Social-ecological organization is a multidimensional phenomenon that combines material and symbolic processes. However, the coupling between social and ecological subsystem is often conceptualized as purely material, thus reducing the symbolic dimension to its behavioral and actionable expressions. In this paper I conceptualize social-ecological systems as doubly coupled. On the one hand, material expressions of socio-cultural processes affect and are affected by ecological dynamics. On the other hand, coupled social-ecological material dynamics are concurrently coupled with subjective dynamics via coding, decoding, personal experience, and human agency. This second coupling operates across two organizationally heterogeneous dimensions: material and symbolic. Although resilience thinking builds on the recognition of organizational asymmetry between living and nonliving systems, it has overlooked the equivalent asymmetry between ecological and socio-cultural subsystems. Three guiding concepts are proposed to formalize double coupling. The first one, social-ecological asymmetry, expands on past seminal work on ecological self-organization to incorporate reflexivity and subjectivity in social-ecological modeling. Organizational asymmetry is based in the distinction between social rules, which are symbolically produced and changed through human agents’ reflexivity and purpose, and biophysical rules, which are determined by functional relations between ecological components. The second guiding concept, conscious power, brings to the fore human agents’ distinctive capacity to produce our own subjective identity and the consequences of this capacity for social-ecological organization. The third concept, congruence between subjective and objective dynamics, redefines sustainability as contingent on congruent relations between material and symbolic processes. Social-ecological theories and analyses based on these three guiding concepts would support the integration of curren
Heads of Climate Base Camps
The Heads of Climate Base Camp is a recurring immersive leadership program organized by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and led by Thomas Bruhn from the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS). Launched in 2023, the initiative brings together Heads of Climate from multinational companies for a multi-day, in-person experience designed to strengthen climate leadership, foster peer exchange and deepen collaborative capacity.
Hosted annually in Potsdam, Germany, at RIFS (2023, 2024 and 2025), the Base Camp combines strategic dialogue with experiential learning formats that encourage reflection, trust-building and systems thinking. The program creates a confidential space for senior climate leaders to share best practices, discuss common challenges and co-develop solutions that accelerate corporate climate action.
In January 2026, the concept expanded with the first APAC Heads of Climate Base Camp in Hong Kong.
Ostara
Ostara brings together communities of change-makers to radically reimagine our collective future.
Climate breakdown, ecosystem collapse, and growing inequality are deeply interconnected and systemic. Yet, despite decades of effort, progress has remained incremental.
We create spaces to dream beyond the limits of our current systems, and reimagine the world together. From business leaders, policy makers and scientists, to Indigenous voices, farmers and youth representatives — we convene diverse actors to address entrenched issues and incubate transformative solutions.
What makes our work distinct is how we hold the space between worlds: between inner and outer, Indigenous and Western, human and more-than-human, imagination and action. We draw credibility from decades within established systems while walking alongside those giving form to what is emerging.
FONA-Forum 2024
With the FONA Forum 2024, the BMBF deliberately moved away from the familiar event formats of lectures and panel discussions and turned listeners into genuine participants. The event was designed and implemented in collaboration with the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS).
Over three days, around 200 thought leaders from science, business, administration, politics, and civil society worked and discussed the following questions intensively in changing small groups.
– How can effective research for sustainability be achieved in a rapidly changing world?
– What does socially effective research mean?
– How does each individual’s research contribute to the sustainability transformation?
FONA-Forum 2024: Ein ko-kreativer Ansatz für Transformation
Das vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderte FONA-Forum 2024 hat mit einem neuen Format experimentiert: Es lud die Teilnehmenden ein, aktiv mitzuwirken, und schuf einen ko-kreativen Raum für lösungsorientierte Diskussionen. In das Experiment sind Prinzipien und Erfahrungen aus der Gestaltung transformativer Räume und aus Dialogprozessen der inter- und transdisziplinären Forschung eingeflossen.
On the Difficulties People Have in Dealing With Complexity
In On the Difficulties People Have in Dealing with Complexity (1980), Dietrich Dörner shows through computer-simulated experiments (e.g., the “Lohhausen” city model) that individuals systematically struggle with complex systems. Typical patterns include linear instead of systemic thinking, failure to understand exponential dynamics, reduced self-reflection under stress, oversimplified “reductive” explanations, and increased risk-taking. The study highlights how cognitive overload and loss of control can lead to poor decision-making and even socially destructive outcomes.
On the Logic of Failure: Thinking, Planning and Decision Making in Uncertainity and Complexity.
Unlike other living creatures, humans can adapt to uncertainty. They can form hypotheses about situations marked by uncertainty and can anticipate their actions by planning. They can expect the unexpected and take precautions against it. In numerous experiments, we have investigated the manner in which humans deal with these demands. In these experiments, we used computer simulated scenarios representing, for example, a small town, ecological or economic systems or political systems such as a Third World country. Within these computer-simulated scenarios, the subjects had to look for information, plan actions, form hypotheses, etc.
The systems view of life: A unifying vision.
Over the past thirty years, a new systemic conception of life has emerged at the forefront of science. New emphasis has been given to complexity, networks, and patterns of organisation, leading to a novel kind of ‘systemic’ thinking. This volume integrates the ideas, models, and theories underlying the systems view of life into a single coherent framework. Taking a broad sweep through history and across scientific disciplines, the authors examine the appearance of key concepts such as autopoiesis, dissipative structures, social networks, and a systemic understanding of evolution. The implications of the systems view of life for health care, management, and our global ecological and economic crises are also discussed. Written primarily for undergraduates, it is also essential reading for graduate students and researchers interested in understanding the new systemic conception of life and its implications for a broad range of professions – from economics and politics to medicine, psychology and law.
At home in the universe: The search for the laws of self-organization and complexity
We live in a world of stunning biological complexity. Molecules of all varieties join in a metabolic dance to make cells. Cells interact with cells to form organisms; organisms interact with organisms to form ecosystems, economies, societies. Where did this grand architecture come from? For more than a century, the only theory that science has offered to explain how this order arose is natural selection. As Darwin taught us, the order of the biological world evolves as natural selection sifts among random mutations for the rare, useful forms. In this view of the history of life, organisms are cobbled-together contraptions wrought by selection, the silent and opportunistic tinkerer. Science has left us as unaccountably improbable accidents against the cold, immense backdrop of space and time. Thirty years of research have convinced me that this dominant view of biology is incomplete. As I will argue in this book, natural selection is important, but it has not labored alone to craft the fine architectures of the biosphere, from cell to organism to ecosystem. Another source-self-organization-is the root source of order. The order of the biological world, I have come to believe, is not merely tinkered, but arises naturally and spontaneously because of these principles of selforganization-laws of complexity that we are just beginning to uncover and understand. The past three centuries of science have been predominantly reductionist, attempting to break complex systems into simple parts, and those parts, in turn, into simpler parts. The reductionist program has been spectacularly successful, and will continue to be so. But it has often left a vacuum: How do we use the information gleaned about the parts to build up a theory of the whole? The deep difficulty here lies in the fact that the complex whole may exhibit properties that are not readily explained by understanding the parts. The complex whole, in a completely nonmystical sense, can often exhibit collective properti
Systems Theory, Complexity Theory, and Radical Emergence
Systems theory, complexity theory, and emergence help biologists to understand the evolution of radical
novelty. Together they stretch traditional conceptions of science. This working group begins with the groundbreaking
contributions of Stuart Kauffman, who will be present. We examine these important resources in the biological sciences and
the new vision of the biosphere that they are producing.
Prof. Peter Kruse on Creativity – How It Is Suppressed and How It Emerges Description:
In this interview excerpt, Peter Kruse explains why creativity and innovation cannot be directly produced or commanded. Instead, he frames creativity as an emergent phenomenon that arises from specific systemic conditions rather than from individual effort or top-down control.
A core argument of the talk is the distinction between direct and indirect variables: culture, creativity, and innovation are indirect variables that cannot be managed through projects or instructions. They only emerge when appropriate enabling environments are created. According to Kruse, key enabling factors include diversity, internal tension, networks, and non-linear feedback loops. Systems that are overly harmonious and uniform tend to be stable but unintelligent, whereas systems that allow contradiction, disturbance, and difference can enter unstable phases where new patterns—and thus creativity—can emerge.
Drawing on systems theory, neuroscience, and swarm intelligence, Kruse argues that complex, dynamic problems can only be addressed by systems with an equivalent level of complexity (referencing Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety). He highlights the importance of networking as a way to increase complexity and collective intelligence.
In the final part, Kruse describes three key roles within creative networks—Creators, Owners, and Brokers—and compares their interaction to functional components of the human brain. When these roles are effectively connected, the collective intelligence of the system exceeds the sum of individual intelligences.
The video offers a profound systems-theoretical perspective on creativity, innovation, organizational design, and collective intelligence, making it highly relevant for leadership, management, transformation processes, and social change.
Integration and Implementation Insights (i2Insights)
Integration and Implementation Insights (i2Insights) is a global initiative dedicated to advancing Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S). It functions as a living, evolving toolkit and an open knowledge platform where community members contribute practical tools and conceptual reflections in the form of blog posts. These contributions are curated and stored in an accessible repository, fostering collective learning across disciplines and sectors.
i2Insights aims to strengthen the capacity to address complex societal challenges by improving how diverse forms of knowledge are integrated and translated into practice. It is particularly relevant for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and boundary-spanners working at the science–policy–society interface.
