It is not hope that inspires action but action that inspires hope.

There is so much doom and gloom around about the state of democracy today. We are seemingly engulfed in multiple crises: rising inequality, financial uncertainty, testing moral dilemmas, xenophobia and devious political machinations, to name just a few. But is it democracy itself or is it the systems of democracy?

Today the large majority of people in the world do not feel represented by their governments. While they believe in democracy, they do not believe they are living in democracy. Moreover, recent political developments show that people are ready for any alternative political option that they would feel identified with, regardless of its moral standing. According to Manuel Castells, a noted urban economist, this is what explains the rise to power of Trump, Brexit, the neo-fascist governments in Italy and Eastern Europe, the collapse of Brazilian democracy, and the crisis of legitimacy in Latin America, together with the persistence of corruption in most African political systems.

As we read in in the recently published book, 'Making Massive Small Change':

"Whatever we do, we seem to make things worse. Our good intentions lead to unintended consequences - the poor get poorer, places become less sustainable, and social justice becomes less favourable for many. Clearly using the ideas, tools and tactics we have today, we are not making things better."

But is it all doom and gloom or are we cleaning out the remnants of a system that was put in place a few generations ago that has little or no relevance in today’s society? Is there a light in this dark place that will take us to a different future? Will a new system emerge from the ashes of the past? Most theorists would agree that real change would only come from renewed bottom-up social movements. Change won’t come easily from the top.

So if some form of active citizen movement is needed to bring about systematic change, how do we start at the local level? Many societal problems have become a platform for social activist groups, including reaction to property developments, air pollution and forced removal of people. The Royal Society of Arts in London has been spearheading an active citizenship project, and takes an alternative viewpoint to the established liberal concept of citizenship. They suggest that most liberal ideas of citizenship—from libertarianism to egalitarianism—see ‘civic participation [as] a matter of personal freedom rather than a moral obligation’ to act in the collective interest of the community. They think the capacity of citizens to contribute to tackling social challenges and problems is mostly untapped.

According to Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA:

"Current models for encouraging citizens to participate in civic life are geared around citizens influencing decision-making, rather than individually or collectively making the change themselves. But this needs to change; participation must enable citizens to take action rather than just have conversations."

Active citizenship brings together knowledge, attitudes, skills and actions that aim to contribute to building and maintaining a democratic urban society. It is based on an accepted framework of universal human rights, the rule of law, cooperative values, social diversity and inclusiveness. Gaining this knowledge and developing and practicing these skills are all part of our shared social life. It starts at schools and continues until we pass on all of our knowledge and wisdom.

When it comes to the evolution of urban society, you can’t keep people down. Action is inspiring hope. If we look around we see the fresh shoots of change. Thousands of small-change projects are being carried out by people—active citizens are taking the initiative, helping each other, helping themselves, or using technology to engage with one another. We look around and see their energy. Someone is struggling to build a shack in an informal settlement. Someone else is trying to make a new use in an underused building. A community group is reclaiming the street. A local civic leader is stepping outside the mainstream. An urban professional is exploring new ways of changing the world. Things happen despite government not because of it. In this world, the multiple crises become irrelevant. Instead of waiting for the authorities or established organisations to act, people are getting going themselves. This process is innate. It cannot be taught. It cannot be coerced.

So why do these small-change efforts not scale up in most parts of the world? Too often, people’s energy is obstructed by our top-down systems. Most people can be trusted to do the right thing, but they are too rarely given a chance. The system works against them, stifling their initiative and knocking them back. Some battle through, but most fall by the wayside. Many small projects fizzle and die, or they rely on the efforts of a few people to keep them alive, and because these projects fail to grow and mature, their lessons never benefit other places.

Most people are in some way creative. They want to make a big difference to their communities. With the right tools, they can solve urban problems. Amazing things happen whenever people take control over the places they live, adapting them to their needs and creating environments that are capable of adapting to future change. When many people do this, it adds up to a fundamental shift. It is what we call radical incrementalism or making Massive Small change.

This type of system change is reaping benefits all over the world. Just look at Preston in the North of England. Where the traditional inward investment models have failed, it has adopted a guerrilla localism. It keeps its money as close to home as possible so that, amid historically drastic cuts, the amount spent locally has gone up. Where other authorities privatise, Preston grows its own businesses. It even creates worker-owned co-operatives. In places such as Berlin in Germany, Medellin in Columbia and Baltimore in the US we are seeing the effect of ‘selfmade city’, social urbanism and enabling civic leadership at work. Things are getting better. It all starts from the bottom up, but accelerates within a framework of top-down condition-making.

So, how can we harness this latent energy to create a constructive social movement to help build a better urban society? This is the purpose behind ‘Making Massive Small Change: Ideas, tools and tactics to build the urban society we want’, the latest book by Kelvin Campbell - published in the US by Chelsea Green in January 2019 and available from Amazon.

‘Making Massive Small Change’ showcases cities, as they really are - deeply complex, adaptive systems. As such, it offers an alternative to our current highly mechanistic model of urban development. With roots in the work of great urban theorists such as Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and E. F. Schumacher, Making Massive Small Change integrates this thinking with complexity theory and a scientific understanding of sustainability and resilience in cities. It sets out the enabling protocols, conditions, and behaviours that deliver Massive Small change in our neighbourhoods. It describes and illustrates the ideas, tools, and tactics being used to help engaged citizens, civic leaders, and urban professionals to work together to build viable urban society, and it will show how effective system change can be implemented.

Highly illustrated with stunning graphics and photographs of cityscapes and urban life, this essential toolkit for the future can be called the next Whole Earth Catalog for twenty-first century urban planning and development.

SOME REVIEWS:

“Bigness has grown out of control—in our cities, and in our life-critical systems. But here’s the good news: small actions are the best way to cut bigness down to size—and this compendium contains a thousand different ways to start.” —John Thackara, founder of Doors of Perception, author of How to Thrive in the Next Economy

“ An extremely valuable new handbook of urbanism; it’s the beauty of simplicity, small actions that can provoke a positive start. You just need wise urban acupuncture and co-responsibility for incremental change” —Jaime Lerner, former mayor, urbanist and author Urban Acupuncture

“What a beautiful bastard this book is: a hybridised glossary, dictionary, manual, playbook, catalogue, manifesto, polemic and so much more. It is a stunningly curated Kama Sutra for city-making—inventive and seductive. If you have any connection with urban transformation, in any capacity, scale or setting, spend quality time with this book and engage with its many provocations.” —Professor Edgar Pieterse, Director: African Centre for Cities and author of New Urban Worlds

 “This book is a true treasure, filled with visionary, paradigm shifting ideas that are simple yet powerful, which are based on much wisdom and a massive amount of thinking through. The book is one of the most beautiful I've seen, and as a radio show host (The Bottom-up Show), I see a lot of books. It is, itself, a massive tome, profusely illustrated and very creatively laid out and formatted. It literally includes full color memes you can share. But most important it explores a new, small, bottom-up, systemic, holistic, generative way of envisioning, planning and making change happen in cities. This is destined to be a classic, like Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful.” —Rob Kall, Publisher, The Rob Kall Bottom Up Show