BOUNDARYLESS CONVERSATIONS PODCAST - EPISODE 111
#111 – The Power of Making and Remaking with Immy Kaur
A visionary community leader and co-founder of Civic Square, Immy Kaur, joins us on this episode, to drive home some ground breaking thoughts on systemic transformation in our everyday living.
With deep insights drawn from over a decade of experience, Immy challenges conventional thinking about organizing at scale and highlights the urgent need to reimagine how we live, work, and relate to one another.
Touching on the power of unlearning assumptions about systems and authority, she simplifies it for us stating, “we as people build our systems and processes, and to change them, we don’t need permission.”
Podcast Notes
Known for her ability to connect systemic thinking with tangible, participatory action, Immy Kaur helps us visualize how neighbourhoods are a strategic site for change—”big enough and small enough” to demonstrate value creation while fostering agency in communities.
In this episode, she explores critical themes like the fragility of existing systems, and why outdated economic models require a shift. Drawing from frameworks like Doughnut Economics, she unpacks how local, modular prototypes can demonstrate pathways toward systemic change.
She takes us through rethinking value and metrics beyond financial systems, prototyping of modular solutions to tackle systemic lock-ins and so much more.
Tune in and discover how we can reimagine everything through participatory systems to navigate the complex challenges of our times.
Key highlights
👉 Neighborhoods are strategic sites for change as they are small enough to demonstrate deep systemic transformation while being large enough to inspire scalable solutions.
👉 Unlearning systems is the first step to fostering collective agency and unlocking new possibilities for civic innovation.
👉 Effective transformation requires balancing systemic redesign, practical action, and radical imagination.
👉 Material scarcity and ecological limits become opportunities for creativity, pushing us to innovate within planetary boundaries.
👉 Organizations and communities must rethink value, moving beyond financial metrics to embrace multi-capital approaches that prioritize social, environmental, and care-based economies.
👉 Genuine change involves shifting agency to communities, empowering them to co-lead their transitions and transformations.
👉 Modular, tangible prototypes can demonstrate what systemic alternatives look like, enabling practical steps toward change while inspiring imagination.
Topics (chapters):
00:00 The Power of Making and Remaking – intro
00:49 Immy Kaur’s introduction
02:03 Immy Kaur’s Journey and Building Civic Square
21:23 What defines a civic body?
32:18 New frameworks, metrics, and institutional forms for creating value
47:19 New Upcoming Collaborations and Institutional Agremeents
57:32 Breadcrumbs and Suggestions
Guest’s suggested breadcrumbs
The podcast was recorded on 12th November 2024.
Get in touch with Boundaryless:
Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast
To find more about the guests
Other references and mentions
- Indy Johar – Boundaryless
- Alastair Parvin – CEO at Open Systems Lab
- Dark Matter Labs
- Impact Hub – Birmingham
- Doughnut Economics
- Dan Hill’s – Design Missions
- Sam Lessin – Slow Ventures
- Economics of Care
- Home.Earth – Denmark
- Dani Hill-Hansen – Doughnut for Urban Development
- Emily Harris – Dark Matter Labs
- Doughnut for Urban Development: Manual and Tools
- Smart Commons – Dark Matter Labs
Guest suggested breadcrumbs
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