Cities are becoming the most prominent context for social change in the world today, and they offer exciting opportunities for participative governance. A model of “systematic civic stewardship” frames the city as community-based, action-learning system. Leaders play key roles in neighborhood teams focused on local challenges (graduation rates, health outcomes, etc.), while learning and working with peers via city-wide communities of practice. We have much to learn about learning systems in any context—understanding how they work in communities and cities draws on organization experience and provokes new insights.

1. Civic Shift: Action-Learning Lab for Systematic Civic
Stewardship (SCS)
Cultivating transformative
communities and cities for
local & global well-being…
11LLC Webinar – June 3, 2013© 2012 William M. Snyder / wsnyder@socialcapital.com / worlddesign.org
world design, world design, world design
Link to expanded version

2. 2
SCS Vision: Transform cities to transform the world
2*Parag Khanna, Director Global Governance Initiative, Foreign Policy, 2010
“The age of nations is over: The
new urban age has begun.”
…get cities right, and we can
get the world right.
•Half the world lives in
cities; 70% by 2050
•Top 100 U.S. cities
account for 75% of GDP;
the top 100 cities in the
world generate nearly
40% of global GDP
•Cities over 50,000 pop.
generate 70% of carbon
emissions
•Cultural product of the
world is created primarily
by people in cities
Cities are intricately
interwoven webs of
communities, and our
global civilization is
bound together by a
vital network of cities.

3. Communities shape identity and foster sense of shared
purpose
3
In recent years, we have increased considerably our capacity to cultivate
communities in all areas of our lives—private, professional, and public
"Whatever happens to
the individual happens to
the whole group, and
whatever happens to the
whole group happens to
the individual.
The individual can only
say: 'I am, because we
are and since we are,
therefore I am.‘
*John S. Mbiti (African Religions and Philosophy, 1990), regarding the principle of Ubuntu
Communities of place
can be framed as
communities of purpose
that foster both personal
and civic well-being.

4. Evidence our current governance system is not working
Since the 1970’s, despite our best efforts via policy, technology and free-market
forces, societal problems persist and unprecedented ones are emerging
Culture
An exception that
proves the rule?
Health
U.S. health costs ~15%
of GDP and rising
Transportation
Commuting time up
10% from 1980-2010
Energy
Cost of carbon-based energy
about $2 trillion/year in 2100
Public Safety
Crime rate unchanged
incarceration rate is
400% higher
Infrastructure
U.S. infrastructure
degraded from “C”
grade in 1988 to “D”
grade in 2009
Education
~25% drop-out rate in
U.S. since 1970’s
Housing
20% in U.S. lack safe,
affordable housing
Economy
Poverty 12+% since the 1970’s
Environment
Loss of biodiversity through
mass extinctions (40% of
40,000)
Recreation
U.S. kids spend average of
7.5 hours watching screens
Civic Engagement
Reduced levels of social
capital and public trust
Social Equity
Persistent racial and ethnic
disparities in health, income,
education outcomes
4

5. Societal forces undermine the efficacy of conventional
solutions
Communities are fundamental contexts for solving persistent problems
5⁴What Does Obama Really Believe In?, New York Times, August 15, 2012, p. 9

6. Neighborhood residents take ownership for local
outcomes
Neighborhood opportunities for improving results
Energy: Shift household practices; use energy-savingappliances & building materials,and sustainable energy devices
Public Safety: Build social cohesion (e.g., by increasing the number of residents who know their neighbors)
Infrastructure: Changes in design & practices to enhance functions: water, roads, sewage, transport & Internet
Environment: Conservation, recycling, planting trees, and establishing community parks
Economy: Community networks & local businesses to help residents find jobs, build skills & create & fund start-ups
Education: Encourage and enhance parental involvement to help kids learn at home and school
Housing: Inform resident decisions about size, design, and density, buy/rent and financing options
Transportation: Increase use of carpooling, public transit, bikes, and walking
Recreation: Groups for dance and sports to encourage participation & enjoyment; turn vacant lots into playing fields
Culture: Organize events to spotlight local talent and encourage participation in culture-making for well-being
Health: Increase cancer screening rates for early detection and treatment; walking groups; community gardens
*A blog post (4/25/2012) at E-Democracy.org lists ways technology can enhance neighborhood-level initiatives. 6

