Community-Based Co-Laboratory of Democracy

The Bryn Gweled Intentional Community utilized the SDP to focus 34 residents on the topic of their community’s future. In one day the group was able to identify 42 intentions and prioritize them to establish the 5 most relevant for their purpose. The SDP enable the group to develop a dialogue instead of ending deadlocked in a debate. The Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) and influence tree structure (tree of meaning) were used as aides to visually depict the intentions and further identifying two of the original 42 intentions as the building blocks for their tree. The group decided that if these two intentions were the focus of improvement that they would establish a foundation to shape the other intentions. Placing those two intentions at the base of the tree and the other intentions according to priority above them they created a tree like structure that allowed them to see the importance of their intentions and the path the needed to be taken to reach the intended goal.