metadesign
a few personal notes/reflections on it:
the way i refer to metadesign and use it most often is as aiming to answer: "what are the systems at the foundation of our reality? personal, social, civilizational, metaphysical and biophysical? and how are they designed currently, based upon which values, principles and towards what ends?"
the practice of metadesign for me, helps to delineate, define what is - at the same time that it creates space for experiencing life fully - with no labels - and then start to realize the emergence of order amidst apparent chaos.
it's an attitude/system for understanding the contexts in which we live/we're embedded in, and which movements make sense from our position.
examples/applications in other references/my own work: relevance realization, latent space mapping, omnimapping...
different uses
the term has different applications and methodologies, the one i'm currently learning more about (and which seems the most structured and tested from all of them) is an approach developed by caio vassão for designing complex systems (in portuguese).
it drinks from several thinkers, philosophers and practitioners in order to build a post-colonial, regenerative yet generic approach to design.
other notable researchers/approaches are: john wood, gehrard fischer, carlo franzato.
introductory articles:
public notes on the metadesign course from a friend
my highlights & screenshots (in portuguese)
metadesign in one image:
what kinds of "decision environments" are out there and what kinds can a metadesigner create (introductory):
metadesign's 4 core generic cognitive tools:
metagame framework & application in politics:
the energy cycles - limitations of production for each type of energy:
a fundamentally different regenerative economy/production system:
emergent archetypal socio-political roles:
the cognitive island - human limitations on collaboration and the emergence of higher-order structures/institutions:
extremely related: Thinking together
the 4 bodies/skins we inhabit: (4 levels of layers of social reality and the expression of the archetypes in each)
the difference between metadesign and other approaches for complex systems design:
talk on building a regenerative society
innovation should be attached to regeneration. and vice-versa.
in order to do so, we need to recognize that "sustainability" isn't a specialized area, it's transversal. innovation should also be.
innovating based on ecosystem maps (dynamic landscapes):
operating at the right level of abstraction requires mapping ecosystems at the right level. neither too many details:
nor too little:
an organizational ecosystems map is an important artefact - one that should be constantly tended to:
(reminds me a lot of a wardley map)
the metadesign & facilitation frameworks enable that regenerative innovation frame to be spread/adopted organization-wide.
regeneration presumes evolving, living systems, and therefore requires an ecosystemic/ecologic view. it's not about seeing "everything", but seeing "enough":
the role of brazil in the global context of systemic collapse and regeneration:
ecological reserves x ecological deficit:
distribution of living species of terrestrial vertebrates:
rewilding is an emergent theme coming from indigenous' wisdom on nature symbiosis:
soil cultivation in buried amazonian cities - ancestral knowledge known as "terra preta de índio":
from colonial countries providing innovation (abstract wealth) and colonies providing commodities (material wealth):
to global north countries (declining metropolis) and global south countries (ex-colonies) providing and receiving both.
examples of globally-needed innovations locally happening here:
"digesters as a service" - distributed sanitation
