Building a Community of Partnerships

Abstract

This concept poster represents both the linear and non-linear growth experienced in the program this first year. It is linear in the sense it is a continuum of experiences gained throughout my life that point towards the importance of community action and collaboration to deliver environmental, social and economic sustainability. Throughout the year, a variety of experiences -- beginning with the residency that introduced me to my peers and colleagues and ending with a more disciplined and refined research focus incorporating several U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The non-linear path was much less straightforward, winding and wending around new concepts like complexity theory, self-sustaining systems, transformative learning, ecological literacy, place-based learning, etc. The literary journey, while messy, brought me to the same path as the linear and together provide a holism to guide further research.