Make no small plans for they do not have the power to move human souls! One person can dream a Vision that empowers his/her soul. But to dream a Vision that attracts the souls of others is a necessary step in the whole approach to evolving an Integral City. Many cities market their unique attractions [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Ten days after the final Integral City 2.0 Online Conference (IC2OC) ... and we have celebrated our first Thanksgiving (whose timing we borrow from Canada :-)) We are thankful for the people who made the IC2OC possible: all the volunteers, the speakers, the affiliates and the participants - in a constantly intermeshing order. We have [...]
Navigating intelligence allows us to scan the environment and make decisions about our course corrections using Integral Vital Signs Monitors (IVSM). An IVSM is a reporting system whose design is based on an integral framework. It utilizes life-sustaining indicators and communicates its results in a universal language. An IVSM system mines existing databases, gathers new data [...]
Navigating intelligence monitors and discloses the wellbeing or general condition of the city. Many city information officers are now developing versions of vital signs monitor for monitoring and reporting the health of the city. From an eco-regional perspective the indicators should track what Jared Diamond noted every society must pay attention to for long-term survival: [...]
Meshworking intelligences contribute to research, planning and management in the city. Meshworkers and meshweavers can create the conditions for aligning purposes, priorities, people and planet. They can engage individuals, groups and sectors as stakeholders from each of the integral quadrants and focus on issues and purposes (like Millennium Development Goals). Meshworkers can help these stakeholders to "connect the dots" [...]
Because communities and cities are emergents and artefacts of human life, they are outcomes of the brains that have created them. The meshworks in them seem to be fractal patterns that emerge at all scales of human systems. We can better understand how cities work and evolve by recognizing that their communities reflect evolving capacities to [...]
Meshworking intelligence creates a "meshwork" by weaving together the best of two operating systems — one that self-organizes, and one that replicates hierarchical structures. The resulting meshwork creates and aligns complex responsive structures and systems that flex and flow. Meshworking intelligences are triggered in the brain by dissonance (ie. constraints) in the environment. The brain's capability of [...]
Effective and authentic inquiry is often a process that we need to relearn many times. What makes a good question? The kinds of questions we want to ask for generative inquiry have the qualities of being: Personal (Tell us a time when you experience an emotional response to your neighbourhood?) Open (Start the question with What, [...]