Introduction
We are an emergent collective of diverse nonprofit groups and including lawyers, scientists, public health experts, technology and media professionals, climate activists, educators & civic action groups.
Like many cities in the global south, Bengaluru faces a challenging mix of aspiration, opportunity, disruption and uncertainty. Looming behind all of these developments is climate change and the transformations it will bring, willy nilly.
For example, while Bengaluru contributes 87% of Karnataka's economy, the rest of the state is dependent on agriculture and we can already see the impact of climate change on agrarian livelihoods. Migration to Bengaluru is bound to increase as a result. How will the city accommodate these migrants - both in-state and out of state? How can they lead dignified flourishing lives?
The Flourishing Bengaluru collective was formed with the realisation that large, complex 'wicked' problems cannot be solved by individuals or even by institutions, not even by governments with all their resources. Instead, given the scale of the problems, the only meaningful and lasting way to make a difference is by building ecosystems whose collective strength contains the potential to address them. A large number of people and institutions, of different types, must come together, each adding a piece to the jigsaw puzzle that when completed forms the overall solution.
In other words, our 'ecological thought' is a radical new way of looking at systemic challenges, and within that, we propose a radically decentralised governance model as the way forward