communities of

trees and people

communities of

cars and concrete

What would a realistic future worth living be like?

Realistic futures

Note: this scenario optimistic.
It doesn't include climate change.

decentralized
society

research project

this workshop

http://communities.talks.dsrp.eu

About me

Mathijs de Bruin

  • Systems thinker(er)
  • Philosopher
  • Physicist
  • Eco-activist
  • Hacker
  • Human!

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

'Natural' (emerging)
vs.
'synthetic' (engineered)

What's the difference?

Natural systems

have

  1. High diversity
  2. Coopetition
  3. Many independent actors
  4. Scale-free self-similarity

Natural systems

have emergent

  1. Resilience/anti-fragility
  2. Self-organisation
  3. Self-replication
  4. Downward causality

Natural systems

are born to die

Individuals die for the whole to renew and survive.

evolution

needs

death

it requires

collapse

it requires

failure

death

is

inevitable

(duh)

Synthetic systems

have

  1. Low diversity
  2. Hierarchic structures
  3. Tight control loops

Synthetic systems

have emergent

  1. Low resilience/fragility
  2. High control costs
  3. High scaling costs

Synthetic systems

deny death

Components survive to the detriment of their environment.

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

Realistic futures

'Business as usual' scenarios

August 2018, Monchique, Alvarge, Portugal

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

Designing with Nature

  1. Natural vs. synthetic systems
  2. Realistic futures
  3. Survival principles

Survival principles

design for

failure

design like

nature

design like nature

like…

surfing

flying

Image: Why Do Birds Fly in Vs? Endangered Bird Solves the Mystery.

mycelium

Stametz. Mycelium Running.
Image: Discovering the hidden world of forest fungi.

the interwebz

Image: The Internet Analyzed as a Complex Adaptive System.

bacteria

Image: Spit for Science and Nose Pick for Progress.

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Principles

  1. Resilient: gain from disorder
  2. Regenerative: grow intrinsically
  3. Perenial: endure continous renewal

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Objectives

Establish 3 economically, ecologically and socially regenerative communities in 30 years.

Objectives

  • Establish & share best-practises
  • Create regional ecosystem
  • Explore scaling behaviour
  • Meticulous 'deep' accounting
  • Critical self-evaluation

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Creating a Forest Community

  1. Principles
  2. Objectives
  3. Implementation

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Positive feedback

Ecology, community, economy

Iterative design

5 year iteration cycle

Iterative design

  1. Community & ecology
  2. Economic self-relience
  3. Regional scaling

Scaling vertically

Minimum viable scale

3-5 households, 8-15 people

Strong core team

  • Projects vision
  • Stewards community
  • Engages participation

Roles

  • Mathijs: project architect
  • Diego: forest designer
  • You? (f): natural communicator

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Forests

What, how and why?

Succession

Assisting natural cycles

Ecology

Fostering natural complexity

Pocock et al. 2012. Science.

Mitigation

Ecosystem services

Production

  • Fruits
  • Nuts
  • Honeys
  • Soil
  • Compost
  • Trees

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Community

What we learned to forget

It's difficult!

(ask anyone)

Best practises

  • Emphatic (non-violent) communication
  • Grow in conflicts, gain from setbacks
  • Natural succession
  • Commons transition

Natural succession

  1. Initiators (year 0-5)
  2. Consolidators (year 5-10)
  3. Maintainers (year 10-15)

Commons transition

  1. Collective property
  2. Formal decision making
  3. Legal incorportion
  4. Federative cooperatism
  5. Facilitate local integration

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Implementation

  1. Strategy
  2. Forests
  3. Community
  4. Economy

Economy

Accepting reality

Not denying it.

Natural transition

Sustaining under capitalism, thriving beyond

Funding

Using inequality

Hellebrandt, Tomas and Mauro, Paolo, The Future of Worldwide Income Distribution (April 1, 2015). Peterson Institute for International Economics Working Paper No. 15-7

Funding

Using inequality

  • Urban/rural
  • North/south
  • Rich/poor

Funding

  • Participants: average € 50k/family
  • Subsidies: reforestation, eco-education, bioconstruction, SME (small-medium enterprise)
  • Donations: through broad-scoped Dutch foundation
  • Crowdfunding: fosters active support community

Income

Salary for two community members.

From subsidies, crowdfunding, donations and, eventually: forest production.

Diversity

Integrated cooperative ecosystem

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Overview

  1. Designing with Nature
  2. Creating a Forest Community
  3. Dreaming a Future

Dreaming a future

Pockets of light

Strongholds in the darkness

Margins of renewal

'Insignificant' (long-tail) diversity fuels adaptation

however

How to deal with

civil war

being

pacifists

Minimising violence

under

constrained resources

The cake

will

get smaller

How?

When equally sharing isn't enough...

When your kids are hungry...

... and there's a hungry father

at your door.

Fin

Sorry for the bitter after-taste.

Please, refute me.

https://solnascente.eu

decentralized
society

research project

https://dsrp.eu