CINETONE® – Stichting Civitas Naturalis

Process

There are the natural processes, flows and chains, making life possible for the components and communities of the ecosystem, forest or city alike. It is wise to diagnose and know them, because they give insight in the way the ecosystem has built up its resilience and diversity leading to understanding the state of it.

The main natural cycles are related to energy (flow), nutrients and water (cycles). And there are man-made processes related to the governance of the city, such as among others that of democracy, finance, strategy and policy.

They all relate to the core of public life, to resources, essentials and effects of decision making and city management. Cycles and flows are essential in every ecosystem.

Water is the key source for life because all humans and communities need it. The cycle can be that of condensation – precipitation – collection – evaporation. But due to human and urban use the cycle has many variants.
Energy is key in all what we do. The main cycle is that of energy (solar) – production – fixation (plants) – consumption. Also here there are refinements, but it is good to know that we, inhabitants of the earth are part of the empire of the sun. All life begins here.
Nutrient movement includes that of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen that continually recycle along with other mineral nutrients: production – allocation – consumption – decomposition. Due to our industrial process, the travels of nutrient can be complex and long before the cycle closes.

In the world of the public domain some processes emerge:

Democracy cycle is the process from election and representation to decision making and evaluation. Every 4 or 6 years the cycle is round. It is also called the cycle of power.
Strategy cycle is the process of from sensing of trends, developing strategy and policy plan and implement and monitor them related to desired public value.
Policy cycle is the process from sensing of trends, developing strategy and policy plan and implement and monitor them related to desired public value.
Creation is the process of from sensing of trends, developing strategy and policy plan and implement and monitor them related to desired public value.
Delivery is the process of communicating with stakeholders and the acutal delivery of products and services.
Finance cycle is the process of collecting and budgeting financial sources to make things possible. It is about financial engineering including taxing, budgetting and spending of money in the public domain.
Multi-level governance is the process of connecting with higher and lower levels of society (from Europe to the street). It is a key process to travel across the borders of the different levels of the ecosystem.
Ordering is the process of ordering my measuring numbers, dosages and structures of the ecosystem.
Compliancy is the process of acting and working according the legislation and rules by checking, verifying, auditing, supervising, examining and measuring correctness.
Correction is the process of prompt, immediate and accurate management of crises and disasters to bring society back into balance, i.e. recovery process. These can be related to biotic factors as diseases or abiotic factors as flooding. Compared to society we can speak of rebuilding and recovering from crises and disasters.
Succession in case of getting out completely out of balance there is in nature loss and a path towards a next generation. There are no recovery processes in place and the system slides into a next system level.

The Power of Organizations: A New Approach to Organizational Theory

Heather A. Haveman | 2022

How organizations developed in history, how they operate, and how research on them has evolved.

Organizations are all around us: government agencies, multinational corporations, social-movement organizations, religious congregations, scientific bodies, sports teams, and more. Immensely powerful, they shape all social, economic, political, and cultural life, and are critical for the planning and coordination of every activity from manufacturing cardboard boxes to synthesizing new drugs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To understand our world, we must understand organizations.

The Power of Organizations defines the features of organizations, examines how they operate, traces their rise over the course of a millennium, and explains how research on organizations has evolved from the mid-nineteenth century to today.

Heather Haveman shows how almost all contemporary research on organizations fits into three general perspectives: demographic, relational, and cultural. She offers constructive criticism of existing research, showing how it can be remade to be both more interesting and influential. She examines how we can use existing theories to understand the changes wrought by digital technologies, and she argues that organizational scholars can and should alter the impact that organizations have on society, particularly societal and global inequality, formal politics, and environmental degradation.

The Power of Organizations demonstrates the benefits and dangers of these ubiquitous foundations of modern society.

Haveman, H. (2022) The Power of Organizations: A New Approach to Organizational Theory. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Quadruple Helix (grid)

Click to enlarge

€ 145,00

This rectangle archival pigment print of a colourful (Pantone^®) mosaic expression is perfect for a modern and fresh look in home and office interiors. It is a reminder on the wall, that cooperation between different people and organisations can lead to a diverse palette.

Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm

Limited Cinetone^®edition

Signed Artist Proof

Made in Breda, The Netherlands

Free Shipping

Description:

The quadruple helix has become a metaphor for optimal cooperation between families of organisations, being government, science, education and business.
Involved organisations are government (blue), business (yellow), education (red) and science (green). White are the organisations which have not signed up for collaboration.
Colours are from Pantone^®. Note: the perceived colour on your screen may differ from printed colours.
All proceeds benefit the Civitas Naturalis Foundation (many thanks for that).
For more information on this work, go to Quadruple Helix.

Interested? Please contact us.

Een pluridisciplinaire benadering

Bij de diagnose van een voorliggend vraagstuk – groot of klein, dat maakt niet uit – is het uitgangspunt van het raamwerk Cinetone^® om diverse perspectieven tegelijk te hanteren. Dus niet slechts vanuit dat ene gezichtspunt, het eigen beleidsveld, het voorliggende belang of de vertrouwde wetenschap.

De stichting is geïnspireerd door het werk van prof. dr. ir. Roelof A.A. Oldeman (1974a). Hij ontwikkelde in de afgelegen tropische bossen van Frans-Guyana deze unieke en door topwetenschappers geroemde (summa cum laude) methode om op nauwkeurige wijze complexe bosecosystemen vast te leggen in transecten, te beschrijven en te begrijpen. Het unieke is dat ook de indianen, die er leefden, zijn transecten konden lezen, begrijpen en de habitats en niches feilloos konden duiden. Zijn weg van diagnose is er een, die ook de stichting volgt. Het is de weg van de pluridisciplinaire diagnose.

Pluridisciplinariteit (letterlijk: meerdere, is meervoud van ‘plus’, Latijn) houdt in het combineren van kennis en inzicht vanuit een samenstelling van diverse disciplinaire domeinen (vakgebieden, wetenschappen, beleidsvelden, expertises, systeemlagen).

Oldeman combineerde de kennis vanuit diverse wetenschappen tegelijkertijd om tot begrip en inzicht te komen, om de diagnose van staat, fase en krachtenveld te kunnen stellen en daarbij, belangrijk, de rol van de onderdelen, de componenten, in hun samenhang specifiek te duiden. Maatschappelijke vraagstukken in het ecosysteem stad vereisen dan ook een open dialoog tussen een rijk samengestelde groep van deskundigen, om de juiste diagnose te kunnen stellen.

“Uit dit onderzoek is gebleken dat het mogelijk is bos te verklaren en de diepgaande verschillen erbinnen te begrijpen… Dit werk, dat getuigt van een zeer vindingrijke en creatieve geest, roept een grote weerklank op.”

– George Mangenot, Honorary Botanist Neuchâtel University and Sorbonne University (Oldeman, 1974a)

De pluridisciplinaire benadering omvat architectuur (bomen, eco-units, mozaïeken), ecologie (het systeem), design (gestalt, inclusief geometrie), populatie-dynamica (aantallen, soorten, diversiteit), fysiologie (de innerlijke werking van soorten en eco-units op een hoger systeemniveau) en morfogenese (groei- en regeneratiepatronen). Zijn werk was begin jaren zeventig een ware doorbraak in de diagnose van bosecosystemen.

Oldeman zette een nieuwe toon in het verbinden van wetenschappen, de nauwgezetheid van metingen en het inbrengen van de factor tijd. Terugkijken en vooruitkijken werd mogelijk door kennis te combineren. Voor diagnose is de factor tijd essentieel. Het geeft immers betekenis en verdieping in waar wij ons thans bevinden.

De benadering om meerdere perspectieven toe te laten, te wegen en te hanteren past de stichting ook toe om een maatschappelijk vraagstuk, project, programma, uitvoeringstaak of plan binnen het ecosysteem stad te diagnosticeren. In het ecosysteem stad worden organisaties beschouwd als de componenten, de organismen.

