(This is an introductory text for a story collection campaign that we used before in Edgeryders, and may want to use again.)
Healthy relationships are core to our well-being. Share your story of communal living!
In this campaign, Edgeryders aim to explore how we are creating and navigating the social contexts within which we find ourselves and the interactions that define them. And how we constructively manage the conflicts that arise. And we think everyone stands to benefit from learning how others are doing this. whether this is any different from how our parents did it. Exploring how we manage need for openness and being around others with need for privacy and solitude. Or how we balance need for familiarity with room for experimentation and exploration and breaking away from the past.
Aside from living in diverse societies or building local islands of cohabitation, our primary relationships remain our families. However, the notion of family does not necessarily mean the same things to everyone: We are witnessing differences between how older generation and our own interact with and perceive the world whether in terms of participation, finding work or family life. In some areas like the first two, evidence from our many conversations in the community so far shows a disruption, in that we see structurally different civic and political participation models, as well as the end of a job paradigm comprised of linear trajectories and vertical careers.
This is set in a context where we are experiencing the decentralisation of everything from manufacturing to the pursuit of science. To some extent the increase in mobility can be attributed to this: as sectors of economic activity transform move or disappear and new ones arise, people move. There are any number of factors driving geographic mobility.
Some move in order to find contexts where there is enough diversity for them to experience a collision of new ideas and knowledge by interacting with people different from themselves; in fact innovation is driven by mild cognitive shocks.
As economic troubles shake the two pillars upon which the welfare state rests, the corporation which employs you and the state that protects you, we have to lean on other members of society for making a living and for protection. In a time where the Internet provides native support for groups and makes it much easier than ever to find each other and coordinate actions outside the immediate personal network, this give rise to new social dynamics worth exploring…
Room for EdgeRyders
We set out to learn from present and past projects, people, spaces, networks, are currently contributing towards our building healthy relationships with other people and or with otherselves. What initiatives and experiences are creating value for people around you? What have you learned from your past experiences?
Help us to support healthy social dynamics in the OpenVillage and in one another’s lives. Read what others have shared about their own experiences and add your own:
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The rules of the space - Go to this mission!
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You, me and everyone we know - Share your reflections here!
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How do we accommodate a diverse mix of cultures in our private lives as well as in our work? - Learn together here!
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What relationship is there between caring for the commons, and building good lives for one another? - Learn more here!
Getting started is easy! Have a look at what other community members are doing, there are already some conversations touching on how we live together:
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Liberals, Conservatives and the Office RefrigeratorJohn has been building and living in communities for well over 30 year. What we can learn from his experiences?
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On sharing occupied spaces: A biological garden in the middle of a city; it hosts a nice people’s kitchen, good for Sunday social meals and a clothing freeshop; also organizes gardening and skill sharing events
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Simone’s Cohousing initiative in Milan tells you in detail how it started, how many families are living together and where they are two years after the setup