You are what you share

Part of: The Beach

Many people want to live differently, and take the initiative to do so. Current systems prove their incompetencies to deal with new requirements and possibilities. But there are new 'tracks' in the social landscape. These show that creative thinkers and makers are working hard on new collaborations, situations, platforms and business models.

A new cultural era
Shifting perspectives can help re-defining the ethos for design and makes innovation possible. `To our concern hierarchical organization models and related tasks make 'creative innovation' impossible. That is why The Beach operates as a network of people and organizations that embrace openness, involvement and interaction. We are convinced that shaping the future requires different way of thinking, looking and interacting. Seeking and finding new shared meanings are central to our approach.

We-think and the beach ethic
Our vision appears to fit in well with the ideas of Charles Leadbeater, who used in his book We-think: the power off mass creativity (2008) the metaphor of 'the beach'. As he puts it in his essay (Un) Common Ground (2007): "Beaches are ordered without being controlled. No one is in charge. Beaches are model civic spaces: tolerant, playful, self-regulating, democratic in spirit, mildly carnivalesque. Underlying the beach’s appeal is a simple idea: the beach is a commons where people can self-organise in play (...) There are no zoning regulations, fences nor white lines to tell you where to go". The beach reflects a way of thinking and doing, and it shows in our perspective on the organization of creative processes of innovation.