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The window of the new dimension

The rapid—and perhaps senseless—era we were on track to embark upon was surprised by a small but powerful ally who managed to pull the train of our civilization off its tracks and steer it toward a new reality, one that is currently very little visible.

The unbalanced and unsustainable notion of development drags along poverty, inequality, poor quality of life concentrated in cities, and the devastation of the entire planet, favoring a privileged minority that appears more educated and, therefore, concentrates decision-making power over other spirits.

A big question now arises. New voices (perhaps collective ones) are needed, capable of showing possible paths that will lead us away from the inevitable slow death sentenced to our idea of ​​civilization.

The city, one of humanity’s oldest and most important projects, has always occupied a favorite place for human development. This is an idea that will surely have to be re-evaluated.

The notion of human development has been a dangerous gamble; An idea of ​​reality that was accentuated with acceleration, thanks to the first industrial revolutions, and is now being accelerated by the speed and quantity of information generated in the hyperconnectivity in which we live.

The Anthropocene’s misunderstanding possibly has its roots in the understanding of its nature as different from that of the rest of the species. Even worse, it assumes a superior position that has only proven to be a driver of imbalance for the ancient rhythms of ecosystems, while egos and certainties continue to isolate positions and envelop constructions of reality, which have a duration given by the validation of different groups to which one must pay homage in order to belong.

In academia, publications often matter more than concrete actions. In the “productive” sector, economic profits dictate the only destinies and omit the social or environmental consistencies that must be sacrificed along the way. The public sector, with its loss of credibility, continues to have small, isolated lights that seem to want to build a cosmos that once again represents trust and organizes the inevitable chaos generated by this process of social upheaval, reminding us once again of our fragile condition within the planet’s evolutionary processes.

Many of us don’t want to pay attention to the present and remain anchored to nostalgia for the past or expectant of better futures that have yet to appear. Left and right, equally biased, are grouped together with religions and powers that protect different outdated interests. We are once again in the centuries of pandemics, centuries we thought were part of the past. The promises of happiness and modernity have now vanished. Some warnings issued by science and certain sectors of the media, mostly international, had been announcing the approaching danger for the unsustainable system.

Now that we are far from each other, we can observe through our windows how our inaction allows the reappearance of natural order. Behind a window, one of the most symbolic elements of architecture, we look at an exterior that has always been a refuge for our own home. This civilization has dedicated itself to building an entire universe parallel to that of nature to generate a discourse in which we must all be occupied.

Now more than ever, there is fear of emptiness. Our ancient roots built this theater thinking they would succeed in securing a notion of order that, within planetary codes, seems young and weak.

There is never time or space for the spirit. We have constructed a false notion of place that was filled with people, the exchange of information and resources, but that generates virtual and physical garbage that will end up drowning our own knowledge, that of families, and societies.

Life itself blurs and merges behind this rhythm covered by routine, behind a veil that casts darkness and prevents us from inhabiting and seeing. Having habits can be a path to revealing (unveiling) and beginning a re-evolution from within. The window seems to open to discover new ideas of beauty; suddenly, more real and attainable, not as exclusive as those produced by weak aesthetics devoured by passing fads.

The need for a new idea of ​​beauty seems to be a collective yearning, a more ethical one oriented toward the search for balance, with all the complexity that this challenge poses.

Unoccupying ourselves in order to better occupy space and time is an awareness we were forced to adopt thanks to the arrival of a virus that develops within the respiratory system and affects the way we introduce the universe into our bodies to live off it. This emptiness, brought to the understanding of the urban, has managed to reveal the snowy peaks previously veiled by the pollution resulting from our speed.

This new awareness of the body’s inner emptiness seeks to fill itself with the outside air that can be seen behind the confinement. Once again, sheltered behind boundaries drawn by the idea of ​​the human, in a condition alien to the meaning of dwelling, we try to find ourselves in rituals, just as with the primitive bonfire, from which perhaps the essence of the idea of ​​home derives.

