I was reading a research paper on social identities during crises: Facilitating Collective Psychosocial Resilience this week.
It makes interesting point about Active Bystanders. People who are present in the place and the time and activated to take action either because they perceive how their capacities become communal capabilities then or because they are asked to help by other people or institutions.
The role of Community Connectors came up in Design Council work on design in the Climate Crisis and the role of Useful Outsiders in Royal Academy of Engineering workshops.
The Active Bystanders idea is interesting as it relates to Rutger Bregman’s latest book ‘Moral Ambition’ and how change can be made by asking people to help. That change is recognised in both understanding how people have needs and respecting how they have capacities.
That community change is both in asking to help and offering capabilities and in asking for help and seeking capacities. Institutions need to be both powerful (in asking to help and offering capabilities) while also vulnerable (in asking for help and valuing peoples’ living experiences).