The future depends on collective intelligence
Environmental crises and social fragmentation are too complex for any single organisation to tackle alone. This example of territorial innovation brings together a public-private partnership to create a shared vision of the future.
PNRR Project, Measure 2, Component 1, Investment 3.2: Green Communities Circular Sustainable Resonance – CSR
The Green Community CSR – Alta Sabina was established as a special-purpose Alliance under Article 30 of the Consolidated Law on Local Authorities (TUEL) and comprises 10 municipalities in the Rieti area: Belmonte, Colle di Tora, Longone, Marcetelli, Monteleone, Poggio Moiano, Poggio S. Lorenzo, Rocca Sinibalda, Torricella and Varco Sabino. The aim is to develop civic services and infrastructure to breathe new life into the Alta Sabina area. The project defines the first layer of a broader integrated sustainability strategy that begins by listening to the community and mapping local resources: forests, river basins, villages, footpaths, traditions and cultures. Clean air and water, forests that combat the climate crisis and hold a treasure—including an economic one—in terms of biodiversity.
Stakeholders
The communities of Alta Sabina work alongside prestigious national and local organisations that have been committed to sustainability for many years: These include FLO-Felloni Lateral Office, Turin Polytechnic, the University of Perugia, Futuritaly, TeamDev, HelpAge, Teatro Rigodon, RESET, Silverback, Lavanda in Sabina, Iridra, CURSA, EiiS, Vodafone, Enel, Studio Geometra Allegrini, Alternative Solari and Studio Ingegneria Silvi.
What is social resonance?
Neuroscience tells us that every space we inhabit emits signals that are either inhibitory or triggering, and these shape our thoughts and behaviour. Social resonance is a space that fosters relationships characterised by attention, care, and the acceptance of differences. In such spaces, people and communities of all kinds enter into a harmonious relationship with one another and transform each other. If resonance enables co-evolution, its opposite is a space that shapes alienating bonds plastically: hetero-directed, fearful and polarised communities entrenched in their comfort zones, whose identity is derived from searching for a common enemy. Such communities perceive the future as unknown, if not hostile, making it difficult to plan for the future or imagine themselves differently.
Social resonance is:
Responsive layout
which can be designed. Not as a static collection of functions, but as a dynamic process within meaningful relationships.
Learning space
Above all, it is a relational, physical and bodily space that allows us to recognise the difference between ‘skills’, which are aptitudes we have mastered, and ‘resonance’, which is the process of forming relationships. Take school, for example: a particular subject might move us, touch us, make our eyes light up or simply speak to us if it is taught as something ‘alive’. Without resonance, knowledge and skills remain silent and indifferent.
Space of trust
Above all, it is a relational, physical and bodily space that allows us to recognise the difference between ‘skills’, which are aptitudes we have mastered, and ‘resonance’, which is the process of forming relationships. Take school, for example: a particular subject might move us, touch us, make our eyes light up or simply speak to us if it is taught as something ‘alive’. Without resonance, knowledge and skills remain silent and indifferent.
Key Takeaways
“If there is no strong, widespread sense of belonging, difficulties divide people and fuel conflict, with everyone looking out for themselves. Where such a sense does exist, however, solidarity may well prevail”
(G. Zagrebelsky)
In Alta Sabina, the ‘public spirit’ takes the form of self-organisation and a natural, collective intelligence. It is not something that is simply given, but is built up day by day through learning and experimenting with shared practices that foster and define a broader sense of ‘us’.
