Coalescing Efforts towards a Thrivable World: A Pattern Language for Systemic Change (original) (raw)

Integral sustainability: Correlating action logics with sustainability to provide new insights

We investigate and describe the application of action logics, and through this integral theory, to help understand sustainability challenges. Transformational global sustainability shifts are in our individual and collective self-interest yet, on nearly every cumulative objective measure, necessary change is not occurring. To better understand this paradox we discuss two empirical studies of leaders spanning lower to very late-stage action logics. This sample includes a broad spread of leaders and a unique set of individuals with late stage action logics. From this we develop a model that demonstrates that action logics and how people talk about or express sustainability concepts can be correlated with each other. This is an important reference point for future research and work as well as the development of tools that help realise potential benefits of action logics perspectives for addressing sustainability. With our conference audience we will consider how this framework can be applied to initiatives and experientially develop the themes of this paper.

Integral Sustainability: Correlating Action Logics with Sustainability to Provide Insight into the Dynamics of Change

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2013

We investigate and describe the application of action logics, and through this integral theory, to help understand sustainability challenges. Transformational global sustainability shifts are in our individual and collective self-interest yet, on nearly every cumulative objective measure, necessary change is not occurring. To better understand this paradox we discuss two empirical studies of leaders spanning lower to very late-stage action logics. This sample includes a broad spread of leaders and a unique set of individuals with late stage action logics. From this we develop a model demonstrating that action logics and how people talk about or express sustainability concepts are correlated. This is an important reference point for future research as well as the development of tools that help realise potential benefits of action logics perspectives for addressing sustainability.

Constructing a Climate Change Logic: An Institutional Perspective on the “Tragedy of the Commons”

Organization Science, 2013

D espite increasing interest in transnational fields, transnational commons have received little attention. In contrast to economic models of commons, which argue that commons occur naturally and are prone to collective inaction and tragedy, we introduce a social constructionist account of commons. Specifically, we show that actor-level frame changes can eventually lead to the emergence of an overarching, hybrid "commons logic" at the field level. These frame shifts enable actors with different logics to reach a working consensus and avoid "tragedies of the commons." Using a longitudinal analysis of key actors' logics and frames, we tracked the evolution of the global climate change field over 40 years. We bracketed time periods demarcated by key field-configuring events, documented the different frame shifts in each time period, and identified five mechanisms (collective theorizing, issue linkage, active learning, legitimacy seeking, and catalytic amplification) that underpin how and why actors changed their frames at various points in time-enabling them to move toward greater consensus around a transnational commons logic. In conclusion, the emergence of a commons logic in a transnational field is a nonlinear process and involves satisfying three conditions: (1) key actors view their fates as being interconnected with respect to a problem issue, (2) these actors perceive their own behavior as contributing to the problem, and (3) they take collective action to address the problem. Our findings provide insights for multinational companies, nation-states, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders in both conventional and unconventional commons.

Framework for Awakening Collective Intelligence in the Ecosystem of Commons Initiatives

Commons are sustained by “communities working together in self-governing ways in order to protect resources from enclosure or to build new openly-shared resources.” (Hess, 2008) Successful self-governance in any large-scale commons needs shared knowledge and collective intelligence. Only then will it be capable to meet the combined challenges of complexity and the urgency of making wise decisions. The larger and more complex the commons population, the more emphasized is the need for the commoners to build capacity for cultivating such faculties of their collective intelligence as collective sensing, meaning-making, planning, shared memory, and collaborative foresight. In response to humankind’s global crises, there’s a multitude of commons-strengthening citizen initiatives at every scale, from local to global, and in every area of social life. They form an emergent ecosystem, in which they can interact, share information and grow collective capabilities. KEYWORDS: bio-mimicry, collaborative foresight, collective intelligence, collective leadership, collective memory, collective sensing, knowledge ecosystem

Patterns that Connect: Exploring The Potential of Patterns and Pattern Languages in Systemic Interventions Towards Realizing Sustainable Futures.

Paper presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences - "Realizing Sustainable Futures" - University of Colorado – 23 - 30 July 2016. Soon to be published in the ISSS Journal – 60th meeting - Creative Commons Licence CC-BY-ND 4.0. Working towards more sustainable systems is a critical endeavor of the 21st century requiring collaborative efforts for the broad development of systemic literacy. This paper explores the potential of patterns and pattern languages as tools for systemic change and transdisciplinary collaboration, investigation and design, and outlines the ways they could be further operationalized to develop and leverage collective intelligence and agency towards Curating the Emergence of Thrivability and Realizing Sustainable Futures in Socio-Ecological Systems.

Commons, collective actions and landscapes: A short introduction

Acta geographica Slovenica

In the face of worldwide population growth, increasingly intensive agriculture, depopulation of marginal and less favoured areas, and growing rural-urban migration, two contrasting trends are becoming more pronounced: land abandonment on one hand and intensification of agricultural land on the other hand. Considering the complexity of mentioned issues, which result in landscape impoverishment, biodiversity loss, and a decline in crucial ecosystem services, it is essential to prioritise sustainable governance and management of landscapes and natural resources. Alternative approaches are needed to address these challenges. In this special issue, we focus on the potentials of commons and collective actions in sustaining landscape management and natural resource governance. The term "commons" refers to the way communities collectively manage local resources. Collective action refers to the coordinated efforts and cooperation of a community.

Vision, identity, and collective behavior change on pathways to sustainable futures

Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review

The challenge facing humanity is to live sustainably within both the ecological and physical limits of our planet and the societal boundaries needed for social cohesion and well-being. This is fundamentally a societal issue, rather than primarily an environmental problem amenable to technological optimization. Implementing the global aspirations embodied in the sustainable development goals of the United Nations will require societal transformation largely through collective behavior change at multiple geographic scales and governance levels across the world. Narrative expressions of visions of sustainable futures and narrative expressions of identity provide important, but underutilized insights for understanding affordances and obstacles to collective behavior change. Analyzing affective narrative expressions circulating in various communities seeking to implement aspects of sustainability opens up the opportunity to test whether affectively prioritized agent-based models can lead...

THE ECOLOGICAL WORLDVIEWS AND POST-CONVENTIONAL ACTION LOGICS OF GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY LEADERS

This is an empirical study of ecological worldviews and action logics of global sustainability leaders. Although a body of research has emerged in recent years focused on corporate sustainability practices at the organizational level, the literature has paid less attention to corporate sustainability at the individual level. As a result, little is known about the deeper psychological motivations of sustainability leaders and how these motivations may influence their behavior and effectiveness as change agents.