The Hub

June 9, 2009 Leave a comment

Emergence is an interesting thing; one might even argue that it is the most naturally occurring of all things – couldn’t we say that the universe itself just emerged and keeps emerging? As we approach the limits of the best laid out planning processes we could come up with we begin to face the fact that a world of increasing complexity cannot be managed like it is a big machine that will produce predictable and measurable outcomes. In this increasingly complex world some of us are seeking ways to align ourselves with the process of emergence, to foster and facilitate it, to serve it with sharp intentionality and to let go of command and control fantasies.

Here is where “The Hub” comes in. I had the pleasure of visiting “The Hub” in São Paulo and I find myself deeply inspired. Emergence Theory demands locality, it proposes that local micro-interactions are foundational to the emergence of new systems. “The Hub” is about co-location, it provides a physical space that is meant to “facilitate unlikely encounters” among people concerned with social change and social innovation. “The Hub – São Paulo” provides a beautiful creative space that is open, flexible and stimulating. Small teams or individual social entrepreneurs can make it their full-time home, or they can arrange to rent space there anywhere from 5 to 100 hours per month.

These social innovators may be focused on anything, and ideally on different things. In fact, given that the “The Hub – São Paulo” is still in start-up mode, I have learned that some of its tenants do not even have an explicit social mission. A space like this, without walls or fixed desks is a space where previously unthinkable projects can emerge, it is an ideal space for the intersection of fields that makes “The Medici Effect” possible – this is how innovation happens.

Hub Hosts are a lot like network weavers. Yes, they take care of details like shared printers and internet connections, but they also work to interconnect tenants using the space. Tenants are encouraged to host events and information sessions where they can share what they are working on and what they are learning. “The Hub” is a truly vibrant space where socially committed individuals can experience life in a network and begin to shed their organizational constraints. “The Hub” is just one response to the need for new forms of human organization, but it certainly is a great one, it is the sort of place from which a new world can emerge.

What other efforts to apply network theory do you know about?

For more on The Hub:
Creating an Ecology of Social Innovation

from the Kosmos Journal

For more on Emergence:
Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale

by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze

Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
by Steven Johnson

No Comments

  • Andria Winther says:

    So glad you had an opportunity to experience this space! Want to know more about the physical layout and elements of the space and flow. Bring back ideas on how we can transform our space or create a new one elsewhere. Not too many pics on the links so hope you took some or can convey the essence!

  • Curtis says:

    Seems to me “the hub” is a conspicuous example of how innovation and, in fact, life unfolds every day. In the US we have been sold the myth of the self-made person, the cowboy entrepreneur who goes it alone. What will it take for us to be honest about the number of shoulders each of us stand on or the fact that we are constantly playing with and bumping into one another’s ideas? It strikes me that “the Hub” is like many of IISC’s methods that externalize what is tried and true. A wonderful reminder and regrounding. Thanks Gibran, for the wisdom from Sao Paulo.

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