ASLA 2013 ANNUAL MEETING & EXPO / BOSTON
FRI - D02 Education Session HandoutFriday, November 14, 2013
3:30 - 5:00 pm
THINKING IN SYSTEMS:HOW URBAN AGRICULTURE AND SYSTEMS ECOLOGY CAN RESHAPE THE CITY
BY: APRIL PHILIPS + JAKE VOIT + IAIN KERR
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
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.
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 envision-ing 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 deci-sions on relationships, connectedness and context.
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
APRIL PHILIPS, FASLAPRINCIPAL, 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 2013. She is past president of the Northern California Chapter of ASLA and currently on the board of CC-ASLA. Contact: [email protected]
JACOB VOITFOUNDER, 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: [email protected]
IAIN KERRFOUNDING 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 ac-tion.
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 Encyclope-dia of Human Geography, NY Times, Art Papers, Interior Design, Art Journal. Contact: [email protected]
BIOS
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
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 de-signing 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.
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
11. IAIN KERR: URBAN ECOLOGIES AND URBAN SYSTEMS
REALITY
• Everything that exists is part of a process • Allprocessesarepartsofsystems • Systemsarenotmechanical.KeyprocessesareEmergence & Self-Organization
URBANISM
• Most people on the planet live in cities • Citesnowhosttrillionsofnon-humanspeciessuccessfully • citiesarenowmassivecomplexmegalopolises • thesehavediverseconditions(suburbs,exurbs,remnantecosystems,densehuman populations, etc.) • thesearefunctioningcomplexecosystems
URBANISM & NATURE
• Nature is not something that just occurs “in the wild” • CitiesarenotafailedstateofNature • “Invasive”speciesvs“Native”speciesisnotavalid ecological concept. • Humansareamulti-species composite -- we never show up alone. • Citesarefantastichoststomanymanynon-humanspeciesthatco-shapetheseeco systems. • ThisdivideintoNature(thatwhichdoesnotincludeus&thatwhichwehavenot touched) and Culture (the realm of human activity) is part of the problem • Themostusefulframeworksforurbanecologyare:Novel Ecosystems, Disturbance Ecology, and the Commons.
DESIGNING WITHIN URBAN ECOSYSTEMS
• We cannot begin by assuming there is no ecosystem (a clean slate) or none worth considering (the weeds are worthy of deep consideration) • Restoration(toanarbitrarilychosenpreviousstate)isaconceptualillusion • Ecologicaldesignprocessescannotbeabouthumans--theyneedtoconsultnon- human species. • Non-humanengagementneedsnewforms--thesearenotdiscursive(talk) process es, these are action (disturbance/perturbation) + emergence centric. • Thereisverylittleresearchordevelopmentoftechniquesforthis.Mostsystems thinking is designed for and around human ideation (advanced forms of consultation and brainstorming). This is a serious limit.
WHY EATING?
• A focus on eating offers a cross species approach to urban ecosystem thinking. Every thing eats. • Thequestionofeatingpairedwiththeframeworkofthecommonswe(SPURSE) speculate in an effect way to rethink participatory urbanism across species. • Thegoalistoseecitiesasmulti-speciescommons.Therealgoalistofostertheca pacities of such systems. • Thisrequireevolvingnewprogrammaticproceduresaroundthecommonsandfood. • Wehavedevelopedaresearchprogram“Eat Your Sidewalk” to initiate this necessary shift in our design models.
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
111. APRIL PHILIPS: FOOD AS A PLATFORM CAN ADDRESS COMMUNITY, ECOLOGY ANDLIVABILITY FROM A SYSTEMS THINKING LENS
DIAGRAMMING AND EXPANDING THE FOOD SHED
• Foodisthegatewaytoconnectivityandliveability• Thecapacitytoexpandtheideaofthesustainablecitywithfoodasanintegralpartofthe community infrastructure ie FOOD SHED • Whatareelementsinafoodsystemthatcreateafoodshed• Definingfoodshedboundaries–urbanandperiurbanrelationship
MAPPING THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE WEB
• Designingagreeninfrastructurewebstartsbymappingtheconnectionsbetweenfood,waterand energy within each neighborhood • Integratingurbanagasanelementwithincommunityinfrastructureplanning• Refocusingdecisionsonrelationships,connectionsandcontext• Theconnectionbetweenhumaninfrastructuresystemsandnaturalsystemecologies• Nature&urbanism
ACHIEVING SYSTEMS INTERDEPENDENCE – WHAT IS A SYSTEMS THINKING LENS?