The platform not only features new and highlighted contributions on its homepage, but also maintains a comprehensive archive of posts, alongside updates, statistics, and documented milestones that trace its development. Through partnerships and a global network of i2Insights Ambassadors, the initiative continuously expands its reach and supports knowledge exchange across regions and disciplines.
By streamlining administrative processes and fostering community-driven authorship, i2Insights sustains a collaborative and accessible environment. In doing so, it contributes to building shared methodological foundations for transdisciplinary research and implementation practice worldwide.
COP28 in Dubai: Greenwashing or Genuine Ambitions?
This blog reflects on the tensions and contradictions experienced at COP28 in Dubai, asking whether the conference marked a genuine turning point in climate ambition or largely reproduced patterns of greenwashing. Drawing on participant observation, the authors examine the contrast between official commitments to climate action and the host country’s resource-intensive development model, as well as the ambivalent messages conveyed through the conference’s imagery and discourse. The article situates the COP28 agreement within broader debates on fossil fuel phase-out, innovation, and planetary boundaries, and argues for transparent, evidence-based approaches to assess the credibility of climate commitments and rebuild trust in global climate governance.
Organizational Transformation in the European Commission
This blog explores organizational transformation within the European Commission, focusing on emerging participatory leadership practices and new approaches to collaboration in political administration. Drawing on an exchange between the TranS-Mind research group and the European Commission’s Centre for Organisational Transformation, the authors reflect on how rigid administrative structures can be reshaped to better address complex sustainability challenges. The article highlights the role of dialogue, co-creation, and capacity building in fostering healthier, more resilient, and adaptive work environments within large public institutions.
The Inner Development Goals as an Innovative Approach to Sustainable Development: Con-ceptualization, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Experiential University Seminar for Ho-listic Sustainability Education.
We contribute to the literature on inner-outer transformation by developing, implementing, and evaluating an innovative experiential seminar for university students, which systematically covers all five IDG dimensions and touches on all 23 elements. It combines short conceptual inputs with a diversity of practical tools for experiencing and training the IDGs. The seminar targets an interdisciplinary mix of Master-level study programs, with students from many different nationalities. To tangibly illustrate connections between IDGs and SDGs and link to real-life sustainable behavior of students, the cocoa-chocolate value chain was used as a guiding example. Key themes covered were core values, character strengths, mindfulness, emotions, perspective taking, visioning, and changing habits. Among the key take-home messages that students indicated they would like to preserve, the most prominent ones are related to self-awareness and inner compass, followed by complexity awareness, perspective taking, appreciation, and optimism.
Grand Theory of Societal Advancement
Grand Theory of Societal Advancement
A comprehensive theory, a historic echo of our first version of civilization formed from the Neolithic package of upgrades. Comprised of specialized works from a broad spectrum of fields of study and independent researchers. The overarching goal of GTSA is to provide humanity with the necessary tools and systems for enhanced global cooperation, innovation, and unity, particularly in navigating the challenges of the 21st century and the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is a major adaptation in our evolutionary journey of civilization:
a. Civilization 1.0: Marked by the stability and developments of the Neolithic Package, representing the dawn of structured human society.
b. The Industrial Age: Characterized by significant technological and industrial advancements.
c. The Great Acceleration: A period of rapid development with both benefits and challenges, marking a significant leap in human capability and impact.
d. Civilization 1.95: Defined by persistent crises, highlighting the need for a significant shift in societal management.
e. Civilization 2.0: The ultimate goal of GTSA, aiming for enhanced societal functioning and problem-solving.
the school of nothing
the school of nothing is investigating the realm of nothing.
As an applied research project it develops and implements artistic and scientific interventions in the public space and open performances | workshops for people being interested into exploring the qualities conntected to nothing, e.g. nothingness, silence, emptiness, darkness, pause, serenity, Lassenskraft, waiting, withdrawing, contemplation, doing nothing, leisure
The Communities of Practice Playbook
Working through communities of practice has never been more encouraged in organisations than it is now. Better gathering, sharing and using of data, information and knowledge in public organisations such as the European Commission are essential to deliver integrated policy work and overcome silo mentalities. This is highlighted explicitly in European Commission President von der Leyen’s work guidelines stipulating transparency and the ambition to become a digitally transformed, user-focused and data-driven administration. Communities of practice are an excellent instrument for fostering collaboration among internal and external stakeholders: they can bring groups with different knowledge perspectives together and can strengthen their capacity to work and learn creatively together. Thus, communities of practice harness the collective intelligence in organisations and help improve performance.
Bruhn, Isabella
I am writing this text about myself and it is not exactly easy.
