2020 Green Templeton Lectures theme is the Future of the Commons

The commons is a powerful metaphor for understanding human cooperation, one of the most enduring puzzles for science and society. 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Governing the Commons, the landmark study by the late Nobel laureate, Elinor Ostrom. Ostrom and many colleagues demonstrated the potential for self-governance to avoid the collapse of shared resources, propelling a global research programme and interdisciplinary network of scholars spanning from anthropology to artificial intelligence. There are two billion more people since Ostrom’s classic, and urban populations have nearly doubled, accelerating regional and global challenges that outstrip capacity for local collective action to solve alone. The topic of the commons has arguably never been more relevant: a Science feature in 2018 traced the growing reach of the concept from classic areas – water and land – to new frontiers of data, medicine, and other global challenges.

The lecture series will explore the commons in a world approaching peak population, deepening inequality, and growing threats to democratic forms of governance. The series will follow an arc that starts with lessons from the history of the commons and outlines the frontiers of research and innovation. The series will contribute to a University-wide and global dialogue on the next wave of the commons, charting emerging governance innovations for a connected world.

The annual Green Templeton Lectures series is convened this year by Green Templeton Associate Professor and Research Fellow Dr Dustin Garrick, who, with speakers Professor Tine De Moor, University of Utrecht, and Assistant Professor Jampel Dell’Angelo, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, will explore the commons through issues ranging from the evolution of shared resources, water wars and environmental markets.

Lecture programme:

More than a metaphor: the evolution of the commons in the past millennium

Thursday 23 January
Speaker: Professor Tine De Moor, University of Utrecht
Register here

Globalisation and the grabbed commons: new insights on the Water Wars myth

Thursday 6 February
Speaker: Assistant Professor Jampel Dell’Angelo, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Register here

On the knife’s edge of tragedy and hope: markets and the commons in a divided world

Wednesday 4 March
Speaker: Dr Dustin Garrick, Research Fellow and convenor of the 2020 Green Templeton Lectures
Register here

All three lectures will be held at the EP Abraham Lecture Theatre at Green Templeton College, Woodstock Road. Please confirm your attendance by registering through the links above. There is no charge to attend.

Themes for previous GTC Lectures have included Leadership (2019), Delivering Health: Clinical, Management and Policy Challenges (2017), Living By Numbers: Big Data (2016), The World’s Child (2015), The Tyranny of the Normal (2014), Feeding a Better Future (2013), and States in Crisis (2011).

Picture: left: Lecture series Convener Dr Dustin Garrick, Associate Professor and Research Fellow of Green Templeton College. middle: Professor Tine De Moor, University of Utrecht. right: Assistant Professor Jampel Dell’Angelo, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam