The Future of Community

Individualism is growing. Communities and community life seem to be of less importance than before. The 'Ego' threatens to displace the 'we'. Culture-bound communities are dissolving, seemingly incapable of carrying the children of the modern era. Communal duties are becoming less valued by many societies.

On the other hand, more and more people live on less land as our habitats shrink. Overpopulated urban areas are confronting abandoned rural regions. But humans need one another to become fully human, and land needs to be cherished as living ground so that Earth can nurture us. We need communities to be the bedrock of humanty as we move forwards into the future.

So what should communities today look like, when blood relationships
disintegrate? How can communities be sustained? How can we create and live in community in ways that allow for individual development whilst still standing strong as a community?

After an introduction to the emergence of community and regional development, you will understand how future communities will differ from those of the past. You will have the chance to consider how community has impacted on your own lives and grow your understanding of how community can both further and hinder individual development.

By looking at your own ideals, visions and goals in life, new forms of community will be envisioned. The three-foldedness of the social organism by Rudolf Steiner will be explored to more deeply understand the meaning of freedom, equality and fraternity to humanity.

You will be introduced to the different areas of community and an organic process of community life. Through working with a 'mini' version of cross-generational community cartography, in groups you will be introduced to the first steps of compiling a community inventory and to create a model of how to co-design possible futures of a community.

Find out more here: http://www.emerson.org.uk/the-future-of-community