Thank you for this beautiful, educational post. It would be so wonderful to replace the administrative top-down logic we are enmeshed in with a policentric way of life.. is there anything like it in the world; if yes, where?
Thank you so much for your kind words and for engaging so deeply with these ideas. It is heartening to find others who feel the weight of that "administrative logic" and see the urgent need for a more human-scaled, polycentric alternative.
To answer your wonderful question: yes, there are indeed "Centres of Dignity" functioning in the world today, though they often exist in the "interstices" or margins of the dominant global system.
In my own research (Donato, 2018), I have looked closely at the history and persistence of Agrotowns—specifically in the Mediterranean and parts of Southern Europe—where the town and the surrounding ecology (the "vineyard") form a single, metabolic unit of life. These are not just places of residence; they are nodes of resilience where the community still dictates the rhythm of life rather than a distant bureaucratic capital.
Furthermore, we see the "Polycentric" spirit alive in:
Intentional communities and Ecovillages that prioritise local agency and ecological stewardship.
Co-operative networks (such as those in the Basque region or parts of Italy) that function as a Commonwealth of shared resources rather than top-down hierarchies.
Bioregional movements that seek to realign human governance with the natural boundaries of the land.
The goal of the Polycentric Commonwealth is to take these "pockets of dignity" and provide them with a cohesive philosophical and structural framework—moving them from being exceptions to becoming the new "Polis."
We are essentially trying to remember how to be "rooted" again, as Simone Weil so beautifully put it. I look forward to exploring more of these "where and how" examples in future posts!
Wonderful, I look forward to knowing more about the Polycentric!
You can access more about polycentrics on our main page if you haven't already: https://polycentrics.substack.com/
Thank you!
Thank you for this beautiful, educational post. It would be so wonderful to replace the administrative top-down logic we are enmeshed in with a policentric way of life.. is there anything like it in the world; if yes, where?
Thank you so much for your kind words and for engaging so deeply with these ideas. It is heartening to find others who feel the weight of that "administrative logic" and see the urgent need for a more human-scaled, polycentric alternative.
To answer your wonderful question: yes, there are indeed "Centres of Dignity" functioning in the world today, though they often exist in the "interstices" or margins of the dominant global system.
In my own research (Donato, 2018), I have looked closely at the history and persistence of Agrotowns—specifically in the Mediterranean and parts of Southern Europe—where the town and the surrounding ecology (the "vineyard") form a single, metabolic unit of life. These are not just places of residence; they are nodes of resilience where the community still dictates the rhythm of life rather than a distant bureaucratic capital.
Furthermore, we see the "Polycentric" spirit alive in:
Intentional communities and Ecovillages that prioritise local agency and ecological stewardship.
Co-operative networks (such as those in the Basque region or parts of Italy) that function as a Commonwealth of shared resources rather than top-down hierarchies.
Bioregional movements that seek to realign human governance with the natural boundaries of the land.
The goal of the Polycentric Commonwealth is to take these "pockets of dignity" and provide them with a cohesive philosophical and structural framework—moving them from being exceptions to becoming the new "Polis."
We are essentially trying to remember how to be "rooted" again, as Simone Weil so beautifully put it. I look forward to exploring more of these "where and how" examples in future posts!
Warmly,
Donald Donato/The Polycentrics Team
You might find this paper of mine resonant with some of the themes here. https://www.academia.edu/44568297/_Polytheism_and_Ecology_Indic_Academy_International_Online_Conference_on_Indigenous_Environmentalism_for_Scholars_and_Saviours_5_17_20
Thank you, I look forward to reading it!