Sunday 22 March 2009

Visualising sustainability

How to convey the essence of sustainability in a few sketched lines?

the source for this whole blog post is a March 2009 extract from

Computing for Sustainability by Samuel Mann 


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Saving the earth one byte at a time


How to convey the essence of sustainability in a few sketched lines?    I’m wading through the net and my bookshelves to find examples of the genre.    I’m looking for schematics of the notion of sustainability itself rather than the underlying science -greenhouse, carbon, meso climate processground water etc for which there are a zillion diagrams.
The list is not meant to be exhaustive, but if I’ve missed your favourite diagram, leave a link and I’ll add it to the list.   Many of these images are duplicated all over the web, I’ve tried to find original sources (try tineye, is really cool), but again, let me know if I’ve missed something.  
In no particular order, here’s 100 125 137 158 of what I’ve found. 
1. Stong Sustainability
“This model recognises that the economy is a subset of society (i.e. it only exists in the context of a society), and that many important aspects of society do not involve economic activity. Similarly, human society and the economic activity with it are totally constrained by the natural systems of our planet” (NZ PCE quoted by Pam Willams (PhD)
3strong1


2.   OK, so there was a particular order, the strong sustainability circles had to go before the weaker (but much more common) Venn diagram, 3 circles (or triangles)
This model is very very common (google search sustainability Venn). 
“There is some common ground where each of the circles converge, but the main priority in this model is the health of the economy. Economists sometimes refer to this as the weak sustainability model ….. it assumes that the degradation of one group of assets, (environmental, social or economic) can be compensated for by improvement in another and that externalities can be externalised (PRISM and Knight, 2000, cited in PCE, 2002). This weak sustainability model fails to acknowledge the ecological constraints that humans, other species, markets, policies and developments must operate within” (NZ PCE quoted by Pam Willams (PhD)
3weak

3. Mickey Mouse (OzPolitic)
sustainability-bullseye-vs-mickey-mouse


4. Venn circle with people,   The circle of people give a context (Gerber)
bdicrecommends_image004
5. Venn circles with each circle labelled (US National Botanic Gardens)
natbotgardens


6. Four Venn circles (Halton Hills)
4circle_sustainability


7 Venn 3 with overlaps named (see also WKU)
3overlaps


8. Venn with examples on each sector (Verify). (see also Environmental Planning,Omaha
sustainability-pie-graph-3
9. Venn 3 with callouts  Swiss Transport Research Project
3circles_examples

10. 3 aspects  held together by shared values (Active Citizenship Toolkit)
asc_diagram


11. 3 aspects as a stool (David Lock) “three legged stool”
three_legged_stool
12. More complex 3 legged stool (Italian Architecture)
cost_02m13. Stool with a broken leg  (perhaps intentional?) from Willoughby City Council 
ignitionsuite_image1656



14. Venn 3 within a context (Curtin Centre for Developmental Health)
vital



15. 3 aspects making whole “globe” (ProLogis)
3d_globe

16. Four Pillar (Jon Hawkes incorporates four interlinked dimensions: environmental responsibility, economic health, social equity, and cultural vitality >>)
diagram-cultural-dimensions

17. Ken Stoke’s mindmap - Cross between 3 circles and concentric circles (animated)
3spheres
18. Four well beings.   The different forms of well-being as interconnected. Overall well-being, which it places at the centre, is enhanced when all four areas are given equal weight, are interdependent, and are able to move efficiently around the centre (NZ Cutural Well-Being). 
diagram-four-well-beings



19.  Four factors integrated with level of engagement (Pegasus)
4factor_engagement_framework

20. 3 circles in system (IR3S)

howto



21. Business as a system (Interface)  Prototypical company of 21st Century (cf typical model of 20th), and the damaging links that need to be eliminated.
interface_sustainability_model_start

