Communities of the future

COMMUNITIES of the Future (CoTF) is an evolving 21st century network of people and organizations throughout the U.S.A, Europe and other countries that are working in collaboration to develop new concepts of governance, economic development, leadership, and education/learning as a response to a fast-paced, interconnected, and increasingly complex world.

CoTF distinguishes the ideas of reforming change and transformational change. Most of today's work in local communities and organizations is based on making existing ideas and present assumptions more efficient-reforming change.

CoTF emphasizes research and development to create new assumptions, concepts, methods and techniques-transformational change.

CoTF is unique in its approach to community transformation for the 21st century, which is the result of significant experience in understanding the growing limitations of strategic planning in a world of rapid and often unexpected change.

CoTF has pioneered concepts to help leaders develop and understand the need for community driven transformation as a response to imposed change. This concept emphasizes the development of critical Capacities for Transformation, which presently does not exist in most local communities and organizations such as:

• A Futures Context - To think about present and future issues and develop local community based solutions to resolve these.

• Fixed and Wireless Broadband Electronic Infrastructure - Develop community based websites and other forms of communication for real time information flow.

• Leadership through Master Capacity Building - Capacity building is a new type of skill for local leadership, it is the transformational equivalent of the Master Builder. This is the leader who is able to help seed transformative concepts and methods in order to create a culture of transformation within their local community/organization/business.

• Biological and Ecological Planning (Adaptive Planning) - Concepts that can describe parallel sets of processes to support the implementation of short-term, outcome-based community projects (e.g. the "what capacities do we already have?" type survey) as well as projects to develop longer-term capacities for transformation.

• 21st Century Knowledge and Skills - Enabling people to engage in activities that encourage thinking about the future (futures generative dialogue) Also to help them understand the need for transformational learning through mechanisms like dialogue groups (academies), in order that people can see and understand connections between totally different factors and ideas...factors and ideas that can combine to have significant impacts on their lives.

Key Ideas

• A commitment to transformative values at the personal, organizational, and community level as a response to imposed change

• Fostering an openness to new ideas in a world of rapid change

• Determination to work and think in a futures context, rather than clinging to past views that become increasingly irrelevant

• An emphasis on the need for a parallel processes view in all projects and efforts enacted within a world of rapid and unexpected change

• Fostering continuous innovation with a focus on entrepreneurial skills

• Developing a connective "and/both" way of thinking

• Development and support of process/transformative leadership

• An emphasis on transformational learning communities and organizations.

• A willingness to collaborate and to help others succeed

Conclusion

Although CoTF has been in existence and slowly emerging for twenty years, as we enter into the global uncertainties of 2009 the demands for community based responses grows more urgent and relevant. CoTF hopes to support the efforts of community leaders by providing relevant advice, information and news at this single source as a result of our pioneering experience in developing the concepts and methodology of community transformation.