Introducing a new project that House of Futures is a part of – Dome of Visions

The city is filled with temporary spaces – Construction sites, abandoned places and areas where life between the buildings is not yet vibrating. At the same time it is one of the biggest challenges to optimize the use of energy in new and in existing buildings and to minimize use of materials.
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The Dome of Visions project faces both of these challenges by using large construction sites as the setting for a temporary construction, in this case a dome, establishing a meeting space for debate, experiments and art, in an area that would have been merely a field of bricks and machines. The Dome of Visions architectonical construction in itself challenges what sustainability is and awakens the desire for new ways of creating and being together.

House of Futures participated in the conference Entre Nord hosted by CAKI aiming at creating Nordic interrelations in the field of artistic entrepreneurship and education. Most relevant not at least as we might be approaching a more sensuous society where the poetic and sensuous mode of being in the world and creative practice are at the center.

Ny bog om, hvordan man skaber et livskraftigt lokalt demokrati, der kan skabe engagement og aktivitet i lokalsamfund. Den er skrevet af en lokaldemokrati-medarbejder/aktivist og en demokratiforsker og Ph.D. fra Harvard. Se bogens hjemmeside her.

Bogen er ikke bare beskrivende og perspektiverende, men har også en “how-to” guide til, hvordan man gør i praksis. De to amerikanere sætter i høj grad deres lid til det lokale frem for top-down tilgangen til politik:

Large institutions and centralized governments, with top-down, expert-driven thinking, are no longer society’s drivers. In fact, they are often responsible for tearing communities apart. New decision-making techniques now pair with cutting-edge communication tools to make local communities—and the citizens who live there—uniquely suited to meet today’s challenges.

Set med danske øjne er det interessant, at Samsø, med dens efterhånden verdenskendte energi- og miljøprojekt, har fundet vej ind i søgelyset som en lærerig case, under overskriften “Samsø – The Island That Listened”:

Samsø was able to take advantage of progressive Danish energy policies, grants, and utility partnerships. However, enginereering and money can only get a project so far. A significant part of Samsø’s extraordinary success was due to community visioning, listening, and collaboration. While one island’s alternative engergy mix might not be applicable everywhere, the lessons from Samsø’s social change work are eye-opening and largely transferable.

Globalisering med lokale øjne – eller omvendt.

Søren Hermansen fra Samsø Energiakademi, der er hovedkraften bag øens såvel energimæssige som lokaldemokratiske udvikling, deltog i øvrigt også i vores In100Y-projekt.