N-EXTLAW is an ERC-Funded Research Project Hosted by ACT | Towards a Non-Extractive Future

Law as a vehicle for social change | Mainstreaming Non-Extractive Economic Practices (N-EXTs). The ultimate goal of N-EXTLAW is to achieve a non-extractive, sustainable economic model. Our mission is to understand how we can rethink our legal framework to support sustainable economic practices. In this way, law provides actions with meaning and can be used as a vehicle for social change.

Scholars United for a Sustainable Amsterdam (SUSA) is a collective of academics who aim to work together with Amsterdam citizens, businesses and institutions to explore how Amsterdam can be made more sustainable.

‘Rent and the City’ is a small series of events hosted at the Amsterdam Center for Transformative Private Law in 2021/22 that intends to offer a forum for conversations on the role of law in fostering (or precluding) access to housing in global cities, at the boundaries of law, political economy, finance and activism. ‘Rent’ in the series title hints at two dimensions which have recently been the object of much debate and controversy: the rental of housing units for residential or leisurely purpose, on the one hand; and the financialisation of real estate in large cities, on the other hand. With an expected 68% of the world population projected to settle in urban areas by 2050, big city housing will be a rising policy concern for the future, bringing an array of legal fields from private law to human rights to the table. The second event in this series will ask the question "Who owns the city"? and will discuss urban property regimes in and beyond financialized real estate.

Past and future Rent & the City events include:

Rent & the City I: Regulation of Residential Rentals in European Cities

Rent and the City II: Who owns the city? Urban property regimes in and beyond financialized real estate

Rent and the City III: The Human Right to Housing - Global and Local Struggles

Meat the Law is a series of events focused around sustainability in the meat industry. Important challenges in this industry remain: livestock is the single biggest contributor to global food emissions. At the same time, disruptive technologies have sought to further sustainability in the field. For example, various mock meats that have gained traction as good investments for the inevitable sustainability-focused future – Beyond Meat stock surged 119% in the last year. The series is intended to enable engagement with diverse viewpoints from within and outside the domain of private law as a holistic approach to understanding the solutions and problems of the 21st century challenges: befitting for the overarching goal of the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative private law.

Past Meat the Law events include:

Meat the Law I: Kick off event

Meat the Law II: Finance and the meat industry

Meat the Law III: 'Plant-based' Accurate Information and Sustainable Lifestyles

Meat the Law IV: Labour in the Meat Industry: a Transnational Conversation

Meat the Law V: Subcontracted racial capitalism, organising and resistance in the meat industry: experiences from Italy and Spain

We identify 7 core themes of Transformative Private Law: Sustainability, Digitalization, Social Justice, Finance, Labour, Property, and Theory. In selecting these themes we recognize and aim to reflect that private law already plays a transformative role, yet also offers further transformative potential. Uncovering these dynamics, the Transformative Private Law Blog aims to open up discussions about these key themes in the field of private law and its transformation.