Feb 270 dB City — Towards Integrated Urban Transportation System 2.0This blog post aims to start a thought process on how to integrate urban mobility and logistical systems with management and stewardship of common urban assets as a means to unlocking greater quality of urban life. The provocation takes transportation-induced noise as a measurable proxy from which other outcomes are…Logistics12 min readLogistics12 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Oct 5, 2022The Great British Energy SwindleGambling with the future of our homes, streets and neighbourhoods. This piece was co-authored by members of the Dark Matter Labs and CIVIC SQUARE teams to build upon the ideas explored at Retrofit Reimagined, a four day neighbourhood festival that took place 13th — 16th July 2022 in Ladywood, an…Retrofit12 min readRetrofit12 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Aug 31, 2022Radical generositya new plural economic system Economy is a form of human interaction; a process where debts are moved between two or more people that emerged from a simple gift and barter system around the Bronze Age (4000–2500 BCE). …Economic System11 min readEconomic System11 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Jun 30, 2022Neighbourhood Unions: Building collective financial power in the asset economyAn invitation to experiment and explore The UK is in the midst of a cost of living crisis and an unprecedented fall in living standards. Brexit, COVID, and the war in Ukraine have worsened the problem. …10 min read10 min read
Published in Rapid Transition Lab·Jun 28, 2022Strategic Pathways Navigating the Food Systems’ Change LandscapeIn May we met with a group of actors from the Swedish food systems to explore what is changing in the systems at the moment and how this could be strategically navigated to enable a more rapid transition towards healthy and sustainable food systems. In transformation theory, crises, such as…Food Systems8 min readFood Systems8 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Jun 10, 2022Grantmaking #BeyondtheRulesFunding ‘public good’ in complexity: four interrelated propositions Since 2020, we (Dark Matter Labs) have worked together with Lankelly Chase, The Democratic Society, Black Thrive andYork MCN Network on #BeyondtheRules, exploring how we organise and govern when seeking to create public value within the realities of a deeply interconnected, complex world. When no one actor can know the…Funding6 min readFunding6 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Apr 26, 2022DM Note #8: On Art, Imagination Infrastructures, and Shared Memories of the FutureThis is the 8th in a series of DM notes, which share information and insights from DM Downloads — our regular internal learning sessions. The aim is to make our practice more legible, for us as well as for you. DM Note #8 is an opportunity to reflect together on…Science Fiction18 min readScience Fiction18 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Apr 15, 2022More than calories: a deep code transformation of our food systemsCovid-19 has highlighted the systemic vulnerabilities in the Swedish and planetary food systems, while creating the political economy for deep transformation. This paper seeks to outline the increasingly critical relationship between food and the healthy development of our minds and bodies, and therefore the future prosperity of our economies and societies. — Covid-19 is increasingly forcing us to recognise that food plays a central role in the human health defense systems [1]. Yet our health treatment systems are trailing behind, with nutrition left out of governments’ key recommendations announced during the Covid-19 pandemic [image 1].Food Systems16 min readFood Systems16 min read
Published in Rapid Transition Lab·Mar 8, 2022More than calories: a deep code transformation of our food systemsCovid-19 has highlighted the systemic vulnerabilities in the Swedish and planetary food systems, while creating the political economy for deep transformation. This paper seeks to outline the increasingly critical relationship between food and the healthy development of our minds and bodies, and therefore the future prosperity of our economies and societies. — Covid-19 is increasingly forcing us to recognise that food plays a central role in the human health defense systems [1]. Yet our health treatment systems are trailing behind, with nutrition left out of governments’ key recommendations announced during the Covid-19 pandemic [image 1].Covid 1916 min readCovid 1916 min read
Published in Dark Matter Laboratories·Feb 24, 2022DM Note # 7: Visualising and Communicating ComplexityThis is the seventh in a series of DM notes, which share information from DM Downloads — our regular internal learning sessions. The aim is to make our practice more legible, for us as well as for you. DM Note #7 reflects upon our approach to visualising and communicating complexity…Complexity10 min readComplexity10 min read