The most amazing compliment ever, was given to me by my teacher Gary Friedman who said he had never seen such integrity.
It is a very special and no light compliment but I handle it with great respect and care.
It describes how I try to approach my clients as they offer me their trust in the midst of their life crisis.
So with the appreciation of their confidence in me, I try to stay respectfull and be honest about myself. I keep them informed, I share my intuitions, I hold but do not control, I do not manipulate by using methods, and I try to envision their system outside in and inside out.
I love life, I love this world, and I deeply believe in the inner strength of our eco system.
I am mother of 2, an occasional farmers market apple seller to get some balance in my work life, a gardener and very happy about my bicycle :)))
Choutko, Alexandra
Kurt, Hildegard
I am an independent cultural researcher and author, actively engaged in research, teaching and lecturing in Europe, the UK, Korea and the USA. My thematic focus includes art and sustainability, culture and sustainability, aesthetic education, social sculpture and intercultural dialogue.
Center, Athena
We are a center bridging science, business, and “ancient wisdom” from different traditions to bring sustainability and equality to the (business) world.
Schwab, Nicole
Master’s in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; MA in Natural Sciences, Cambridge University. Formerly, worked on health sector reform projects in Latin America, World Bank and the Ministry of Health of Bolivia. 2004-06, Founding Director, Forum of Young Global Leaders. 2009-2018 Co-Founder and President, EDGE Certified Foundation, a global scheme certifying organizations for closing the gender gap in the workplace. Facilitator and Strategic Advisor to non-profit organizations active in reforestation, wellbeing and women’s empowerment. Author of The Heart of the Labyrinth, a spiritual parable offering a message of Earth-centered wisdom.
Lanying, Zhang
Lanying is currently the Executive Deputy Dean, Institute of Rural Reconstruction of China in Southwest University at Chongqing. Here she has developed and implemented projects, training/workshops and study programs in the area of sustainable agriculture, environmental education, health education and participatory development approach for poverty reduction. Her own field of interests includes participation for better governance, rural education for individual development and collectivism as well as sustainable development for the poor and marginalized people to be out of poverty and inequality.
Lichtenberg, Jonas
Sociologist
Systemic Counselor
Research Fellow of Institut für Sozialpädagogische Forschung Mainz e.V.
Inner change and sustainability initiatives: exploring the narratives from eco-villagers through a place-based transformative learning approach
Abstract
In an earlier work, we suggested that connection, compassion and creativity could be used as key analytical dimensions of transformative place-based learning (Pisters et al. in Emot Sp Soc 34(8):100578, 2019). This analytical framework was cre- ated to study processes of place-based transformative learning which evoke shifts in our consciousness. This inner change might well be critical in the development of regenerative practices and places. This article aims to critically investigate the framework empirically using life-story interviews with people living in three different ecovillages. Ecovillages are so-called intentional communities which aim to develop sustainable, regenerative ways of living. Methodologically, the research is grounded in an ethnography and narrative inquiry. Following the empirical results, we will reflect on the merits and short- comings of the analytical framework. The article concludes that the framework proved useful for its purpose if it includes a fourth dimension of ’transgression’ and portraits the dimensions as continua.
(Taken from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-019-00775-9)
Dunetz, David
The Heschel Center for Sustainability develops and implements the vision of sustainability: a just and cohesive society, a robust and democratic economy, and a healthy and productive environment to all of its residents. The center bridges theoretical knowledge and practical methods, and creatively spreads the message of sustainability, assisting change makers from every sector of society to promote significant change in Israel.
Ki Culture
Cultural organizations are uniquely positioned to become leaders for a sustainable future by decreasing their impact on the environment and increasing their impact on their communities.
Ki Culture is the only non-profit organization in the world dedicated to making this a reality. We provide solutions for cultural institutions and tools to educate the public on all issues connected with sustainability.
We help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) through tangible actions, effective communication, and education. Our original programs make sustainability easy to implement, while our resource centers make it accessible. We develop and support exhibitions and outreach programs that inform and empower people with solutions.
Ki Culture promotes sustainability through culture, holistically and globally.
Southwick, Caitlin
Caitlin Southwick is the Founder and Executive Director of Ki Culture. She holds a Professional Doctorate in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam. Caitlin has worked in the conservation field and in museums around the world, including the Vatican Museums, The Getty Conservation Institute, and Easter Island. She was a professional member of the American Institute of Conservations Sustainability Committee and is the Secretary of the Working Group on Sustainability for the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
von Lüpke, Geseko
Uns verbindet, dass wir bewusst und respektvoll mit uns, mit anderen, mit Tieren und Pflanzen umgehen – und dass wir gemeinsam wachsen wollen.