22. 6 factor compass (ThyssenKrupp Steel)
In this concept, effectiveness and efficiency are central to all decisions and actions. Effectiveness means offering our customers the products and services they need in the required quality and at competitive prices. To remain successful in the market long term, we must achieve this through excellent productivity with an optimal balance of expense and income. Efficiency is represented symbolically as the opening angle of the equal-sided compass. The opening angle and the length of the legs determine the area circumscribed by the compass. The larger this area, the greater the latitude for a sustainable corporate policy. The degree of efficiency and effectiveness is the dominant factor.
nachhaltigkeitszirkel


23. Pathway (Eatwelldogood)
sustainability_diagram5

24. Anderson’s (Interface) pathway:  Seven fronts of Mount Sustainability
mt1
25. Societies Diagram from Daniel Montano
sustainable-societies-diagram

26. 3 aspects with 3 dimensions and at different scales (Green Innovations)

sustplus

27. Scope  (from UN via open-sustainability)
700px-sustainability_scope



27. Organisational constructions (Auckland)
 There are many aspects to be considered if Auckland is to become a truly sustainable city. The Local Government Act 2002 makes reference to the ‘four well-beings’: social, economic, environmental, and cultural, but we need to break these down to a larger number of distinct themes in order to define tangible and achievable goals and targets.
aucklandwheel1
aucklandwheel2


28. Organisational construction (Sydney Olympic Park)
sydneyolympic_sustainability_strategy_diagram

29. 7 spoke wheel (Carlson via Rosengren)
7spokesustainability-wheel

30. Sustainable Communities Wheel (Egan review, via Active Citizenship Toolkit). 
text_wheel_550px1

31. People centred sustainability concepts: Sustainable Livelihoods framework .   (see use and explanation on Chronic Poverty and another example on Practical Action)sl-framework-460


32. Medicine wheel (this from Cardinal and Adin via Creative City Network Canada, lots of others- used by PennState Solar decathlon team)
diagram-medicine-wheel

33. Wheel  from 350 ”every citizen should be a sustainability steward”  (source not cited)
sustainability-wheel-300x273

During the sustainability appraisal process each individual proposed policy will be assessed against each of the twenty sustainability objectives.  Commentaries are the most important outcome of the appraisal process. The purpose of the Sustainability Appraisal is to assist the Council in its selection of a preferred option by highlighting the sustainability implications of all development plan options

stockport1stockport2

35. Building sustainability via a wheel with a pie graph  (Packard)
packardwheel
36. Samsung’s wheel is somehow separated inside (3 aspects) and outside (Samsung)
report_img01


37. Responsibilities of different parts of a sector (Wrap - construction)  - why isn’t “decent housing” a role for the private sector?


38. Web of workstreams (Otago Polytechnic)

39. US Parks Service Guiding Principle of Sustainable Design (Leslie Starr Hart 1994)
hartsustdev_sdvalues

40. Seed logo (Geometry of the SeedLogos)
seed141.  Seed logo integrated with balancing bodywork (Structural integration)  (Geometry of the SeedLogos)
seedcross42. Primary cross (Geometry of the SeedLogos)
primarycross
Sky / Spiritual                   Earth / Material
Mind / Yang / Masculine           Heart / Yin / Feminine

42.  which gives… (Geometry of the SeedLogos)
iching43. Star Tetrahedron (Geometry of the SeedLogos)
 seedlogo_model
44.  12 Sector Seed Logo (Lipman) 
sdlogos-12s
45. Integrated systems Dan Black 
sustainability_urgency

46. Scale - sustainability is a long term deal (Martens)
“One of the options the policy-maker has—and this is not so far from the current situation—is to go for short-term goals and simple or cheap means of achieving them. In contrast to such an approach, a more pro-active, innovative standpoint can be adopted that pursues longer-term goals, taking into account developments on different levels of scale and in different sectors. Unquestionably, sustainable development demands the latter approach.
To facilitate decision making, sustainability scientists must assist in the task of making concrete both problems and solutions on all relevant temporal and spatial scales. This means that sustainability at the systemic level must be assessed, bringing to bear the following procedural elements: analysis of deeper-lying structures of the system,projection into the future, and assessment of sustainable and unsustainable trends.Evaluation of the effects of sustainable policy and the design of possible solutions through sustainable strategies also belong here.

