“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de St. Exupery

This is a story about how Gaia is calling from her four directions hearts, minds and souls to a ULab experiment asking, why and how can we seed Living Cities ❤Earth to transform our cities into fully alive regeneration hubs for Gaia’s 7th generation.

In Vreeland, NL (Peaceland) in mid-June, we convened a small gathering from the Netherlands, Scotland, Canada and Russia – representing a global multitude of geographies, cultures and ancestries.

(We wrote earlier about the challenges of the Russian/Ukraine war not just for the millions of Ukrainians who have become refugees to escape the conflict – but for the Russians escaping a country whose politics they can no longer support. Like many of the Ukrainians these Russians joining millions in the Russian diaspora, are highly educated, skilled and often holistic/integral thinkers.)

We are inspired by three Russians whom we have worked with since the Integral City Book 1 was translated in 2014 into Russian as “Living Cities” (2); Lev Gordon, co-initiator of Russia’s Urbanfest, Oleg Lega, author of the New Sincerity Manifesto and Pavel Luksha, futurist, educator, schooling for planet. They joined Marilyn Hamilton, Founder of Integral City Meshworks (IC) Anne-Marie Voorhoeve the co-founder of The Hague Center for Global Governance, Innovation and Emergence (THC), and Pieter Wackers AQtivator with both IC and THC? (Amongst us we have 2 Meshworkers of the Year – Anne-Marie and Lev).

We agree to explore the opportunity of Living Cites ❤ Earth with a Ulab (based on Otto Scharmer’s Presencing Institute and UTheory). The momentum for a Ulab began online for four meetings of Initiation and Co-Sensing by creating a Team Charter. Co-sensing happens when we meet in person June 10-13, 2022 through 3D Modelling – creating our views of how Living Cities is already in the world and noticing what are its essences (global, evolutionary, multi-directional)?

We charge on to explore 4D Mapping/Modelling through Systemic Constellation Work, Constellated from Ottawa Canada to Vreeland NL by Integral City Core Team Member and Whole Systems Design author Diana Claire Douglas. In this process we discover and embody that we are a bridge from how cities and city associations currently operate chiefly with focuses on infrastructure and some behaviours to cities who can dynamically amplify Aliveness by uniting full Placecaring (for consciousness and culture) with Placemaking (for behaviours and systems). We practice Attunement, Spiritual Connection and Community amongst our Seed Team. And the Divine Feminine emerges to take her place with the Divine Masculine bringing aliveness to a new bridge to the future of a planet of cities.

Following our 4D Modelling/Mapping we transfer our Seed Team of Six to the Circl Meeting Hub in Amsterdam – there we are joined by city Voices whom each of us invites to listen to our story – the longing to act as if it were the norm that cities act as if they are Gaia’s Reflective Organs – to live fully Alive as cities aligned with Nature and Gaia.

From two days of sharing and listening we craft an early essence statement: Living cities are places where people are happy, healthy and live longer in harmony with Nature.

More invitations reach out around Europe, and we move and/or assemble members of our LCE from St. Petersburg, Berlin, Zurich and Amsterdam/USA to travel to Findhorn Ecocommunity in Scotland.

We continue to iterate our co-sensing by interviewing and sharing our LCE energy with Findhorn residents/2nd and 3rd and 4th generation founders. We explore Findhorn’s founding principles of Work is Love in Action, Deep Inner Listening and Co-Creating with the Intelligences of Nature. Our listener/commenters are Lori Forsyth, Chair of Titleholders Association; Mark Anderson, Roger Collis and Kathy Tyler Findhorn Foundation Trustees; Roger Doudna Chair of Park Ecovillage Trust and initiator of Findhorn Fellows (global affiliates/experts); Michael Shaw, Co-Founder of Biomatrix, Designer of Findhorn Ecovillage’s Living Machine waste water plant, past Chair of Findhorn Trustees and active Research-Engineer; Caroline Matters CEO of Findhorn Foundation Operations; Suzanne Quinney and Tim Slack Co-Founders of Appreciating People; Maria Cooper Chair of Park Planning Group and Award Winner Permaculturist; Samantha Graham Barrel house resident (and Australian election changer); and Eveline Rodenburg initiator of the Transforming Waste Back into Food project.

The LCE delegation continues at time of writing – meeting with Pooran Desai Founder of One Planet Living, and other UK based Living Cities Earth potential affiliates. We are on the road to framing up a “Fast Prototype” for our emerging ecology of associates.

At time of writing LCE’s first public face will be seen/heard on World Unity Week Meshwork Convergence Room – sharing our discoveries and inviting interest from cities and citizens around the world.

We sense (through a collective field of consciousness?) that LCE can integrate leaders and institutions worldwide in a global initiative that serves future generations (unto the 7th). The LCE seed team (and growing core team) can facilitate and AQtivate an Overview Effect for all the energies and strategies regenerating Aliveness in cities and ecoregions.

LCE can bring a special wave of energy to growing ecology of city associations that are using new media to share how cities thrive wholistically when using the living lenses of Planet/Place/People/Person. As we become visible to one another, LCE will add to a legacy the will make Living Cities the norm for children, families and all the 4 Voices of the city. We imagine that trauma and conflict can be resolved in Living City Peace Rooms and Fully Alive Regeneration Hubs.

Make Aliveness the Norm in your city – Gaia needs us for the 7th Generation – join us in co-creating Living Cites ❤ Earth – drop us an email here: info@integralcity.com

Footnotes:

  1. Integral City Russian translation created the book Living Cities – and hence the Living Cities Russia association of hundreds of Russian cities that came from applying its Maps, Voices, Master Code of Care and GPS.
  2. The organization Living Cities Russia (LCR) continues within Russia with no mention of the war – but actively creating and spreading Integral frameworks, worldviews and practices, building capacity from the bottom up.