A growing number of new civic micro-economies are emerging in urban centres around the world, dealing with a wide range of goals and challenges: the ecological return of food production to the city, re-use concepts, the handling of urban common goods, and the revival of sustainable local retail. What resources are available for this? Which (city) spaces are necessary? What role does the freedom of such informal settings play? Do these enterprises constitute so-called ‘third places’ (Ray Oldenburg) and generate a kind of urban ecology? And if so, how can the values generated be quantified and made relevant in the context of lasting economic models?