15 March 04
GC2
Systems
Thinking
Workshop
What is a System?
• “An interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized around some purpose”
-Dana Meadows
lsb.syr.edu/projects/cyberzoo/images/collaredpeccaryfw.gif
www.crocodile-clips.com/crocodile/
physics/m1_6.ht
What is Systems Thinking• "A discipline for
seeing wholes...a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns rather than static snapshots"
-Peter Senge
1. A perspective on reality
2. A set of tools
3. A new vocabulary
A perspective on reality…Mechanistic
ThinkingParts
Objects
Events
Isolation
Specificity
Simplicity
Systemic ThinkingWholes
Relationships
Structures
Interdependence
Generality
ComplexityEvent
s
Patterns
Systemic Structures
A set of tools…
Source:
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O OO
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O O
Balancing loop – pushes level up or down to reach a goal (i.e., carrying capacity).
TIME
# P
EO
PLE
Reinforcing loop –reinforces change with even more change; leads to exponential growth or decline
# P
EO
PLE
TIME
S=Respond in same direction; O=Opposite direction
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
Number of people in a city (P)
(C) Migration into a city
(M) Modernization
(G) Amount of garbage per area
(B) Bacteria per person
(D) Number of diseases
(S) Sanitation facilities
S
SS
S
SS
S
O
O
O
R
R
R
B
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
The Coming Anarchy
1. Team up in pairs and find one causal loop of 4 or more elements
• Attribute S’s and O’s to the links and record reasoning on the worksheet
2. Get together with another pair and explain loops to each other; decide on one loop and draw it on paper
3. Each group of 4 will present loop to class4. Discussion: Is Kaplan’s vision the state of
human kind? Where can we intervene?
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