Integral City how do I map thee? Let me count the ways ... starting with Map 1. Map 1: 4 quadrant 8 level map of the city When I started to explore the Integral framework for cities I was influenced both by the work of Ken Wilber and Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics model. [...]
The patterns embedded in human systems have evolved for hundreds of thousands of years. Indeed, as living systems, the patterns have emerged from the 4 billion years that Life has vibrated on the dance floor of the Planet, as single cell microbes to multi-organ persons. These patterns emerge from expressing the simple rules [...]
Systems thinking is fundamental to understanding systems. So to understand systems, let's start with exploring, what are systems? (1) Systems are evolutionary structures. They are characterized by boundaries that contain system elements. Those elements have evolved across deep time, from the Big Bang until now. The basic evolutionary strata that we can point to on [...]
How can I shift my perspective of the city when I am not aware of the perspective I hold? A shift in perspective assumes that a change in my view occurs. Unpacking such a shift requires the answers to some basic questions: What is my current perspective? Why would I change it? How can I [...]
Is information in your city easy to come by? or is it difficult to make sense of your city because information is scarce or misaligned? Information in the Integral City is critical to the city's functioning, wellbeing and thriving. But when we are overwhelmed by electronic news blasts it can be difficult to know what [...]
Assumptions in the city arise not only from the four voices of the city - but from the worldviews being expressed in those voices. Worldviews emerge from the beliefs of what is important around here and how those values are translated by the city's voices. In the most basic ego-centric way, assumptions are implicit - [...]
Using Integral City approaches to analyse your city demands attunement of your faculties of observation. Cindy Wigglesworth recommends that in 2013 we use "Humble Curiosity" to see the world in new ways. She outlines a path that aligns multiple intelligences that build on one another like a pyramid of increasing complexity. Cindy is founder of [...]
How can we apply Integral City theory or frameworks to my city? This is a question I am often asked. At the What Next Integral Conference, Roger Walsh offered some helpful suggestions for applying Integral Theory in general. These are also a useful approach to engaging Integral City practices. 1. Step 1 is to offer an [...]
Dr. Ichak Adizes asks if we are falling apart faster? He charts the dissonance that exists in our individual physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual sub-systems. Dr. Adizes observes that our physical maturity is way ahead of our emotional and spiritual maturity. And while we can learn all the way into old age, that choice is [...]
Why Not Just Privatize the Government? Why not privatize city government? Jane Jacobs described two moral syndromes necessary for a human social system to survive – one called Guardian and the other called Commercial. She argued that mixing their ethics created “monstrous hybrids” that were immoral and subversive to life. Reframing these syndromes from an [...]