The UN and other global bodies give essential guidance from the top down. What is missing is a network that works on the ground, built on the principles of stewardship governance. The Assembly of Regions (AoR) is meant to be this network: an independent alliance of willing regions that share common values.
In the AoR there are no superpowers and no veto. Each delegate represents roughly the same number of people, so every vote carries the same weight. Large power blocs dissolve into their functional, human-scaled regions, while regions within the AoR are delegations from their districs.
size of a region
In A Pattern Language (pattern 1, Independent Regions), Christopher Alexander proposes a corridor of 2 to 10 million inhabitants. A region must be large enough to carry complex infrastructure such as universities or specialised clinics, and small enough for real democratic participation.
The EU uses a guideline of 800.000 to 3 million inhabitants for its NUTS 2 regions. Identity research finds that this is the scale at which people develop the strongest regional identity: large enough for economic resilience, small enough to feel like home.
Research on the quality of democracy, drawing among others on Robert Dahl and Leopold Kohr, suggests that political systems lose agility above about 5 million inhabitants. Below that size, corruption tends to be lower, people engage more with political decisions, and administration is more transparent.
Taken together, 3 to 5 million inhabitants per region is the sweet spot. It is a benchmark, not a fixed rule. Regions with a grown identity stay intact; megacities are divided into metropolitan sub-regions. With around 8 billion people and an average of 5 million per region, the AoR would have about 1.600 delegates. That is a workable size for an assembly; the European Parliament has around 700 members.
UN and AoR
The AoR is no competitor to the UN. The two divide the work between them. The UN remains the framework for diplomacy and treaties between nation states. The AoR deals with the operational reality on the ground.
| dimension | UN | AoR |
|---|---|---|
| scope | geopolitics and international law | regional and functional spaces |
| core mandate | peacekeeping, global framework agreements such as climate accords | operational resilience, systemic protection, measurable safety |
| key actors | national governments | regional delegates |
| working groups | UN secretariat and agencies | lean expert project groups from the participating regions, for as long as they are needed |
how the AoR works
the General Assembly
Once a year, the delegates meet in the General Assembly. It sets the guidelines for the work of the year ahead. Each delegate represents the interests of about 5 million people. The General Assembly decides by consent: a proposal is adopted when no one has a reasoned objection, and whoever objects brings a better proposal.
project groups
The actual work is done in interdisciplinary expert project groups. Their result is a Stewardship Action Plan (StAP): a binding plan that names who does what, by when and with which resources, ready for the municipalities and districts that carry it out. New groups form from the bottom up. Three rules apply instead of an approval process.
- Two regions at least. A project group starts only when at least two regions with a similar structure carry it together. This ensures that the result is useful beyond one place.
- Values first. The shared workspace opens once the group has checked its aims against the three aims of stewardship governance: safety and preventive resilience, bioregional sustainability, and common good and quality of life, together with the SDGs. A deficit in one aim cannot be offset by a surplus in another.
- Results within a set time. A group stays active by publishing a StAP within a defined period. For every aim, the StAP names Baseline 0, the state in which the task is fully met, and indicators that show the gap to it. It contains a responsibility matrix with named persons and deputies. A group that does not deliver is set to inactive.
operational coordination circle
A small circle of five stewards takes care of the network’s day-to-day needs. It works without hierarchy and decides by consent.
Steward of administration and finance: transparent management of funds, legal compliance and contracts.
Steward of convocations and summits: planning and running the General Assembly and regional meetings.
Steward of digital sovereignty: the open-source platform, including the OpenProject workspace and the dashboards, and its data security.
Steward of communication and engagement: keeps the regions connected and turns published StAPs into stories that attract new regions.
Steward of systemic integrity: keeps the overview, makes sure the project groups serve the shared aims, and spots dependencies between them early.
quality gate
Before a StAP is published as good practice on the AoR dashboard, it is reviewed by people, not only by the platform.
- The steward of systemic integrity calls two independent experts from two other regions.
- They check whether the StAP meets the aims in substance, and whether its responsibility matrix and indicators hold, filtering out box-ticking and greenwashing.
- A StAP that falls short goes back to the group with a clear list of what to change. Where a group persistently distorts the shared values, the coordination circle can suspend its workspace and bring the case to the General Assembly.
relation to the UN
An assembly of regions founded within the UN would be blocked by the states that stand to lose influence. The AoR therefore starts independently and seeks recognition step by step.
There are precedents. The Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded in 1889 as a free association of parliamentarians and became a permanent observer at the UN in 2002. United Cities and Local Governments formed in 2004 and is today a recognised partner of the UN on the local implementation of the SDGs.
Once the AoR has reached a critical mass of 100 to 200 regions, it can apply for permanent observer status. The UN General Assembly shall decide on this by resolution, by majority, without a veto of the Security Council.
the roadmap
- digital start and charter (months 1 to 6). The AoR begins as a digital platform with a short charter that sets the criteria for regions
- alliance of pioneers (months 6 to 12). Regions with a strong identity of their own are invited first. Once around 50 have joined, their neighbours follow
- first hybrid summit (year 2). A one-week meeting at a temporary venue shows that the idea works and that delegates come
- foundation and backing (years 2 to 3). With the summit as evidence, a supporting foundation is set up with public partners and philanthropists
- permanent seat (from year 4). The AoR moves into a permanent home, provided by a host city in a long-term partnership