Regenerative Governance

Post 636

Futuring Regenerative Intentional Communities

As we take our next steps in planning our trip to Coffs Harbour and Urunga to raise money for our intentional community developments there, we are conscious of holding the ‘whole’ of the projects from the beginning… This is very important

There is always a knee-jerk reaction to start a project by just getting the money and then doing all the other ‘stuff’ later

But how people come together to commune in harmony, through dignity, in service to something bigger than themselves, IS what you are raising for… not the land and building costs

The complexity of both human Wellbeing and Becoming in a community, once stewarded into a safe container of understanding, can not be overlooked

It takes conscious co-designing, reflection, diversity of opinion and lived experience, and a firm grasp on the true essence and spirit or goal of the community from the outset

Regenerative Governance is a very crude word pair for this conversation, though when I say it, you have an idea of where I’m trying to start, but let’s also hold the quote of Tim Murphy, one of our Elders in the field

“It’s the creation of a cultural field of potential, and will to step into that potential” -Tim Murphy

I think the biggest misconception about our beloved field of regenerative development is that it starts with the living or human built environments we develop…

Buildings, communal spaces, and agricultural systems are only the manifestations of the expression, spirit, will, and universal patterns of the real work at hand, which are there as infrastructure for the fundamental purpose of the work…

We work to re-pattern the way our species civilises in a way that is more consciously civil, conscious of the evolutionary potential of humanity to re-weave ourselves back into our role of stewards for this incredible Garden of Eden we have somehow found ourselves frolicking in

We are reshaping the way we culture at every level of our Being and doing in the world

We are walking a developmental path of self-discovery, on a journey with people holding heart space for the reconnection, and reculturing of the places that we hold dear

Don’t let me lose you with all the flowery words… They are as much a reminder to myself right now for how to hold myself, and with whom, as I hold space for a very personal issue in my world this week…

So, who are you, and how do you show up in your community?

Do you feel you are safe to express yourself in the container of this group of people… whether that’s your community, body corp, social group, business, job, or even home life?

Is this container a safe and developmental place for individuals to be supported to find themselves, find their own unique genius, be supported to find a way to contribute this genius to the whole…

Is there even a ‘whole’ or do you have a top-down governance structure that suits the temperament of a few to control the many in their own self-interests?

And how does this form of governance map onto the essence of the group as a collective of individuals? Does it translate into developmental opportunities to further the group’s purpose in the world? Does it support the community to focus on the culture and the whole of the initiative… without breaking down into squabbles over the fragments?

This is the work…

And this is how we approach it ourselves…

How to start, or continue developing, the governance structure of an intentional community

Story of Place

We hold the premise that we only work from ‘living wholes’, which starts with you, who is nested in your community, which is nested in the property/project, which is nested in your local place, which is nested in the wider region

All these living wholes have their own character, unique essence and genius, developmental needs and contribution to the other systems, both wider and smaller

Here is a great clip from one of our lineage’s elders Carol Sanford… An excellent presentation on the way we think, but a great analogy to living systems at 4:50

We start with a Story of Place to understand the unique beauty of the wider region the projects are nested in, as a co-design process with both the community of the project and the local community of place

This is the exciting discovery phase, like an adventure with both like, and not-so-like-minded people

One of the biggest mistakes made when working with community is to open up a container for the purpose of everyone to put their opinions in…

The main problem I’ve witnessed is that everyone’s opinion is only a fraction of the true meaning and values of the individual, almost completely taken out of context, and then submitted publicly and held as a representation of the person’s identity… a room full of fragments of thought, without context, held as peoples identities in groups, is not only a very poor way to structure communication, but the quickest way for a group to devolve into fighting over fragmentation of issues instead of holding the whole of culture and the purpose of the group

Story of Place is a way to gather a motley crew of individuals.. the more individual the better, and open up a safe container with place at the centre

Why place in the centre?

