The document discusses using the "regimes-on-a-landscape" metaphor to develop frameworks for social change design. It introduces 12 propositions about conceptualizing social systems as state spaces shaped by mutually reinforcing factors within attraction basins ("regimes"). The metaphor differentiates adaptation from transformation, seen as a shift between regimes. It can inform processes like boundary work, visioning, and identifying limits to dominant approaches. The goal is to draw on this systems perspective to facilitate intentional ("design") social change.

1. Design for Social Change
Howard Silverman
www.solvingforpattern.org
ISSS
19JUL12
Thanks to:
International Society for the Systems Sciences, American Society for Cybernetics,
Greg Hill, Ecotrust, Cascade Systems Society, Todd Gilens+Maria D’Agostino,
students in the Collaborative Design MFA at Pacific Northwest College of Art

2. Overview of 12 Propositions
• introduce terms
• explore regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor
• consider applications
Goal:
Draw upon the regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor to develop
frameworks for use in “designing for social change.”
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

3. By “design,” I mean to act with intention.
(Proposition #1)
Herbert Simon: Victor Papanek:
“Design ... is concerned with “Design is the conscious effort
how things ought to be.” to impose meaningful order.”
Simon, H. 1996. The Sciences of the Artificial. Papanek,V. 1971. Design for the Real World.
Third Edition. MIT Press. p.114. Pantheon Books. p.3.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

4. By “design for,” I mean a reflexive process.
(Proposition #2)
Etienne Wenger:
“Learning cannot be
designed, it can only be
designed for -- that is,
facilitated or frustrated.”
Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning,
and Identity. Cambridge U Press. pp.229-30.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

5. (For the purposes of this discussion)
I understand “meaningful order” in terms of social-ecological
systems, represented as state spaces (or stability landscapes)
and shaped by basins of attraction (i.e., regimes).
(Proposition #3)
Brian Walker et al.:
The state space of a system is
the three-dimensional space of
all possible combinations of the
variables that constitute the
system.
Walker, B. et al. 2004. Resilience, Adaptability and
Transformability in Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology
and Society 9(2):5.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

6. The regimes-on-a-landscape approach is coherent with
other research in complex adaptive systems.
(Proposition #4)
Brian Arthur: Sewall Wright’s theory of shifting balances:
“[P]ositive feedback -
increasing returns - make for
multiple equilibrium points.”
Ellerman, D. 2010. Pragmatism versus Economics Ideology
Arthur, W. B. Positive Feedbacks in the Economy.
in the Post-Socialist Transition. Real-World Economics
Scientific American, 262:92-99.
Review 52:2-27.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

7. Regimes develop as mutually reinforcing sets of factors --
biological, psychological, social, and artifactual --
shaping and shaped by ecological interdependence.
(Proposition #5)
Transition Management:
“[A regime is] a coherent
configuration of technological,
institutional, economic, social,
cognitive, and physical
elements and actors with
individual goals, values, and
beliefs.”
Holtz, G., et al. 2008. Specifying “Regime” — A Silverman, H., et al. 2012. Resilience & Transformation:
Framework for Defining and Describing Regimes in A Regional Approach. Ecotrust.
Transition Research. Technological Forecasting and
Social Change 75:623-643.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

8. Based on this holistic (biological, psychological, social,
artifactual) understanding of regime configuration across
multiple systems, we can examine analogous relationships,
e.g., types of resistance to transformation.
(Proposition #6)
• senses of identity • power, influence, and interests
• senses of anxiety • perverse incentives
• cognitive denial • technological and infrastructural
lock-in
• confirmation bias
• Kahneman’s “system 1 thinking” • stranded financial capital
• addiction and pathology • traps (e.g., rigidity, poverty)
• path dependence • Senge’s “success to the successful”
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

9. The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor enables systemic
differentiation between adaptation and transformation.
(Proposition #7)
Adaptability: Transformability:
“To learn and adjust responses “To create a fundamentally new
so as to continue developing system when ecological,
within the current regime.” economic, or social structures
make the existing system
untenable.”
“new ways of making a living”
Walker, B. et al. 2006. A handful of heuristics and some
propositions for understanding resilience in social-
ecological systems. Ecology and Society 11(1):13.
Folke, C., et al. 2010. Resilience thinking: integrating
resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecology and
Society 15(4): 20.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

10. Transformation (“social change”) is indicated by shift a from
one regime to another.
(Proposition #8)
Francis Westley et al.:
“Radical innovation originates
in niches: small protected
spaces in which new practice
can develop.”
Westley, F., et al. 2011. Tipping Toward Sustainability:
Emerging Pathways of Transformation. AMBIO 40:762-780.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

11. The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor can be usefully combined
with and compared against other systems approaches.
(Proposition #9)
Soft Systems Methodology Program Logic Model
Transtheoretical Model
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

12. Example 1: Relationships between dominant and alternative regimes
reflect a “limits to success” archetype.
(Proposition #10)
Silverman, H., et al. 2005.
Sustainable Food Systems:
Working Towards a
Fundamental Solution.
Ecotrust.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

13. Example 2: The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor can inform
the development of opportunities for boundary work.
(Proposition #11)
Sensemaking across community boundaries Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice: Learning,
Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge U Press. p.105.
design: rocketeye.com
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

14. Example 3: The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor can
inform the development of visioning processes.
(Proposition #12)
Visioning that: Versus scenario planning example
(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment)
• Is developed for social, rather than
organizational, contexts;
• Prioritizes for the agency of individual
and organizational actors;
• Focuses on social dilemmas rather than
evolutionary uncertainties, per se;
• Enables identification of institutional
innovations; and
• Is spatially explicit.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org

15. The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor can inform the
process of “designing for social change.”
(Conclusion)
• By “design,” I mean to act with intention. • The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor enables
systemic differentiation between adaptation and
• By “design for,” I mean a reflexive process. transformation.
• (For the purposes of this discussion) I
• Transformation (“social change”) is indicated by
understand “meaningful order” in terms of shift a from one regime to another.
social-ecological systems, represented as state
spaces (or stability landscapes) and shaped by • The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor can be
basins of attraction (i.e., regimes). usefully combined with and compared against
other systems approaches.
• The regimes-on-a-landscape approach is
coherent with other research in complex • Example 1: Relationships between dominant and
adaptive systems. alternative regimes reflect a “limits to success”
archetype.
• Regimes develop as mutually reinforcing sets of
factors -- biological, psychological, social, and • Example 2: The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor
artifactual -- shaping and shaped by ecological can inform the development of opportunities for
interdependence. boundary work.
• Based on this holistic (biological, psychological, • Example 3: The regimes-on-a-landscape metaphor
social, artifactual) understanding of regime can inform the development of visioning
configuration across multiple systems, we can processes.
examine analogous relationships,
e.g., types of resistance to transformation.
Howard Silverman solvingforpattern.org