Rosie Bell, Boaz Feldman, Rufus Pollock & Christoph Wenna

Abstract

The system transformation needed to address our interconnected crises requires a shift at the level of collective worldview. Towards such a shift - and the resilience and flourishing needed to navigate societal breakdowns wisely and create the new - we offer a model of Developmental Spaces (DS):

Dedicated, growth-oriented spaces where communities engage in sustained, multi-domain inner development in the service of cultural transformation.

The paper that follows outlines a rationale for inner development and the spaces of community that can support it. We set out the qualities of these spaces and offer recommendations for field building and practical implementation.

We aim to help build an evidence-based movement for Developmental Spaces, provided widely enough to serve large segments of populations. The ultimate ambition is a replicable, scalable model with potential to influence the deepest orientation of societies towards a regenerative future.

“I think hard times are coming, when we will be wanting voices… who can see alternatives to how we live now, and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies, to other ways of being.” – Ursula K Le Guin (2014)

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Executive Summary

Introduction

Today’s interconnected crises arise from the very foundations of globalised culture: the reality assumptions, values, and perspectives that shape modern societies. Symptom-chasing won’t do: what’s needed is a profound shift in the way we understand and relate to the world, at the scale of whole societies. Ways of being and seeing that remain unimaginable from within the modern cultural perspective.

In other words, if we’re serious about system transformation, we must also be serious about inner transformation. Yet here we encounter a stark gap: despite our urgent need, modern societies lack the understanding, tools, and institutions to cultivate the inner capacities required to transform our systems wisely. Modern materialism largely dismissed the inner world as irrelevant; neglecting our consciousness, emotional maturity, and capacity for collective action. Postmodern critique, meanwhile, taught us to suspect growth hierarchies. Their combined legacy is a poverty of robust, trusted, research-based institutions dedicated to large-scale inner growth for the common good. Towards closing this gap, we offer a model of Developmental Spaces:

dedicated, growth-oriented spaces that nurture multi-domain inner development and act as cultural incubators for a new paradigm.

This early step aims to help build an evidence-based movement for Developmental Spaces, provided widely enough to serve large segments of populations. The ultimate ambition is a replicable, scalable model with potential to influence the deepest orientation of societies towards a regenerative future.

“From the beginning of recorded history, and arguably before that, humanity has evolved in both interior (subjective) and exterior (objective) aspects. But at some time, through the emergence of modern science leading to the industrial and information revolutions, a gap developed – an ever-widening chasm between interior (cognition, awareness, emotion, value) and exterior (e.g. technological ) capacities.” – David J. Temple (Zak Stein, Ken Wilber & Marc Gafni)

1. What do we mean by ‘Developmental Space’?

While human development is already institutionally supported (e.g. schools, training programs), most existing structures address very limited domains of inner growth.

Definition: A Developmental Space is a Dedicated, growth-oriented space where communities engage in sustained, multi-domain inner development in the service of socio-cultural transformation.

2. What is Multi-domain Inner Development?

Domains of Inner Growth

Just as we distinguish biology from chemistry in the physical sciences, we can distinguish multiple domains of inner development - each with particular growth dynamics, maps, and practices. The classification we adopt here is adapted from Integral Theory (detail follows).

Five major domains of inner development using nomenclature from Integral Theory

Domain 1: Waking Up (Spiritual Development)

Concerned with awareness and consciousness, this domain draws from spiritual traditions and neuroscience. Development involves tuning awareness and loosening unconscious mental ‘fabrication’ (assumptions, self-identity), cultivating less ego-bound modes of perception and a greater sense of interbeing.

Domain 2: Cognitive Development

Refers to progressive complexity in thinking - from basic concepts to abstract, systemic, and meta-systemic reasoning. Supports ethics, creativity, logic, and learning.

Domain 3: Growing Up (Worldview Development)

Progressive shifts in fundamental ways of conceiving world and self - from egocentric and ethnocentric to world-centric. Often linked to ego development and expanding circles of care.

Domain 4: Cleaning Up

Involves healing trauma and integrating shadow material. Rooted in somatic psychology and trauma theory, processing unconscious wounds and defense mechanisms supports growth in emotional regulation and relational capacity.

Domain 5: Showing Up

Deepening active, ethical engagement with the world. Aligning insight and capacity with skilful action for positive change. Requires relational intelligence, moral imagination, and courage.

While separable for the sake of clarity, domains are deeply interdependent. Development in one often supports growth in others - e.g. cognitive insight aiding shadow work or spiritual insight enhancing ethical care.

Caution regarding growth hierarchies

Not all domains are clearly hierarchical; some (like awakening) may involve lateral shifts ("locations"). The “growth-to-goodness” fallacy warns against assuming moral superiority from advanced development. Stage models are useful but must be held lightly, especially in cross-cultural contexts.

Maps and Rafts

Within particular domains, Maps help orient us (e.g. Spiral Dynamics, Phases of awakening). Rafts are the particular practices that support inner shifts (e.g. meditation, shadow work, community dialogue)

3. Why is multi-domain inner development particularly important now?

Modern society is in a metacrisis: a crisis of crises with shared roots in a dysfunctional worldview (materialism, individualism, competition, exploitation…) Technocratic solutions are failing. Urgently needed are corresponding inner shifts concerning paradigms, values, and worldviews founded on hidden assumptions about reality itself. Multi-domain inner development helps surface and transform these assumptions.

