This document provides an overview of the first class of an NYU ITP lecture course on systems thinking taught by Jen Van Der Meer in Fall 2014. The class introduction covers an icebreaker on identities, an overview of the course thesis on bodies and buildings, and an introduction to systems thinking concepts like leverage points and intervention in systems. Key points discussed include: - The course aims to provide students with a systems thinking approach to generate concepts that can improve human health, building sustainability, or both. - The class structure alternates between topics on bodies and buildings over 12 sessions, culminating in final presentations with guest critics. - An introduction to Donella Meadows' work on leverage points in systems establishes intervention at

1. BODIES &
BUILDINGS
NYU ITP LECTURE COURSE FALL 2014
CLASS 1: SEPTEMBER 8, 2014
JEN VAN DER MEER @JENVANDERMEER WWW.JENVANDERMEER.ORG

2. WHO ARE WE
Who are you?
2

3. ABOUT ME:
3
JAPANESE GOV’T
ECONOMIST
REASON STREET
ORGANIC INC.
TECH ANALYST
MBA – HEC
MOM
ITP PITCHFEST
OPEN DATA
DRILLTEAM
LUMINARY
LABS
DACHIS
WEST VILLAGE
DESIGNERS
ACCORD
SYSTEMS
THINKING
SUBURBAN
CHILDHOOD
FROG DESIGN
SUSTAINABILITY
BA COMP
RELIGION

4. COURSE THESIS
BODIES & BUILDINGS
4

5. BODIES +
We have made huge strides in life expectancy, but we have
reached limits of growth.
5

6. BODIES
We have made huge strides in life expectancy, but we have
reached limits of growth.
6

7. BODIES
Bodies are in trouble right now –
despite reaching the peak of
productivity the US now leads the
world in the rampant growth of
chronic diseases that lower life
expectancy, and reduce life
quality.
“People are living longer than
projected in 1990 -- on average,
10.7 more years for men, and 12.6
more years for women. But for
many of them, the quality of life
during those years is not good. On
average, people are plagued by
illness or pain during the last 14
years of life.”
7

8. BUILDINGS
New Yorkers life a less carbon-emitting life than most.
8

9. BUILDINGS
But we live and work in
buildings.
9

10. BUILDINGS
Buildings account for the largest
source of both electricity consumption
(68% of global use) and greenhouse
gas emissions (48% of global
emissions) in the world. –UNEP.
10

11. WHY IS IT SO HARD
TO CARE FOR OUR
PLANET AND
OURSELVES?
WE SEEM HUNGOVER FROM A CENTURY OF PROSPERITY AND
INGENUITY, UNABLE TO INVENT ECONOMIC MODELS THAT
CREATE JOBS, IMPROVE HEALTH, AND RESTORE THE EARTH.
11

12. THE TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT
THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Gartner’s Technology Hype Cycle
12

13. TEAM BUILDING DYNAMIC
The full cycle of a team’s development
13

14. STARTUP CURVE
Paul Graham’s take on the hype cycle
14

15. 15

16. VONNEGUT AT THE
BLACKBOARD
16
THE TRUTH IS, WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT LIFE, WE
DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT THE GOOD NEWS IS AND
WHAT THE BAD NEWS IS.

17. MAN IN HOLE
BEGINNING END
17
GOOD FORTUNE
ILL FORTUNE
MAN IN HOLE

18. KAFKA
BEGINNING END
18
GOOD FORTUNE
ILL FORTUNE
KAFKA
∞

19. BOY MEETS GIRL
BEGINNING END
19
GOOD FORTUNE
ILL FORTUNE
BOY MEETS GIRL

20. CINDARELLA
BEGINNING END
20
GOOD FORTUNE
ILL FORTUNE
CINDARELLA
∞

21. DON’T DESPAIR
Purpose of this course:
You are better equipped than MBAs to envision and build our
way out of this trap, but often lack an understanding of the
mega forces of business, regulation, and bad cultural habits
that keep us from saving ourselves.
What we will cover in this course:
• Meta view
• Focus on points of intervention
• Conceptual scaffolding
21

22. LEVERAGE POINTS
DONALLA (DANA) MEADOWS
1941-2001
22

23. “Folks who do systems analysis
have a great belief in “leverage
points.” These are places within a
complex system (a corporation,
an economy, a living body, a city,
an ecosystem) where a small shift
in one thing can produce big
change in everything .
LEVERAGE POINTS.
23

24. Beware the silver bullet
THE NEARLY EFFORTLESS WAY TO CUT THROUGH OR
LEAP OVER HUGE OBSTACLES.
24

25. Beware the silver bullets
THE NEARLY EFFORTLESS WAY TO CUT THROUGH OR
LEAP OVER HUGE OBSTACLES.
25

26. We not only want to believe that
there are leverage points, we want
to know where they are and how to
get our hands on them.
LEVERAGE POINTS ARE POINTS OF POWER.
26

27. But leverage points and how to
push them are counterintuitive.
27

28. PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM:
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards)
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (transport networks, population age structures)
9. Length of delays, relative to the rate of system change
8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against
7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops
6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to what kinds of
information)
5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints)
4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure
3. The goals of the system
2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system – its goals, power structure, rules, its culture-arises
1. The power to transcend paradigms
28