sust_science


47. Business operations from Environ
sustainability-large
48. Aesthetically applied to seafood  (found here, by Ray Troll and Terry Pyles for NOAA Fisheries)
seeafoodsustainability

49. Systems and timescales (Eucognition)
“show the different time-scales that relate to the goal-oriented and autonomous agency of a system, and the life cycle of its adaptation to the environment”… “Sustainability is guaranteed by an evolutionary process that underlies the actual behaviour of natural systems, and which is analysed at a different time-scale. It is for this reason that the sustainability of human technological and social systems is not guaranteed by a close coupling with the environment. The analysis of life cycle becomes therefore an essential component to determine the adaptive value of human activity.”
sustainability_euconition



50. UK government: Securing the future - five key  themes
sustainability-5-key-themes



51. Representation of issues with sustainable lens, NZ gender imbalances
womenfigure1



52. IDEO’s lifecycle 
ideo_product_life_cycle

53. Paper cycle (from Boise “culture of sustainability)
Print

54. Product labelling (here because it represents a flow rather than checkboxes) (Nathan Shedroff)
sustain2s

55. Product pathway comparison (unsustainable, unsistainable with recycling, sustainable)  from Tech
sustainability_unsustainable

sustainability_unsustainable_recyclingsustainability_sustainable
56. Social-eological perspective for products, especially role of persuasion (Aaron “The value of sustainable development“)


creativitymodel2-300x263
creativitymodel4-300x2751


uk_energy_flow_20071

formtofuel

59. Global Effects (Beechenhill Farm)
earth_sustainability_diagram

fao_fisherieskite


61. Integration of sustainability into business (Ecosteps)
corporate-culture
62. Business opportunity (Treehugger)
business_sustainability_practices_treehugger


63. Decision filter (Pumicestone Institute)
sustainability-spectrum

64. Enterprise process though sustainability lens from SustainCommWorld
diagram_consulting_map_annotated


canarydiagram-integration

66. Government process (NZ) “walking the talk
govt3-infographic


67. Management helix  for sustainable organisation (Natural Edge)
sustainabilityhelix


68. Factors influencing sustainability  (Hopkins)env_sus_mcd2
69. Sustainability on a “prosperity continuum” (Muskegon County)
prosperity-continuum_sustainable2_reduced
70. City rankings (Sustainlane)
f

