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A Case Study of Theories of Systemic Change and Action: The Ecotrust Canada Home-Lands initiative
Get PDFWe present a case study of the development of theories of systemic change and action (TOSCA) in support of the strategy for and evaluation of the Ecotrust Canada Indigenous Home-Lands initiative. TOSCA add systemic design methods to theories of change from the field of program evaluation, help stakeholders see counterintuitive challenges in the systemic problems they are addressing, and identifies high-leverage strategies for systemic change. We demonstrate the creation of TOSCA in a field setting, provide a case study for future research and education on TOSCA, and discuss the challenges and opportunities for a systemic design tool in decolonisation and reconciliation. In the case study, the use of TOSCA allows for novel insights into the challenge as a process in which stakeholders can engage to allow deeper discussion about the systemic nature of the challenge. The trial of this TOSCA is still underway with the implementation of a new strategic plan and an incoming executive director. So far, it is proving useful in knowledge transfer and a repository of what may have been tacit institutional knowledge
A Systemic Approach to Proximity Through Design for Relations
Get PDFProximity has lately become a keyword to approach territorial enhancement goals. The most common representation of proximity at the urban level is the idea of the 15-minute city, which has gained massive attention in political, economic, social, and academic discourses. However, this idea is not new in the worldwide panorama and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has gained renovate attention because of contextual extraordinaire conditions. Furthermore, under so-called normal circumstances, this concept of proximity has certain evident societal constraints. In our paper, we want to propose and discuss a wider systemic approach and consequent definitions of proximity in connection with the different actors that compose and drive our societies. In the design for relations, we will identify a systemic and valuable strategy to overcome the previously discussed limits
Blockchain for Socio-Economic Impact: Financial inclusion by environment-centric service design
Get PDFThe blockchain is often viewed as a tech-savvy solution for profit-making businesses. However, it has an immense potential to solve global problems with its core of decentralisation. We wanted to explore a systemic approach to using blockchain as a tool for social, economic and ecological good.
We created a hypothetical company, “Environ,” to address blockchain for Socio-Economic Impact. Financial Inclusion, Doughnut Economy, and technology adaptation were the primary issues we targeted to solve. Participatory workshops, design sprints, expert sessions, and user interviews were conducted to structure the brief. A speculative service is designed as a first pilot project on Environ blockchain platform targeting Indian farmers to benefit India’s agricultural sector following a bottom-up approach (Human Centric Design).
The system comprises two services. The first service is aimed at providing affordable and accessible financial services to farmers through microfinance and micro-credit systems. The second service is aimed at creating a transparent agricultural supply chain to reduce mediators and supply-demand volatility. Thus, we aim to create an inclusive and sustainable economy by solving poverty and climate change in the agricultural sector
Designing Open Innovation Ecosystems for Small and Medium Enterprises
Get PDFEurope’s transition to a circular economy is as much an environmental, economic and social necessity as it is an opportunity for European companies and citizens. Despite encouraging promises, many barriers hinder the circular transition of European companies, especially small and medium enterprises, which represent the bulk of Europe’s industrial fabric. The presentation shows the case study of the ‘DigiCirc’ project (call H2020-INNOSUP) that creates and coordinates innovation ecosystems involving a broad range of stakeholders to foster connections and collaborations supported by digital tools. The role of systemic designers in the project mainly focused on stakeholder selection and engagement and the training of participants on circular economy knowledge and systemic approach methods. The authors offer some reflections starting from the project’s experience to understand how design, in particular systemic design, can contribute to creating digital innovation ecosystems and how it can help enterprises overcome the barriers identified in the literature and past experiences. The aim is to open the debate on sustainability transitions and practical co-design experiences with stakeholders to foster those transitions. Authors are addressing design scholars and practitioners dealing with innovation and transition of socio-technical systems within industrial and cross-disciplinary environments
From a Problem to the Problem System
Get PDFThis case study brings to the fore designer‘s experience and challenges of intervening in a complex social system. The presentation refers to the “Need Assessment Study of Occupational and Health Hazards Faced by Desludging Workers in a City in India.” This study marked the first milestone towards understanding the safety concerns of sanitation workers in the larger context of safe sanitation practices in small and medium towns in India, where faecal sludge management is emerging as a viable way forward under the larger system of faecal sludge management. This paper focuses on the research methodology and processes used in the study in order to better understand how these might be replicated or used in other similar contexts. In particular, the presentation shall discuss the interrelationships at length to understand the dynamic, multicausal, and unpredictable nature of the complex social system as found during the study. Conducted in two Indian cities, the de-sludging operators offer cleaning services to households, establishments, and industries. (Mamta Gautam et al,19).
