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 Place. What inspires you about your place? How do you define place? What qualities of the place(s) you love makes you feel FULLY ALIVE? Do you agree [...]
As a radical optimist called to consider the purpose and value of the city, I have usually found the whole approach to sustainable development somewhat limiting (see previous article). The assumption which most inspires me about the city is one I learned from James Lovelock, author of the Gaia hypothesis. Despite all the shortcomings [...]
Guest Blogger: Anonymous Setting the scene I have taken a short holiday from my home in the country near Utrecht to stay in Amsterdam for a few days. Here are extracts from my journal of several of my experiences during that stay to intimately connect to Place. This blog was respectfully withdrawn at request [...]
Practising the Principles of Living Systems with intention and attention in/with/as the Integral City reveals that they offer guidance for defining, strategizing and learning the lessons of sustainability and resilience in ways we still struggle to achieve. But translating the Principles into the injunctions of the Master Code produces the holarchy of expanding [...]
The Master Code of CARE that lies at the heart of Integral City evolution arises from the Living Systems Principles shared by evolution biologist Elisabet Sahtouris. The paradox in Elisabet’s Principles is that they are not only biological, but are founded in the assumption that the universe is conscious. That means that the [...]
The 12 Intelligences of the Integral City can be directly connected to the Principles of Living Systems. This may not be surprising given the core influences of their creators. In the case of the 12 Intelligences, I was considering the evolution of the holarchy of human systems from individual, to family/collectives, to organizations, to [...]
Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, evolution biologist, has long been an inspiration to me and the framing of Integral City Intelligences, Voices, Inquiry and Action in Book 2 and Book 1. One of our initial mutual attractions was how we share a metaphor about living systems from 2 different but related perspectives. Elisabet describes the living [...]
Cohering the Integral We-Space: Engaging Collective Emergence, Wisdom & Healing in Groups is a new resource with potential to catalyze the emergence of Integral Cities. The book is an edited volume (by editors Olen Gunnlaugson and Michael Brabant) that reveals the leading edges of We-Space through the lenses of integrally informed practitioners located in [...]
In this article, Guest Blogger and Integral City Lead Constellator, Diana Claire Douglas provides an overview of Systemic Constellation Work (SCW), an approach that enables stakeholders to effectively engage in systems change. Douglas explores opportunities where SCW can be used to enhance Collective Impact efforts and highlights examples of community change to illustrate this [...]