RCOS, step by step.
Apply the Regenerative Community Operating System to your own community. One introduction, then one layer per session, through each template definition by definition, with worked examples from Sun.
The eight sessions
Every session is recordedA standard is easy to agree with and hard to apply.
RCOS names the questions every community has to answer: why it exists, who belongs, who decides, how money and land are shared, what happens in a conflict, who does the work, and how the rules change. Seven layers, each with a template.
Reading the templates alone, most people stall somewhere around the third definition. So we read them together, one layer per session, and talk through what each definition would look like in a community that actually exists.
- You live in a community and some of its rules have never been written down.
- You are starting one and want to get the structure right before the first argument.
- You are curious how communities can work better together, and want to see a standard up close.
From why you exist to how you change.
The layers build on each other, so the order matters. Each session gets its date here and on Luma once it is set, and its recording goes up on this page afterwards.
- 01IntroPart 1 of 8
Introduction to the Regenerative Community Operating System
What RCOS is, why communities need it, and how the next seven sessions work.
Fri 6 Nov · 18:00 GMT-5 RegisterRegister for Part 1 - 02L0Part 2 of 8
Identity & Scope
Why does this community exist, and what does it govern?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 03L1Part 3 of 8
Membership System
How do people join, stay, and leave?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 04L2Part 4 of 8
Governance & Decision Logic
Who decides what, and how?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 05L3Part 5 of 8
Economic & Resource System
How do money, land and work flow, and what is held in common?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 06L4Part 6 of 8
Conflict, Repair & Accountability
What happens when things go wrong between people?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 07L5Part 7 of 8
Operations & Coordination
Who does what, day to day, without anyone burning out?
Date to be announced Tell me when - 08L6Part 8 of 8
Evolution & Adaptation
How does the community change its own rules?
Date to be announced Tell me when
We don’t fill in the whole template. We make it make sense.
Definition by definition
After the introduction, each session takes one RCOS layer and its template. We read the definitions in order and ask what each would mean in a real community.
Sun brings the examples
Filling in every field on screen would take hours, so we don’t. Sun prepares examples for each layer, and we talk them through together.
Questions, live
Bring the community you live in, or the one you are planning. If a definition doesn’t fit your case, that is worth saying out loud.
Use the recordings as a step-by-step guide.
Every session is recorded and posted here, next to the template it works through. That makes the series usable in your own time, with your own group, at whatever pace your community can manage.
Watch Part 1
The big picture: what RCOS is, why the layers are ordered the way they are, and how to read a template.
Open the template
Each layer session links to its template on the RCOS site. Keep it open beside the recording.
Pause and write
Stop after each definition and write your community’s answer. A rough answer now beats a perfect one later.
Take the gaps to your group
The blank fields are the conversations your community hasn’t had yet. Start with the layer that hurts most.
Stefan Lessle
Initiator of EcoHubs and RCOS
Systems designer, based in coastal Ecuador. Has spent years studying why most intentional communities fail, and wrote RCOS to make the structures that hold them together explicit.
Sun
Co-host
A founding member of Golden World. A builder by hand and heart, he stewards Sushumna, an eco-living sanctuary in the jungle of Mexico near the ocean. His work is devoted to living Vedic principles of simplicity, ahimsa and divine love in community.
Want a head start? This 19-minute introduction covers what RCOS is and why it exists. The full standard is at rcos.ecohubs.community.
Everything you need to know
Free. You register for each session separately on Luma.
Zoom. The link arrives by email when you register.
About an hour per session.
18:00 GMT-5 — Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and US Eastern time in winter.
Posted on this page after each session, next to the template it covers.
No. Each session stands on its own, but they build on each other, so Part 1 is the best place to start.
Hear when the next session is set.
Dates go up here and on Luma first. The EcoHubs newsletter announces each one, along with the recordings. It’s rare, and you can leave any time.
Most communities write their rules down after something has gone wrong. This is a chance to do it before.
Online · Zoom · Free · Hosted by Stefan Lessle and Sun