A world transformed by climate change and geo-political shifts is coming.  Our actions will determine the fate of generations to come but the seed of opportunity lies within the current challenges.  Our collective potential knows few bounds, and it is in this collective potential that we can discover the corner stones for 21st-century organised logic.

Imagine a world where every voice is valued, our environment flourishes, and we collaborate to construct a brighter, more resilient future. This isn't just a dream—it's our destiny, a future that's not just feasible, but certain if we act now.

Rather than using digital technologies to reinforce 20th century structures, lets ensure they assist in the creation of resilient communities, cities and societies. That they build bridges between globalised solutions and local ones and enable flexible structures that can function both independently and as part of larger formations.  Let’s develop logic to help humans cope with shocks from climate change and geopolitical shocks; better still let’s build solutions that help avoid climate change altogether.  Let’s use digital to deliver a vision of the future that will see global benefits on a local scale and vice a versa, rather than pitching them against one another.

In our discussions around responses to climate change, we often refer to the resilience of infrastructure with the aim of ensuring that our water, energy, telecommunications systems all continue to operate as we understand them today even though these systems themselves may be contributing to increasing climate change.  Why, you might wonder, would humanity continue to use systems that are effectively ensuring its downfall?  Why are we clinging so desperately to systems that have failed many of us?

Donella Meadows, one of the leading lights in systems thinking gave us the clearest explanation of this when she said that the purpose of a system is to ensure its continued existence.  For us to create a truly sustainable society, we must transition away from the organisational structures and systems that have caused so many environmental, social, and economic problems.  We need to change the system itself – and this leaves many people panicked.  But it really doesn’t need to.

What if we instead of looking at creating resilient infrastructure, we instead looked at creating resilient nations and communities?  Communities and nations that can continue functioning if one aspect of their critical services becomes intermittent or fails.  Rather than falling into disaster recovery mode, resilient communities can feed, water and keep themselves going with energy until the larger scale systems can reconnect.  This is far simpler than it sounds and has the added benefit of creating agency and local employment.

If we take this different perspective, we can also take a different view of the role of digital solutions in helping us deliver such critical services.  We can use digital technologies to enable community-based resilience.  Communities that are organised locally but connected to the larger-scale systems globally.  Communities that take advantage of digital technologies, rather than get taken advantage of by them.  If climate change continues unchecked, we may have only our neighbours to rely on.  If we start now, however, we can build a significantly more resilient society while reducing our overall environmental impact.  This is not far-fetched – to achieve it, we need two things: resilient communities and resilient institutions.

For example, digital technologies could be used for simple things like re-use of clothing and equipment and reducing food waste or it could be more advanced like co-ordinating the demand and supply of locally grown food or locally produced energy.  These systems work primarily locally but are able to connect to the national or global communities as required.  Many of these activities are already ongoing at a local level, but they are not effectively co-ordinated; digital can make that co-ordination simple.

Strategic networks are nothing new – they have long been associated with a variety of organisational forms within the economy, from farmers who co-ordinate a stable supply of organic lamb to regional restaurants in Italy to strategic networks of companies within an industrial structure. These networks were generally static for some time. Through digital technologies, however, they can now dynamic, urban-based and operating at near real-time.  Individuals can now locate, connect and create a supply chain network of other individuals with small to non-existent transaction costs.  Instead of the purely rational human described in economics textbooks, people can act both with self-interest and as a member of a community.  This opens the potential for entirely new forms of economic, social and environmental organisation that reduces climate impact and increases the ability of communities and nations to adapt climate reality.

An important aspect of these dynamic strategic networks is risk management. Networks enable entrepreneurs to develop and apply products, services and knowledge in a manner that can also provide the entrepreneur with a buffer or level of protection.  By leveraging the networks of their peers, an individual can agree to deliver a much larger-scale project than before. Effectively, individuals can develop flexible pathways by which to manage risk.