Systems of action, after ApJ and JSB

Whereas a traditional designer might think of their work as designing an object, or a mechanism, a “system of action” is a “coherent collection of interrelated components” which creates change.

Systems of action are constructed to allow participants to effect substantial change through small actions, and indeed don’t necessarily require the participation of all inhabitants to generate that change.

Key design elements

• A vision
  • A vision is about seeing. It rallies; it’s aspirational; it re-orients existing participants; it creates space for the rest.
• A vehicle (which manifests the vision)
  • A vehicle is an opportunity: a research library redesign plan; the construction of a new university; etc. This creates an opportunity for the vision to be expressed.
• A concept (which drives the work)
  • The concept grounds the vision in the vehicle. It’s more concrete; it’s more specific. It doesn’t fall to the level of specific mechanisms, but it describes how the vision is going to be achieved by the vehicle.
• Mechanisms—things and actions to scaffold emergence
  • Specific system nouns and verbs. In a physical environment, this might represent physical spaces or affordances. In a social environment, this might capture rituals or practices. These are a coherent set; strategically chosen to balance and amplify each other.
• Networks
  • The system of action operates in an ever-changing context—at the level of the individual, small groups, communities, and the larger society in which that design is embedded. The relationships between people at all these levels interact complexly with the mechanisms to bring about what actually happens in these contexts, day to day.

Necessary practices and components for creating systems of action

• ==Amplified reading of context==
  • this is a very desigerly competency
• Shaping and working in extremely multidisciplinary spaces
  • this is mostly necessary because the authors and their peers are consultants
• Metadesigning
  • about designing the design processes
  • again… maybe only so important because the authors are consultants?
  • it’s necessary when designers, operating outside the context of use, are bringing domain practitioners into the design process
• Thinking through ecological lenses
• ==Embracing the role of the designer as both leader and orchestrator==
  • Designer’s role is both to distill the many ideas and observations from the charrettes, the conversations with disciplinary experts, etc—and also to turn that into a vision of their own.
  • “Vision can be developed in collaboration but it requires charismatic leadership to weave together multiple voices, finding coherent patterns and productive anomalies, and then to communicate and advocate for them with clarity and artistry.”
  • relates to the observation about truly great works being the result of one person
• Shaping critical and effective networks of partners

References

Pendleton-Jullian, A. M., & Brown, J. S. (2018). Design Unbound (Vol. 1–2). MIT Press. Pendleton-Jullian and Brown, Design Unbound