We look at Living together because understanding how to build healthy relationships with other people and with ourselves is core to our well being as individuals, groups, communities and societies. In this campaign, Edgeryders aim to explore how we are creating and navigating the social contexts within which we find ourselves and the interactions that define them. And how we constructively manage the conflicts that arise. And we think everyone stands to benefit from learning how others are doing this. whether this is any different from how our parents did it. Exploring how we manage need for openness and being around others with need for privacy and solitude. Or how we balance need for familiarity with room for experimentation and exploration and breaking away from the past.
Aside from living in diverse societies or building local islands of cohabitation, our primary relationships remain our families. However, the notion of family does not necessarily mean the same things to everyone: We are witnessing differences between how older generation and our own interact with and perceive the world whether in terms of participation, finding work or family life. In some areas like the first two, evidence from Edgeryders community so far shows a disruption, in that we see structurally different civic and political participation models, as well as the end of a job paradigm comprised of linear trajectories and vertical careers.
This is set in a context where we are experiencing the decentralisation of everything from manufacturing to the pursuit of science. To some extent the increase in mobility can be attributed to this: as sectors of economic activity transform move or disappear and new ones arise, people move. There are any number of factors driving geographic mobility. Some move in order to find contexts where there is enough diversity for them to experience a collision of new ideas and knowledge by interacting with people different from themselves; in fact innovation is driven by mild cognitive shocks. As economic troubles shake the two pillars upon which the welfare state rests, the corporation which employs you and the state that protects you, we have to lean on other members of society for making a living and for protection. In a time where the Internet provides native support for groups and makes it much easier than ever to find each other and coordinate actions outside the immediate personal network, this give rise to new social dynamics worth exploring...
Room for EdgeRyders. We set out to discover what projects, people, spaces, networks, are currently contributing towards our building healthy relationships with other people and or with otherselves. What initiatives and experiences are creating value for people around you? Help us spotlight the best efforts and show them some love!
Help the Council of Europe and the European Commission identify new ways of supporting healthy social dynamics and come up with innovative policies. Choose a mission:
The rules of the space- Go to this mission!
You, me and everyone we know - Go to ths mission!
We-mix culture - Go to this mission!
Mine becomes ours - Go to this mission!
Spotlight: Meet my family! - Go to this mission!
Want to know more about the game? You can find more information about it here.
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Here is what can get you started: you can dig deeper into what other Edgeryders are doing, there are already some conversations touching on how we live together:
- Simone’s Cohousing initiative in Milan tells you in detail how it started, how many families are living together and where they are two years after the setup
- John’s Sharing occupied spaces: a biological garden in the middle of a city; it hosts a nice people’s kitchen, good for Sunday social meals and a clothing freeshop; also organizes gardening and skill sharing events
- Dante’s Permanent collective in Leipzig aims to enable people to live together while working on their projects
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