onespace.org
HolisticCommunityDevelopment.org
onespace.org is dedicated to people and programs focused on improving quality of community life. Our guiding principal – local community life offers our best hope for a healthy future.
onespace.org was created by Alan Pakaln, a retired clinical engineer. I have a few published articles: Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, Communities Magazine, Public Libraries Magazine, and Permaculture Design.
The plan I propose – Institutional Framework Development – represents a responsive structure for local community development.
My Substack
alan@onespace.org
How I use artificial intelligence: I rely on a paid human editor, but I also use AI as another editor. In a few instances, I have used AI for a first draft: whether an idea makes sense or not, community development writing needs to be understandable, it’s not a novel. Graphics on this site are AI generated, modified in some cases.
Over 20 years ago I wrote about the effects of technology on people and communities in a self-published book: The Robot’s Pen and Sword: The Social Behavior of Technology. I created this cover using Adobe with borrowed and manipulated robot image.
A new book, in preparation to offer to publishers. This cover mock-up was AI generated.
The Center of Trust: From Industrial Revolution to Community Revolution – is a personal and rigorously practical exploration of what it means to live well in an age shaped by speed, technology, and social disconnection. It examines how education, media, economics, and community have been transformed by industrialization and technological acceleration. The result is not merely social change but a profound erosion of belonging, trust, and human connection. Rather than treating social problems as isolated failures—addiction, loneliness, violence, mental health crises, for example—this book reframes them as symptoms of weakened community systems.
On a personal note, our cat, Tilda, died this past year, 2025. I have been touched by this critter.