This presentation discusses the research design, its implementation, and findings leading to systemic design. This is being discussed from the perspective of the author as the lead design researcher for the project commissioned by IIHS
Ontological Design for Robotics
Get PDFOntological design is a way of defining, or constructing, a world of possibilities through design practice. Robotics is often taught in a very rationalistic and didactic fashion, focusing on the kinematics of robot motion. Ontological design is fundamentally enactive, allowing cognition to arise through a dynamic interaction between an individual and their environment. With the ontological design of robots, the focus is on learning robotic design through practice and serendipity. This paper reports on the practice of running hands-on robot workshops for children and adults, the philosophical background to this, and future direction using tangible programming tools. We learn about robots controlled, not through conventional programming, but using simple neural circuits. The inspiration for this is Braitenberg’s Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology (1984), which describes a cybernetic approach to modelling brain function. To realise learning as a fully shared experience, the ‘coding’ of the robot should be experienced as a tangible activity. We explore a sequence of robot designs that can be built using tools for augmented reality and consider the possibilities for ontological learning at each stage
Rethinking the Business Model Concept in the Anthropocene Era -16
Get PDFThis paper presents the state of progress of my PhD thesis that I am conducting with PSL Paris-Dauphine University. My project consists in elaborating both a new description and visual representation of the business model concept applying systems thinking principles and a methodology to accompany stakeholders to rethink their business model through systemic design-oriented workshops. Indeed, we believe that this way of thinking, contrary to analytical thinking, may help business leaders and entrepreneurs to become more aware of the impact of their companies on their environment and to make them act differently to face complex Anthropogenic challenges. To conduct our research, we work for Biocoop, a French network of specialised organic food shops, and accompany shops to rethink the way they apprehend their business model through collaborative research, including interviews and systemic design-oriented workshops with different stakeholders—employees, customers, producers, and association representatives.
Biocoop food shops have several purposes: the desire to change consumption habits, for consumption that is more respectful of people—both in terms of food quality and respect for work—and of nature. However, shop owners find it complex to align these different purposes with the economic imperative. Thus, our guidance may help them to find the levers to articulate those purposes while training them to think in systems
Towards Relational Design Practices: De-centering design through lessons from community organising
Get PDFIncreasingly, designers seek to design in ways that more deeply involve those who are impacted by the very systems that design aims to repair, improve, or transform. Yet, despite its good intentions, the legacies of design practice often uphold entrenched systems of oppression. Fundamental components of systems change tend to be absent from most design training and practice: including the elements of power, relationships, and ownership in motivating and sustaining equitable change. Community organisers know what designers may not—that change happens through networks of relationships in a process of collective power building. This paper discusses systemic design’s current positionality and establishes an understanding of community organising principles, and finally translates several key principles for designers of systems-level change. It calls for designers to learn from principles and practices of community organising to adopt relational approaches that can sustain the promise that systemic design envisions and enables
14 Years of Experimenting with Design, Systems, and Stability
No full textThis exhibit presents a selection of the final synthesis maps developed in the presenter’s industrial design studio classroom. Since 2008, with the goal of reaching more sustainable solutions in new product development, the methodology evolved to eventually include systems thinking principles, socio-political and economic analysis of the identified problem, stakeholder identification, a co-design process as well as the creation of three maps: the first called an assumptions map, the second a stakeholders map, both for use exclusively by the design team, and the final one presented here the synthesis map, where the final configuration of the systemic solution is presented to all stakeholders and general audience. The topic of problems to tackle has been generally selected by students themselves. Within a portfolio of more than 50 projects, the topics range from food waste, political campaigns advertisement, human body waste, dangers of self-medication, rapid cycling fast fashion stress, among many others
Why Not In Our Backyards?
No full textIn the not-so-distant past, middle-class families could reasonably achieve homeownership in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA); however, that expectation is now far from possible. Over the last decade, the cost of homeownership has been steadily rising at an unreasonable rate. Population growth has outstripped supply, and available housing is not designed for families. Wages have not kept pace with housing prices, and renting has become an insecure lifestyle. Innovations in size, materials and social constructs are few and far between. However, affordable solutions, such as purpose-built rentals, co-ops, and low-rise multi-unit buildings, have been squeezed out of the supply.
The housing system status quo, squeezing out innovators and non-market solutions, has been driven by the downloading of housing responsibilities to municipalities that were beholden to local interests and not equipped to solve collective problems. Change-adverse neighbourhood associations have leveraged their power over municipalities to preserve the character of their neighbourhoods, complicate the approval process, and oppose new approaches. In this system, the escalating prices and single-family dominant housing type have reinforced the housing-as-an-investment paradigm, fuelling the crisis.
In order to build a more fair, just, and equitable housing system, we need multiple interventions to re-balance supply with demand, improve the approval process, and empower innovators and non-market solution providers, all while challenging the commoditization of housing