• Systemsintegration,systemstrategiesandsystemflows• Shiftingtoalifecycledesignprocesswithfeedbackloops• 15urbanagsystemprinciples• Interdependenceversusindependence• Designingalifecycleprocesstoachievesystemsinterdependence• Dynamicflowofsystemstoallowfortransformationandchange• Harnessingsustainabletechnologieswithsocialmetrics-childhoodobesity,humanhealth, biodiversity, and food justice • Fosteringtheconnectionstohealthandcommunity
DESIGNING FOR AND MEASURING RESILIENCY - ECOLITERACY EDUCATION & OUTREACH
• Whatisthesuccessmeasurementforurbanag?• Understandingthedifferencesbetweenthelongtermimpactsoftheindustrialfoodsystemversus a sustainable food system network • Theroleoffoodpolicy,initiativesandadvocacy• Innovation,ecoliteracyandtheinformedcitizen• Re:shiftingtolifecycleprocessforongoingsustainability=focusonre:generativedesignand re:newable resources• Designeraschangeagent
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
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 cul-ture 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 ap-propriately. 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 Capi-tals 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 Hand-book: 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 relation-ships 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 re-lationships 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
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
NOTES:
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
BOOK LIST FOR THINKING IN SYSTEMS:
Title: Designing Urban AgricultureAuthor: April Philips ISBN: 978-1-118-07383-4Publisher: John Wiley & SonsYear Published 2013
Title: Thinking in SystemsAuthor: Donella H. MeadowsISBN: 978-1-60358-055-7Publisher: Chelsea GreenYear Published: 2008
Title: The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Sys-tems.Authors: Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, Steven CadyISBN-10: 1576753794ISBN-13: 978-1576753798Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2nd EditionPublished: January 4, 2007
Title: Cooked: A Natural History of TransformationAuthor: Michael PollanISBN-10: 1594204217 ISBN-13: 978-1594204210 Publisher: Penguin PressYear Published 2013
Title: Agricultural Urbanism: Handbook for building sustainable food & agriculture systems in 21st century citiesAuthor: Janine de la Salle and Mark HollandISBN: 978-0-9812434-2-9Publisher: GFB ( Green Frigate Books)Year Published 2010
Title: Urban Sprawl & Public Health Author: Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank & Richard JacksonISBN: 1-55963-912-1Publisher: Island PressYear Published 2004
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Thinking in Systems: How Urban Agriculture and Systems Ecology Can Reshape the City11.14.13
Title: Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle’s Urban Community GardensAuthors: Jeffrey Hou, Julie M. Johnson, and Laura J. LawsonISBN 978-0295989280Publisher: University of Washington PressYear Published: October 2009Title: Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary CitiesEditor: by Jeffrey HouISBN: 978-0415779661Publisher: RoutledgeYear Published: April 2010
Title: Permaculture: A Designer’s ManualAuthor: Bill Mollison and Reny Mia SlayISBN-13: 978-0908228010 Publisher: Tagari PublicationsYear Published Oct. 1, 1997
Title: The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, DVDAuthor: NAAISN: 0910420327Publisher: NAYear Published NA
Title: Food Inc. (You’ll never look at dinner the same way again) DVDAuthor: Eric Schlosser, Robert KennerAISN: B0027BOL4GPublisher: NAYear Published Nov. 3, 2009
Title: dirt! THE MOVIE – A story of heart and soil DVD Author: Bill Benenson, Gene RosowAISN: B00366E1AKPublisher: Common Ground MediaYear Published Nov. 3, 2009
Title: In Defense of Food : An Eaters ManifestoAuthor: Michael PollanISBN-10: 9780143114963 ISBN-13: 978-0143114963 Publisher: Penguin PressYear Published 2009