7. Neighborhood stewardship teams lead community
problem-solving to improve civic outcomes
Frame Challenge
•What is the problem or opportunity?
•What purpose are we striving to achieve?
•How is it seen differently by diverse players?
Design Solution
•What are ways to
solve the problem?
•What are best
practices; proven
tools and methods?
•Who to engage?
Adaptive Action
•What adjustments are needed?
•How are conditions changing?
•What are critical skills, methods, resources?
Evaluate & Diffuse
Did we achieve our
goal?
•Lessons learned?
•Implications for
sustaining and
disseminating?
Residents work with health-care experts and
determine that screening & early treatment for
breast, cervical & colon cancers is a ripe area for
improving neighborhood health outcomes.
Residents increase
screening rates and
treatment by 20%;
will heal thousands
and save millions in
next decades; still,
room to improve….
They gather data on
results, analyze key
factors (e.g., self-care
norms); design
outreach initiative;
argue for more clinic
access.
Engage doctors’ offices, schools, and businesses
(such as beauty salons, pharmacies, and fitness
centers) to promote awareness; city agency and
health clinics change policies that increase access
to screening and treatment services.
7
Participative
Action-
learning
Processes
Illustrative¹
¹Healthcare reference case in Medical Care, 2008: pp. S74-S83.

8. Guiding and motivating community change via proven
methods
8
Goals and achievements for Diamond District neighborhoods in San Diego – Village at Market Creek
• Compelling, shared goals
• Valid measures of results
• Expectation that effort will improve results (access to skills, resources & influence)
* Goal theory and Expectancy Theory are two highly validated behavioral theories that have been widely applied in organization contexts, with much
success. (Expectancy theory builds on goal theory, adding emphasis on participants’ expectation that actions will lead to results, influenced by
perceived access to opportunities, support, and resources. The importance of perception is consistent with key element of Collective Efficacy , which
argues that communities with expectations of control (“willingness to intervene’) over local conditions perform better than similar neighborhoods on
health, safety, and other outcomes.) We have new opportunities now to apply related motivational tools and methods at the neighborhood level,
given increasing access to population-based information and the growing use of civic indicators (in areas such as health, housing, education, etc.).

9. 9
Stewardship teams help various types of communities contribute to
neighborhood wellbeing
Teams steward neighborhoods as communities of purpose
Neighborhood as a Community of Purpose
Collective
Wellbeing
• Local gardeners and “foodies” organize a
community vegetable garden.
• Social media mavens develop a marketing
application to help neighborhood
businesses respond to local needs.
• Parents organize a “play and learn” group
for young kids.
• Faith-based groups join efforts to
promote sustainable energy practices.
Friends
Ethnicities
Vocations
Hobbies
Face blocks
Families
Faiths
Key
Various community types
(friends, faith, vocation, etc.)
Stewardship teams focused on
improving a civic outcome
(health, education, safety, etc.)
Neighborhood boundary

10. Communities of place and practice build accountability and
capability
10
Neighborhood teams focus on achieving defined civic goals (e.g., reducing carbon-based energy use),
while members of communities of practice share insights, skills & resources city-wide

11. Communities of practice build capabilities across
neighborhoods
Category/
Neighborhood
Roxbury Fenway Jamaica Plain South End
Results*
• 30% colectoral screening
(+5%)
• 40% early treatment
(+10%)
• 40% colectoral screening
(+0%)
• 60% early treatment
(+5%)
• 45% colectoral
screening (+5%)
• 50% early treatment
(+0%)
• 50% colectoral
screening (+5%)
• 60% early treatment
(+5%)
Initiatives
• Resident outreach
• Organization networking
• City policy advocacy
• Recruit doctor clinics
• Recruit doctor clinics
• Hospital access advocacy
• Public awareness
Resident outreach
• City policy advocacy
• Public awareness
• Resident outreach
• City policy advocacy
• Recruit doctor clinics
• Hospital access
advocacy
Participants
• 50/5000 residents
• 5/30 local organizations
• City health department
• Health center
• Cancer Society
• YMCA/YWCA
• 20/6000 residents
• 4/40 local organizations
• City health department
• Doctors offices
• Hospital
• 60/8000 residents
• 7/50 local
organizations
• City health
department
• Cancer Society
• Hospital
• 50/5000 residents
• 10/50 local
organizations
• City health department
• Doctors offices
• Hospital
11
Healthcare Illustration*
Comparing results and related practices helps neighborhood teams see opportunities for
improving local outcomes and for working together city-wide on policies and programs
*This illustrative mini-case draws on a government-sponsored effort, with teams based in 4 different cities, described in Medical Care, 2008: pp. S74-S83.
These results (and related activities & participants) are illustrative, not actual. U.S. 2020 goal for and colectoral is 70%; average in 2010 was 40% .

