Every city block already has a budget. Nobody has ever written it down. Until now. Blockonomics reveals the economic, political, and productive power that communities already hold—and provides the framework to deploy it collectively.
Citizens don’t participate because they can’t see what they have to work with. A resident who knows their block collectively spends $2.4 million a year thinks differently about economic agency than one who only knows their own household budget.
A neighbourhood that can see its 3,000 residents represent a voting bloc larger than many city council margins thinks differently about political influence. A block that knows its residents collectively possess 200+ professional skills, 15 power tools, 4 vehicles used less than 10% of the time, and 8 spare rooms thinks differently about what it can do for itself.
The Block Budget doesn’t create new power. It reveals power that already exists. It is the foundational act of community self-awareness.
Mapped to the tripartite value model: 33% Cash, 33% Labour, 33% Assets—the foundation of Community Credits.
A block of 100 households collectively spends $2.4–$6M annually. Research shows money spent locally recirculates 2–3x more than chain or online spending. Redirecting just 5% locally generates 10–15% more activity through the multiplier effect.
100 households represent 150–250 eligible voters. In municipal elections where council margins can be a few hundred votes, a coordinated block holds meaningful political leverage. The Block Budget quantifies electoral weight, institutional connections, and voice capacity.
The most transformative dimension—it requires no permission from government or market. A community identifies a need, pledges Cash, Labour, and Assets at the 33% ratio, and provisions the solution itself. Skills, time, tools, vehicles, and spaces that sit idle become community infrastructure.
The Community Credits system means a $100 project only requires $33 in cash. The rest is Labour and Assets the community already holds.
Money created at the point of value creation, not borrowed into existence as debt.
When a SuperBlock of 1,000 households redirects just 5% of spending through Community Credits, the collective economic activity is $200,000—but only $66,000 needs to be actual cash. The 2.6x local purchasing multiplier amplifies this to approximately $520,000 in local economic activity—enough to sustain 3–5 paid community coordinator positions while funding tool libraries, food co-ops, and shared transport.
5,806 blocks across 22 neighbourhoods, powered by real Census income data. Click any block or SuperBlock to see its full budget analysis.
Census 2016 • COV Open Data • 5,806 blocks • 572 SuperBlock walkable clusters
Open full map →As the sharing economy grows, there is a natural movement of low-to-no-cost goods from higher-income neighbourhoods into lower-income blocks as duplication decreases.
Studies show community sharing programmes see highest adoption in lower-income communities—precisely because the cost savings on transport, food, household goods, and collectively accessible resources are most meaningful for those who individually would struggle to access them.
A SuperBlock of 1,000 households reducing duplication by just 20% across 5 common item categories saves an estimated $200,000 per year in avoided purchases. At $9.20 societal cost for every $1 of personal driving cost, redirecting even 10% of trips through car-sharing generates substantial savings for the broader community.
A SuperBlock clusters ~10 city blocks into a walkable 5-minute neighbourhood of approximately 1,000 residents. This is where individual block budgets combine into transformative collective power.
572 SuperBlocks cover Vancouver. The lowest-income SuperBlocks are highest priority for Block Share adoption—where cost savings on transport, food, and household goods are most meaningful, and where the downstream flow of shared resources from higher-income neighbours creates the greatest impact.
The Community Credits system operates across a logarithmic scale where each level represents a 10x expansion—coherent action from local to global while preserving autonomy at every scale.
The Block Budget reveals two distinct and simultaneous pathways for collective action. Neither requires waiting for permission.
From Block Budget to Community Economy—the journey that transforms how residents relate to their power.
“I had no idea our block spends $3 million a year.” The Block Budget makes latent power visible for the first time.
“If we redirected even 5%, that’s $150,000 in local economic activity.” Visibility creates a sense of possibility.
“Let’s start with a tool library. We have the tools, the space, and the people.” A first pico-scale proof of concept.
“We did it. We issued Community Credits, organised ourselves, and built something real.” Lived experience of community economics.
“What else can we do? What if we coordinated with the next block?” Success invites expansion to SuperBlock and Village scale.
“This is what Block Share is about. This is what Community Credits enable.” The broader ecosystem becomes visible through direct experience.
Blockonomics is one tool in a broader movement to relocate power and resources from centralised control back to local communities.
Remove housing from speculative markets. 99-year lease-to-buy contracts. Pay 10–30% of income instead of 50–80%. Housing Day Credits build lifetime security independent of market fluctuations.
Self-issued currency backed by community commitment. Money created at point of value creation, not borrowed as debt. 33% Cash, 33% Labour, 33% Assets. Demurrage encourages circulation over hoarding.
Multi-capital accounting that captures environmental, social, and financial value. Earth Credyt Score, Human Credyt Score, and Housing Day Credits replace GDP’s mono-capital blindness.
Sharing space and stuff in every building and block. Tool libraries, car-sharing, skill exchanges, and bulk purchasing at neighbourhood scale. The practical infrastructure of the community economy.
Nested identity from individual to continent. Subsidiarity in practice: decisions cascade to the lowest effective level. Democratic accountability at every scale.
Vancouver-based algorithmic decision-making for fair collective choices. Not majority rule—broadest fair support. Proven at Metro Vancouver scale with 17,000+ participants. The decision engine for Block Budgets.
Paris allocates 5% of its capital budget—approximately €100M/year—to projects proposed and voted on by residents. Over 1,000 projects implemented, 162,395 voters in 2025.
The Block Budget inverts this direction. Instead of government allocating a percentage for citizen input, the community calculates its own collective power and decides what to do with it. Residents who have practised collective decision-making at the block level are far better prepared to participate in city-level processes.
Public trust in municipalities that adopted participatory budgeting rose from 55% (2020) to 70% (2024). The Block Budget builds this civic infrastructure from the ground up.
Take the 5-minute Block Budget Survey. See your block's $2.4M budget, earn Community Credits, and help shape your neighbourhood's first community economy.
Take the Survey — Earn CC →