What is a city? A sophisticated architecture of buildings, roads, and energy systems? A giant marketplace where goods and services are exchanged? A place where any aspiring individual can make their dreams come true? Or is it a complex symphony of diverse customs, ideologies, and values all trying to live and work in harmony? All of the above, says author and Spiral Dynamics “wizard” Dr. Marilyn Hamilton. In this interview with EnlightenNext’s Elizabeth Debold, Hamilton speaks about her new book, Integral City, in which she takes these many dimensions—architectural, economic, cultural, political, spiritual—and weaves them together into a compelling vision for the city of the future.
“When I first explored Google Earth and zoomed out to see the planet from the stratosphere,” Hamilton explains, “I was intrigued that from space our cities look like human hives.” Contemplating how beehives are finely tuned ecosystems that support the flora and fauna around them has inspired her to think about cities as hives that could sustain the ecosphere and enhance human development. Drawing on two decades of research in urban centers across the U.S. and her native Canada, Hamilton explains why she thinks this high-altitude view on our cities is crucial to creating the vibrant, fulfilling, and sustainable human communities of tomorrow.
BIO
Marilyn Hamilton, PhD, CGA, is an author, community organizer, and researcher with more than twenty-five years of multisector, international organization development experience. She is the founder of Integral City, TDG Global Learning Connections, and a founding member of the Integral Institute. Marilyn teaches leadership, organization change, and systems thinking at the graduate level with Royal Roads University, California Institute of Integral Studies, The Banff Centre, and Adizes Graduate School. She has authored and coauthored several books, including her most recent, Integral City. She is a graduate of University of Toronto (BA English, Diploma in Translation) and a Certified General Accountant. She completed her PhD (Administration and Management) in 1999, researching learning and leadership in self-organizing online community systems.
