Beyond Local Initiatives
ST presented so far is implicitly positioned in a local, municipal context. The maxim is: think globally, act locally. This expresses the idea that global change starts with local initiatives to give good examples of improvements to be implemented on a larger scale. This bears the question: is it possible to embed the ST process in another ST process so that in the end we do act globally? The answer is given in the diagram shown below. The basic idea is that a ST process is seen as the implementation process in a higher level ST process. In this way, the ST process is extended from a local level to regional and national levels, and if we dream on, even up to the global world.
Although the nested ST processes form a hierarchy, it does not mean that ST processes taken together have a strictly top-down or a bottom-up orientation. Just like a single ST process, the combined ST processes have circular processes at work at the same time. In this way, ideas and rules of engagement can flow freely upwards and downwards to set the right conditions for change at all levels.
