Stacks and doughnuts to illustrate how Civic Square has progressed its vision, through collective dreaming and meticulous building
CIVIC SQUARE: A Compass To Organise v2.5 (2020)
We have been supporting and engaging with the work of Immy Kaur and Civic Square for a while now - so it is exciting to find this long post charting their activities over 2020-2021. What is always exciting about their work, and their associates Dark Matter Labs (led by Indy Johar), is the way they so evocatively visualise their theories and timelines.
Above is what they call a “Compass to Organise” Civic Square - comprised of Dream Matter at the top, imaginative and future-oriented practices (like the Department of Dreams festival A/UK was involved in during 2o2o). Then in the middle Ordinary Matter - the built reality of the Civic Square. But beneath that Dark Matter - the systems and infrastructures that this community prides themselves on unearthing, thinking anew, then reforming.
Below is their Theory of Change model for Civic Square - again, with the levels above the actual built Square being about performance and invitation to participate with the project, and below it, thornier economics, land and governance issues.
We recommend a read of the history of their last two years - a real demonstration of futuristic ways of developing community.