We uncovered some fascinating insights curating our track at the Social Capital Markets Conference, Polycentric Solutions: Local in the World. We’re still buzzing here at CI with the interesting conversations and great people we met and worked with. On-the-ground leaders from Oakland to Sweden to Kenya came together to cross-pollinate best practices about local solutions to global problems. Facts and highlights from the track include: (more…)
At the end of the day, all impact is local. Creating impact means understanding the complex web of local relationships in which it takes place. Scaling that impact requires a deep understanding of where those complex local environments overlap- and where they don’t.
That’s why the Polycentric Solutions track at the 2011 Social Capital Markets Conference is being built around two living case studies: Berjeson, Gotenborg, Sweden and Cherryland, CA, USA. Though separated by half the globe, these two communities have numerous parellells that SOCAP attendees will be leveraging in hands-on problem solving throughout the conference.
View Polycentric Solutions in a larger map
[This post is a part of a series on sessions in the SOCAP11 Polycentrism Solutions Track]
In the Slow Money: Capital, Currency and Entrepreneurs session Lise Bisballe, Claire Herminjard, Arno Hesse, Lakshmi Karan, Paul Lamb and Homayoon Shahinfar illustrate how regenerative systems of capital flow build the capacity and viability of local communities. This movement challenges the model of disconnected capital that is concentrated in global financial centers, and keeps money invested in local entrepreneurs and businesses. The Slow Money Alliance and Clearbon’s Bernal Bucks promote the power of local currency that enables polycentricism to flourish.
In contrast to classic capitalism, Slow Money principles go beyond financial capital to include cultural, ecological and economic value. Expanding the understanding of value has helped to spur new business models such as social enterprises, where economic development and societal needs are integrated into a single pursuit. Organizations such as Mindful Meats, Man on a Mission Consulting, and the Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Roskilde University are working in the intersection between civil society and business. (more…)
In most ways, the Roman Empire was a boon to everyone involved. Once-warring tribes were brought to a place of peace. These tribes could suddenly trade local goods, exchange ideas, and invest in shared infrastructure. The only drawback to the Pax Romana was Rome. Rome sucked resources that it burned on extravagant gestures, often designed to distract. It served as an information bottleneck, forcing bad decisions onto people with the local knowledge to make better ones. Worst of all, Rome became a single point of failure that eventually brought the entire system crashing down.
Today, these wealthy, ill-informed single points of failure are still causing disasters on a regular basis. Our small tribes accept them as a necessary evil because in a deeply interconnected and interdependent world we need our Pax. But that may be changing. For the first time in human history, advances in social technology are letting small tribes build an empire together without elevating a Rome. (“Social technology” refers to systems of organizing like democracy, not social media tools like twitter.) These emerging technologies and their practitioners will be featured in an upcoming Polycentrism Track at the Social Capital Markets Conference. (more…)
