COMMUNITY - SIDE 4 OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL SQUARE

In Danforth’s four-sided individual square, the fourth principle is the spiritual. Every
organization has a culture, a spirit so to speak, but it is difficult to quantify. Like
good leadership, you know it when you see it, but it defies exact measurement. For
this fourth side of techonomic analysis — the “spiritual dimension” of the organization
— we will focus on growth of community. Vibrant organizations, vibrant
cultures, vibrant cities tend to grow and flourish. Weak organizations, failing cultures,
crumbling cities tend to shrink and diminish.

In prehistoric times, people lived as hunter/gatherers, foraging for food wherever
necessary. With the advent of cultivated crops, people were able to settle and team
together, and the extended family village arose. The village was limited in size
(population) by the ability to grow and transport food. Further along in ancient
history, the city-state was the community heart of human organization. Currency
was invented, and trade increased. Folks banded together in cities for mutual protection,
specialized in various tasks, and cities grew. But city size was limited by
the people’s ability to provide basic needs for all citizens. The land could provide
only a certain amount of food within the limits of animate production (animal power).
Perishable food products could be transported only to local markets. Without mechanized
transportation, people could transport the large quantities of food needed to
sustain large cities only by boat. As a result, the earliest large cities developed at
the crossroads of river or ocean transportation.

The steam engine slowly removed this limitation, providing power to pump
water for irrigation, operate mills for food processing, and drive locomotives to
transport food over greater distances. Cities began to grow. Overall, societies
remained largely agrarian, but the industrial revolution developed mechanized industry.
Machinery began to transport goods, help produce crops, speed textile production,
and shape the avenues of commerce: roads, canals, tunnels.

More people could be sustained in closer proximity, hence the emergence of
large cities. Further specialization of tasks arose with increased commerce.

Community interdependence became a fact of life. The interdependence of family
was now extended to the area inhabitants, as folks relied on each other for life’s
necessities. Shopkeepers relied on farmers for their food. Merchants relied on artisans
for value-added goods. Artisans relied on farmers for raw material, and they
relied on merchants to sell their products in the market. Farmers relied on shopkeepers
for their clothes. While self-sufficiency was the norm in agrarian society,
interdependence became the theme of urban life.

This exponential growth has been accompanied by migration to urban areas. Over time.18–19
The emergence of the world’s first two cities with a population of over 1 million
people (London and Beijing in about 1800 AD) coincides with the onset of the
industrial revolution (ushered in by Watt’s steam engine in 1765). By 1900, there
were a dozen cities with a population of over a million, and by 2000 there were as
many as 430 population centers with over a million residents. The world’s largest
urban center, Tokyo, is now estimated to have over 34 million residents.20 Currently,
in Earth’s most populous urban areas, population density ranges between 25,000
and 100,000 people per square mile (Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Mexico City,
others). The current worldwide population density is about 110 people per square mile