Digital Commons Network^™

Civic Ecology: Living Community Systems For Sustainability, Tim Smith

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Civic Ecology is a stakeholder-driven, whole systems framework for creating sustainable communities. The framework focuses on empowering citizens of all ages, cultures, and abilities to envision, create, and manage their community’s unique “software” -- the integrated energy, nutrient, water, waste, material, and food systems, as well as economic flows and cultural interactions that animate their place. Exploring and supporting these flows allows communities to enhance their local wealth (environmental, economic, and social), resilience, and competitiveness, and help them take control of designing and managing their future through collaboration and innovation. The Civic Ecology framework can be the foundation upon which …