Communities of the future

Rethinking Economic Development - by Rick Smyre, President, Center for Communities of the Future

"In a simple linear system, say one bank and one farm, you can map out the effects of a crisis as if you were plotting the route of falling dominoes. But in a networked society, lit up by revolutionary change, such easy prediction is a fantasy.

Resilience allows us, even in the most extreme moments, to keep learning, to change. It is a kind of battlefield courage, the ability to innovate under fire because we've prepared in the right way and because we've developed the strength to keep moving even when we're slapped by the unexpected.

But resilience has to be built into our system in advance, like a strong immune response before flu season. In practice this means widening how we interact with the world - the better to learn new skills and make new connections - instead of narrowing to the fewest possible essential threats or plans or policies."

The Age of the Unthinkable - Joshua Conner Ramo

A SHIFT IN CONCEPT

These quotes from The Age of the Unthinkable would not be viewed as important to economic developers who have been trained to equate industrial recruitment with economic development. Yet, in my opinion, the idea of developing a new type of economic resiliency in our communities and society is at the core of preparing for a different kind of economy that will need to adapt to constantly changing conditions.

To add to the complexity over the next twenty years is the fact that there are three different types of economies that are in churn and mixed together for the first time in the history of the world ... the last stages of the Industrial Economy, a transition period from 2000-2025 called the Knowledge Economy, and a newly emerging economy based on biological and ecological principles some call the Organic Economy, and that the Center for Communities of the Future calls the Creative Molecular Economy. The idea of community resilience is most important to the two post Industrial economies and is the basis for this article.

As a result of the rise of exponential change during this time of social and economic transition, the concept of economic development for local communities is in a period of transformation that is poorly understood by even the best of economic developers. Trained to think in linear terms and looking for best practices within the framework of industrial recruitment, economic developers are given the job of focusing all economic development through their authority, providing annual reports at the end of the year to those agencies responsible for funding local economic development.

Not only is this traditional approach increasingly obsolete as many more jobs are created by individual entrepreneurs sharing knowledge and ideas over the Internet, the very concept of what economic development means in an increasingly fast-paced, interconnected and complex society and economy is transforming.

In an Industrial Age, access to capital and location was key. In a Knowledge Economy, the ability recruit creative people is central. In a Creative Molecular Economy, building organic economic resilience in local communities will become the emerging focus for economic development.

Local leaders will be required to understand the core needs of each type of economy and be able to establish flexible methods and techniques to help local communities transform their thinking and actions as three parallel approaches to economic development begin to complement each other. Individuals and organizations involved with economic development will need to understand how to create economic resilience in multiple ways, with organizations and individuals, creating a culture and environment that supports continuous innovation.

It is during this time of transition that professional economic developers will be caught in a Catch 22 situation. Their funding is provided by agencies whose decision makers see economic development as industrial recruitment only, and expect to hold those who receive money for economic development accountable based on predetermined outcomes.

The concept of economic development is in the process of transforming from capital focused to creativity focused, from recruitment of industries to developing a culture of innovation, and from hierarchies, rules and best practices to connections, networks, and industries and jobs based on biological principles and methods. As a result local economic developers and community leaders will be challenged to learn new theories and practices not a part of their traditional knowledge and experience in order to help seed capacities for community transformation that will support a new type of economy that is in the early stages of emerging.

CONSIDERING ECONOMIC RESILIENCE IN AN ORGANIC AGE

So what in the world does it mean to talk about "economic resilience" in an Organic Age as a part of a Creative Molecular Economy. My simple definition would be:

"Rethinking how to motivate all citizens and build capacities for transformation throughout the local area in order to develop a local economy in which individual creativity,  global networks, biological principles and adaptive planning are the cornerstone ideas."