Deze benadering vereist bij diagnose rondom een maatschappelijk vraagstuk, het stellen én in onderling verband beantwoorden van de volgende vragen:

Hoe zit het bouwwerk (zij- én bovenaanzicht) van betrokken organisaties eruit?
Wat is de plaats van dit bouwwerk in het bredere ecosysteem van de samenleving?
Hoe zijn de betrokken organisaties ontworpen (beoogd doel, organisatorisch, juridisch) ?
Wat zijn hun aantallen, gewichten, fasen, rollen en relaties?
Wat is de ‘corporate’ werking van de organisaties, wat hun eigenschappen, DNA?
Welke vorm nemen zij aan, hoe ontwikkelen zij zich, planten zich voort, herstellen?

Kennis die de laatste jaren is ingezet bij dialogen komt onder meer vanuit de wetenschappen van antropologie, architectuur, bestuurskunde, communicatie, corporate governance, ecologie, ethiek, filosofie, management, personeel- en organisatiekunde, politicologie, rechtsgeleerdheid, sociale psychologie, sociologie, staatkunde, stadsbeheer en wiskunde.

Het palet van vragen kon het best beantwoord worden door een combinatie van functies (bestuurder, manager, beleidsmaker, controller, dienstverlener en uitvoerder) bijeen te brengen. Daarbij hanteerde de stichting het uitgangspunt om de opleidingsniveaus van de deelnemers te allen tijde als gelijkwaardig te beschouwen en hun inbreng als gelijk te wegen.

Onze les bij diagnose van maatschappelijke vraagstukken is tamelijk voor de hand liggend: de diverse invalshoeken en benaderingen toelaten, hen combineren en verbinden. Pluridisciplinariteit is het woord, het is de weg.

Bibliografie

Oldeman, R.A.A. (1974a, 2nd ed.). L’architecture de la forêt guyanaise. Mémoires ORSTOM, 73. https://lnkd.in/dMqJhEY

Resilience of what to what?

Jack Kruf | 2017

What is resilience? Well, there is no simple answer to this. Especially not regarding that of the ecosystem of a city. The concept, you might say, is in development in different sciences and recently entered the public governance domain related to the social-ecological system of society. Can resilience as indicator of the state of an ecosystem be measured? And if so, how are the living and non-living factors within and outside the measured system be calculated? Can it create true insight in the tone of city, society and nature. A first exploration of definitions.

Resilience is relatively new in public governance thinking. Can it be of help in finding the tone of city, society and nature?

Resilience is the new buzzword under public leaders and managers. Millions of years it played an essential role in natural ecosystems, now it has been launched as a new concept for thinking and acting from government perspective. But where is it about? The ability to endure stress and still be able to perform or the capacity to recover after a catastrophe? Maybe both?

The question can not be answered or even is meaningless without putting it in the context resilience of what to what? In our approach we focus on the resilience of the ecosystem city to specific external (abiotic, climate change)) or internal (biotic, virus attack) caused disturbances.

“Resilience has multiple levels of meaning: as a metaphor related to sustainability, as a property of dynamic models, and as a measurable quantity that can be assessed in field studies of socioecological system (SES). The operational indicators of resilience have, however, received little attention in the literature. To assess a system’s resilience, one must specify which system configuration and which disturbances are of interest.”

– Carpenter et al. (2001)

Holling (1973) introduced the word resilience into the ecological literature as a way of helping to understand the non-linear dynamics observed in ecosystems. Since then the concept diversified in all directions. Resilience is wide interpreted and used, it is a difficult to understand concept and therefore possibly of limited use for precise diagnosis and related public governance. Like accountability, the new normal, alignment, roadmap, risk, streamline and sustainability it can become a container or a buzzword.

“Resilience,” like love, is difficult to define, yet everyone – from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to government agencies, company boards, and community groups – is talking about how to build or maintain it. So, is resilience a useful concept or a meaningless buzzword?

– Brian Walker (2015)

For the core definition of resilience, we might to go back to the forest. It is a simple and therefore generally applicable definition.

‘Resilience is the ability to bounce back, basically in the face of disturbance, maintaining functions and structures of the system and recovering from the disturbance.”

– Rupert Seidl (2019)

The resilience of the ecosystem city is telling the story of the balancing act of the population in the present habitat of the city. Of course, there are many layers of habitats within the city and some justify to zoom in and consider resilience on a lower level. In general, it is like when you have plans to investing your money in stocks and funds: results in the past are no guarantee for the future.

