Environmental Design Science Primer

Environmental Design Science Primer

Project Coordinator: Robert Cook

Authors: Howard BrownRobert CookMedard Gabel

Editing: Robert BlissmerGeoffrey HoareCathy Horvitz

Origins of Design ScienceRobert Blissmer

Originally printed by the Advocate Press, New Haven

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Table of Contents

Forward -----------------------------------------------------------4

Overview -------------------------------------------------------5-6

Conceptual Tools ------------------------------------------7-19

The Design Science Planning Process ----------------20

Methodology

Choose Problem Situation -----------------------------21-22Define the Problems ------------------------------------23-26Define the Preferred State ----------------------------27-29Describe the Present State ---------------------------30-33Inventory Alternatives --------------------------------------34Develop Evaluation Criteria ---------------------------35-37Design the Preferred System -------------------------38-39Develop Strategies for Implementation -----------40-41Document the Process --------------------------------------42Take the Initiative ----------------------------------------43-47

Origins of Design Science ------------------------------48-51

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Forward

In order to have a significant effect on vitalenvironmental and social issues, people need toacquire the skills that will allow them to act asplanners and participants, rather than as spectatorsin the defining and solving of problems. Ifenvironmental education is to be relevant andeffective, it needs to balance its approach betweenactivities which alert people to the dangers of areckless attitude towards the environment, andactivities which that inform people how to designand implement positive alternative solutions.

Until recently, concern for the environment has beenonly a minor factor in the design of the humanenvironment. Even though the environmentalsciences have made us increasingly aware of thedangers of unplanned technological growth, trainedenvironmentalists are generally hired by privateclients and public agencies to prepare impactstatements only after major development projectshave been initiated. Not only is this kind of planningfar removed from the general public, littleunderstood and often mistrusted, but theenvironmentalist’s input into the whole process isseveral steps away from actual design andimplementation of the project. Consequently, thoseconcerned for the environment are relegated the roleof lobbing against new technologies or of becominginvolved in legal actions to stop or impede furthertechnological development.

Design science planning offers an alternative. It is amethod by which individuals can clarify their owngoals about the future, and develop appropriatetechnological and institutional alternatives to meetthem. In this way, others are encouraged to take theinitiative in designing better ways to support humanneeds.

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Overview

Humanity on Earth teeters on the threshold ofrevolution. It has to be success for all or none. If therevolution is a bloody one, humanity is through. The

alternative is a design-science revolution.

- Buckminster Fuller

We are presently faced with an acceleratingfrequency of crises. Reserves of many of our criticalresources are dwindling and the Earth’s biospherecannot continue to safely absorb the exponentialgrowth of our wastes. Nearly half of humanity stilllives with only minimum levels of life-support andour present methods of planning are inadequate forsolving global problems.

The Earth and human society on it are complexsystems in which each part is affected by everyother part. In the same way that a physician isaware of the danger of treating only a singlesymptom without considering the rest of the body,planning and design for society must take intoaccount the whole system of which a single problemis only a part. In a complex system like our bodies orthe biosphere there is no such thing as a local orspecialized problem. Each time we design a solutionto a single problem without consideration of therelationships between that problem and the largercontext, we only create new problems. We mustrapidly come to understand that we cannot deal withproblems only on a local or individual basis. Ourpresent inadequate and often careless approach toproblems disrupts the delicate interdependentprocesses of our life-sustaining biosphere. We havenot been considering the short and long-rangeeffects of our actions on the Earth system as awhole, even though the biosphere has critical limits

of adaptability beyond which there may not becorrective action within our means.

In view of our intensifying crises and our ever-growing capability to seriously affect theenvironment, decisions which lack a comprehensiveand anticipatory perspective become increasinglydangerous. We have entered a crucial transitionperiod in our relationship with our environment; thefuture of human life on this planet depends on theway we respond to our predicament. A totally newapproach is needed to resolve these emergingproblems – one that integrates a full range ofspecialized disciplines and that taps the culturaldiversity of humanity.

