Citizen Renaissance started off as a conversation, developed into a White Paper and will end up as a book i. We are initially publishing it on-line in order to seek opinions and measure interest – and to openly invite provocative thoughts, relevant challenges, case studies and contributions.

When we started writing, we sensed that there was something genuinely interesting and powerful in the convergence of what we will come on to describe as the three seismic shifts of our time: the Perfect Storm surrounding Climate Change; the Wellbeing Imperative; and the reforming power of Digital Democracy.

We write this as two independent thinkers (who do not always agree) and in our own voices, not those we work for or with. We write this with our experience as professionals who have worked for many years at the interface between business, politics, Communications and civil society. But we mainly write this as Citizens.

Our aspiration in writing Citizen Renaissance is to examine in detail the three seismic shifts. We consider their meaning and effect on all our lives and the consequent impact on both Consumerism, as we know it, and our current Communications landscape. We do not have the final answers but seek to engender and facilitate a debate, an accelerator for public conversation to focus on the biggest and most urgent issues of our times.

Citizen Renaissance first examines the three seismic shifts in detail and considers what each one means for us, as individuals and within our communities – how we need to re-think the way we live today and what consequences this holds for capitalism and the politics of tomorrow. We believe that the issues we raise are increasingly front of mind for progressive business leaders and politicians of various hues. Hence, the Communications industries need to make them front of mind for themselves, too, so – in turn – they can better understand the impact all three will have on the current Communications landscape and our world beyond.

Jules Peck & Robert Phillips
September 2008