Join us on September 21 from 15:00 UTC
The Connectathon is an open event, sign up and more on LinkedIn
or Join via zoom
In the initial session of this Connectathon where we remember the past and look to the future while being present in the now.
Participants
The opening ceremony is hosted by Alexander Laszlo.
Hour Two 1600 UTC
Integral City Development
Entangled Development
This session on Integral City Development provides an exploration of a holistic approach to urban development that emphasizes the interconnectedness of personal, social, and environmental well-being. Participants will learn about the principles of the Integral City Development Approach, which aims to create thriving, sustainable cities by nurturing personal happiness, fostering deep awareness, and implementing green, zero-emission technologies.
Come meet the co-founders of Living Cities Earth, the largest Integral City Development Community on the planet, and discover how they are pioneering transformative solutions for a regenerative future. This session is ideal for urban planners, policymakers, and change agents interested in fostering regenerative cities for the future.
This session, we will be hosted by Ferial Puren with speakers Marilyn Hamilton, Nate Whitestone & Lev Gordon
Hour Three 1700 UTC
Happiness~ a key component of Integral City Development
Psychological Development
In this session titled, we delve into the pivotal role that personal and collective happiness plays in shaping thriving, sustainable cities. Happiness is not just a personal pursuit but a critical element in fostering resilient and connected communities. By exploring the connections between well-being, social cohesion, and urban development, this session will reveal how nurturing happiness can lead to more vibrant, equitable, and regenerative cities.
This session will be hosted by Ferial Puren with speakers Andy Ferguson, Hassena Patel , Eric Kohner & Suzie Jenkins.
Hour four 1800 UTC
Integral City Development: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Psychological Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Ferial Puren.
Hour five 1900 UTC
Humaning Well~ A key component of Integral City Development
Social Development
In this session we explore the essence of what it means to live well as humans within our urban environments. "Humaning well" goes beyond basic well-being; it encompasses the holistic nurturing of our physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions. Join us to discover how "humaning well" serves as a foundational pillar in the Integral City Development Approach, shaping cities where all life can flourish.
This session will be hosted by Ferial Puren with speakers Andy Ferguson, Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller, Nate Whitestone and Todd Johnston.
Hour six 2000 UTC
Humaning Well: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Social Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Ferial Puren.
Hour seven 2100 UTC
Our Natural Connection~ A key component of Integral City Development
Biological Development
In this session we delve into the profound relationship between humans and the natural world and its critical role in our wellness and in shaping sustainable, thriving cities. Connecting with nature is not just about preserving green spaces; it is about integrating the rhythms, wisdom, and regenerative capacities of nature into our urban environments. Join us to discover how our nature connection is essential to creating cities that nurture both human and non-human life, ensuring a regenerative future for all.
This session will be hosted by Uri Noy Meir.
Hour eight 2200 UTC
Our Natural Connection: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Biological Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Ferial Puren.
Hour nine 2300 UTC
Wellness ~ a key component of Integral City Development
Cultural Development
In this session we explore the vital role that holistic wellness plays in the creation of thriving, sustainable cities. Wellness encompasses not just physical health, but also emotional, mental, and social well-being, all of which are essential for individuals and communities to flourish. Join us to learn how integrating wellness into the fabric of our cities is fundamental to building environments where all inhabitants can lead balanced, fulfilling lives.
This session will be hosted by Arti Ahluwalia
Hour ten 2400 UTC
Wellness: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Biological Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Arti Ahluwalia.
Hour eleven 0100 UTC
Inner Development - Exploring the Evolutionary Development Goals
Inner Development
In this session we explore how cultivating inner growth and self-awareness is essential for building sustainable and thriving cities. By focusing on Inner Development Goals (IDGs) like emotional intelligence and resilience, we can enhance our ability to create more equitable and regenerative urban environments. Join us to discover how integrating these goals into city planning can drive meaningful, lasting change.
This session will be hosted by Alexander Laszlo
Hour twelve 0200 UTC
Generative Infrastructure Development ~ a key component of Integral City Development
Cultural Development
In this session we explore how innovative, life-enhancing infrastructure is essential for creating thriving, sustainable cities. Generative infrastructure goes beyond traditional building practices, focusing on systems that support regeneration, resilience, and well-being for all inhabitants. Join us to learn how this forward-thinking approach to infrastructure can transform urban environments, fostering a more connected, sustainable, and equitable future.
This session will be hosted by Arti Ahluwalia with L. Bong Vergara, Leo Lopez, Andre Lyles and Greg Wakatsuki.
Hour thirteen 0300 UTC
Generative Infrastructure Development: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Cultural Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Arti Ahluwalia.
