Early in the lockdown, leaders in the community realized that we needed a Volunteer Action Group (VAG) to keep in touch so that we knew people were okay behind their closed doors. Quickly VAG conversations imagined a “modern” version of the Town Crier. Laura Pasetti, TPE Findhorn’s very own animateur of EcoTheatre literally [...]
Where were you in summer 2020, when you realized that you could only associate with the people in your household and when outside the home you were required to wear a mask and distance yourself 2 meters??!! How could The Park Ecovillage Findhorn (TPE Findhorn) survive the impact to our economic life – [...]
After two and a half years of personal devotion to leading Taizé singing online, David Robinson has decided to step back a little from conducting a global choir 3 times a week, to continue hosting the Tuesday morning sessions. Thankfully, Gloucester-based Elyn will assume Thursday leadership – and Annelise from Leeds has come forward [...]
August 2022 seems such a long way from August 2020 – 2 years since the first summer pandemic lockdown in Scotland (and most other places in the world). Where were you when you realized that you could only associate with the people in your household and when outside the home you were required to [...]
I have ancestral roots in the Manchester area – my grandfather was born in Salford. My late husband Peter Dobson, grew up in Tiddlesley/Staley Bridge area of greater Manchester. Also in the early 1980’s I travelled frequently through this area as Peter visited the suppliers to the vehicle testing facilities he was project managing [...]
When one is on the road to proposing how to reinvent the city, it is not a usual approach to invite in the angels. But sometimes a teacher, disguised as a student turns up in your class (e.g. Sue Cooper in Integral City’s “Beyond Resilient” course – who is clearly on mission – through [...]
The next stage of my journey was by rail from Hexham Northumberland to Nottingham to meet Sue Cooper – friend, colleague and graduate of the Integral City Beyond Resilient Course. Sue’s husband Ashley, describes her as a “force of Nature” – and indeed that became apparent on our first stop from the train [...]
This newsletter is published quarterly using a cycle of perspectives on the Integral City viewed from: Planet, People, Place and Power. The theme of this issue is People Action Research is a powerful methodology to use for city change because it involves people inquiring together. It starts with an initiating researcher (I/We), a [...]
“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 [...]
What is Broken? How can Integral Cities learn from Gaia, endowed as her Organs of Reflection? How can we imagine an ecology for the emergence of Peace? What City Capacities can we draw on to recover wellbeing at all scales of human existence – person, people, place and planet? In using the Russian-Ukrainian conflict [...]