Projects Overview
CURRENT PROJECTS
Journeys of the Global ARC
Journeys of the Global ARC are field research and learning expeditions that focus on sustainability solutions in varying regions of the world. From the field, the Journeys draw attention to promising community-based initiatives to improve quality of life, health and place through the power of science, multimedia storytelling and social networking technologies. Journey 2010 mainly focused on water, food and transportation.
Convergence
The Global ARC’s convergences “connect the dots” by bringing together diverse community-based organizations, engaged researchers and others who share common cause (e.g., the desire to create healthy communities where our basic needs for water, food, energy, and transportation are met in sustainable ways). Convergence events seek mutually reinforcing common ground and actionable vision in light of the larger regional and global forces/flows within which we all work.
Sustainability Database
This interactive database encourages knowledge networking among researchers, community-based organizations, planners, social entrepreneurs and other groups who are trying to improve quality of life and place for the common good. The database is designed for sharing challenges and solutions that: (1) promote healthy and sustainable development, and (2) energize community-based creativity and innovation through civically-engaged research, open dialog, social learning and collective problem solving.
FUTURE PROJECTS
Knowledge Commons
The Global ARC’s Knowledge Commons is an Open Access digital library initiative that solicits, archives, and interconnects on-line resources in support of community-based sustainability efforts. The Knowledge Commons network enables intellectual capital generated by progressive community-based researchers, planners and organizers to be joined with intellectual capital generated by allied colleagues in the sciences, the arts and humanities, culture industry, and business.
Global ARC Case Studies
The Global ARC focuses some of its energy on several in-depth case studies. We select cases (action research projects) using the following criteria: the project has a strong community-based organization eager to join knowledge and action through a partnership-driven approach focused on creative problem-solving and sustainability solutions; the project’s sustainability solution is place-based and it has the potential of being scaled up in culturally and context-sensitive ways locally, regionally and globally; and the project requires expertise that matches the expertise of The Global ARC’s leadership and expertise network.