Thinking and doing for a rebalancing planet

It’s hard not to notice that the world is rebalancing. New hubs of economic dynamism are emerging as old ones struggle to reignite their engines. But for both new and old, the fragility of a rebalancing world demands a reappraisal of what making prosperity actually looks like. The old compact no longer fits the 21st century and our blunt tools won’t help to construct a new one. Ecologically, politically, economically and socially we need to build a new philosophy of prosperity that can help us flourish.

i-see global is

a thinking and doing practice run by Jimmy Greer. Jimmy works independently, with partners, or, as part of a team to help you tackle your impacts and improve your outcomes. Scroll down to learn about recent projects and writings or get in touch to talk some more.

Thinking

Research, briefing notes, reports and workshops

Doing

Making and doing to create better outcomes

CONNECTING THE WORLD WITH BRAZIL

i-see Brazil is a hub for exploring Brazil’s unique role in a rebalancing world. We create research, thinking and projects digging into the composition of the economy; understanding the new middle classes; the rise of creative, collaborative and social economies; the challenges of the shift to quality and wellbeing and the path towards a better stewardship of the natural environment.

go to i-see brazil

Brazil and the case for muddle-through-ology

“From the jeitinho, the skilled art of finding a way to get things done against the odds, to the oft derided gambiarra, working deftly within constraints to improvise something useful out of what you have to hand, these highly prized attributes have in Brazil their own living laboratory.” Read the post on the FT’s Beyond Brics

WikiHouse /RIO is a TED prize-winning project to set up an open-source CNC lab in Rio de Janeiro. Teaming up with the designers of the wonderful WikiHouse and Rio based social impact agency Dharma, our aim is to tap into a creative maker culture that exists in the favela and provide the community with the tools and capabilities baked into the WikiHouse ethos to take their skills to the next level

go to wikihouserio.cc

Congealed Capitalism: It's not about the power laces

Why is it that today’s economy, that does assorted trinkets with such dextrous aplomb, comes up so woefully short at creating the stuff that matters?

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How to fix the world is a project developed with Umair Haque to explore a radical redesign of global institutions. From rebooted version of GDP to a better version of multi-party democracy, the project digs into the zombification of the institutional landscape, its inability to meet the challenges of the 21st century and charts what a Bretton Woods 3.0 might come to look like. Find out more:

go to howtofixtheworld.og

Counting Brazil's Gross National Happiness

“Few things are more likely to invoke the suspicion of very serious people in advanced economies than loose talk about measuring national happiness.You can imagine the eyebrows rising further when an institution in an emerging economy like Brazil…” Read the post on the FT’s Beyond Brics

Retail Reset: Saving our cities

Retail Reset is an action research project exploring new frontiers for retail. Through workshops, research, articles and the blog we are thinking about how to put retail back at the heart of our cities and a more human economy. It is trying to answer some of the pernicious questions that float around retail, cities and consumption – in the new or the old world – to which we re yet to find the answers.

go to retailreset.com

Tapping Jugaad’s hidden wealth

So imagine if instead of a billion more consumers trying to clamber their way up an income (and life satisfaction) ladder that has more in common with David Bowie’s perspective defying staircase scene in Labyrinth, the goal was a billion more people hacking their realities, personalising their world the gusto, flair and elan that the jugaad spirit espouses.

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Should you wish to chat about what is going on in Rio and the social, civic, creative econ there, (obvs a tiny partial glimpse) do shout! 29 July 2014 at 8:18 AM