Galle: a residents' company that owns the Fort's tourist lets and keeps the residents in

A first step

Knock on the doors of 10 Fort households and ask 2 questions: do they let rooms to visitors now, and would they put those lets through a company they co-own, in return for a share of the profit. Keep a list of names and answers. The households willing to sign an expression of interest are the founding members of the residents' company.

Who pays first

A Fort family who already let rooms but lose too much to outside agents, and would rather own the agency with their neighbours.

What leaves today

The Fort's residents are leaving as outside owners buy houses for tourist lets, so the rent and the living town leave together.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. SeventeenOne Building
  One building, and what a city could be known for

More from cluster 26

• 476Colombo: a night market on the Galle Face green run to a standard, every weekend
• 477Colombo: the Pettah as a managed market street, cleaned, lit and sold to visitors as the best bazaar in Asia
• 478Kandy: the lake promenade with cafés and evening performances, not only the temple
• 480Jaffna: a culinary capital, the crab and the palmyrah sold as a cuisine
• 481Trincomalee: the harbour as a sailing and diving centre for the Bay of Bengal
• 482Negombo: the fish market and the canals as Sri Lanka's Venice, done before the residents leave

All 10 ideas in this cluster