In 'Combining', Nora Bateson invites us into an ecology of communication where nothing stands alone, and every action sets off a chain of incalculable consequences. She challenges conventional fixes for our problems, highlighting the need to tackle issues at multiple levels, understand interdependence, and embrace ambiguity. Insisting on our collective responsibility to confront the looming threats to humanity' s survival, she advocates change through interconnectedness and challenges us to rethink our perspectives on relationships, community, and the very essence of being human. A blend of intellectual inquiry, essays, emotional engagement, storytelling, poetry and graphic art, 'Combining' is an invitation to nurture genuine connections and navigate a world brimming with Warm Data - the interrelationships that integrate elements of every complex system. The book calls on us to shed our linear thinking and embrace Aphanipoiesis - the unseen ways in which life comes together to foster vitality and propel evolution. In 'Combining', love, humor, curiosity, and vulnerability entwine amidst the trials of a world in flux. As we face the Polycrisis, Nora Bateson urges us to swerve from the traditional paths and to dismantle the illusions of fitting in. She beckons us to step into a world where learning, uncutness, and readiness converge, promising both revelation and revolution.

What if Women Designed the City? offers a unique perspective on urban development through the eyes of women from diverse backgrounds. Author May East identifies 33 leverage points for all those engaged with city design to create greener, wilder, more inclusive, liveable and poetic cities. The book highlights the benefits of involving women in city design, such as prioritising proximity, promoting active travel, connecting green spaces, enhancing safety through community engagement, and fostering a love for nature among residents of all ages.

In 31 posthumously collected lectures and writings, anthropologist, systems thinker and cyberneticist Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) addresses questions of ecology, mind, consciousness, linguistics, evolution, and communication. His masterly synthesis stresses the need to re-establish a ' sacred unity' between the human mind and the biosphere.

Linda Hartley here brings together the wisdom and learning from nearly five decades of study, practice and teaching at the forefront of somatic movement, embodied awareness, somatic and transpersonal psychotherapy, and spiritual disciplines. The interrelationship of Body, Mind and Spirit weaves its way through the book - taking us beyond a dialogue between them to the transcendence of unitive consciousness, where an immanent or embodied spirituality is glimpsed. The book draws closely on three sources - Release Work; Body-Mind Centering; the Discipline of Authentic Movement - to show how they can inform a practice of consciously embodied movement. As well as condensing her lifetime's experience, Linda suggests a way to: - explore our own embodied awareness - understand the patterned impact of conception, embryological development, birth and infant development - rediscover our connection with the consciousness of the Earth and the more-than-human world - find a healthier relationship with our planetary home and the collective body - explore the relationship between the matter of body and the mystery of Spirit, through the arc of human development from conception to death.

Imagining After Capitalism is the culmination of professional futurist Andy Hines's 10-year exploration of what comes next after capitalism. Arguing that the absence of compelling positive alternatives keeps us stuck in a combination of fear, denial, and false hope, he offers three guiding images for the long-term future: an environmentally-driven Circular Commons, a socially-and politically-driven Non-Workers' Paradise and a technology-driven Tech-Led Abundance.

Our money system is a toxic left-over from a time when theft on a grand scale was glorified. Today, we need to move on from a system that allows and encourages the worst in us (and among us) to prosper. We accept that the system enhances inequality, drives climate change, degrades our planet, and promotes war and conflict. But why do we accept this manifestly undemocratic money system, which serves only to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of organisations and individuals that do not have our collective interests at heart? Researcher and writer Ivo Mosley set out to uncover and tell the story of how money-creation works. This book is a remarkably clear and comprehensive examination of a system that supports unaccountable and destructive power. It also points the way to the simple reforms that are necessary if we wish to create a more just and equitable world.