Hour fourteen 0400 UTC
Eight Goals, One Foundation
Personal Development
In 2020, 8one created The F.A.I.R. Project, an online experiential programme supported by UNESCO New Delhi for 32 young adults in the age group of 18-27 years. Every year since then, 8one has successfully guided 32 Changemakers through an effective decision-making journey based on the F.A.I.R. Methodology. On its fifth anniversary in 2024, 8one launched 'Changemakers’ Guide to a Fairer World', a book containing the thoughts and conversations of the youth of India on what a fair world can be.
In this session, we will be joined by a few Changemakers from the Project who have independently organised and taken the F.A.I.R. Methodology to new heights by organising offshoots of the Project in their own contexts, while retaining the value and impact of the Project. Let's explore together how we can replicate and take things we learn and share them with others.
This session will be moderated by Ramit Sing Chimni
Hour fifteen 0500 UTC
Meditation
Personal Development
Meditation Hour 15 Hosted by Suzie and Heike
About Heike
Wife, mother, homesteader, yoga teacher and therapist.
Together with her husband and their two children, Heike moved to Hogsback in 2018 in search of a life closer to nature, where they could also take greater control of their family’s nutrition. A yoga teacher and physical therapist, she has a keen interest in holistic health and healing, much of which is also based on nutrition.
With over 12 years of experience teaching Forest Yoga, Heike specializes in working with individuals dealing with injuries and chronic pain. Her approach is designed to help you find relief and achieve balance through tailored yoga practices.
When it comes to her family, wholesome nutrition is especially important. In addition to growing their own vegetables, Heike makes all the bread, cheese, butter, and yoghurt they consume.
About Suzie Mae
Suzie Mae lives in the Eastern Cape Village of Hogsback. Coming from both a business and holistic background, she relocated herself from the city hustle, to a quieter, more grounded life in the forest. She focuses on her passions of Energetics and the Human Beings connection to Nature, reminding us of our true essence and home frequencies. She recalibrates, balances, and harmonizes your unique Energetic Signature. She also hosts various Reset Retreats on the Mountain and at her home.
Suzie Mae enjoys all cooking (and eating), vegetable and herb growing beginner, painting rocks and creative projects, spending time in her garden and making home in the forest a fun and creative experience. She has two sons.
“I am a visionary and creator. I can hear myself in the peace of the forest. This is where it all makes sense!” Suzie Mae
Her One-on-one offerings include Access Consciousness, Grounding, Energetic Massage & Clearing, Guiding & Mentoring, Being
Hour sixteen 0600 UTC
The Myth of AI
Cultural Development
Humans are fundamentally Story-Beings, hardwired to think in story. Individually and collectively, we live the stories we tell ourselves. So what happens if AI starts telling our stories for us? Is it possible that it could? If it can, does ‘artificial’ storytelling pose a unique danger to us? What will distinguish human from ‘artificial stories?’ Would we even want ‘artificial’ stories? How will humans compete with AI in this quintessentially human art form? How will human storytelling evolve as a result? We are at a tipping point in human evolution and both our story and our storytelling is destined for major change. Together, let's come to an understanding of where we stand, with all its possibilities and pitfalls and then imagine a healthy way forward.
This session will be hosted by Gavin Sher with speakers Sharon Gal-Or an Tim Olsson.
Hour seventeen 0700 UTC
Garden of Wisdom: Bridging Ancient Teachings and AI Futures
Cultural Development
Join us for a thought-provoking session on "Garden of Wisdom: Bridging Ancient Teachings and AI Futures." In a world rapidly transforming through technological advancements, how can we ensure that progress is guided by ethical wisdom? This discussion will explore the synthesis of ancient wisdom, such as biblical teachings and ethical principles, with the cutting-edge development of artificial intelligence. We will delve into how these timeless teachings can guide our modern world, ensuring that AI evolves responsibly and equitably for the benefit of all humanity and the planet. Together, let's navigate the intersection of technology and spirituality to cultivate a future grounded in peace, love, and abundance.
This session will be hosted by Sharon Gal Or.
Hour eighteen 0800 UTC
The Future of Media
Cultural Development
The arts industries, particularly the film and music industries, are ripe for change. The status quo works for few, but is the result of outdated technologies and business models.
Building on our discussion from the session entitled the ‘Myth of AI’, we go deeper into what the future holds for our entertainment industries. We examine the need to develop human capital and explore the potentials for new media and a new relationship to media. This is an imaginative discussion about forging artists, new shows, evolving business models and otherwise envisioning the evolution of entertainment and its place in our lives.
Bring your creativity and your passion and let’s see what flows.
This session will be hosted by Gavin Sher.
Hour nineteen 0900 UTC
A Future with AI
Cultural Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create a positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Sharon Gal Or.
