In 2020, during the first confinement of Covid-19 in Switzerland, a food distribution project serving persons living in situations of precarity in the region of Nyon was born. Having encountered a great deal of support from the residents and the municipality, the project, dubbed la Soliderie, evolved into a fully operational épicerie in the heart of Nyon, supported by an attached café/bar serving local sustainable products, both of which opened in the fall of 2024 after two years of volunteer-led construction. Under this circular economy model, the café serves as a space for building community; supporting local producers; sharing knowledge around social justice, sustainability and solidarity across generations, cultural backgrounds, and social environments; and celebrating the rich culture of the region and the people who live there. Meanwhile, the épicerie offers highly subsidized fresh food and hygiene products, helping to meet the needs of the community while reducing waste, as many of the products come from local supermarkets’ surplus stock. Built out of donated shipping containers and with repurposed and sustainable building materials, the beautifully constructed site is a place where residents from all walks of life can come together and feel they have a place. At the heart of the project is the goal to destigmatize food insecurity while rendering more visible social problems that are often unspoken and hidden so that we can collectively work towards solutions. Still in its infancy, this project is attempting to reimagine key sites of profit-oriented consumption—the café and the market—and reclaim them as spaces of resource sharing, community building, mutual aid, and solidarity in a social and environmentally conscious way. This presentation aims to place on the table key questions about how, as an urban commons initiative, this project and those like it can best contribute to transformation within their communities.
