New Commons

Organization Description

Every project that New Commons undertakes begins with defining the goals of the project with the client so that the project may be co-created from the ground up. The projects of New Commons can vary in length from a one-time engagement to a continuing relationship and represent the firm's capabilities in urban design, local economies, community engagement, convening and facilitation.

New Commons analyses current and emerging conditions to build a successful forward-looking plan, and once these goals have been determined and the conditions analyzed, the firm assists clients in creating a network of capability by identifying key stakeholders and leveraging their self-interest. Once this extended group – including New Commons – is established, the firm begins the project work with an end result as simple as a piece of communication or as complex as a 50-year strategic vision for a multi-town region. New Commons developed their practice based on this thinking and three factors involving seeing bigger pictures and setting higher goals:

• Systems Thinking: When organizations allow themselves a broader perspective, they often discover that their "problem" was more of a "symptom". Thus organizations begin to diagnose unhealthy conditions and develop therapies to cure the disease, not just treat the symptom.
• Design: By addressing the entity itself and all its functions as a design challenge, organizations open themselves to a range of possibilities that can produce radical improvements in outcomes.
• Collaboration: Highly collaborative organizations often point to the adoption of this practice as the catalyzing force that drove them to new heights.