We have reached, then, a turning point in which our civilization must re-acknowledge that we must return to the original forces to distance ourselves from the path we have taken and recognize the meaning of this thing we have called evolution.

It seems essential to reread our cities and countryside and review the way we have decided to write about this planet. Perhaps we should seek to reconnect the orders of heaven and earth, in a notion of landscape that shelters life in all its dimensions, so that we can once again care for and be cared for through collective construction, in concepts broader than those of simple real estate, agricultural, or livestock businesses.

From this state of pause, a new rhythm could emerge. One produced by less defined and more diverse ideals. From this silence that allowed us to hear the birds again in the cities, a new harmony could emerge that generates a better narrative of what the human condition can achieve as just another of the inhabitants of this planet.

Possible new spirits are emerging: hazy intuitions of a dimension that prioritizes relationships of closeness and encounter with oneself, with others, and with the environment, as well as a more systemic and unity-oriented reading. Before the productivity of hours, people, and companies, it seems important to achieve clarity about the point we want to reach through collective and consensual agreements. Perhaps new forms of leadership and, hopefully, power to guide actions.

A new understanding of the notion of business should emerge to bring together humans, nature, memories, and desires, in a loving creative capacity that serves as a gateway from individual homes to the collective home that was originally the idea of ​​the city.

Intellectual, physical, spiritual, and then economic production should shape this coming era.

With the confinement, many windows seem to open.

New consciousnesses could be capitalized on in the construction of new consistencies of civilization. It is not internet information or high-density cities that will save the world from pandemics, poverty, or climate change. It is closeness to a spiritual light that allows us to integrate and unify the shattered notion of reality we have constructed. The vision we have been privileging prevents us from seeing the whole and is left with fragmented sections of its parts that must then be interpreted however we can to make decisions and act in a construction of reality that seems to fall short.

A vision driven by the pursuit of self-centered privileges prevents us from understanding the abundant wealth that lies in what would be a complete advancement of the social system, hand in hand with ecosystems through collaborative synergies. There are communities that are years, centuries ahead of us in living with care. Carefully integrated into their ecosystems, some cultures live better than others.

The question of origin is not a look back. It is perhaps an invitation to question the meaning of what we consider real.

It seems better for the whole to advance at a slow pace than the rapid development of a few. This new understanding of all as one could lead us to better withstand health, ecological, social, and economic crises, since all of these are superficial evidence of the greatest and deepest of crises: the spiritual crisis of not understanding how close we all are.

Stopping to see differences and starting to connect visions and efforts could be the only true path to transformation. A step away from egocentrism and the overrated power of the individual intellect could serve as the basis for a more human conversation that leads to weaving paths of a new narrative: that of a dimension in which the parts operate aligned with the whole because they seek encounters rather than divergences. Multidisciplinary and biodiverse forces establishing creative dialogues, removed from any interest other than serving as a bridge for progress.

This could be an invitation to those who lead the territory: to open spaces for discussion in different forums with a mixed composition that explores the hidden opportunities dormant in unimaginable places.

There’s not much to conclude these days. It would be impossible to attempt it. But it’s also important to offer alternatives.

The RE and the CO.

The same level of awareness that generates the problem will hardly be able to generate a solution. It seems urgent to use the help of technology to establish co-responsible co-creation workshops that allow us to reunite, re-recognize, and re-present reality. This strategy worked in the development of the Management Plan for Bogotá’s Historic Center: multi-stakeholder meetings comprised of academia, the public sector, the private sector, and different social groups, aimed at finding a multi-level solution to different types of crises with implementation mechanisms at different scales and times, to offer aligned visions for weaving together. The needs of neighborhoods and different areas of the territory are a more powerful alternative for innovation than is often believed.

At the very least, a rapid prototype of this exercise could be attempted. A quick test that attempts to recognize territorial diversity so as not to be trapped again in the siloed vision of a single point of view.

What do you think?