This is a 'Whole Earth Catalog' for the 21st century: an impressive and wide-ranging analysis of what's wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures - and how to put them right. The book covers the finance system, agriculture, design, ecology, economy, sustainability, organizations and society at large. In this remarkable book, Daniel Wahl explores ways in which we can reframe and understand the crises that we currently face, and he explores how we can live our way into the future. Moving from patterns of thinking and believing to our practice of education, design and community living, he systematically shows how we can stop chasing the mirage of certainty and control in a complex and unpredictable world. The book asks how can we collaborate in the creation of diverse regenerative cultures adapted to the unique biocultural conditions of place? How can we create conditions conducive to life? *** This book is a valuable contribution to the important discussion of the worldview and value system we need to redesign our businesses, economies, and technologies - in fact, our entire culture - so as to make them regenerative rather than destructive. --Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life, co-author of The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision *** This is an excellent addition to the literature on ecological design and it will certainly form a keystone in the foundations of the new MA in Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, Devon. It not only contains a wealth of ideas on what Dr Wahl has termed 'Designing Regenerative Cultures' but what is probably more important, it provides some stimulating new ways of looking at persistent problems in our contemporary culture and hence opens up new ways of thinking and acting in the future. -- Seaton Baxter OBE, Prof. in Ecological Design Thinking, Schumacher College, UK [Subject: Systems Thinking, Education, Social Anthropology, Environmentalism, Ecology, Regenerative Culture, Sociology]

This gem of a book introduces the extraordinary world of Systems Thinking and its Dean, Russell Ackoff, to curious and enquiring managers, teachers, business people - anyone, anywhere who works in an organization.Finished just before Professor Ackoff's death, Systems Thinking for Curious Managers opens the door to a joined up way of thinking about things that has profoundly influenced thinkers and doers in the fields of business, politics, economics, biology, psychology. Although Systems Thinking was 'invented' early in the 20th century, even Peter Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline (Systems Thinking is the fifth discipline) failed to popularise the term. But now, in business and academia, in the public sector and in the search for solutions to the environmental problems we face, Systems Thinking is being talked about everywhere. This timely book presents 40 more of Russ Ackoff's famously witty and incisive f-Laws (or flaws) of business - following on from his first collection 'Management f-Laws'. All those in this collection are new and previously unpublished. Andrew Carey's extended introduction ties these f-Laws into the rest of Ackoff's work and gives the reader new to Systems Thinking a guide to the implications of Systems Thinking for organisations and managers. The Foreword by Jamshid Gharajedaghi is a moving tribute from Ackoff's friend and business partner of many years.

Three Horizons is a simple, intuitive framework for thinking about the future. But it is about much more than simply stretching our thinking to embrace the short, medium and long term. Three Horizons is a prompt for developing a 'future consciousness' - a rich, multi-faceted awareness of the future potential of the present moment.
This book explores how to put that awareness to work, so we can create the futures we aspire to. It first outlines the Three Horizons framework and practices, including case studies of its application in community development, education and healthcare. The final section explores Bill Sharpe's intuition that we have... a far deeper capacity for shared life than we are using, and that we are suffering from an attempt to know our way into the future instead of live our way. Here he outlines the potential of future consciousness as a shared cultural practice to guide society towards a third horizon that is the patterning of our mutual hopes.

This is a practical guide to improved medium-term decision-making for business leaders. The quality of decisions made by organisations and governments affects us all: decisions made with old paradigm assumptions may not take advantage of opportunities presented by the new, emerging paradigm; they restrict our ability to develop resilient choices. In The Possibility Wheel, Patricia Lustig and Gill Ringland collate and analyse the trends that underlie the changes that are overturning our economy and society. They provide a clear framework for making sense of what is happening around the world: Presenting evidence from the best sources Outlining 'Forces for Change' that surround us Evaluating the disruptive 'Threats' that we face and examining the fracturing social and economic 'Backbones' on which we all rely. Then they offer a toolset (the Possibility Wheel) to help senior executives and management teams make informed and resilient choices and strategic decisions. The Possibility Wheel brings global evidence to play in your locality and organisational context -- so you can explore opportunities, develop resilient choices, make more robust decisions and enjoy better outcomes.

This is an inspirational handbook for working in the creative arts. It emphasizes the imagination, creativity and being receptive to our bodies, surroundings, materials, and what we create. The authors draw attention to the sensing, feeling, moving body as a basis for any imaginative activity. But while A Widening Field does draw on the authors' dance and movement background, it elaborates and extends their work by drawing in creative writing and all kinds of creative work with materials. The book stresses the importance of intuitive, instinctive ways of knowing, perceiving and creating and describes sources and strategies for working in and between various forms of expression, including: moving, making things with materials, and writing. It is designed to provoke and inspire rather than as an instruction manual. Tufnell and Crickmay's previous book, Body Space Image, addressed improvised movement, experimental performance and how to create performance settings. A Widening Field looks at the role of imagination in our lives and how it is awakened and nourished through attention to the present, the feeling world of the body, and whatever appears as we make art.

