Contracting with the Planet by Indy Johar [UK] // CONVERSATION

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This was a session at Untitled Festival 2020.

In this discussion, Indy Johar will present a hypothesis that building a new relationship with ourselves and the world around us is both fundamental and possible to avoid the self termination of society.

Indy Johar is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Dark Matter Labs  – a multidisciplinary design team working with partners, clients, and collaborators across the world to develop new working methods for system change. Dark Matter Labs is focussed on the great transitions our societies need to respond to the technological revolution and climate breakdown we face. They aim to discover, design and develop the institutional ‘dark matter’ that supports a more democratic, distributed and sustainable future across five domains of exploration: Cities, Finance, Institutions, Experiments and Education [Source: https://darkmatterlabs.org / Projects]

Twitter: @indy_johar, @DarkMatter_Labs

Website: https://darkmatterlabs.org/projects

Photo: Indy Johar LinkedIn (c)

 

 

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After Basic Income by Natalie Foster [US] // CONVERSATION

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This was a session at Untitled Festival 2020.

The movement for a guaranteed income offers a way to reimagine work, deservedness and dignity. What would the world look like after an income floor? Let’s compare notes on the movement for a guaranteed income in different countries, and look for signals together of what a world after guaranteed income would look like. A network of academics, activists, artists and culture creators are needed to make a guaranteed income a reality.

Natalie Foster is one of the leaders in the guaranteed income movement in the United States, and her team at the Economic Security Project has been working hard to make sure a COVID19 guaranteed income is part of the US response to the economic and health crisis.

Natalie is the co-chair and co-founder of the Economic Security Project – a network to support exploration and experimentation of a guaranteed income and reining in the unprecedented concentration of corporate power, and a senior fellow at The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative. In 2013, Natalie was founding CEO of Peers.org to support people who work in the gig economy. Prior, she was the CEO and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a platform for people-driven economic change, with Van Jones. Previously, Natalie served as digital director for President Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA) and the Democratic National Committee. Natalie built the first digital department at the Sierra Club and served as the Deputy organizing director for MoveOn.org. She’s been awarded Fellowships at the Institute for the Future, Rockwood Leadership Institute and New America California, and is a board member of the California Budget and Policy Center, the Change.org global foundation, and Liberation in a Generation, a project to close the racial wealth gap. [Bio Source: Economic Security Project]

Website: https://www.economicsecurityproject.org

Photo: Natalie Foster (c)

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Imagine a society where government functions are taken over by autonomous, blockchain-based algorithms By TOKEN [EU] // CONVERSATION

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This was a session at Untitled Festival 2020.

Blockchain technologies are claimed to make it possible to develop and implement social technologies that can replace existing social apparatuses of public governance. This could mean for example implementing autonomous executing administration in public governance or building a governance system based on direct democracy – or conversely, distributed autonomous organizations outside public power taking over similar tasks. 

In this conversation we explore a future where by scaling different distributed ledger technology solutions  replace current public organisations and processes.  What kind of impact would it have on democracy, public services and on our societies at large?  Would this be a desirable direction to develop our public administration? Can technological solutions be a substitute for institutional trust? 

Launched in January 2020, TOKEN (Transformative Impact Of Blockchain Technologies in Public Services) is an EU funded project whose ultimate goal is to develop an experimental ecosystem to enable the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology and to prove its value, via highly replicable Use Cases, as a driver for the transformation of public services. TOKEN has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement No. 825268. 

Twitter handle(s): @TOKEN_EU

Website: https://token-project.eu

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Bye Bye TINA – How Thinking Differently About The Future Can Shape Democracy Today [DE] by Das Progressives Zentrum // CONVERSATION

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How we think about the future determines how we act today. For a long time, the prevailing belief has been that we are living in the age of TINA – T here I s N o A lternative. However, the rise of populism, Fridays for the Future and, more recently, the coronavirus crisis, are only the most recent developments to demonstrate that a vivid competition about alternative Futures has begun.

In this conversation, we will reflect upon different conceptions of the future – from progressivism to collapsology – and think about why and how we should include future generations in today’s policy making.

The conversation will be Hosted by Paulina Fröhlich, Head of the Program “Future of Democracy” at Progressives Zentrum, and Paul Jürgensen, Project Manager at Progressives Zentrum. Das Progressives Zentrum is a Berlin-based, non-profit think tank devoted to promoting effective policies for social progress.