12. Communities of practice build & share knowledge, organize
collective action, and scale impact
12
Source : Communities of Practice, Snyder & Briggs, 2003, pp. 13-16
An ecology of activities—formal and informal, face-to-face and virtual, at various
frequencies--builds capabilities and relationships

13. Civic communities of practice: Integrating grassroots and
grasstops
13
Institutional focus
Neighborhood focus
Civic Stewardship Communities
of Practice
Integrative structures for
action-learning:
•Inter-level: Institutions and
Residents
•Inter-local: Residents and
organizations across Neighborhoods
We know collaboration is essential for achieving breakthrough results,
but doing it via institutions or neighborhoods alone is problematic.
Grassroots grow up
gaining capabilities and
focused on results
Grasstops get rooted
via communities of practice
with local participation

14. Monetization
MeasuresMethods
14
The multi-dimensional structure integrates and animates a civic stewardship system
Multi-Dimensional
Structure
Media
Leadership development Environment design
• Neighborhood Stewardship Teams
• Civic Communities of Practice
• SCS Meta-Community
Principles
Purpose
SCS Model components & related capabilities
Components of the SCS model enhance civic stewardship
capabilities

15. Why now? Burgeoning array of civic stewardship tools and
methods
New capacity for
collaborative learning
and action
Media
•SeeClickFix
•E-Democracy.org
•Neighborland
•Neighbors for Neighbors
•Goodneighbors
•Nextdoor
•Blockboard
•ChangebyUs
•City 2.0
•New Urban Mechanics
•Code for America
•MIT Civic Media lab
•Climate Lab
15
Methods
(Social & Technical)
•Open Living Labs
•Societal ”fixes” blog
•Harvard Innovation lab
• 21st Century Town Meetings
• Study Circles
• Public workshops
• City-design charettes (case)
• Heart and Soul Comm. Plan
• Community PlanIt
• Future Search
• Open Space
•Behavioral green policy
•Behavioral science politics
Promoting civic shifts
for societal well-being
•Washington DC data
•San Francisco data
•Chicago crime data
•Charlotte civic results
•Cincinnati educ. Data
•BostonCivicIndicators
•Somerville Wellbeing
Measures
• Social entrepreneurs
• New social movements
• Participative democracy
• Government gridlock
• Virtual communities
• Worldwide urbanization
• Collective Impact networks
• Communities of practice
Millennial
Mindset
•Social Impact Bonds
(Examples)
•Community funding
•Sharing economy
•Community shares
Monetization
* The lists of methods, measures, etc. provide representative examples of a growing array. For example, regarding participatory methods, a slide presentation
on best practices for community-organizing mentions hundreds of them, and there are over 150 on dialogue and deliberation alone (see NCDD list).

16. 16
Civic Media examples
•SeeClickFix
•New Urban Mechanics
•E-Democracy.org
•Neighborland
•Neighborsfor Neighbors
•Goodneighbors
•Nextdoor
•Blockboard
•ChangebyUs
•City 2.0
•MIT Civic Media lab
•Climate Lab
Civic media application – Cambridge Neighborhood listserv

17. Civic data creates opportunities for goal setting and innovation
17
•Washington DC data
•San Francisco data
•Chicago crime data
•Charlotte civic results
•Cincinnati educ. data

18. Civic Stewardship creates new “community economy”
opportunities
18
Community identity and social trust foster the success of local groups and organizations, which
in turn, further strengthen a community’s sense of collective efficacy and shared purpose²
• Share goods, skills, and knowledge via
cooperative methods.
• Create new income opportunities via local
purchasing power, business incubators,
microloans, community shares, arts fairs,
neighborhood investments, etc.
• Leverage investments in institutional
policies and programs via participation in
planning, budgeting, continuous
improvement, and provision (e.g.,
preferences for local vendors).
Government costs at neighborhood level
Informal economy opportunity
Local economy opportunity
Key
Leverage $90m
Capture $10m
Create $10m
Share $5m
Community Economy Opportunities
• Capture a percentage of savings in government
expenditures by monetizing civic gains—e.g.,
healthcare via accountable care organizations
and safety via social impact bonds).
NeighborhoodfundraisingfordogparkHowsocialimpactbondswork(Source)