29. YOUR FIRST SYSTEMS DIAGRAM
29
POELHWTANERAREAUT RLBESTGERTHYARS

30. 1. BATHTUB PARAMETERS
30

31. HANDS ON THE FAUCETS
“Putting different hands on the faucets may change the rate at which the faucets turn, but if
they’re the same old faucets, plumbed into the same old system, turned according to the same
old information and goals and rules, the system isn’t going to change much.”
31

32. NYC APARTMENT HEAT PARAMETERS
32

33. STOMACH PARAMETERS
33

34. (BUT THE STOMACH IS NOT THAT SIMPLE : IT
HOSTS A COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEM)
34

35. PARAMETERS ARE THE LEAST
POWERFUL LEVERS.
35
PEOPLE CARE DEEPLY AND FIGHT FIERCELY. BUT
THEY RARELY CHANGE BEHAVIOR.

36. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF
PARAMETERS?
36

37. 2. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
37

38. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
WATER TOWER
38

39. FISH
39

40. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
CHEESE SUBSIDIES
40

41. BUFFERS ARE OFTEN
EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN, AND
NOT EASY TO CHANGE
41

42. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF
BUFFERS?
42

43. GREEN AREA AROUND LONDON
43
3. THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIAL STOCKS
AND FLOWS AND NODES OF INTERSECTION

44. THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIAL STOCKS AND
FLOWS AND NODES OF INTERSECTION
PS 3 VS PS 41
44

45. 45

46. 46

47. 47

48. Physical structure is crucial in a system, but
rarely a leverage point, because changing it is
rarely simple. The leverage point is in proper
design in the first place. After the structure is
built, the leverage is in understanding its
limitations and bottlenecks and refraining from
fluctuations or expansions that strain its
capacity.
48

49. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES
MATERIAL STOCKS AND
FLOWS?
49

50. YOU ARE 25%
THROUGH YOUR
SYSTEMS THINKING
INTRO
PAUSE
50

51. WHAT TO EXPECT
FROM THIS COURSE
51

52. WHAT YOU WILL GET FROM ME
This is a lecture course, and the syllabus is built to provide
students with a systems thinking approach to problem solving.
The objective for the final presentations is for students to
generate a concept that can be applied to improve human
health, building health, or both. The goal is for students to
articulate a solution, and argue persuasively for ideas to
become reality (vs. moving straight to working prototype in usual
ITP fashion). Assignments will involve in person class
presentation, and class participation is required. The course is
structured to provide iterative opportunities to build and
strengthen ideas – rooted in user-centered design, data-driven
outcomes, grounded in the realities of sustainable cost models
and growth plans, strengthened by students’ ability to stand
up and tell their stories.
52

53. HOW THIS COURSE IS STRUCTURED
53
Bodies
Buildings
Mid
term
Finals
Action

54. HOW THIS COURSE IS STRUCTURED
1. Introduction to systems thinking,
September 8, 2014
Part 1: Bodies
2. Bodies – The Obesity Epidemic,
September 15, 2014
3. Bodies – The Open Health Data
Movement, September 22, 2014
4. Bodies – Minimally Disruptive Medicine,
September 29, 2014
5. Bodies – The Global mHealth
Movement, October 6, 2014
6. Quick Concept Pitches: Argue Your
Opposing View on Health Tech, October
20, 2014
(5 minute in class presentations and
feedback)
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Part 2: Buildings
7. Clean Tech Failures, Clean Tech Long
Term View, October 27, 2014
8. LEED and the Passive House
Movement, November 3, 2014
9. Waste Has Value, November 10, 2014
10. Generative Architecture, Responsive
Design, November 17, 2014
11. Final Presentations, November 24,
2014
With guest critics
12. Taking Action: December 1, 2014

55. TIME COMMITMENT, WHAT TO EXPECT.
Core classes:
• Reading: 30 min – 1 hour per week (for required reading,
but supplemental reading/viewing offered)
• Essay/assignments writing – 2-4 hours per week
• Practice speaking – 30 min to 1 hour per week
Presentation classes:
• Concept presentation research 20 hours
• Concept presentation development 10-20 hours
• Concept presentation rehearsal 3 hours
55

56. CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Weekly assignments – written 1-2 page essays will be
announced DURING CLASS. And posted to updated syllabus.
Syllabus is located here: jenvandermeer.org
Presentation assignments – visual presentation or demo. You
may build on existing Thesis or other class projects.
Two or more of you can build off of the same class projects
BUT you must prepare your own concept presentation,
essays, and present to the class individually.
56

57. OFFICE HOURS
5-6:30 Mondays before class, or available by appointment.
Schedule time with me for research guidance, concept
strengthening, presentation rehearsal.
57

58. SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY
Class assignment for 9/15/2014
Mandatory! Read ALL OF Donella Meadows:
Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System
Take leverage points 9, 8, 7.
Write a 1 page or 500-600 word essay on the following topic:
How do mobile apps try to affect leverage points 9, 8, and 7.
9) The length of delays, relative to the rate of system change
8) The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to impacts they are
trying to correct against
7) The gain around driving positive feedback loops
Give one example and explain how the app is or is not designed to affect
each of these leverage points. How effective do you think this app will be at
changing behavior?
You will be asked to present your work, so practice rehearsing your in class
presentation at least two times.
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