Quick summary: Volksmarching began in Germany during the 1960s as weekly 20k walks in the countryside for the entire family. People walk a predetermined route following either a map or flags/arrows. After completing an event people would stamp record books for number of events or distance walked. After a certain number of events (10, 30, 50, 75, 100, 125, ...) or certain cumulative distances (500k, 1000k, ...) participants gets an award in the form of a lapel pin. In the US there are more than 2000 such routes. There are multiple local clubs as well as a national one besides the international organization. It's all very very decentralized.
I think it is a very good example of an emergent movement, so perhaps it can serve as an example of what I meant by the "why"-vector and the "4 design rules".
JFK famously(?) asked every American to be able to walk 50 miles in one go. (This was the Cold War standard.). So lets presume that the overall design goal of the emergent movement is to get people to walk more. The "aligned what" is thus to make more people capable of walking a significant distance.
DW and I have become quite active in this "sport". Our different "why"s illustrate why it's important to consider more than one dimension when appealing broadly. In terms of "having, doing, seeing, being", I am about (80, 5, 15, 0) in this regard and DW is maybe (10, 30, 40, 20). IOW, I'm all about collecting stamps and lapel pins. Without that carrot I would not be there. I'd argue that I could just walk around in circles, etc. although I appreciate seeing more of the world---the routes has definitely taken us places we'd otherwise never go to. OTOH, DW cares less about the awards and more about being out, especially nature walks (what I call "long green tunnels"), and exercising regularly and seeing new places, especially if camping is involved, is also a motivating factor.
As such introducing an award-system gets "having"-type people like me aboard. Having many different routes---nature, city, suburbs, historical sites,...---gets DW aboard.
Same walking activity (what), different motivations (why-vector)...
In terms of the 4 design rules, volksmarching also checks all 4 boxes... which I believe is a reason it's still around half a century later.
- Any individual can start independently.
- The decentralized setup means walks can happen at all times. It's not like organizing an event with police escort, etc.
- There's no upper limit to the number of routes possible. More walkers->more volunteers->more routes.
- You can walk as much or as little as you want.