The People's Bank [synopsis update]

“Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.” (Marx, Engels, 1848)

The project is the culmination of an investigation into protest as a construct of the urban environment, based in Birmingham’s southern gateway.  The Urban Synergies project envisions a scenario set in 2030, in which the Occupy Movement (originating from Occupy Wall Street) has established a permanent presence - a shadow city (Neuwirth, 2005) - in Birmingham, in its quest for social, economic and political reform.

The Occupy Movement has traditionally been given the label ‘anti-capitalist’. However, whilst the majority of the movement’s protests takes on a somewhat socialist spirit, the issues against which the movement campaigns are actually diverse and wide ranging, and it is recognised that “we will need [money], but [its methods of exchange] have to be revolutionarily transformed” (Harvey, 2009) so that it does not continue to act as “an instrument of oppression” (Lechevalier, J. quoted in Dana, C.A, 1896).

Founded in Marxist and Anarchist theories of dialectical materialism (philosophy of motion and change) (Trotsky, 1939), labour value and mutualism (Dana, C.A, 1896), and Guattari’s Three Ecologies (2000, p.41), the project explores the role of the bank in a post-capitalist society. It is based on Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s ‘Bank of the People’ and the aims of the Alternative Banking Group.

In the same way the bank’s economics challenges capitalist banking methods and motives, the architecture of this new bank challenges the traditional typology of the bank, helping to strengthen the ABG’s core principles, namely that it is:

• Accessible to all equally
• Democratically run
• Robust
• Transparent
• Moral
• Environmentally sustainable.

1. Dana, C. A. (1896) Proudhon and his "Bank of the People" Benj. J. Tucker: New York
2. Guattari, F. (2000) The Three Ecologies, Continuum Publishing: London
3. Harvey, D. (2009) Their crisis, our challenge Available: http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Their-crisis-our-challenge [accessed 27th February]
4. Marx, K. Engels, F. (1848) Manifesto of the Communist Party
5. Neuwirth, R. (2005) Shadow Cities, Routledge: London
6. Trotsky, L (1939) The ABC of Materialist Dialectics