THINKING IN SYSTEMS:

Transcription

1 THINKING IN SYSTEMS: HOW URBAN AGRICULTURE AND SYSTEMS ECOLOGY CAN RESHAPE THE CITY BY: APRIL PHILIPS + JAKE VOIT + IAIN KERR ASLA 2013 ANNUAL MEETING & EXPO / BOSTON FRI - D02 Education Session Handout Friday, November 14, :30-5:00 pm

2 As the world becomes an urban world there is an urgent need to rethink urban systems as ecological systems. Our ideas about biodiversity, equality, livable infrastructure and sustainability have to grapple with the City and urban ecologies. Presenters will explain how linking food to our urban environments is a critical starting point to envisioning more resilient cities and communities. Examination of how urban agriculture landscapes play an important part in making the connection between food, health and ecology will be illuminated. The discussion will focus on how a systems thinking approach refocuses decisions on relationships, connectedness and context. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Learn how Food can be used as a platform from which we can address elements of community, ecology, and livability through a systems thinking lens Understand how urban environments are ecosystems and how this affects choices in designing a more resilient city. Learn how to develop an integrated multi-species commons to promote ecological biodiversity and social and economic sustainability. Learn from tools, techniques, and project stories that show implications of what is possible on small and large scale systems/cities.

3 BIOS APRIL PHILIPS, FASLA PRINCIPAL, APRIL PHILIPS DESIGN WORKS April Philips, FASLA, is a landscape architect, artist, lecturer, and author. She is founder of April Philips Design Works, an award winning landscape architecture and planning firm whose work focuses on a fusion of nature, art, and technology. With deep roots in sustainability and a regenerative landscape ideology, April was one of the founder s within ASLA of The Sustainable Sites Initiative and provided key input to ASLA s Designing Our Future s Sustainable Landscapes animation series for The Edible City. Her book Designing Urban Agriculture a Complete Guide to the Planning, Design, Construction, Maintenance and Management of Edible Landscapes is being published by John Wiley & Sons and will be available April She is past president of the Northern California Chapter of ASLA and currently on the board of CC-ASLA. Contact: aphilips@apdw.com JACOB VOIT FOUNDER, COMMUNITY EARTH CONSULTING Jacob Voit is the Founder of Community Earth Consulting. He is a Sustainability Change Manager with a diverse background and skill-set coupled with the insightfulness to transition organizations and communities through change in a complex world. Jake implements living systems thinking and understanding of ecological patterning, collaborative cultures, systemic solutions, resource cycles, community engagement and human ecology to create unique solutions. 15+ years of experience researching, working, living, and being mentored in the field of sustainability, combined with an interdisciplinary education in Environmental Studies, Philosophy and Permaculture Design enables Jake to foster innovative opportunities. Raised on a sustainable farm with a community bartering system, Jake knows about ecology from the ground up. Contact: jacobvoit@gmail.com IAIN KERR FOUNDING MEMBER, ECOLOGY & DESIGN COLLECTIVE SPURSE Iain Kerr is an ecological design thinker, artist, writer, and teacher whose engagements have taken him into and across the fields of philosophy, evolutionary ecology, developmental systems theory, labor practices, and food ways amongst other things. He is a founding member of the ecology and design collective spurse. Their current work focuses on evolving multi-species commons as part of urban ecosystems to catalyze critical issues into collective action. Projects have taken them from Alaska to Bolivia, where they have worked with fishing communities, bacterial communities and many other entangled communities. Their work has been exhibited internationally (Guggenheim, Whitney, Grand Arts, CAFK+A, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Mass MoCA) and published in a number of books and journals including: The Interventionists, The Object of Labor, Experimental Geography, The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, NY Times, Art Papers, Interior Design, Art Journal. Contact: iain6579@gmail.com

4 PRESENTATION OUTLINE THINKING IN SYSTEMS: HOW URBAN AGRICULTURE AND SYSTEMS ECOLOGY CAN RESHAPE THE CITY I. INTRODUCTION The 3 speakers will reframe the connections between urban agriculture and systems ecology it is not how we make cities nature but how we sell that they are complex ecosystems themselves that is important. Thinking systemically means shaping the context we are speaking from - not designing a box but designing healthy relationships; as humans are becoming urban creatures, the design of urban ecosystems becomes more and more crucial. FOOD is the thread - how food is linked to urban environments; re: Shift the paradigm.

