Class 1: Intro to Systems Thinking

1. BODIES &
BUILDINGS
NYU ITP LECTURE COURSE SPRING 2013
CLASS 1: JANUARY 28, 2014
JEN VAN DER MEER @JENVANDERMEER WWW.JENVANDERMEER.COM

2. TODAY
FUN CLASS EXERCISE
January 27, 2013
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3. WHO ARE WE
Who are you?
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4. COURSE THESIS
BODIES & BUILDINGS
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5. BODIES +
We have made huge strides in life expectancy, but we have
reached limits of growth.
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6. BODIES
We have made huge strides in life expectancy, but we have
reached limits of growth.
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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.”
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8. BUILDINGS
New Yorkers life a less carbon-emitting life than most.
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9. BUILDINGS
But we live and work in
buildings.
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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.
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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.
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12. THE TROUGH OF DESPAIRTHE
PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Gartner’s Technology Hype Cycle
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13. TEAM BUILDING DYNAMIC
The full cycle of a team’s development
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14. STARTUP CURVE
Paul Graham’s take on the hype cycle
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15. VONNEGUT AT THE
BLACKBOARD
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.
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16. MAN IN HOLE
GOOD FORTUNE
BEGINNING END
MAN IN HOLE
ILL FORTUNE
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17. KAFKA
GOOD FORTUNE
BEGINNING END
KAFKA
ILL FORTUNE
∞
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18. BOY MEETS GIRL
GOOD FORTUNE
BEGINNING END
ILL FORTUNE BOY MEETS GIRL
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19. CINDARELLA
GOOD FORTUNE ∞
BEGINNING END
CINDARELLA
ILL FORTUNE
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20. DON’T DESPAIR
Purpose of this course:
You are better equipped than MBAs to envision and hack 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
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21. LEVERAGE POINTS
DONALLA (DANA) MEADOWS
1941-2001
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22. “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.
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23. THE NEARLY EFFORTLESS WAY TO CUT THROUGH
OR LEAP OVER HUGE OBSTACLES.
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24. 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.
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25. But leverage points and how to push
them are counterintuitive.
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26. 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
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27. YOUR FIRST SYSTEMS DIAGRAM
ENERGY
HEALTH
WATER
TRUST
POLAR BEARS
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28. 1. BATHTUB PARAMETERS
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29. 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 informaiton and goals and rules, the system isn’t going to change much.”
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30. STOMACH PARAMETERS
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31. NYC APARTMENT HEAT PARAMETERS
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32. PARAMETERS ARE THE LEAST
POWERFUL LEVERS.
PEOPLE CARE DEEPLY AND FIGHT FIERCELY. BUT
THEY RARELY CHANGE BEHAVIOR.
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33. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF
PARAMETERS?
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34. 2. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
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35. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
WATER TOWER
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36. FISH
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37. THE SIZE OF THE BUFFERS
CHEESE SUBSIDIES
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38. BUFFERS ARE OFTEN
EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN, AND
NOT EASY TO CHANGE
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39. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF
BUFFERS?
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40. 3. THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIAL STOCKS
AND FLOWS AND NODES OF INTERSECTION
GREEN AREA AROUND LONDON
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41. THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIAL STOCKS AND
FLOWS AND NODES OF INTERSECTION
PS 3 VS PS 41
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42. 42
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43. 43

44. 44

45. 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.
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46. WHAT ARE EXAMPLES
MATERIAL STOCKS AND
FLOWS?
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47. YOU ARE 25%
THROUGH YOUR
SYSTEMS THINKING
INTRO
PAUSE
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48. WHAT TO EXPECT
FROM THIS COURSE
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49. 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, grounded in the
realities of sustainable cost models and growth plans, strengthened by
students’ ability to stand up and tell their stories.
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50. HOW THIS COURSE IS STRUCTURED
Mid
Bodies
term
Buildings
Finals
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51. HOW THIS COURSE IS STRUCTURED
1. Introduction to systems thinking, January 28, 2013
Part 2: Buildings
Reading: Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System
6. Clean Tech Failures, Clean Tech Long Term View, March 11, 2013
Part 1: Bodies
Reading: Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust by Juliet Eilperin, Wired
2. Bodies – The Obesity Epidemic, February 4, 2013
Transforming Clean Tech into Main Tech by Vinod Khosla, Forbes
Reading: 2012 World Happiness Report
-Spring Break March 18-
Mindfulness and the Quantified Self
7. LEED and the Passive House Movement, March 25, 2013
A counter view of Weight Watchers by a long time member at Jezebel
Understanding Citizen Science and Environmental Monitoring
3. Bodies – The Open Health Data Movement, February 11, 2013
8. Field Trip: Passive House(s), April 1, 2013
Reading: US CTO seeks to scale agile thinking and open data across federal
government via Strata Rx
TBD – on site visit to a passive house build or retrofit
Video: Anything with US CTO Todd Park (formerly CTO HHS) on open data 9. Generative Architecture, Responsive Design, April 8, 2013
and health care, such as this one: Changing Behavior and Changing Policies:
Todd Park
Readings from: Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling
- President’s Day February 18, 2013 -
The Architecture of a Well-Tempered Environment by Reyner Banham
4. Bodies – Beginning of Life Care, End of Life Care, February 25, 2013
Phase 3: Concept Development and Final Presentations
Selected Readings from Wit: A Play by Margaret Edson. 1999. Faber and
Faber.
10. Concept strengthening – design thinking exercises, business case building,
April 15, 2013
5. Quick Concept Pitches: Solving for Privacy in Health Tech,
March 4, 2013
11. Final Presentations (1) with guest critics, April 22, 2013
(5 minute in class presentations and feedback)
12. Final Presentations (2) with guest critics, April 29, 2013
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52. TIME COMMITMENT, WHAT TO EXPECT.
Core classes:
• Reading: 30 min – 1 hour per week
• 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
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53. CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Weekly assignments – written 1-2 page essays will be
announced DURING CLASS. And posted to updated syllabus.
Syllabus is located here: jenvandermeer.com/xxxx
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.
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54. SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY
Class assignment for 2/4/2013
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 500-6000 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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