George -

Thanks for the notice about Exploring Civic Intelligence: Descriptions & Prescriptions. I will submit a proposal along the lines of the following thoughts.

My working thesis is: "Community precedes cooperation." Cooperation always involves working across boundaries, be they political, organizational, cultural, familial - or individual.

This perspective has emerged from my 30 years work promoting regional cooperation among local governments.

The paradigm: "Think globally, act locally" was innovative in its time. In 2004, the local scale is often too small to address current needs and opportunities.

"Think local planet, act regionally," is my candidate paradigm. That “regional communities” are organized and now act both to avoid tragedy in the commons and gain benefits—is largely UNKNOWN and INVISIBLE.

The purpose of my weekly "Regional Community News" is to MAKE VISIBLE analysis and actions at multi-jurisdictional regional scales through links to current news coverage.

Regions that work - e.g. are functional as a multi-jurisdictional regional community have DNA: it is geographically Defined; has a common Name and its Alignment is inclusive of smaller communities and participatory in larger regional ommunities.

This is a consequence of underlying "bridging" social capital observed by Robert Putnam. It is community intelligence based on experience.

Regional intelligence can be cultivated to build regional communities. My recommendation:

"Acknowledge boundaries. Work across them. Think local planet, act regionally.”

Local is singular, but regional is always plural - there are many choices of how to draw boundaries. That's why a DNA building approach is useful. Still, any and all regions are within the framework of our local planet.

Read and search prior issues at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/regions_work/messages

Looking for others to explore this perspective. Please check the website.

Tom