In the USA the type of financing and management structure that most closely resembles my ideas is known as a “Housing Co-operative”, a rather misleading designation as it would seem to imply inexpensive social housing. Nothing could be further from the truth, at least in New York, where one of the many high-end co-operative buildings lining Central Park is the “Dakota”, where John Lennon & Yoko Ono lived, and outside where he was shot dead in 1980.
Co-operative ownership is quite distinct from condominiums (aka, strata or sectional title) where the owners of individual units have NO say over who moves in – who buys or rents other units. But, in a US-style co-operative building, the “members” screen and select who may live in the building. The board can reject prospective purchasers and/or tenants without explanation.
How does all this relate to OA-Cities..?
OA-Cities could be run on similar lines to these exclusive US-style co-operative buildings, except that I dislike the idea of a static membership board, as this would give a small elite of entrenched individuals the power to approve or decline applicants. As with monarchs or dictators, long-term incumbents tend to arrogance. And, though they might try to appear not to hold biases, of course they will. (It will always remain a mystery as to how John Lennon and Yoko Ono passed muster for the Dakota building.) For example, a static body which appeared to reject most PoC applicants would be vulnerable to accusations of racial bias.