How can money better meet our aims?

For many, complementary and community currencies are fairly unfamiliar phenomena. The first part of this book is aimed primarily at those either entirely new to the field or still only loosely aware of the uses, aims and potential benefits of these pioneering monetary tools.

We present newcomers with the theoretical arguments and provide concrete examples of how and why various kinds of complementary currencies, designed as additions to mainstream money, have emerged over the years. By situating the book’s later, more practice- orientated content within a historical legacy, we hope that the idea of creating new currencies will appear less strange to the reader.

Through positing money – all types of money – as simply a tool designed to achieve certain objectives, we hope to empower readers to reconsider how money should – and indeed could – function better to suit society’s needs.