5 11. IAIN KERR: URBAN ECOLOGIES AND URBAN SYSTEMS REALITY URBANISM Everything that exists is part of a process All processes are parts of systems Systems are not mechanical. Key processes are Emergence & Self-Organization Most people on the planet live in cities Cites now host trillions of non-human species successfully cities are now massive complex megalopolises these have diverse conditions (suburbs, exurbs, remnant ecosystems, dense human populations, etc.) these are functioning complex ecosystems URBANISM & NATURE Nature is not something that just occurs in the wild Cities are not a failed state of Nature Invasive species vs Native species is not a valid ecological concept. Humans are a multi-species composite -- we never show up alone. Cites are fantastic hosts to many many non-human species that co-shape these eco systems. This divide into Nature (that which does not include us & that which we have not touched) and Culture (the realm of human activity) is part of the problem The most useful frameworks for urban ecology are: Novel Ecosystems, Disturbance Ecology, and the Commons. DESIGNING WITHIN URBAN ECOSYSTEMS WHY EATING? We cannot begin by assuming there is no ecosystem (a clean slate) or none worth considering (the weeds are worthy of deep consideration) Restoration (to an arbitrarily chosen previous state) is a conceptual illusion Ecological design processes cannot be about humans -- they need to consult nonhuman species. Non-human engagement needs new forms -- these are not discursive (talk) process es, these are action (disturbance/perturbation) + emergence centric. There is very little research or development of techniques for this. Most systems thinking is designed for and around human ideation (advanced forms of consultation and brainstorming). This is a serious limit. A focus on eating offers a cross species approach to urban ecosystem thinking. Every thing eats. The question of eating paired with the framework of the commons we (SPURSE) speculate in an effect way to rethink participatory urbanism across species. The goal is to see cities as multi-species commons. The real goal is to foster the ca pacities of such systems. This require evolving new programmatic procedures around the commons and food. We have developed a research program Eat Your Sidewalk to initiate this necessary shift in our design models.

6 111. APRIL PHILIPS: FOOD AS A PLATFORM CAN ADDRESS COMMUNITY, ECOLOGY AND LIVABILITY FROM A SYSTEMS THINKING LENS DIAGRAMMING AND EXPANDING THE FOOD SHED Food is the gateway to connectivity and liveability The capacity to expand the idea of the sustainable city with food as an integral part of the community infrastructure ie FOOD SHED What are elements in a food system that create a food shed Defining food shed boundaries urban and periurban relationship MAPPING THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE WEB Designing a green infrastructure web starts by mapping the connections between food, water and energy within each neighborhood Integrating urban ag as an element within community infrastructure planning Refocusing decisions on relationships, connections and context The connection between human infrastructure systems and natural system ecologies Nature & urbanism ACHIEVING SYSTEMS INTERDEPENDENCE WHAT IS A SYSTEMS THINKING LENS? Systems integration, system strategies and system flows Shifting to a lifecycle design process with feedback loops 15 urban ag system principles Interdependence versus independence Designing a lifecycle process to achieve systems interdependence Dynamic flow of systems to allow for transformation and change Harnessing sustainable technologies with social metrics- childhood obesity, human health, biodiversity, and food justice Fostering the connections to health and community DESIGNING FOR AND MEASURING RESILIENCY - ECOLITERACY EDUCATION & OUTREACH What is the success measurement for urban ag? Understanding the differences between the long term impacts of the industrial food system versus a sustainable food system network The role of food policy, initiatives and advocacy Innovation, ecoliteracy and the informed citizen Re:shifting to lifecycle process for ongoing sustainability = focus on re:generative design and re:newable resources Designer as change agent