It is with resilience like looking into the mirror: you know where you are and where you come from, not so much about where you are going and what will happen. It is hard to predict how future external developments influence the habitat of communities and whether they will exceed the resilience of the system and whether the system is able to tackle change properly.

To let resilience successfully – and Brian Walker (2017) from Resilience Alliance underlines the (urgent) need for this – enter the stage of public governance, it is wise to start with using it always in the context resilience of what to what (Carpenter et al., 2001). There is lots of work to be done for bringing in a proper landing place for resilience into the public domain. The first steps are there.

One thing stands out. In finding the tone of city, society and nature, the measurement of resilience can be helpful. But it is very complex. For that it has to develop further towards a more complete and refined concept. The of what to what question has to be built in.

Bibliography

Carpenter, S., Walker, B., Anderies, J. and Abel, N. (2001) From Metaphor to Measurement: Resilience of What to What?. Ecosystems 4, 765–781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-001-0045-9

Holling, C.S. (1973) Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. Vol. 4:1-23 (Volume publication date November 1973). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245

Seidl, R. (2019) Voices of Resilience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755F__a5agM

Walker, B. (2015) What is resilience?. Project Syndicate. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/what-is-resilience-by-brian-walker?barrier=accesspaylog

Walker, B. (2017). Brian Walker at Resilience 2017. Stockholm: Omställningsnätverket Transition Network Sweden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G2-IFfRwzM

Quadruple Helix

Stichting Civitas Naturalis maakt gebruik van technieken die onder meer ontwikkeld zijn in de bosecologie en silvologie. Dit om tot een integrale en holistische diagnose te komen van de betreffende krachtenvelden in het publieke domein. Een voorbeeld is deze diagnose van een bestaande regionale samenwerking in Nederland, bezien vanuit het aspect van economische ontwikkelingskracht.

Beschouw deze afbeeldingen als het artistieke resultaat van een intensieve dialoog met opinieleiders en een collectieve diagnose van het krachtenveld binnen de regio. Het concept van de denktank Chablīs en van het raamwerk Cinetone^® zijn hierbij ingezet. Vanwege bescherming van de opdrachtgever worden geen nadere details verstrekt.

Quadruple Helix

Was het niet James Watson die ontdekte dat ons DNA in een dubbele spiraal ‘door het leven’ gaat. Spiraal in het Grieks betekent έλιξ, helix. Een helix kan in de wereld van publieke sturing ook uit vier spiralen bestaan, op een veel hoger niveau dan dat van ons DNA. Het bestaat in de hoofden van politici, bestuurders, managers en strategen.

De quadruple helix is een metafoor geworden voor optimale samenwerking tussen families van organisaties, zijnde overheid, wetenschap, onderwijs en bedrijfsleven.

Een quadruple samenwerking kan tot meerwaarde leiden in de sociale en economische ontwikkeling van steden en regio’s, zo is de gedachte. De talloze verbindingen tussen die organisaties vormen de spiralen en zorgen voor bestuurlijke stevigheid en samenhang. Je hebt elkaar immers nodig – op alle niveaus en vanuit diverse geledingen – om tot succes te komen.

De betrokken organisaties zijn ingekleurd: overheid (blauw), bedrijfsleven (geel), onderwijs (rood) en wetenschap (groen). Wit zijn de organisaties (in dit geval 7 van de 64), die zich niet hebben gemeld voor deze samenwerking, maar een eigen koers varen. Zij ontbreken in het transect (dwarsdoorsnede), maar zijn in het grid (bovenaanzicht) opgenomen.

Transect

Elke organisatie is als een boom voorgesteld. Hoe hoger de boom en breder de kroon, des te meer macht, respectievelijk invloed zij uitoefenen op de economische ontwikkelingskracht van de regio. Het transect toont hoe de organisaties binnen de regio verschillen. Het is ook goed om te delen, dat dit transect een tijdsbeeld geeft. Inmiddels zijn wij tien jaar verder, zijn alle besturen en managers inmiddels gewisseld, alsook is de positie van de regio binnen het geheel van economische trends en ontwikkelingen veranderd. Het transect is een momentopname anno 2013.