Hour twenty 1000 UTC
Education Reimagined: Learning in the 21st Century
Cultural Development
Our session explores how education must evolve in alignment with the overarching themes of holistic well-being, regenerative development, and collaboration that are central to the Connectathon.
This session invites participants to rethink education as a tool for societal transformation, embracing 21st-century competencies and emotional intelligence while fostering global co-creation. Through interactive dialogue, we will explore how local & global learning ecosystems can be redesigned to nurture personal, social, and environmental well-being, ensuring future generations thrive in an increasingly complex, interconnected world.
This session will be hosted by Andy Ferguson.
Hour twentyone 1100 UTC
Education Reimagined: Think, Link, Do Exploration
Cultural Development
Join our Think, Link, Do session, where we come together to reflect on the insights from our previous discussion and explore new ways to collaborate. In this interactive session, we will collectively brainstorm and identify opportunities to co-create a positive impact that surpasses what we can achieve individually. This is your chance to connect with like-minded innovators, share ideas, and discover synergies that can lead to transformative change. Let’s harness the power of collaboration to amplify our efforts and make a greater difference together.
This session will be moderated by Andy Ferguson.
Hour twentytwo 1200 UTC
Equinox Ceremony: Reflecting
Inner Development
As we arrive at the hour of the global equinox, we dedicate some time to reflect on the past and commit to the future.
Hour twenty-three 1300 UTC
Homesteading
Community Development
Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency, particularly one that takes place in a family home, often with enough space to produce food and other essentials.
Meet a group of HOMESTEADERS living in the idyllic mountaintop village of Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This is conversation on how a group of individuals and families live self-sufficiently, sustainably and in harmony with the environment and Nature herself.
Heike Chetty
Wife, mother, homesteader, yoga teacher and therapist.
Together with her husband and their two children, Heike moved to Hogsback in 2018 in search of a life closer to nature, where they could also take greater control of their family’s nutrition. A yoga teacher and physical therapist, she has a keen interest in holistic health and healing, much of which is also based on nutrition. When it comes to her family, wholesome nutrition is especially important. In addition to growing their own vegetables, Heike makes all the bread, cheese, butter, and yoghurt they consume.
Adi the Forest Being
Adi is a Herbalist Tour Guide who loves empowering people with knowledge of plants and how to forage and use them with respect and care.
The Amathole mountains is where Adi spent majority of his first 10 years as a boy, after which he moved to the Karoo with his family. Adi worked as a carpenter in Jefferys Bay, forming a close bond with wood, which led him down the path from "dead wood" to "living wood". Having been married twice and having 2 beautiful daughters, he dipped his toes into organic gardening to improve the nutrition of his family. After realizing how many wild indigenous herbs were being over harvested, and that many "weeds" growing in our gardens were super medicinal, Adi started using these herbs as much as possible as well as educating others about the unknown medicine growing in our veggie gardens! He then started completing numerous courses on herbalism, wild herb and mushroom foraging. He connected back to nature in 2017 and moved back to the mountains in 2021, where he started to work alongside the plant world to help heal the local villagers with wild foraged herbal tea blends. This led him down a path that landed him in Hogsback as the General manager of Away with the Fairies Nature Lodge and the Fairies Heart Centre, a healing temple, broadening his reach in spreading the good news and sharing Natures Medicine.
Kinesh Chetty
Kinesh Chetty holds tertiary degrees in biology, including a Master’s in Avian Physiology, and is a solar energy expert with a passion for sustainable living. After pursuing a career in renewable energy, he chose a path less traveled, embracing a life of homesteading on a smallholding in the enchanting Hogsback mountains of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Alongside his family—his wife and two children—he enjoys the challenges and rewards of off-grid living, growing food, and exploring self-sustainability practices.
In addition, he co-founded Hogsback Mushrooms, a farm specializing in cultivating medicinal and gourmet mushrooms, as well as foraging wild varieties. This venture reflects his deep-rooted interest in natural ecosystems and holistic health.
Pierre-Henrí Nakache-Nel
Pierre is a self-taught mycologist, who loves to cultivate numerous varieties of fungi when he isn't foraging for them in Hogsback's splendour. Pierre started growing mushrooms in 2020, eventually going on to supply fine dining restaurants and the culinary industry in general. Together with his wife Alex he also offers an incredible opportunity to stay in nature at the Magical Tee Pee Experience in Hogsback.
This session will be hosted by Suzie Jenkins.
Hour twenty-four 1400 UTC
Closing Ceremony: Visioning
Inner Development
Join us for the closing ceremony of the Connectathon as we focus on the future.
This session will be hosted by Alexander Laszlo
We start on Saturday 21 September, at 15:00 UTC.