Community currencies have flourished in recent decades. However, these contemporary projects have emerged from a rich historical legacy that continues to throw up new ideas and insights. Examining this legacy helps to demystify money – opening the way to new possibilities for its use and new designs better suited to communities’ economic, social and environmental objectives.
In a recent Bank of England paper aiming to explain the nature of money, ‘currency’ is defined very narrowly and simplistically as paper notes and coins. This, however, only makes sense when just one kind of money, in this case the pound sterling, is considered.
To understand the practice and diversity of community currencies, many of which do not even come in any physical form, we need to think more broadly. By expanding the definition of currency – and by venturing further back into economic and cultural history – we can focus on the ultimately social role of money and consider new ways in which it can be designed.
# See also - Contents - People Powered Money