Action Quote by Jonathon Keats
![“I would say that what the value of talking about and thinking about a dome over Manhattan is that [Buckminster] Fuller has identified a scale of action I think is actually really compelling.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5b5/jonathon-keats-10822_action_i-would-say-that-what-the-value-of-talki_2352126.jpg)
“I would say that what the value of talking about and thinking about a dome over Manhattan is that [Buckminster] Fuller has identified a scale of action I think is actually really compelling.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview with Jonathon Keats, 2015
Buckminster Fuller’s dome concept illustrates a scalable, holistic approach to urban design, urging large‑scale, integrated action.
In simple terms: Fuller’s dome shows big, integrated design works.
Key Takeaway
Apply holistic thinking to large projects.
Themes
design
scale
holism
urbanism
innovation
Mood
inspired
thoughtful
Type
philosophical
visionary
When to use this quote
- city planning
- architecture
- environmental projects
- community building
Key Concepts
Systems thinking
integrated design
scale theory
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we foster collaborative scale thinking?
- What barriers exist for holistic urban projects?
A Different Perspective
Complex systems can be hard to implement without consensus.
![“[Buckminster] Fuller's idea of progress is a very 1950s organization man out of the military sort of idea of progress. So as a result, you have something like: we've got bad weather in New York City; let's put a dome over it. And so I don't want to put a dome over Manhattan and I hope that nobody…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/864/jonathon-keats-10822_bad-weather_buckminster-fuller-s-idea-of-progress-is_1517956.jpg)
![“Architects in urban planning are talking about this but they're not talking about it yet I don't think at that level that [Buckminster] Fuller is talking about when he talked about putting a dome over Manhattan, which is to say an attempt at integrating all of these different technologies in a way…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/560/jonathon-keats-10822_architect_architects-in-urban-planning-are-talking_285452.jpg)
![“I think that surprisingly few people right now know much about [Buckminster] Fuller beyond the few really iconic points. He invented the geodesic dome and he coined the term "spaceship earth" and that's pretty much the extent of what people who even have heard of him know. And I'm struck by how…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0b3/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-think-that-surprisingly-few-people-rig_1416599.jpg)
![“I was totally taken in and totally taken by that myth starting in 1999, rather carelessly writing about this archive and starting to read [Buckminster Fuller] self-representation, misrepresentation, whatever you want to call it.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/77c/jonathon-keats-10822_archives_i-was-totally-taken-in-and-totally-taken_810745.jpg)
![“Where Google and [Buckminster] Fuller overlap are in the potential for putting together disparate technologies in ways that can lead to something that might be a larger solution to a larger problem.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/975/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_where-google-and-buckminster-fuller-over_672435.jpg)
![“On the other hand, the way in which that car fit into this whole very roundabout way of attempting to solve the problem of what - the problem that [Buckminster Fuller] perceived as being the cause of his daughter's death and meningitis. I mean how you get from your daughter dying from meningitis…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3d8/jonathon-keats-10822_attempting_on-the-other-hand-the-way-in-which-that_562873.jpg)
![“There were other auto manufacturers that were confabulating as much as [Buckminster Fuller] was, making claims about how cars resembled this or that aspect of nature.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d9d/jonathon-keats-10822_aspect_there-were-other-auto-manufacturers-that_440815.jpg)
![“I would certainly never want to inflict anything on the world exactly as [Buckminster Fuller] envisioned it because there is a technocratic worldview that I find horrific.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d11/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-would-certainly-never-want-to-inflict_340658.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller said that everything at the time was basically a horse and buggy in the form of an automobile and it had that boxiness and basically aeronautics hadn't been invented.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5bb/jonathon-keats-10822_automobile_buckminster-fuller-said-that-everything_134972.jpg)
![“We clearly recognize the need for something that is what [Buckminster Fuller] represents and therefore it becomes really useful and really interesting to look at the ways in which world changing today totally misses everything that was valuable.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92f/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_we-clearly-recognize-the-need-for-someth_100464.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller was an independent operator coming up with these madcap ways of combining things with absolutely no strings attached and the fact that world changing now is happening within the corporation by and large, and that disruption is ironically what corporations do.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ee0/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-was-an-independent-op_35124.jpg)
