The OPA Design Commons is a collaborative endeavour to imagine and develop a village capable of meeting human needs within the ecological limits of one planet. This project is rooted in the Willamette Valley bioregion and is intended to bring together practical experience, traditional knowledge, scientific understanding, creative experimentation, and new ideas.
By joining the Design Commons, we commit to the following principles. They guide both the ideas we develop and the way we work together.
- 01
Design Within One Planet
We seek ways of meeting human needs within a fair share of the Earth's ecological capacity. Our work begins with the conditions and regenerative capacity of the Willamette Valley, while recognizing that solutions will differ from one bioregion to another.
- 02
Work in Partnership With Nature
We seek designs that support the renewal of soil, water, habitat, biodiversity, and other living systems. We consider the full life cycle of our choices and look for ways that everyday human activities can contribute to ecological health.
- 03
Simplify Before Adding Technology
We first ask whether a need can be met through thoughtful design, natural processes, reduced demand, shared resources, or changes in practice. Technology can play an important role, but complexity and energy use are kept to a minimum.
- 04
Build Resilience Through Local Capacity
We favor systems that are durable, repairable with local skills and resources, understandable, adaptable, and affordable. Whenever practical, we look to local resources, recovered materials, and circular flows that reduce dependence on distant and extractive systems.
- 05
Share Knowledge Freely
We treat the Design Commons as a shared body of knowledge that grows through participation. We openly share ideas, sources, observations, experiments, successes, and failures so that others can question, test, adapt, and improve upon them.
- 06
Question Ideas, Not People
We recognize thoughtful disagreement as an important part of the design process. We challenge assumptions and ideas openly and constructively while treating the people behind them with dignity and respect.
- 07
Remain Curious and Open
We approach this work as an ongoing inquiry rather than a defense of fixed positions. We remain open to evidence, lived experience, traditional and historical knowledge, experimentation, and perspectives that may challenge our own assumptions.
- 08
Make Room for Participation
We welcome people with different backgrounds, skills, experiences, and levels of expertise. We listen as well as contribute, help others participate, and recognize that useful knowledge can come from many different places.
- 09
Build the Commons Together
We contribute for the benefit of the shared project rather than individual ownership or recognition. We practice collaboration, transparency, accountability, mutual aid, and shared stewardship as we develop a design that no single person could create alone.
Agreeing to this Charter represents a commitment to practice these principles while participating in the OPA Design Commons. We do not expect every participant to agree on every idea or arrive with the same knowledge or worldview. We ask instead that each person enter the Commons in a spirit of curiosity, good faith, shared learning, and commitment to the larger purpose of the project.