ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the inquiry into 40 European cities explored possible seeds for new ways of producing, distributing, and consuming goods in the urban context, which respect the boundaries of the planetary ecosystems and the human striving for well-being at the same time. The second new element of prosperity is the common-pool resource view regarding the governance of these socio-ecological systems, which requires the capability to diversify institutionally the governance of common-pool resources. This kind of capability to diversify excludes lopsided institutional solutions for the provision of services of general interest (SGI): SGI are services that public authorities of the Member States classify as being of general interest and, therefore, subject to specific public service obligations (PSO). The term covers both economic activities and non-economic services. Institutional diversification paves the way for experimenting with new, cooperative, and self-organised institutional arrangements for the governance of ecological resource systems such as water, energy, and green spaces.
