It’s one of the great questions of political science and, by turn, human civilization.  Assuming that most of us act in our own self-interest most of the time, under what conditions can the collective good take precedence over individual gain? For those of us in the planning field, this question is anything but academic. By its very nature, planning is a collective business. Its lifeblood is the community meeting and  public participation; its bread and butter town plans and zoning ordinances. At every step, planning is a high-wire act of balancing individual interests with the common good.

Aristotle reminds us that human beings are thoroughly political animals. And yet, if evolution is any guide, while we might well be political, we are not well adapted to collective action and forward thinking. Most of human history is a record of individuals simply striving to survive, to fend off predators and tyrants alike in a Darwinian cycle of kill or be killed. Even the U.S. Constitution, arguably the world’s most progressive and visionary social contract, derives its power from the protections it affords individuals, not the collective, in the face of state authority.

But perhaps we have arrived at a new evolutionary threshold, where the imperative for individuals to think and act on the common good is transforming our very consciousness. From global climate change to affordable housing to Wi-Fi access in cities and towns, a daunting, if fascinating, set of social challenges is giving rise to a new mental model, one in which the line between I and We, local and global, us and them is more elastic, less impervious.

The Foundation and our partners are working hard to accelerate the transition to this “commons” mind-set in the belief that not only is it achievable, it’s already happening.

Bill Shutkin
President & CEO