Cultivating Human Ecosystems @Rena Summer School 2024

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At Rena Summer School 2024, Ecosistemica led the workshop “Coltivare Ecosistemi Umani” (Cultivating Human Ecosystems), a hands-on exploration of relational complexity and collective intelligence. Through participatory methods, we invited participants to investigate how human networks—seen as living ecosystems—can become fertile ground for shared values, strategic collaboration, and transformative action.

The Summer School, held in Matera under the evocative theme “Siamo Foresta – Praticare Terreno Comune” (We Are Forest – Practicing Common Ground), brought together a diverse community of activists, researchers, public policy professionals, and social innovators. Its purpose was to imagine equitable alternatives to systems in crisis, addressing the fragmentation of our time by cultivating a sense of interconnectedness. Inspired by the metaphor of the forest as a vibrant, interdependent network, the School served as a civic laboratory for experimentation and learning.

Rooted in Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer’s “Theory U”, the program guided participants through a three-phase process: immersion into present-day social and ecological fractures; a moment of suspension and openness, enabling the release of outdated paradigms; and, finally, a phase of envisioning and prototyping new collective futures. Emotions, relationships, and imagination were placed at the center of this transformative journey.

Within this broader framework, our workshop offered a concrete embodiment of Siamo Foresta’s ethos. Participants mapped their human ecosystems—networks of relationships, roles, and shared practices—while reflecting on how these structures can evolve into spaces of political and operational agency. We introduced tools for relational mapping, deep listening, and meaning negotiation, enabling groups to co-create a shared protocol: a living set of principles to guide collective action while honoring individual diversity.