Community Generative Urbanism

source: 00:/ zerozero architects


Indy Johar of 00:/ (zerozero) Architects in London (UK) sent over this image to illustrate how communities are enabling sustainability transition. 00:/ is focused on context-specific responses to existing local spaces to transform them into sustainable places. Learn more about their projects here >

Transition Network: "a social experiment on a massive scale"

Earlier this year, Rob Hopkins and Peter Lipman of Transition Network published a structural document within which they state SEVEN KEY PRINCIPLES OF TRANSITION:
1) Positive Visioning (to generate new stories and myths)
2) Help People Access Good Information and Trust Them to Make Good Decisions (to enable truth and respect)
3) Inclusion and Openness (to reach the entire community)
4) Enable Sharing and Networking (to build a collective body of experience)
5) Build Resilience (to deal with the shock)
6) Inner and Outer Transition (to shift the dominant psychological framework and world view)
7) Subsidiarity: self-organization and decision making at the appropriate level (to layer local upon local empowerment)
[source: Transition Network Ltd, ‘Who we are and What we do’ (Hopkins and Lipman, 2009)]

"All living systems are networks..."

“All living systems are networks of smaller components, and the web
of life as a whole is a multi-layered structure of living systems nestling
within other living systems – networks within networks”.

- Fritjof Capra 'The Web of Life,' as quoted in Hopkins and Lipman, 'Transition Network Ltd: Who We Are and What We Do' (2009)

Transitioning > Foodprint symposium and exhibition

Above right, a sampling of culiblog Transition Tea to be served at the Slow Dialogue on 28 June

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The next Slow Repair Dialogue takes place this Friday evening 19 June 2009 from 18.30 to 20.30 at Platform21:

19 June: SLOW TRANSITIONS > Re-thinking Systems
Restoring sustainable practices... Envisioning new local landscapes... Systems level strategies for relocating human values and transitioning to sustainability... and more!

We've thought it wise to expand the SLOW TRANSITIONS conversation to be inclusive of a major project opening in Den Haag next week, 'FOODPRINT. Food for the City' at Stroom Den Haag. slowLab network member Debra Solomon of culiblog will present work alongside an esteemed international group in this project focusing on "crucial moments relating to food, food production and the city." An all-day symposium on Friday 26 June will take an indepth look at the roles food can play in the design of sustainable cities, while an exhibition running from 27 June to 23 August explores this topic through the work of artists and designers.

In addition to our 19 June Slow Dialogue, slowLab has added an extra SLOW TRANSITIONS session featuring FOODPRINT contributing artist Debra Solomon on Sunday afternoon 28 June 2009 at the culiblog Experimental Garden in Amsterdam Noord. Take the Buikslotermeer ferry from behind Centraal Station and walk on for 1 minute. The dialogue begins at 15.00. Transition Tea will be served :)

To participate, you must email to RESERVE a space: info[at]slowlab.net. Light refreshments served at both.

Engaging the public

How to get these ideas in front of the public to stimulate new ways of thinking, making and doing? Do installations like this one work? Is it too didactic? We'd like to hear your comments on how to engage and activate others in this and other Slow projects.

Ann Thorpe's 'Low Product' scenario

Ann Thorpe, author of 'The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability' has posted an interesting article on Core77 about design's role in shifting consumption behaviours.

She states, "The challenge may well be in overcoming the myth that economic growth represents some sort of natural order. In fact it arises not from natural order but rather from years of political and economic decision making that prioritize economic growth."

"Society has implicitly accepted the idea that continuous increases in consumption are equal to continuous increases in wellbeing. But evidence from across cultures, age groups and income groups shows that this equation does not compute. Rather, after a person reaches a relatively low level (by Western standards) of material wealth, as corny as it may sound, their happiness hinges on inner growth, through the quality of their personal relationships, sense of self, and participation in the community."

"If we're serious about finding alternatives to consumerism, to shopping and acquiring positional goods, then we need civic places that catalyze these alternatives."

Read the whole article here >