Viewing localism as a force in opposition to globalism is a ‘false priority' that will lead to ‘othering and war', New Local's Stronger Things heard today.
Speaking at the opening keynote session at the festival in London's Guildhall, director of Dark Matter Lab Indy Johar emphasised the importance of localism in the middle of a global climate emergency and an energy crisis.
He said: ‘Localism is the intersection of the planet, where the planet intersects into the particular. So how we place localism in the future matters. And I would argue this is a localism which recognizes that we are planetary and we are intersectionally local.'
He emphasised that ‘the power of place is not to have single departments, mimicking Whitehall and the Cabinet Office – it is to drive intersectional value at the point where you multi-solve everything.'
Johar added: ‘You can plant a tree canopy in a city, and if a municipality or a state plants it, there is only a 50% chance of survival. If it's planted by communities, then there is a 90% chance of survival because care matters. You can't procure care.'
Citizens are living in an age that calls for ‘deep infrastructure investment', in order to mitigate the liabilities caused by climate change, he said. ‘We are going to have to build tree canopies of the whole city. We are going to have to reimagine the care in the whole city. We're going to have to reimagine energy infrastructures for the whole city.'
He added: ‘The biggest vulnerability is the breakdown of the social contract that I think we're starting to see in different parts of the country.'
Johar advised those attending the festival to ‘build alliances that are deliberative and able to handle fast policies. That is your unique gift and strategic opportunity'.