7 1V. JAKE VOIT: EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF FOOD, ECOLOGY, CULTURE AND ECONOMICS DESIGNER AS CHANGE AGENT Creating a design that is integrated into the surrounding ecology of people, place, environment and culture requires us to be more than just the designer of a place, but also the engagement with the whole system it is a part of. This allows the landscape elements to become a part of the long-term fabric of the community and surrounding ecology. Engagement with the numerous systems around your design allow it to live and grow like a healthy ecosystem. FRAMEWORKS FOR NAVIGATING DYNAMIC HUMAN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS When designing engagement strategies for a site, keep in mind the type of system it is to engage appropriately. For example, designing a landscape is a complicated system. It can be designed using expertise and a well-organized task list that is project managed, giving you the predictable result of a landscape design and installation. If you design that landscape and want it to be integrated with the culture, neighbors, local businesses, insects, wildlife, and mentoring systems, then you are dealing with a complex system. The results of working in a complex system are not predictable. The dynamics between the different elements change when something new is introduced and through conversations a new set of dynamics emerges. The design and engagement process then becomes cyclical process based on experimentation and learning, then more design, experimentation and more learning. The Cynefin Framework outlines the four types of systems to ensure your design team is aware of what type of system engagement is needed. Some tools for measuring the impact of engaging with complex systems include the Community Capitals Framework and Ripple Effect Mapping. These tools map the ripple effects of your engagement to understand what type of community capital has been created. Knowing the capital increases helps you see how the relationships are growing and creating resiliency in the community. Ripple Effect Mapping illustrates the unpredictable impact that happens in complex systems in order to move through the experiment, learn, and design cycle of designing an evolving ecological system. DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE CONVERSATIONS There are numerous social process techniques outlined in a book in our list called The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems. It outlines the many techniques for facilitating community processes that can help collect design ideas, build relationships across sectors, move through conflict, build work plans and strategies, etc. One favorite of ours is The World Café facilitation model that puts people into tables of four to explore important questions that the stakeholders and designers have about the project. The way it is facilitated ensures good relationships are built, the collective intelligence of the group is engaged, ideas are created together that would not happen without the process, and patterns emerge of what the most important ideas are of the group as a whole. Using these community engagement techniques as part of your design process helps create the community conditions for ecological designs to become integrated with the people in the community who will be using the landscape and evolving with it as they integrate their lives with it. Each technique works best in certain situations, and The Change Handbook helps you choose which one to use and how to do it. V: OPEN TO Q & A

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9 RECOMMENDED BOOKS BOOK LIST FOR THINKING IN SYSTEMS: Title: Designing Urban Agriculture Author: April Philips ISBN: Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Year Published 2013 Title: Thinking in Systems Author: Donella H. Meadows ISBN: Publisher: Chelsea Green Year Published: 2008 Title: The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems. Authors: Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, Steven Cady ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2nd Edition Published: January 4, 2007 Title: Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation Author: Michael Pollan ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Publisher: Penguin Press Year Published 2013 Title: Agricultural Urbanism: Handbook for building sustainable food & agriculture systems in 21st century cities Author: Janine de la Salle and Mark Holland ISBN: Publisher: GFB ( Green Frigate Books) Year Published 2010 Title: Urban Sprawl & Public Health Author: Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank & Richard Jackson ISBN: Publisher: Island Press Year Published 2004

10 Title: Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle s Urban Community Gardens Authors: Jeffrey Hou, Julie M. Johnson, and Laura J. Lawson ISBN Publisher: University of Washington Press Year Published: October 2009 Title: Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities Editor: by Jeffrey Hou ISBN: Publisher: Routledge Year Published: April 2010 Title: Permaculture: A Designer s Manual Author: Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay ISBN-13: Publisher: Tagari Publications Year Published Oct. 1, 1997 Title: The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, DVD Author: NA AISN: Publisher: NA Year Published NA Title: Food Inc. (You ll never look at dinner the same way again) DVD Author: Eric Schlosser, Robert Kenner AISN: B0027BOL4G Publisher: NA Year Published Nov. 3, 2009 Title: dirt! THE MOVIE A story of heart and soil DVD Author: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow AISN: B00366E1AK Publisher: Common Ground Media Year Published Nov. 3, 2009 Title: In Defense of Food : An Eaters Manifesto Author: Michael Pollan ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Publisher: Penguin Press Year Published 2009