As well as helping address the roots of crisis, multi-domain inner development also supports resilience - our capacity to stay well and adapt in adversity, and flourishing - the experience of meaning, joy, connection, and the related tendency towards generative action. Resilience and flourishing develop best in concert.

Precedent: Integrated approaches to inner development

While Western science has often been limited by materialist assumptions, Eastern contemplative traditions have preserved sophisticated methods of inner development. Psychology has begun to bridge this gap, revealing parallels between contemplative frameworks and cognitive science.

More recently, European sustainability scientists such as Christine Wamsler and colleagues have emphasized inner capacities as essential for paradigm shift. The Stockholm-based Inner Development Goals initiative offers a research-based framework of transformative inner skills dimensions to meet complex global challenges.

4. Why are dedicated spaces needed?

To thrive, multi-domain inner development requires containment, community, and continuity.

From state to trait: Sustained environments are needed to integrate peak experiences into lasting change.
Communities of purpose: Like-minded support is critical to resist the mainstream.
Emotional safety: Vulnerability and deep inner work require trust and mutual care.
Generative social fields: Group dynamics can be powerful catalysts for change.
Pockets of change: Cultural transformation often begins in dense micro-communities (“islands of coherence”).

Historical precedents
Monasteries, folk high schools, Bildung centers and other intentional communities have embodied aspects of DS in different eras.

In modern times, the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) has been a pioneer in bringing integrative approaches into higher education.

5. What Are the Characteristics of Developmental Spaces?

5.1 Core Characteristics

Multi-domain development: Intentional work across several domains.
Ecologies of practice: A dynamic, integrated blend of methods.
Safe-brave spaces: Combining challenge with emotional support.
Group coherence: Consistency, continuity, and trust in the group field.
Appropriate guidance: Skilled facilitators with advanced personal practice are crucial for safe and successful teaching and transmission.
Intentionality: Not just inner growth, but inner growth in service of cultural transformation.

5.2 Flexible Characteristics

Co-living: Allowing everyday life to become the field of practice.
Alternative formats: Access can be expanded through e.g. online formats.
Measurement: Some useful tools can track development, but care is needed to avoid distortion.

Case study: the neglected inner dimension of climate action

Conventional policy responses have failed to address the depth of the climate crisis. This failure stems partly from neglecting the inner dimension of climate challenges – how human psychology, emotion, and development shape both the crisis and our capacity to respond. Technical solutions alone won’t suffice without deep mindset shifts across society. And from emotional overwhelm and cognitive biases to denial and polarisation, inner factors hinder meaningful action and public support for urgent policies. Addressing collective mindsets and strengthening inner capacities are vital approaches. For example:

Emotional Resilience: Staying present with discomfort and uncertainty without shutting down or retreating.
Processing fear, grief, and anxiety related to ecological collapse in adaptive ways.
Cognitive flexibility: Loosening the grip of cognitive biases (e.g., confirmation, status quo, optimism bias). Shifting perspectives and tolerating ambiguity.
Overcoming collective action problems: Cultivating felt kinship with others and the living world (interbeing) including future generations and non-human life - thus nurturing bigger-picture approaches, counteracting coordination failures and race-to-the-bottom dynamics.
Self-awareness and Reflexivity: Identifying and interrogating worldviews, values, and internalized assumptions. Observing internal responses (e.g., defensiveness, judgment) without being dominated by them.
Embodied presence: Developing felt awareness of the body and emotions as sources of intelligence. Grounding attention in the present moment to avoid reactivity / dissociation.
Empathetic connection, compassion and ecological consciousness: Cultivating love of nature and humility in relation to natural systems and limits.
Moral imagination: Expanding the capacity to envision alternative futures grounded in justice and regeneration. Taking responsibility for shaping collective outcomes.
Agency and courage: Acting in alignment with values even in the absence of certainty or consensus. Building the inner strength to persist through slow, complex, or unrewarded efforts.
Interpersonal wisdom: Navigating disagreement without escalating conflict or collapsing into avoidance. Responding resistance with curiosity and care rather than contempt. Practicing deep listening, perspective-taking, and relational attunement.
Integrating Inner-outer work: Aligning inner transformation with systemic change efforts - mutually reinforcing. Avoiding spiritual bypassing or individualism by linking personal growth to collective responsibility.

6. The Path Forward: Scaling Provision & Nurturing Existing Spaces

Developmental spaces require both scaling provision and nurturing existing spaces with developmental potential. We sketch a basic map of early work to do:

Phase 1: Field-Building

Strengthen the concept: refine definitions, map exemplars, and evolve developmental theory through research and discourse.

Convening and networking: foster connections among pioneers, advocates, funders, and allies; convene gatherings to align and build visibility.

Awareness-building: promote DS across sectors and seed developmental intent into existing institutions through communications and outreach.

Phase 2: Implementation and Uptake

Operational resources: create toolkits, handbooks, and a dynamic ‘practice index’ to support setup and coherence while allowing pluralism.

Networks and knowledge-sharing: sustain peer learning and cross-pollination among innovators and practitioners.

Funding and partnerships: align philanthropic and institutional resources with DS infrastructure, especially through education and public-sector collaboration.

Visibility and participation: build cultural traction through accessible courses, directories, and a compelling public narrative that positions DS as a credible life pathway.