71. Sustainable design as organism Guiding Principle of Sustainable Design (Leslie Starr Hart 1994)

hart_organism


72. Limits to growth graphs
arable2
73. Ecological footprint
footprint
74. Footprint illustration (NZ Ministry for the Environment)
ecological-footprint-illustration
75. Integrity at core (University New Hampshire).
unhsustlearningcommunity
76. Personality enneagram within spheres (Blake)
12_evolution
77. Human-ecologic interchange (Washington State University)
rnew6x62
78. Action at different levels (Ecosteps)
sustainability_requires_act1
79. Sun (wheel really) Carillion
sun_diagram
80. House at centre (Icology: Empowering individuals to end poverty)
This is our vision of the world: Universal access to quality, affordable and ecologically sound housing solutions.
hub_diagram
ccycle-e
82. Simply sustainable business model (NZ Ministry for the Environment)
simplysustainablemodel
83. Simplified flows (from Christain Science Monitor, John Kehe)
picture1
84. Human values journey (Robinson and Goleby)
_pcvjmodelsintegration2-full
85. Balance between society and environment (Taylor after Miller)
f0039-01
f0039-02
86. Organisational consciousness (Hoolenbach, University of Western Cape).
organizational1
87. Marshall and Toffel apply Maslow to human and natural environment (Goffman: Defining Sustainability, defining the future)
sustain-heir
88. Sustainability science (Kyoto)
ysuzuki_en_v2
89. Invisible values (Horiba investor relations)
invisible_value
90. Integrated ecological-economic worlview
O’Connor’s image of non-ecological economic worldview
nonecological_economic_worldview_41
91. O’Connors image of Daly (Beyond Growth)
6a00d834202a9b53ef00e54f4f10278833-800wi
92. O’Connor’s Integral Economic worldview
integral_economic_worldview_1_4
93 Resource funnel (The Natural Step)
newfunnel
94. More complex funnel
abcd
95 Natural Step System Conditions
natural-step
96. Natural Step System Conditions
4conditions
97. Natural Step System Conditions (again)
system-conditions
98. Criteria flower (Steve Henry and Mark Jackson’s arrangement of Edwin Dzaskefki’s design criteria)
flower
99. Capital and carrying capacity (from Colorado College, or here in Italian, neither sourced)
4sust
100. (no significance in number!)  Computing Impact (Forum for the Future’sConnected: ICT and sustainable development)
fff_ictfig2
101. Country positioning (rom Colorado College, not sourced)
country
102. Development sprials (UNESCO)
sustainabledevelopmentspiralsframe
103. Bottled water (Green Earth Beverage)
gogreendiagram
104. Sustainable infrastructure (Hokkaido University)
system3
105. Widening engineering framework (University Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Development) (Note the cost/time/quality at the centre - “pick two you can’t have all three”)
uc_engineering1106.  Complexity of Sustainability in China
(Financial) impact flow chart, Natsuko Kikutake NoBoundaries via Zones of Emergency
11.946_RESustainability_CapitalFlowsChart_Kikutake2
107. Poverty linkages interactive from Density Design
3285286273_1f305165de
Who are the poor? Poverty is neither a number nor an index. It cannot be reduced to a line that divides those who are above and those who are below, establishing a unique space for social exclusion. Poverty is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon.
108. Earth systems (Global Envrionmental Centre, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point )
earthsystems1305small2
109. Force field analysis model (Stuart Hill, after Lewin)
eap23_f5
110. Venn Diagram as a web (Gutierrez, Sustainable Development Paradox)
sustainabledevelopmentweb
111. Pattern Map (Conservation Economist)
alt_pattern_map
112. 4 agendas for design (Design Issues Databank)
agenda-sustainable
115. New paradigm (extension of time/cost/quality) Augenbroe and Pearce
f1
116. Sustainable construction in a methodological framework, consisting of three main axes: System (boundary), Process (actor) and Aspect (sustainability). Augenbroe and Pearce
f3
117. Systems approach (Bossel) (Interacting nested systems)
bosselfigure1
118. Factors affecting housing sustainability (Daniell et al ANU)
119. Anishinaabe Perception of Social-ecological Environments (Davidson-Hunt and Berkes)
hdavidson-huntfigure4
121. Consequence analysis (AirQUIS)
airquis_system2
Evolution in environmental decision-making have defined circumstances in which more time (CIA) more space (RIA) or more systemic depth (SEA) is required. With each increase, the task (shown by the box) gets bigger and more cumbersome. Sustainable development requires ongoing, integrated and systemically complex analyses, and the task is both large and complex
fig-1_e
fig-2_e
123. Maori Tertiary Framework (NZ Minstry of Education)
maoritertiaryframework
124. Sustainability/Vulnerability (google caches to here, http://www.sustainablefoodlab.org but traced beyond that).
sustainability-food1
125. Holistic and fragmented worldviews (from Morgan, 2004b after Roberts, 2001, src: David Rei Miller, Western and Mäori Values for Sustainable Development)
david-2
126. Mauri model (Morgan, 2004a src: David Rei Miller, Western and Mäori Values for Sustainable Development)
There is thus a need for a decision-making tool that can be used at the Western-Māori interface, which is where most local government projects are developed. The mauri model developed by Kepa Morgan of Mahi Maioro Professionals is a set of assessment criteria similar to the Hellström model. It uses terms from Western science and mātauranga Māori that may be considered analogous. Corresponding to the four aspects of sustainability (environment, culture, society and economy) are four levels or spheres: the environment, hapu, community and whānau
david-9
127. Permaculture design principles (Tippett, Holocene)
permaculture_poster_-_holocenenet
128. Permaculture design principles (widely used…here, also here)
permaculture-flower-clean
waka_efs_law 
130. Sustainability Practitioner (Leith Sharp - ex Harvard?  via  World is Green)

sustainability-practitioner

131. Deisgn process Wever and vanKuijk
Four design strategies
We provide a typology of four user-centered design strategies for inducing sustainable behavior.
  • Functionality matching: adapt a product better to the actual use by consumers and thereby try to minimize negative side effects;
  • Eco-feedback: the user is presented with specific information on the impact of his or her current behavior, and it is left to the user to relate this information to his or her own behaviour, and adapt this behaviour, or not;
  • Scripting: creating obstacles for unsustainable use, or making sustainable behaviour so easy, it is performed almost without thinking about it;
  • Forced functionality: making products adapt automatically to changing circumstances, or to design-in strong obstacles to prevent unsustainable behaviour.
The four strategies are supported with examples from packaging, automotive and consumer electronics.
User-centered Design Cycle


132.  sustainability governance and reporting from Maggie Lawton
lawton_diagram_governance

133. similar space from Workspace (pdf of seven key principles)
workspacesustainability-management-system

134. Sustainability on different dimensions (Ecosteps)
building_sustainability
135. Sustainability Tree (Ecosteps)
sustainability_tree1


136. Sustainability related to brand value (Oliveira and Sullivan reported onEnvironmental Leader)
interbrandchart1
sustainability_mindmap
Here’s more diagrams to explain sustainability (earlier post1-137).
  • Earthly - focusing on the interplay between environmental and developmental agendas in the short- and long-term both globally and locally;
  • Analytic - based on ’systems thinking’ and encompassing assessment, planning and management;
  • Careful - based on respect for complexity and uncertainty;
  • Collaborative - focusing on the interplay of interests, values, cultures and capacities of various actors;
  • Action - guiding strategy formation to manage change, continuity and learning for sustainability.
5minds_0139. 3 aspects mixed with a production cycle (Huhtamaki)
sustainability_opportunitiesrisks
140. Governance and sustainability (Aras and Crowther)
0010460305001
141. Education for sustainable development without the participatory element as “big brother sustainability” Wals and Jickling
2490030302001
142. Assessment tool for cities (Ecostep)
ecostep_large
143. Sustainability leadership principles (Mary Ferdig, Sustainability Leadership Institute via Nebraska Sustainability Leadership Workshop)
leadership_principles_large
144. Tragedy of the Commons depicted in system terms (Senge via Warwick).
warwic4
header
An Imperative for Looking Long: The 21st century will test our ability to grasp the future impacts of present choices, but even as we struggle to incorporate future knowledge into our day-to-day decisions, we’re tuning up our bodies and minds and even our cultural frameworks for a much longer view.
146.
Global sustainability related to international business
2490060206002
147. Sustainable farming (DEFRA)
sffs_chart_lrg
148. City comparison (McKinsey company, in a study on the transition to sustainability for the greater London area (GLA)
citycomparison
149. Scenarios (Gallopin et al via Africa Outlook UNEP)
fig43
150. Backcasting (Arising) (see also TNS frameworkbackcasting process)
backcasting_arising
fig_1_conceptual_model_of_technology_transition_process_and_transition_principles
152. Pressure state response framework (OEDC via EoE).
pressure-state-response_framework
framework_for_environmental_and_economic_accounting
154. Resource flows across society set in the context of entropy (Everard)
hot_stuff_01_350
155. Resource and energy flows within nature’s sustainable cycles and within a theoretical sustainable society (Everard TNS?)
hot_stuff_02_400
156. Social-ecological system that places the built environment (an artefact) in an overlapping zone between culture and nature, with causation occurring in both directions (Fischer-Kowalski and Weisz in Moffat and Kohler )
rbri_a_292979_o_f0001g
157. Spatial scales, aggregation and specific effects (Moffat and Kohler)
rbri_a_292979_o_f0003g
158. Cultural, natural and material realms over spatial and temporal scales(Moffat and Kohler)
rbri_a_292979_o_f0004g