Participants converse at the XP2018 Conference in Porto, Portugal.
Greenbelt is on the cutting edge of a world-wide movement to use Dynamic Community Governance to inspire the way we live and work together.
The Center for Dynamic Community Governance (CDCG), a Greenbelt-based and focused 501(c)(3) city recognition group, has had an exciting few months. The second edition of the book We the People, Consenting to a Deeper Democracy, was published in January; it expands the practical advice on implementing and using Dynamic Community Governance in communities.
In February, John Buck, codirector of the CDCG, gave a TEDx talk at the University of Maryland describing how octopuses ‘think’ – and the deep lessons they can teach us about organizing in everyday community neighborhoods and groups. In March, Buck co-authored and published a new book, Companywide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space and Sociocracy (aka, Dynamic Governance), providing a new approach to equip modern organizations to deal with today’s volatile and complex conditions. It talks about treating work like any other neighborhood community organization and the kind of spirit and inspiration that gets released into the workplace. The book is CDCG Has An Active 2018 In Greenbelt and Beyond by Aileen Kroll and John Buck currently being translated into Chinese and German.
In April, Buck spoke briefly at a meeting of the United Nations High-Level Committee of Experts on Public Administration. Better public administration is one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and Buck was there to support the Neighborhood Community Network, a sister organization in India. He encouraged the Committee to support use of “complexity thinking” (of the sort CDCG teaches in Greenbelt) rather than “strategic thinking,” which is too slow and outdated for these times.
In May, Buck brought Dynamic Community Governance to Scotland and Portugal. He conducted an experimental workshop for an organization in Scotland; went to Portugal to consult for a permaculture-oriented organic farm; spoke at the School of Sciences at the University of Lisbon; and presented in Porto at the international XP2018 Conference (focused on information technology).
All these experiences provided new insights that can be used right away in Greenbelt. In Porto, for example, there was much discussion about using experimentation to support continuous learning (in ways that may appear to be counter-intuitive). CDCG is wrapping up two year-long Greenbelt projects. One project (supported by the Greenbelt Community Foundation) developed the Old Greenbelt Theatre’s volunteer program. The other project helped establish the Outreach Group at Greenbriar, supported by a grant from the City of Greenbelt. Both programs are intended as models for other similarly situated Greenbelt organizations. See dynamic-governance.org for further information about these programs.