Experiences from the Deeper Sense of Place T-Lab: Transforming Coastal Stewardship Action in Casco Bay, ME

Abstract

In a global Workshop/Transformations Lab (T-Lab) focused on transformation systems at a bioregional scale, a process to better understand the effect of the workshop on participants’ capacity to navigate emergence was designed to develop a deeper understanding of cross-scale systems reflexivity and apply both of these concepts to inspire coastal stewardship action at a bioregional scale. We developed this analysis because T-Labs have the potential to support transformation at a bioregional level to inspire coastal stewardship action. The "Deeper Sense of Place" T-Lab focused on applying these frameworks through three distinct perspectives: indigenous, Western, and the perspective of the bioregion as imagined through the lens of the health of two nearby seagrass meadows in Casco Bay, Gulf of Maine. We summarize the design and implementation of this workshop, which was about deepening ways of seeing, connecting, and amplifying social innovation at a bioregional scale.

As a direct result of the three-day workshop, participants were better able to see complex system dynamics that were previously unidentified, which, in turn, allowed participants to see opportunities for stewardship action from a greater sense of increased agency to participate in and lead transformative change in new ways. Participants are better able to identify different kinds of stewardship opportunities and better describe the generative potential that can lie within social-ecological systems at a bioregional scale. A thoughtfully designed multi-day T-Lab that emphasizes multiple perspectives, seeing systems and building agency can directly inspire coastal stewardship action and long-term commitment to social innovation for transformative change.