Second of the reflections on CleanMed themes, this time on commodification,
production, and alternative models of ownership.
I’m fortunate enough not only to live in Sheffield, but to have grown up here.
With the highest ratio of trees to people of any city in Europe, 61% of my home
is what would currently be described as ‘urban green space’. Despite the cultural penetration of this vogueish terminology, the
tree-scattered knoll near where I used to live still goes by another, rather older, name; the Common.
It is unsurprising in an era of enclosure that the language of the commons is no longer fashionable. But much of the
discussion at the CleanMed Europe conference served to reinforce the principle that
central to creating a sustainable health system (and political economy) lies
the reinterpretation – or at least a pluralism of interpretations – of the
relationship between individuals, society, and the material resources of land and
labour.
