Consumerism is to our society what cancer is to our body, said Michael Dowd at the Integral Spiritual Experience. He brings attention to our evolutionary conundrum - why would we consume the reources of the planet in the same way that cancer cells consume the energy of the body?But how can we measure when we are in [...]
2011 may be the tipping point that globally shifted all the Pillars of Sustainability. By year-end each leans as precariously as four Towers of Pisa. First we watched the Environmental Pillar reign tsunami terror on the city of Sendai, followed by the infrastructural meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plants, sending shock waves throughout the worldwide energy sector. Before we caught our breath [...]
Energy, information and matter tracking technology is revealing behavioral secrets of the Human Hive. Three of the best examples I've found are: Britain from Above - this BBC series explores explores the evolution of Britain's infrastructure development from agriculture to transportation, communication to education, and cities to rural redevelopment across the ages. Mesh Cities - a new website whose [...]
Cities can do nothing to promote economic development, according to Mario Polese. But are the development patterns he enumerates missing the patterns of development of human culture and consciousness? Polese traces the modern to post-modern fads that have influenced community economic development (CED) at the city scale from the 1960's to early 2000's: strategic industries, industrial complexes, [...]
What has the front page image of the woman in the Blue Bra in Tahrir Square got to do with the opening of the movie re-make of the "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"? The Blue Bra speaks of women's vulnerable defiance in the real world. The Dragon Tattoo's owner, Lisbeth Salander acts with assertive defiance in the fictional world. Both [...]
December Solstice Greetings, Integral City-zens and Friends of Integral City Today's Integral City Sparkies for City Emergence: The larger the city the more likely it will span a wider and wider spectrum of individual purposes; ghettoes of differing purposes and intentions will emerge and the demands of governance will need to address these discontinuities. p.181 [...]
Occupy the conflagration of my vegetable stand. Occupy Twitter. Occupy our Arab Spring. Occupy IMF suite. Occupy hotel maid. Occupy Rikers Island.Occupy your repossession. Occupy your unemployment. Occupy their Wall Street.Occupy Greek trag-edy. Occupy Italian com-edy. Occupy German euro-medy.Occupy - the action play of 2011.
Integral City Developers #occupy the positive 1% who generate diversity to overcome the blockages and barriers in city systems. They #occupy development opportunities grand enough to attract others but where the economic risk is designed to reward purpose, priority, profit, people and planet. Developers #occupy the Integral City Voice with visions, inspiring pictures and projects that call forth [...]
Civil Society #occupies the We and Heart of the Integral City. As Civil Society We beat with the pulse of cooperatives, credit unions, foundations, institutes, not-for-profits, NGO's, social enterprises and other agencies who invest in cultural and social capital in our Integral City. As Civil Society Members and Activists our volunteers #occupy principles of city wellbeing. As Civil Society Executive Directors [...]
Who #occupies the Voice of the Civic Manager? When everyone else is speaking at #occupy city square, who's ears are occupied by the Civic Manager's words? The voice of the Civic Manager speaks for senior leaders in city hall, the healthcare system, the justice system, the school system, and the library system. The Civic Manager calls forth conditions for the Integral City to run effectively across [...]