Grid

De organisaties en hun invloeden zijn ook weergegeven als vlakken op een schaakbord, de beschouwde canvas van gebied. Het zijn projecties van hun kronen (macht en invloed) van hun invloed, afgeleid van het bovenstaande transect. De hoogste bomen (macht) domineren in de projecties, terwijl de lagere bomen in dit grid niet zichtbaar zijn. Het aantal vlakken zegt iets over de invloed van betreffende organisaties. De namen van de organisaties zijn weggelaten.

Om de doelen van de Stichting Civitas Naturalis te ondersteunen wordt de grid-versie aangeboden als 40 x 40 cm Archival Pigment Print.

Heeft u belangstelling, neem dan contact met ons op.

Multi-level governance

Jack Kruf

Multi-level governance is an essential part of the navigation within the public domain. Like in nature there are influences going upwards and downwards between the layers of the ecosystem. As city manager I experienced the coming and going for example of national policy plans, rules and legislation downwards and financial and political influences upwards as well as the cooperation between different layers of government on complex projects or programmes. But what exactly is multi-level governance? Where does the term comes from? How is it used? A short study.

It is an approach in political science and public administration theory that originated from studies on European integration. According to Piattoni (2001), the political scientists Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks actually developed the concept of multi-level governance in the early 1990s.

It has become one of the key processes for good public governance in the international context. In fact, always was, but never defined or considered as such. The link between all levels of governance in every ecosystem is essential to be effective and efficient in its functioning.

The layering of governance seems in general to follow the principles of the ecological pyramid in natural ecosystems, so some logic can be derived. It must be said though, that from the perspective of city management, there is a wide range of opinions, feelings, views and thoughts around it. It exists but is not generally accepted as the best way forward. What is multi-level governance?

Multi-level (or multilevel) governance is a term used to describe the way power is spread vertically between many levels of government and horizontally across multiple quasi-government and non-governmental organizations and actors. – Cairney et al. (2019)

This situation develops because many countries have multiple levels of government including local, regional, state, national or federal, and many other organisations with interests in policy decisions and outcomes. International governance also operates based on multi-level governance principles. – Wikipedia

In 1996 Hooghe edited a sustained study of cohesion policy in the European Union. The central question was how policymakers can develop a common European policy, and yet give attention to the variation in practice, institutions, and players in the member states.

Later in 2001 Hooghe et al. (2001) explain why multi-level governance has taken place and how it shapes conflict in national and European political arenas and goes into the dual process of centralization and decentralization. At the same time, that authority in many policy areas has shifted to the supranational level of the European Union, so national governments have given subnational regions within countries more say over the lives of their citizens.

At the forefront of scholars who characterize this dual process as multi-level governance, Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks argue that its emergence in the second half of the twentieth century is a watershed in the political development of Europe. According to the authors, it gives expression to the idea that there are many interacting authority structures at work in the emergent global political economy:

“… illuminates the intimate entanglement between the domestic and international levels of authority”.

Bibliography

Cairney, P., Heikkila, T. and Wood, M. (2019) Making Policy in a Complex World (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hooghe, L. (ed.) (1996) Cohesion Policy and European Integration: Building Multi-level Governance. Wotton-under-Edge: Clarendon Press Oxford.

Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2001) Multi-Level Governance and European Integration. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Piattoni, S. (2009) Multi-level Governance: a Historical and Conceptual Analysis. European Integration. 31. 2: 163–180.

Wikipedia (2020) Multi-level governance, consulted in September 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_governance.

La révélation de leur harmonie (forêts)

Je tâchais de découvrir, dans les bruits des forêts et des flots, des mots que les autres hommes n’entendaient point, et j’ouvrais l’oreille pour écouter la révélation de leur harmonie.Gustave Flaubert (1842)

• I tried to discover, in the sounds of the forests and the waves, words that other men did not hear, and I opened my ear to hear the revelation of their harmony.Gustave Flaubert (1842)

Bibliography

Flaubert, G. (1842) Novembre. Online on 21 July 2020: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Novembre_(Flaubert)

Flaubert, G. (2000, ed. Arvensa Editions and Fb Editions). Novembre. Paris: Librairie Générale Française. 123 p.

Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, in the Haute-Normandie Region of France.

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen:

Dit delen: