Potential space : The threatened source of individual and collective creativity

Abstract : This paper is based upon the notion of potential space which is at the core of the transitional process described by D.W. Winnicott. Its aim is two-fold: first to argue about the threats that the new economic order and the contemporary organizations exert on this psychic space, therefore on individual and collective creativity and innovation; second, to present the limits of psychic control and, through the existence of spontaneous potential spaces and the description of a variety of constructed ones (in the areas of healthcare, sports, I.T., politics) the designs which are likely to help overcome the threats.