Twitter: @PaulinaFrohlich , @pauljuergensen , @DPZ_Berlin

Website: progressives-zentrum.org

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Re-imagining The Body by Simo Vassinen [FI/DE] // CONVERSATION

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Should we always dance first and then talk? Can our nighttime bodies and Fantasies inform the Everyday? What happens inside us when a beat drops and goes on, and on, and on, and on? This conversation looks into raves, techno music, states of ecstasy, the power of monotonous repetition and collective dancing as sources and tools to open up new perspectives and mindshifts for digesting societal realities and moving into different futures. We will spend time remembering our own dances, taking Moments to Breathe, listening, perhaps doing a techno shake to dust off and guide our thinking. When were you last in a state of ecstasy? What triggered it and what happened afterwards? What were your first and your latest dances?

NB: You don’t need to be a Raver, witch or Shaman to have this conversation – we all have a body and we all spend time with other bodies. How and why should we bring the body into the core of thinking?

Simo Vassinen (FI / DE) is a dancer, writer and former Futures researcher. He has investigated mental health, subculture codes, nostalgia and ecology through self-taught physicality and journalistic performances. Starting to dance and perform professionally at the tender age of 31 opened a whole new world for Simo – he belives that everything always Returns to the body, and we can connect many dots through movement, dances and other physical practices. In a time thrilled by newnewnew technologies, Simo thinks that the technologies of the body have Endless masses of Uncharted land that are craving to be explored. His recently initiated project Bodytalk with dance artist Maria F. Scaroni (DE / IT) and futurist Roope Mokka (FI) looks for connection points between dance practices and Futures studies.

Website:  https: //www.togetheralonefi. com / round-i-selected-projects / bodytalk

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© City of Helsinki. Photographer: Maarit Hohteri.© City of Helsinki. Photographer: Maarit Hohteri.

The Power of Art and Culture in Urban Problem Solving by Mari Männistö [FI] // CONVERSATION

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The city of Helsinki and its citizens have received a brand new vision for arts and culture reaching the year 2030. Created by an independent committee consisting of high-level professionals, it is now being facilitated for discussion by city officials. The core vision is that Helsinki is seen to hold art and culture at the heart of good living and city development. We want to open up for discussion the measures needed so that in 2030:

  • In a constantly changing reality, art helps Helsinki know itself, imagine alternative worlds and build paths to the future.
  • Art helps challenge familiar models and find new solutions for the City’s operations and planning
  • The City knows how to utilize art-based methods, and artists help in many ways in the planning of the urban environment, in the social and health sector and in education.

As a measurable goal, the vision suggests: “the City of Helsinki will introduce the expertise of artists and the utilization of art-based methods in the development of the city across divisions”. The key issue we want to discuss with you is how to achieve this. What are the extreme Theoretical limits of arts and culture in societal problem Solving? What could be the concrete actions actualizing that potential?

Everyone with interest, experience, knowledge or creative thinking is welcome to join the discussion. Knowledge of art-based methods and understanding of how to create change in established processes is valued. Join us visioning and finding pathways to a world where arts and culture can be a tool for a new and superior way of problem Solving. A world where the fields of arts and culture are a solution, rather than a (resource) problem.

 There’s huge potential in unlocking the problem Solving capacity of arts and culture. The know-how and skills of arts and culture are underutilized widely in the society. We need Courage and measures to bring together skills and methodology from different fields of society – arts & culture, politics, science & education, business – in order to solve complex problems better.

 The session is Hosted by the city of Helsinki’s Sector of Culture and Leisure. The operations of the sector emphasize freedom. The freedom to choose, to be yourself and to do the things that interest you the now. Your hosts will be  Mari Männistö [Culture Director of Helsinki] and Christian Sannemann [Participation Specialist].

Websites: Read the vision here , News item about publication

 

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Let’s Not Just Be Inclusive, Let’s Build a New World Together by YLVA // CONVERSATION

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As the world is in Transformation just including people to current projects and institutions is not enough. The right way would be to build a more just world together. We want to invite people to explore what comes after diversity and inclusion, how to centralize the marginalized and take on big issues such as just and fair distribution of value in the urban setting: in urban planning, in housing, in services, in public spaces and in work. When a new building is built, who benefits? Is the value distributed evenly and is there feedback to quality and Sustainability, 

How about the people who live in the neighborhood? The people who walk by? Do the buildings provide something good for the cities and communities? For whom do they provide something? The rich? The well off?