In Language of the Axis Mary Fulkerson (who was head of dance at Dartington for a decade in its heyday) explores the interplay between body awareness and movement. The book is in three parts: In A Look at the Body, Fulkerson offers a foundational understanding of how bones and muscles interact to create balance and movement. She emphasises the importance of body images -- concepts that facilitate ease of action by enhancing awareness of one's physical structure. Easy Action offers practical exercises to embody these anatomical principles through specific movements. Each action is meticulously described, allowing readers to engage deeply with their bodies and experience the sensations that arise from proper alignment and movement. Last, in Seeing a Context, Fulkerson shares her personal experiences, showing how her ideas can be applied in real life. She introduces a new language -- one that transcends words and speaks to the sensations experienced within the body. This language fosters a dialogue between thought and action, promoting holistic self-awareness. The book is not just a guide to physical movement; it's an invitation to cultivate a deeper connection between mind and body

When it was first published in 1990, 'Body Space Image' was acclaimed as the first book of its kind - a remarkable guide to improvisation, using a narrative of discovery that set the mind loose from the rut of everyday perception . It was groundbreaking in the way it addressed improvised movement, experimental performance and how to create performance settings. Thirty years later, 'Body, Space, Image' still stands out from anything published in the interim - largely because of the way it combines a unique collection of images (from dance, theatre and painting) and statements by working artists. The authors start with the individual's movement itself as the basis of improvisation, then broaden their perspective to include groups working together and the physical setting of performance - space, light, sound and objects. 'Body Space Image' explores ways of working and ways of thinking about performance that have inspired beginners and experienced artists alike. It is a manual intended to stimulate rather than a comprehensive system of working and, in it, word and image combine to celebrate and record one of the most exacting art forms. Previously published by Dance Books, this is a very slightly revised new edition from Triarchy Press

We keep things inside, those of us who live in the Midwest. Anyone who lives out in the open where little stands between you and the horizon knows this. It's all sky. It's infinitely blue in summer and hammering gray in winter. So you keep your head down and your thoughts inside.

Yet the landscape is haunted with memories. The memories of lives lived having kept everything inside. They seep out of us like a spring or the fog and attach themselves to objects, sounds, smells, the wind. They attach themselves to anything that can bear to take them.

​

Some of the memories we keep inside, some of them are terrible. Terrible things done to us, and terrible things we have done to others. We keep them down, and we run. We run so far and so deep that memory becomes forgetfulness. We're lost. We're lost to the living of life.

So begins The Long Way Home - a closely observed account of the author's actual 5-week, 500-mile walk from Chicago to Minneapolis and parallel journey through the memories of his traumatic and painful life as a young man. His meetings with people and places along the journey open up the history, culture and experience of this part of the Midwest in a way that will captivate any interested reader.

Encounters with the Other ends with a 'catalogue of catastrophes' starting with the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya of Myanmar, back through the Holdomor and the Holocaust to the Armenian genocide. This is a reminder, if any were needed, that contemporary societies have not lost their taste for identifying and labelling the 'others' in their midst and slaughtering them. Indeed populist governments positively rely on the cohesion that can be found in bringing a group of people together in the face of an external threat. In Encounters with the Other Barry Oshry uses the lenses of 'loose and tight', liberal and conservative', 'pure and conflicted', 'tolerance and purity' to highlight the range of reflexive responses we can have to 'others in our midst' especially when we are under the stress of poverty, lack of housing or shortage of jobs. He then shows how these responses can be characterised as seeing through Power or Love (seeing in terms of our differences from the other or in terms of what we have in common with the other). Finally he suggests how the intolerant 'Power cycle' can be interrupted and tempered by the more inclusive 'Love cycle'.

Ernesto Pujol here combines elements from an art book, field journal and walkers' manifesto. It is a text for performative artists, art students, and all who walk as cultural activism. Walking Art Practice is a collection of intimate reflections by the author, which bring together his experiences as a former monk, performance artist, social choreographer and educator.

They serve as a provocation, walkers' manifesto and teaching guide for walking as mindful cultural activism.

This book is an invitation to:

• Rethink what it means to walk and explore different ways in which to walk as: a cultural practice a meditative practice a radical practice art healing social engagement.
• Reconsider how to attend to the inner and outer landscape whilst walking.
• Treat walking as a performance resource.
• Walk as an everyday pilgrimage.
• Walk slowly, walk in and with awareness, walk with and without skill, walk to regain and to lose control...

