“A pattern is a form of seed. It contains a reflection of current work and thinking as well as a vision of a future in which the seeds have sprouted and borne fruit.”   Doug Schuler

The Public Sphere Project provides the Patterns selected for their common application to Places. These patterns were developed over fifteen years with hundreds of people. Pattern languages are designed with an understanding of systems and how they work. They support people, creating a means for social innovation.

Places are complex systems. Each pattern provides focus and discussion addressing three layers in Place: the physical world that provides our sustenance, the world of individual and social communication and interpretation, and the world of knowledge that people collectively create. These patterns are discovered through a collaborative process. They embrace values and advocacy, research and action.

So what are patterns again? They are collectively structured social knowledge existing throughout a range of disciplines and communities.

Schuler, author of “Liberating Voices” says of the Public Sphere Project, “We emphasized linking theory and practice and a focus on local problems and outcomes that could be evaluated and reevaluated frequently and could, thus, be key to an ongoing learning process. Each pattern in the pattern language is intended to inject life into systems that are often barren, often life destroying, and often, apparently, beyond our control.”

Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard, has measured campaigns that are designed to reshape things – specifically how civil disobedience has worked in the last century around the world. She has proven what has become known as the ‘3.5% rule,’ describing in her research how a small, organized minority (3.5% of a population) can change things.