I am planning to facilitate a few online (maybe hybrid – with in-person in Stroud, UK) happenings on community development.
I’m using The Community Builder’s Journal as core text as I want to work thru the time/place/action structure in a supportive group. I am not expecting everyone to have a copy but you can buy it from the publisher or Amazon.
I am not an expert but…
I am not doing this because I am an expert in community development. I am interested in facilitating discussions and sharing actions with people so I can learn and enable learning.
I am personally involved with a couple of projects that are in very early stages of developing new communities around climate crisis and local economic change. These are why I am interested in this topic now. I have however, worked on projects like this professionally using many codesign, civic assembly and facilitation techniques.
The book covers many topics and opens with observing your place and sensing what communities are active and open to chatting with.
Holding back from action and becoming more sensitive to what is already working around you. Humbleness as a strategic foundation
Being attentive
This ‘holding back’ and observation reminds me of some stuff I was looking at last month on Attention. I was reading Attensity and the collections that compiled the book created a list of questions for changing attention deliberately and communally.
I made a zine based on their questions, with space for comments and ideas. You can download it from Dropbox Playing With Attention.
I think I should re-work the zine to align with the attention practice that is recommended in the Journal.
This could then be used as a first artefact for a group to edit and prototype together. I think there is value in just helping ourselves find the confidence to start.
Creating a new community is probably way ahead for any of our personal capacities or communal capabilities so this is a first step that helps us and could help others in a similar situation.
I think this would need two or three months. Time to meet and understand our shared intents, time to work on a prototype, go out and return to share what we discovered.
A community of intent and attention to start.
Starting out
I would start this in June, work on booklet in July and then meet again in late August or September. However, we can maintain a WhatsApp group during that period for chats and sharing.
If this sounds interesting to you then email me or send a message on LinkedIn
These are my contact details:
I’m also on BlueSky as Acuity.Design