​Artists are trying to move away from the influence of competitive corporate culture that has increasingly defined art as an abrasive urban career. Artists are trying to replace this with the humbler notion of art as a practice, as a mindful way of life, consisting of consciously creative gestures, visible and invisible, large and small. Art practice is a private and public, selfless and generous, creative life process resulting in a conscious cultural product.

This is the first full collection of all 122 of Russell Ackoff's f/laws - previously only available in two separate books from Triarchy Press (Management f-Laws and Systems Thinking for Curious Managers.)

Each f/law in this full collection is accompanied by Ackoff's own witty and acerbic explanatory text and (in the printed edition) by his original drawings and cartoons. The collection reverts to Ackoff's original typescript without any commentary or other introduction.

As Ackoff himself says: Over time I have become aware of some very important truths about the practice of management. These truths, which I call the 'F/laws of Management, ' contradict assumptions that are commonly held by managers. These simple management truths are much more important than the fundamental, but complex, truths revealed by scientists, economists, politicians, or philosophers. The truths these wise thinkers reveal are at most frosting on the cake. The truths presented here are the cake. This definitive collection distils Ackoff's wisdom and a lifetime of experience about management, leadership, innovation, teamwork and organizations. It should be required reading for anyone who works in an organization.

A full collection of more than 80 of Russell Ackoff's management f-laws: the uncomfortable truths about how organizations really work, what's wrong with the way we design and manage businesses, what makes managers tick... and how we can make things work better. Russell Ackoff is one of the world's top business brains. Herbert Addison has worked for years in business book publishing. Sally Bibb is a pioneer of organizational change. Who better to zero in on organizations, take them apart and then suggest ways of putting them back together - but better?

Revised and fully updated in August 2017, with an important new section on Scenario Tools and Scenario Planning. his is a book is for leaders, to aid their practice in strategy, decision making and change - it's a very practical (field) guide to foresight and foresight tools. It's aimed at leaders in manufacturing, service, non-profit, government and fourth sector organisations. Strategic Foresight is a set of skills and tools used to explore potential futures exercising your 'futures muscles' so that you are able to plan for and take advantage of these possible futures. The book first explores how we think about the future, looking at ambiguity and uncertainty and how these play a role in our ability to think into the future. It introduces a simple model of preferred thinking styles and talks about the 'baggage' and values that form our perceptions. The next section covers models, tools and maps that people will find useful for developing their own Foresight and using this knowledge to make decisions, whilst uncovering innovation and creativity to turn this Foresight knowledge to competitive advantage. This is not a comprehensive list - just a selection of the most effective tools with their use and case studies that are easy and effective to use. The next two sections cover: How to identify emerging trends; what impact they may have on your business; the strategic importance of early recognition; and how to apply the knowledge in your business. Harnessing Foresight as a spring board for innovation and creativity to develop new paradigms and take advantage of what may come. Finally, the author pulls it all together by showing how to develop a practical method of exploring potential futures in the context of your existing business in order to take robust decisions and develop strategies that help you work towards your preferred future. Case studies are interspersed throughout the book to illustrate the points made along with exercises, where appropriate, to encourage people to 'think along' with the ideas and new ways of approaching Strategic Foresight

Decision-making has been one of the principal victims of 'modern' thinking. The 'analytical' approach has, of course, brought us vaccines, electricity and the internal combustion engine. But, in seeking to break things down into their component parts and improve the parts, governments and businesses continue to make some astonishingly bad decisions. What's more, many enterprises still pay close attention to 'decisions' and 'decision-making' whilst overlooking the bigger picture: the organizational system within which those decisions get made. This elegant book is a guide for any public, private, government or non-profit organization that needs a system for making better decisions. It sets out to change our 'analytical' habit and invites enterprises to consider the bigger picture. Author Vince Barabba presents an elegantly simple approach to making better decisions. He calls this approach 'The Decision Loom' and bases it on Systems Thinking, Design Thinking and Complexity Theory. He also describes the four core capabilities that any organization must put in place for this approach to work. What's more (because we're humans and prefer stories to instruction manuals) the tapestry of the book is embroidered with fascinating examples from the author's lifetime of experience at the head of American corporate and public decision-making.