We’ve all been to a “special place” – even if we couldn’t explain what that meant. Some places are romantic, others profound, and some have history written all over them.
How does that happen? How do they get that way? Most importantly, could such places, and the way we relate to them, cultivate them, and care for them, have a powerful impact on what happens there?
Saybrook Organizational Systems alumna Renee Levi is heading up a new research project on the Power of Places to influence people and events.
The Powers of Place Collaborative (website currently under construction) is an 18-month initiative supported by the Fetzer Institute and the Berkana Institute that will “catalyze a new field of study and practice based on the premise that right relationship between people and the places in which they gather offers the potential for transformative action needed change in the world,” Levi says.
“Place – the physical surroundings in which people gather – can be a powerful ally for change in the world, but is often overlooked and undervalued as a partner,” Levi says. “This new venture hopes to make this component more visible and to understand how true reciprocity between people and the places they inhabit contributes to places coming alive.”
Working through Saybrook, students and alumni will have the opportunity to conduct research in various aspects of this emerging field, be encouraged to define their own areas of interest within the project, and be linked with others exploring similar interests.
Credit is available for interested students, who would work with Renee and a member of Saybrook’s faculty to craft the study design, conduct the research, and produce a paper to be posted on the PoPC website.
For more information, click here.