The Anatomy of a System

Systems in SiD

A system in SiD is a set of objects and relations between individual components (agents) that operate together, exchanging information, energy, materials, value, and other resources. Systems are a mental and analytical model to understand the world -- they are not "real," but they form a framework for understanding.

A system may take many forms. A city, the pond in your neighbor's back yard, our entire civilization, a company, or a government may all be seen as systems. Systems are defined and separated by their system boundary.

Three Levels: System, Network, Object

In SiD, a system consists of three levels:

The Object Level is the collection of physical elements in the system. If we take a city as an example, the objects are everything you can point to: buildings, park furniture, pipes, cars, money, books, people, animals, trees. This is where you encounter topics commonly found in sustainable development: energy use, materials, ecosystems, land use, climate change, economic impact.

The Network Level is where all objects exchange things with one another -- the flow of people and information, resource flows, laws, regulation, trade, economy. It is the collection of all relationships between all objects. Unlike the object level, network connections are intangible and often transient or dynamic.

The System Level is where the underlying levels come together. It determines the edges of the system and evaluates performance as a whole. On this level, sustainability can be evaluated through its base components: Resilience, Autonomy, and Harmony.

The SNO Hierarchy

Together, these three levels -- System, Network, Object (SNO) -- make the fundamental building blocks of SiD's system-based thinking. We set goals on the system level and operate on the object level to make them happen. The network parameters connect them, revealing hidden opportunities to use system dynamics to advantage.

System Boundaries

Systems consist of the collection of objects and networks contained within them. The boundary defines what is and what is not part of the system. Without a boundary, everything is part of everything else, making work impossible. A system boundary can be defined by geographical area, time period, and context degree.

Relations that interact with the system from beyond its boundaries are called "externalizations" -- these always need to be accounted for. For most cases, having exact boundaries is not critical in the beginning.

Integrated Analysis

For sustainable development to succeed, we need to take into account all the critical areas of interest a system consists of. This is called "integrated analysis" or "thinking in the full spectrum." SiD offers the complete SNO hierarchy framework for exploring, indexing, evaluating, and finding solutions for all aspects related to complex systems.

The ELSI Categorization System

At the object level, SiD uses the ELSI categorization system to map indicators across the full spectrum. ELSI stands for Environment, Liveability, Social, and Institutional -- four dimensions that cover all physical aspects of the world around us. This framework allows you to quickly develop areas of interest and indicator sets for each challenge while being sure to work in the full spectrum.

ELSI replaced the earlier "People, Planet, Profit" (PPP) triple bottom line, which did not cover all necessary areas or provide logical relationships between its categories.

Network Parameters

The network level parameters are a powerful interface between the top-down system view and the bottom-up object view. They help unravel complexities, reveal system interactions, and find the best intervention points.

SiD's standardized network parameters are split into three sets aligned with the RAH system indicators:

CRAFTDCCV (Resilience): Connectivity, Redundancy, Awareness, Flexibility, Transparency, Diversity, Centrality, Complexity, Validity

SSCNE (Autonomy): Self-Governance, Self-Sufficiency, Circularity, Network Support, Efficiency

PEAIE (Harmony): Power Balance, Expression, Access, Inclusion, Equity

The Playground of System Dynamics

On the network level we find powerful systemic behaviors that remain hidden at the object level. The network is about "how" rather than "what." It matters more that people can communicate instantly over long distances than what is being said or what device they use.

Network parameters can be observed from both top-down (how they contribute to RAH) and bottom-up (constructed from connections between objects). This flexibility makes the network level a playground for creativity.

System Indicators: RAH

The three main SiD system indicators inform us about the performance of the system as a whole. Together, they determine sustainability:

Resilience -- the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, retaining essentially the same function, structure, and identity.

Autonomy -- the degree to which a system can sustain itself without critical external inputs, and its capacity for self-governance.

Harmony -- the balance of internal tensions within the system, encompassing equity, justice, inclusion, and the fair distribution of resources and power.

Thinking in Dimensions and Scales

SiD analyzes systems across three dimensions -- Space, Time, and Context -- each at multiple scales:

Space: Local, surroundings, world. Map spatial relationships of resources, people, value, and ecosystems.

Time: Past, present, future. Sustainability is a state of a dynamic system -- you are never designing a static solution. Look at cycles, periodic patterns, and long-term effects.

Context: 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree. The "free" mapping dimension that allows you to visualize relationships separate from spatial and temporal restrictions. Causal loop diagrams, organizational charts, and life cycle assessments are all context maps.

Scales of Impact

Understanding different orders of magnitude of impact is critical:

1st level -- Direct Impacts: Effects directly and materially linked to an action. Measurable in kWh, temperature, GDP. Easy to quantify but tell us little about system-level influence.

2nd level -- Network Impacts: Effects resulting from relationships between objects. Building a school far from a community increases transport -- that is a network effect with cascading object-level consequences.

3rd level -- System Impacts: Effects at the abstraction level where system behavior can be perceived. Long-term resilience, educational value, adaptive capacity. Harder to quantify but by far the largest and most essential to focus on.

As a general rule: aim for at least one strong positive network effect for any intervention. Preferably, create a strong positive systemic effect.