Resilience is the capacity to absorb shocks to any system (in this case a community's economy) and constantly adapt to structures and processes that will evolve the economy and social structures in vital and sustainable ways. For this to occur, there are twelve concepts that need to be integrated into the thinking and actions of local communities:

1. Shift the impetus for economic development from the narrow concept of an economic developer to the entire community. Maintain the economic developer position to focus on industrial recruitment that is the strength of most economic developers.
2. Establish a Futures Economy Council in the chamber of commerce to bring together a network of individuals interested in developing knowledge about a Creative Molecular Economy and seeding capacities in support of continuous innovation.
3. Create "interlocking networks" of citizens within the local area as well as throughout the world to identify emerging ideas and new economic opportunities.
4. Establish "futures learning groups" in collaboration with local libraries to seed new ways of thinking in the culture.
5. Develop a community culture over a decade that is open to new ideas of any kind.
6. Develop a broadband infrastructure that will provide Fiber to the Premises in order to give people access to one gigabyte. Also, develop a web site to focus and help evolve a Creative Molecular Economy and the concepts and skills of developing economic resiliency in a community. Finally, establish a list of web sites involved with new ideas, inventions and innovations.
7. Build core groups of transformational leaders known as "master capacity builders" to help develop and network capacities for transformation.
8. Provide a community-based approach to give incentives for all citizens who utilize the Internet to find new ideas and economic opportunities.
9. Establish a Futures Institute at the local community college.
10. Create a "Futures Communiversity" videoconfernce series for all interested citizens to have nationally known futurists and experts introduce transformational ideas and methods.
11. Have citizens build relationships with startups, entrepreneurs and emerging notables to position local communities at the forefront of thinking for a Creative Molecular Economy.
12. Develop local pilot programs, projects and events that illustrate some new Creative Molecular Economy idea or process.

SEEDING ECONOMIC RESILIENCY

There is a chamber of commerce in a county in North Carolina (Catawba County) that has begun a systemic seeding of six of the above ideas that will lead to economic resiliency within five to ten years if three things occur:

1. leaders who become involved take the time to study the concepts and methods of community transformation and realize that this will be a slow process,
2. multiple internal and external networks of those interested are created and begin to spread connections and ideas in a self-organizing way, and
3. those involved have patience and learn how to help individuals and organizations adapt to the barriers to transformational change that are a part of all local communities.

The concept of economic resiliency will take time to emerge as an idea and be understood by a core group of people. The skills and methods necessary to support the creation of economic resiliency will need to be seeded and evolved in the thinking and actions of leaders and citizens. The knowledge, persistence, patience and caring required of transformational leaders will be important, especially in the initial stages of any community-based approach to transforming culture ... a key aspect to any framework of economic resilience.

In his book, The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Conner Ramos identifies five key ideas that will be necessary for any society dealing with constant change to prepare for a different kind of future. One of them is resilience, the ability to learn how to adapt systemically to constant shocks and constant change.

The other four are just as important:

1. seeing things differently and holistically, not focused on one idea or one best practice,
2. the concept of "indirectness,"
3. thinking differently and radically, and
4. creating distributive intelligence in the community.

Because of the many challenges of shifting from simple, linear ideas and methods to systemic, interconnected processes, the outcomes of which cannot be predicted, a new type of leader is emerging...one who has a passion for learning, one who is willing to give up their time and emotions for others, one who is persistent and patient, one who does not hold back information as a protective measure, and one who does not worry about control.

These are very different values from the traditional leader and economic developer. As a result two things must happen for economic resiliency to emerge in any community:

1. any leader will need to learn how to shift back and forth between traditional methods and transformational approaches, depending on what is required for success ... whatever success means as society and economies transform, and
2. that core groups and networks of leaders will need to form and work in deeper collaboration.

What was once not understood, thought impossible, or ridiculed as ridiculous will morph to the acceptable norm as communities become adept at adaptive planning. A key initial step in the difficult journey will be to learn how to create resilience for a Creative Molecular Economy. Welcome to the paradox of The Age of the Unthinkable.

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