Everyone who is involved with a project is there for a reason, it has some meaning or value to the individuals, and it’s this value that we start with as a common ground for all to step into

The idea is to work as a developmental community on a discovery of place, before any opinions, control mechanisms, or identities have been thrown into the container

It serves as an opportunity for a group of people to work together, side by side, co-designing an understanding and relationship with their property, project, or place first

Working shoulder to shoulder on this discovery process allows opportunities for the group to understand and appreciate each other at a much more conscious level, including themselves, through non-confrontational interactions

Once the co-designed living-story is drafted (not locked in stone), it serves as a touchstone of cultural infrastructure that can guide all the layering of ‘doing’ by the group on their project long into the future

Understanding the unique character of their place, the community can understand the true value and contribution their project can not only make but also source from the region

From social connections to business ventures, cultural and art development, community resilience, disaster mitigation, educational opportunities, and just living as conscious contributors to place… weaving with the universal patterns of life in place seems like the smartest way to design on the right side of history to me

NOTE: If you have an uneasy feeling about modernity, capitalism, the patriarchy or ‘insert destructive forces of our times’… its because these models copy/past culture, governance, built and food systems, into every landscape in the same unconscious way… there is no understanding of unique spirit of place, only top down force and coercive control, which shapes spaces and people to continue to use top down force and coercive control… see if you can notice patterns of this show up in your initiatives… Are you supported by the group to voice your opinion on these containers of communication and governance… are they safe containers?

Story of Self

From Story of Place, we move onto Story of Self… self, representing the living whole of either the individual, group, or project

The who, of the whole, of the us, we are trying to show up collectively as… in service to something greater than ourselves, in contribution to the region we live

For the sake of our projects, the Story of Self here will be talking about the living whole of the properties as a living whole… particularly as the community is in the making

When we say ‘living whole’ of a place, property, or development project, we are not only talking about the natural systems, flora, and fauna in place, we are including the deep relational way that humans civilise, transact with each other, communicate, and contribute to the whole… How are decisions made? How does money flow? How do people communicate? What are the power dynamics in place and how are they held?

For this next step, we use living system frameworks with the community to uncover and co-design a shared understanding of the living self of the whole

I like to start with an Essence Triad to understand this living whole

We work from the premise that life is a process and every process has a purpose, and every purpose has a value to the whole

What is the Core Process of how this living whole works?

What is the Core Purpose that this living whole can serve as to both the larger and smaller living wholes in the system?

What Core Value does this purpose bring to the whole

Here is Regenesis’ Essence Triad on the field of Regen Dev…

Designing a Regenerative Future for Projects in Service to Place

So we have a deeper understanding of the place, we are starting with a group of aligned community members, through a project we are starting to understand the potential of, in service to the whole…

What next?

From discovery to design, we start to really weave with the potential of all these living wholes through deep relationship with each other

My favourite framework (not that I should have a favourite) is the Regenerative Tetrad designed and taught through the Regenesis Institute

This brings a living systems lens of design for a community to hold the complexities of the whole, while designing the role of a project in deep relationship to place… Also not my place to teach it though find it HERE

There are also two excellent Tetrads from Carol Sanford’s work that I like to use from her book No More Gold Stars, which we used as the basis for a regenerative property investment syndicate design, for our stack of bioregional finance facilities

The Self-Determined Theory of Knowledge Tetrad…

And Carol’s Culture Tetrad from her book Indirect Work, which I’ve used ChatGPT to summarise here:

Culture is silently knitted together by four primary sources—status, totems, rituals and taboos—that keep a community aligned through shared meaning yet usually remain unconscious. Status allocates power by privileging certain traits or roles; it can be re-purposed to honour those who take on vital global challenges rather than merely rewarding inherited advantages. Totems (from George Washington to the Red Cross emblem) embody a group’s history, essence and future possibilities, so selecting symbols that express an organisation’s deeper nature—not just a marketing slogan—matters. Rituals are the intentional, recurring acts that reconnect members with what they hold sacred (e.g., Seventh Generation’s radical transparency), translating abstract values into lived behaviour. Taboos draw the invisible boundaries of acceptable conduct, protecting the integrity of shared values by signalling what must not be violated. Surfacing and consciously evolving these four sources turns the “invisible weave” of culture into a life-enhancing force rather than a self-reinforcing status quo.

Oh my Lordy Lord… My musings have got away from me again…

That was a lot… but not necessary to process, this is how we move in the world, and I look forward to the day I might get the chance to share it with you

Next Steps…

Veridian and Regen Place Network core team co-design sessions on how to co-design a co-design session in Coffs Harbour and Urunga…

Get up to Coffs Harbour and Urunga…

Develop aligned ‘Willing&Able’ group of community members in Coffs Harbour and Urunga

Did I mention that we will be going up to Coffs Harbour and Unrunga soon??

Hope to see everyone there…