YLVA focuses on real estate and financial investments along with the hotel and restaurant sector. It is owned by the Student Union of the University of Helsinki and its profits are used to promote student activities. [ Source: ylva.fi ]

Website: https://ylva.fi/

Twitter: @YlvaHelsinki

Images: YLVA (c)

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Sustainability Standards and Green Building Initiatives Are Holding Us Back by YLVA // CONVERSATION

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Sustainability standards and green building initiatives are holding us back. Green building initiatives and Sustainability standards are masking the problem of over-consumption and as such, only Accelerating the Destruction of our livelihood. We need buildings that are not just sustainable or even net-zero, but ones that actually balance out the massive construction boom of this decade. We would like to explore the idea of ​​moving to regenerative real estate and urban development. One where each building would contribute more than it takes on all aspects of its existence. 

YLVA focuses on real estate and financial investments along with the hotel and restaurant sector. It is owned by the Student Union of the University of Helsinki and its profits are used to promote student activities. [ Source: ylva.fi ].

This session will be done in partnership with Living Future Europe. Living Future Europe (LFE) is a non-profit association with the mission to make the world work for 100% of Humanity. LFE will play an active role in championing  The Living Building Challenge in Europe, which is the world’s most rigorous standards for green buildings.

Website: https://ylva.fi/

Twitter: @YlvaHelsinki

Images: YLVA (c)

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Gehl (c)

People-First Circular Economy in Cities by Gehl [DK] // CONVERSATION

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What would a circular city look like if we started with people rather than materials? What would a Circular city look like if we designed for circular behavior? This is a shopping street where buying used children’s clothes is as easy, fun, and enjoyable as buying new clothes. It is a housing area where it is as easy to discard your waste as it is to connect with a neighbor to exchange small kitchen appliances. It is ground floor units where you can contribute to production (food, content, ideas) as you can consume (coffee, electronics, clothing). It is a community where healthy, sustainable, Delicious food is as affordable and plentiful as unhealthy, unsustainable Delicious food.

The city is the place in which these individual choices will be made. How might we design for the environments in which sustainable behavior is the default choice? How could we create better Collaboration between both the public and private companies and citizens to collect share the burdens of this Massive transition? How do we design for new structures, forms of Collaboration, urban systems Results from the session will be a starting point for a roadmap that will be open and publicly available online. How could the idea be experimented with? What else should change in order for what we imagined to become true?

Designers, entrepreneurs, corporations, city officials and economists interested in re-defining urban commerce would find this session interesting. We are interested in this approach because the circular economy holds endless potential, but current discourse, innovation, and focus appeals to technocrats and not to the Everyday consumers who will be key to realizing the potential. hy are you interested in the idea personally? Why do you think it has transformative capacity?

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The session will be Hosted by Gehl CIO Jeff Risom and Director Liselott Stenfeldt, both are part of Gehl Innovation which focuses on establishing new partnerships and to use innovative tools and methods in order to reimagine concrete future scenarios for our Cities. Gehl is a human-centered urban consulting company based in Copenhagen, New York and San Francisco. Our focus is to create better Cities for people and to create beneficial relationships between People’s quality of life and their built environment.

Twitter handles: @citiesforpeople , @jeff_risom ,@liselott 

Website:  www.gehlpeople.com

Photos: Gehl (c)

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Imagine ‘Lifestyle Housing’ for Zero-Carbon by Y-Foundation [FI] // CONVERSATION

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Our idea is to create large lifestyle housing for people that want to go to zero-carbon and live with nature with gardening as well as produce food with modern aquaponic methods. This would increase the speed of sustainable lifestyle change due to peer-learning and innovation and less need for leisure travel. This idea has transformative capacity as it can bring together people and thus speed up innovation to jump to sustainable lifestyles. And we believe this can be done at a mass affordable scale with a carbon-neutral wooden construction.

The idea can be experimented with choosing a few existing housing companies primarily people who have a desire to live ecologically and with nature and using that as the Testbed for things to have in new developments. This session should be interesting for anyone in architecture, construction, food production, property, city or urban planning, as well as people who want to live in the zero-carbon future.  

The Y-Foundation is a Developer and Global Forerunner of the Housing First principle. The Y-Foundation offers affordable rental housing in Finland. 

Twitter handles:  @JKaakinen  @lassyj  @kimmoronka

Website:  https://ysaatio.fi/en/y-foundation

Images:  The Y-Foundation (c)

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