“Development” is … (2021)
In the last “Dev is” essay, I hinted that there’s a “big D” that builds in the direction of human evolution, and there is a “small d” that’s highly personal and humbling. I described the “big D” Development as “a regenerative process that aims to improve social, economic, and environmental well-being at the system level (see appendix 1). I concluded that the multifaceted optimization problems in Development urge development practitioners to stay dispassionate in our passionate pursuits. It requires us to view our effort as iterative and collaborative processes leading to more sustainable outcomes at scale.
What has changed? The most significant aha moment happened in the summer when I read adrienne maree brown (amb) ‘s Emergent Strategy, a book about nature-inspired social and environmental justice organizing principles. In her book, amb described how mycelium — the largest organism on earth — connects with neighboring roots to break down large plant bodies and create healthier ecosystems. In the ants’ society, she found simple and local information exchange underlies the massive operations because each ant relies on the work of others in producing their own work. In the bushes, she found ferns’ fractal patterns demonstrating small-scale solutions impact the whole system, noting the potential of using similar principles to build at all scales.
What’s the big deal? For one, reading this book confirms my belief that development needs to be rooted in, and cultivate community connectedness. But most importantly, it challenged my assumption that Development must happen at scale. Out of serendipity, I got to know Enspiral. A New Zealand-based cooperative that experiments with new ways of organizing (see the image below). The founding team insists on unearthing the insights at the small scale suggesting that it does not work when membership grows past a certain threshold. Nevertheless, learning how small communities can effectively share money, power, and information contributes to critical innovation in Development. In this case, it means more equal/equitable ways of organizing.
I was convinced that Development doesn’t always happen on a large scale. But if any piece of knowledge truly deconstructed my preconceived notions of Development, it was Less is More authored by Jason Hickel. “Degrowth” was sporadically brought up at MDP. However, this book eventually called me out. It opened my eyes to the significance of moving the economy from scarcity to abundance, from extraction to regeneration, and from domination to reciprocity and care. I took the learnings from this book so seriously that I doubt if what we’ve been learning in the economic classes is based on flawed yet hegemonic assumptions that resources are scarce and humans are homo economicus.
Taking “Culture and Capitalism” classes deepened my suspicion. It was refreshing to learn about what economic anthropologists like Karl Polani categorize as a “moral economy.” Either it is “fierce egalitarianism” in the hunter-gatherer societies or “gift-giving” in the primitive African tribes. These norms of exchange existed before the capitalistic concept of economic growth became widespread when the pursuit of profit and gain attacked the social fabric at its very core.
While all these thoughts were haunting me, I was lucky to work with CivicMakers to seek moral solace during the summer. Civicmakers specializes in facilitating the public sector’s community engagement projects and city strategic planning with Human-Centered Design (HCD). HCD is a problem-solving method that brings in holistic human perspectives for contextualizing, ideating, implementing, and evaluating a solution. It cares about not just what people say or do, but also how people think and feel. Why are understanding people’s thoughts and feelings important? My favorite nonprofit organization in Hong Kong, ImpactHK, is known for its tagline #kindness_matters. Its mission does not stop at giving homeless people necessities but emphasizes building a culture of love and care in every neighborhood. Say if our societies still inherit some characteristics of a “moral economy” — at least — where no one is entirely acting to maximize their self-interest. I believe that the key to developing moral economies lies in our subconscious decisions. “We feel bad when we neglected …” “We feel good when we cared for ….” We need to build communities where reciprocity is more intuitive and less calculative. When reciprocity underlines every community’s decision-making, more collaboration will become desirable.
HCD used in social program design is not new. NYC Service Design Lab and Greater Good Studio are excellent examples. A few frontrunners who infuse HCD in the development setting include IDEO.org, Dalberg’s Design Impact Group, and Design for Health, an initiative by USAID and Gates Foundation. In my exploration of where HCD intersects with social and environmental justice, I came across Equity NYC, an equity-centered report mandated by the mayor of NYC. And I was overjoyed when I saw IDEO.org opened positions for “Design for Equity.” While these jobs sound inventive, I wonder, when would the “design for justice” become organization strategy 101? When would the know-how become something that the future governments and organizations absolutely need and want?
Last month in COP21, China ordered the pause of building overseas coal plants. Domestically, many people are suffering from the power outage where the leadership blamed the local governments for failing to curb the demand for coal. I laughed out loud when I heard this news — are we at the reversal of history where growth means demanding less? How can degrowth help surface or even spotlight social and environmental justice in this debate?
This century, we are dealing with an imminent crisis unperceivable to the previous generations. We are more likely to feel anger, hope, and anxiety about things happening on a global scale… We’ve seen it with the Occupy movement, #MeToo, and #BLM: justice principles move people in the same direction. I’m optimistic about our ability to get things right, and I believe that it starts on a small scale.
My experience with community organizing constantly reminds me that culture and norms are the most immediate institutions that govern people’s attitudes and behavior in small intimate circles. I want to dedicate myself to learning and enhancing the redistributive effect of development programs and the collaboration process, both of which are critical for fostering a culture of reciprocity and a sense of justice (see Appendix 2). Because human propensities are both a threat and opportunity, I aspire to play a role that (re)connects Development with humanity, and helps more communities realize their abundance that entails endless possibilities.
Appendix 1 — Mind map of the key characteristics of “Development”
Appendix 2 The Venn diagram of my “small d” development
