Peripherial antecedents of the prosumer culture as a source of inspriration for humanistic management

The article is a discussion of the possibility of using the nineteenth-century idea of city-gardens (Ebenezer Howard) and its peripheral realizations as a cognitive contribution to humanistic management. Humanistic management - a relatively new trend in organizational studies was initiated, among others by Polish-British scholar Monika Kostera, at the beginning of this century. This trend postulates the use, both in theory and practice of management, of the paradigm of the humanities, including historical ones. It also advocates reaching for local organizing traditions. According to this approach, this text presents the possibilities of using organizational history to enrich contemporary management thinking based on good practices from the past. The authors of the text formulate the thesis that the idea of city-gardens, and especially the management practices resulting from it, were the antecedents of the prosumer movement ideology of our time. The article justifies this thesis by critically analyzing the implementation of the idea of city-gardens on examples from the areas of Warsaw and the surrounding area from the first half of the twentieth century. It shows the specificity of urban investments using the idea of Ebenezer Howard, implemented in peripheral areas in relation to the center of globalization. An example of such areas in this article are central Poland. This approach shows the possibilities of developing prosumer culture also based on local traditions. According to the authors, a reminder of good practices related to the implementation of the idea of city-gardens may be an "intellectual bridge" between humanistic management and the prosumer movement today.