We’ve barely scratched the surface of how and why we lost our connections in various ways. It’s a fascinating study, but it isn’t necessary to understand the topic in depth in order to do something about it.
Aspects of modern culture have been designed to separate us. Much of this was not deliberate, just unconscious or unobservant. It’s not the first culture to lose a sense of community. Regenerative tribal practices and connections have been deliberately destroyed by conquerors for eons. It would be good to have some tools that could prevent that from happening, or heal it if it does.
When we can deeply cooperate, it makes us resilient in many directions. In my disaster work I’ve seen consistently, no matter which community or part of the world it happens, that places that have established strong communities recover much faster than those that do not.
A strong community can accelerate recovery by years - or determine whether the community ever recovers. Strong communities can save lives in hard times as well. In depressions, people in established communities tend to do much better than those who don’t have those networks. One can be resilient without a community but it’s easier if one exists.
Americans have now been so conditioned to the concept of “rugged individualism” that we struggle to trust each other and form deep bonds or commitments. But there are still many examples of strong communities that remain, both in urban and rural settings.
There are many people who remember how to form communities and continue to do that. Like anything else, it is a building process. We can relearn how to cooperate with the natural world to build food forests.
How can we cooperate with our own nature to facilitate community building?
We feel that a lot of the fears people have about getting “stuck” into a community they don’t want can be alleviated through the use of some great tools and structures.
We believe that the structure and design of society can contribute to isolation, or stronger beneficial community relationships.
And that is the key - is the relationship beneficial? How do we know? How can we ensure maximum benefit through design?
We now will discuss some of the many exciting solutions that are being implemented throughout the world to rebuild the power of community, and some of the tools that have enabled success.