Common goods, aka common-pool resources, are rivalrous resources that no-one can be excluded from using. Oft-cited examples include fisheries, forest, grazing land, roads, and clean water.
Elinor Ostrom defined a set of principles that apply to the good governance of common goods. She demonstrated that the so-called “tragedy of the commons” was only a tragedy in theory.
That’s not to say managing common goods successfully, especially in the global context, is a walk in the park. Far from it. The Ostrom principles will help us rise up to global super wicked problems together this century, and Web 3 may offer new design possibilities for this essential commoning.