commensurate price for uses that damage or deplete it.â€?

The idea of a commons encompassing both tangible natural resources and intangible assets like information is gaining ground in contemporary discourse. The concept has been used to support diverse goals, from the regulation of carbon dioxide to open access to information. In business, the idea of the commons drives the corporate social responsibility movement, and is the inspiration behind entrepreneur Peter Barnes’ recent book, Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons.

On the web, information about the commons can be found on the following sites:

• On the Commons: a site that explores the value of the commons as “a force for innovation in social governance, political action, public policy and cultural change.â€?
• The Commons: a blog “dedicated to the principle of promoting environmental quality and human dignity and prosperity through markets and property rightsâ€?.
• Creative Commons: an organization that promotes alternative forms of copyright, or “copyleft.â€?
• Science Commons: a project of Creative Commons promoting open access to information and collaboration between researchers.

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