Tag: Sustainability
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Multisolving: Steering Systems
Elizabeth Sawin in her book Multisolving acknowledges that systems cannot easily be created or destroyed, but that there are ways to steer systems in a better direction. Chapter 8 of her book is devoted to the strategies for steering systems and ends with how to steer systems with multisolving in mind. I would agree that…
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Multisolving: Behavior of the System
In Chapter six of Mutlisolving by Elizabeth Sawin she pulls together all the elements of the previous chapters to discuss whole system behavior. She reinforces just how complex and interconnected systems really are and starts to show how they can be influenced. For reflection, she asks readers to think of a time we took action…
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Multisolving and the Role of Feedback Loops
In Chapter Five of Elizabeth Sawin’s book Multisolving, she asks readers to reflect on effective balancing feedback operating in either their life or work and what brings the system back into balance when destabilized. In my last post I discussed the idea of reinforcing feedback loops, a change in one direction creating more change in…
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Multisolving and the Role of Reinforcing Feedback Loops
Chapter Four of Elizabeth Sawin’s book Multisolving, covers the first of two types of feedback loops in systems–Reinforcing. Reinforcing feedback is “a change in one part of the system that feeds back to amplify the initial change”. In other words, it’s a change in the same direction amplified. The prompt at the end of the…
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Multisolving: Flows
Continuing on with the reading reflections in Elizabeth Sawin’s book Multisolving, Chapter Three is on Flows, processes that move and are measured in units of stuff per unit of time. As she mentions in the book, we tend to focus only on stocks and ignore the flows, to our detriment. If we ignore them too…
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The Bicycle City
Book Review In our May podcast episode, we talk about sustainable urban development via the bicycle with Dan Piatkowski, author of “Bicycle City: Riding the Bike Boom to a Brighter Future.” The episode provides a comprehensive look at the cycling revolution that’s poised to transform mid-sized cities like Lincoln, Nebraska, and the growing influence of…
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Rural Renaissance
Book Review The March 12th episode of Booked on Planning featured author Michelle Moore, an advocate for sustainable energy solutions in rural America who recently published Rural Renaissance. Moore shared her wealth of knowledge on the subject, emphasizing the vital role that rural cooperatives and public power companies play in rejuvenating America’s heartland. With a…
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Is Renewable Energy Better for the Environment?
I saw a post on social media recently that showed the massive battery system required to power a Tesla and listed out all the environment downsides that go into the extraction. The article estimated that it takes 7 years of driving the electric vehicle before it starts to pay off the environmental harms caused by…
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People, Planet, Design
Book Review The world of design and architecture holds untapped potential for promoting sustainability, a topic we dove into with author Corey Squire, of “People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential,” in our latest Booked on Planning episode. In the episode coming out in a few weeks, we discussed how design choices…
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Hawley Hamlets: A Nebraska Eco Village
Building a community around an urban food forests may seem like a European idea, but it is gaining interest here in the U.S. as well. With climate change becoming an imminent concern, some community members are investing in their own communities food security. One example is in the heart of one of the more dense…
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The Planning Lady 