19. Ecology of leadership functions
19
Community leader for
overall coordination related
to a civic practice
Thought leader to
provide expertise and
credibility
Networker for linking
across personal networks
and organization or practice
boundaries
Evangelist to
recruit interest and
support
Sponsor for
legitimacy, influence
and political cover
Broker to combine
complementary constituencies
and capabilities—e.g., business
and science; idea generation and
implementation
Connector to link
key players—within
and across groups
Event organizer to
pull people together
and catalyze
community
Project leader to
organize projects and
drive for results
Source: “Organizing for Economic Development in Chicago,” 2001, W.M. Snyder

20. Guiding principles and purposes for transformational civic
stewardship
SCS promotes the practice of universal principles for shared purposes
Learning about the issues and
innovative solutions…even when
these challenge long-held basic
assumptions
Aligning to shared goals for
the greater good…even as the
vision evolves based on new
experiences and insights
Building civic capacity to
improve results in terms of
strength, scale, scope, and
sustainability
Achieving results in targeted
areas (health, education, etc.)
Becoming more conscious,
loving members of interwoven,
transformational communities, for
current and future generations¹
Connecting with diverse others
to build trust and reciprocity…even
with those who have conflicting
interests and ideologies
Purposes
Principles
¹cf. Martin Luther King’s assertion that “Love is mankind’s most potent weapon for personal and social transformation”
20
Purposes complement principles, both fundamental…and transformational

21. Design Charettes help organize action-learning
labs
21
The charette process
begins by engaging a
community-based team or
coalition, which takes the
lead in a public,
participative analysis of a
targeted outcome.
Meta-community provides coaching, system-development, institutional access, and scaling
Neighborhood #1 forms design team
to collect and analyze data (re: local
outcomes, priorities, opportunities,
assets, etc.) as prep for charettes
Target priority outcome (e.g., reduce human and financial costs of chronic diseases)
• Collect and analyze population-level results, influencing factors, segment characteristics, etc.
• Talk with outcome-related (e.g., health) experts and relevant organizations to learn about
improvement strategies (e.g., screening, prevention, early treatment, etc.)
• Connect with process experts about ways to engage residents and stakeholders in participative
problem-solving and collective action
Neighborhood #2
forms design team…
Neighborhood #3
Forms design team…
Healthcare stewardship team
continues action-learning
efforts for improved results
Neighborhood
#3 stewardship
team
Engage participants via charettes, conversations, surveys, public dialogues, pilot projects, etc.:
How can we best discover and apply solutions in our community for breakthrough results?
Action-Learning Lab
Communities of Practice
Neighborhoods
Meta-community
Neighborhood
#2 stewardship
team
Community of practice promotes learning, innovation, and collaboration across localities
Participation methods Monetization LeadershipSocial media MeasuresHealth Strategies
Design Charette
Activities
*See Civic Shift proposal

22. How is SCS distinctive as an organizing approach?
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•Oppositional organizing against injustice (collective action, typically to address exploitive
or ineffectual institutions and policies, cf. Rules for Radicals)
•Ad hoc organizing (informal groups focused on areas of interest)
•Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) (explicit goals, multiple issues, resident
participation, typically externally initiated and managed)
•Systematic civic stewardship (local ownership for measurable goals, synergistic array of
methods, inter-local collaboration, continuous action-learning)*
*Systematic civic stewardship also applies elements of other approaches, including collective action, informal organizing, and
strategies that address interdependencies across issues (i.e., “comprehensive”).

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Meta-Community fosters systematic civic stewardship city-
wide
Collective
Wellbeing
Meta-community functions
• Support systematic stewardship in neighborhoods
• Replicate and interweave SCS efforts across localities
• Engage and influence institutions
• Build the discipline and lead a global social movement

24. “By making
communities of our
cities we take a giant
stride toward world
community, and in the
end lasting peace will
come when…world
community has been
achieved.”
-- Lawrence Hayworth,
The Good City
Facebookinteractionsacrosscitiesworldwide(Source) Systematic civic stewardship can promote well-being
worldwide
PhotosfromHighLine(NYC)website
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Practicing civic stewardship transforms us as we transform the world…