This primer outlines one alternative to presentproblem-solving techniques, an approachBuckminster Fuller calls “comprehensiveanticipatory design science.” Design science is “theeffective application of the principles of science tothe conscious design of our total environment inorder to help make the Earth’s finite resources meetthe needs of all of humanity without disrupting theecological processes of the planet.”

Comprehensive means dealing with whole systems,the globe, all of humanity and all of the criticalvariables affecting the problems and needs of Earthand her passengers. Anticipatory means preparingfor a crisis in advance of its occurrence and actingfor both the present and future needs of humanity.Design is an integrative process – the synthesizingof parts into a whole. S c i e n c e is the logical,systematic and empirical method of research andordering of experience.

While preventative medicine attempts to create ahealthful environment in which the integrity of themetabolic systems of the human body can be

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maintained, design science seeks to organize the“external metabolic system” (technologicalextensions) of humanity to provide life-supportservices for everyone. It is concerned with wholesystems and their environments to ensure healthand vitality, and focuses not only on past ills but onfuture conditions and needs as well.

From his study of our life-support capabilities, Fullerbecame convinced that all of humanity could be“successful” if we apply our knowledge to findingways of gaining the greatest possible advantagefrom the least possible investment of availableresources. Each technological process can bemeasured by its performance. Because know-howcan increase when humans experiment with newtechnologies, performance can be continuouslyimproved. Though there is some material andenergy loss with all technological processes, thepercentage of waste can be progressively reduced.Design science is concerned with improving theperformance of both the components and processesof specific technologies, and the larger systems ofwhich they are a part. It is concerned with applyingour evolving know-how to reducing waste and betterallowing more people to support themselves.

Design science is not another specialized disciplinebut rather an integration of disciplines. Its practiceis not a further winnowing out of the secrets of theuniverse, as in research at the frontiers of physics orbiology, but an integrative discipline wherein thefindings of the sciences and humanities are broughtto bear to solve humanity’s problems. Designscience requires that the traditional separation ofthe sciences and humanities be abandoned in orderto develop a more creative approach to design andplanning.

Historically, design science continues in thetradition of the artist-scientist-inventor. Fullerobserves:

“Really great artists are scientists, and the reallygreat scientists are artists and both are inventors. Icall them artist-scientist-inventors. I think that allhumans are born artist-scientist-inventors but thatlife progressively squelches the individual’s drivesand capabilities. As a consequence, by the timemost humans mature they have lost one, two or allthree of those fundamental self-starters. When Ispeak of an artist or an inventor, I speak ofcircumstance-pruned specialization. Most of theuniversally born artist-scientist-inventors have one,two or all three of their innate capability values shutoff in childhood. The original artist-scientist-inventormay retain his artist’s or his scientist’s criticalfaculties, or only his inventiveness.

World science has come to concede during the lastdecade that it is now feasible, within the scope ofknown technology, to support all of humanity at everhigher standards of living than any humans haveever known. In view of that scientific information, Iintuit that artist-scientist-inventors who havereached maturity without critical impairment of theiroriginal faculties will now become responsible forinitiating and industrializing the remainder oftechnology advancing inventions, for realizing thecomprehensive physical and economic success ofworld man, and that with universal abundance, thewarring, official and unofficial, will subside toinnocuous magnitude. With that artist-scientist-inventor’s accomplishment, humanity may, for thefirst time in history, come to know the meaning ofpeace.”

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Conceptual Tools

A conceptual tool is a concept used for patterningthoughts; it is often a metaphor that organizesinformation. For example, the metaphor “SpaceshipEarth” organizes our perceptions about ourenvironment in an entirely different way than justthe word “earth.” In the same way that methods areprocedures for patterning behavior, the conceptualtool is a method for organizing information, thoughtand eventually behavior.

The following design science conceptual tools havebeen found to be effective for organizing ourinformation environment. The design scientist usesthem to elucidate relationships among existinginformation and to help produce new information.These conceptual tools should be viewed as a set ofinterrelated concepts to be used as a whole.

1. STARTING WITH WHOLE SYSTEMS

The word synergy means the behavior of wholesystems unpredicted by the behaviors of thesystem’s parts taken separately. Synergy describesa “law of whole systems” which first began to beunderstood and accepted by biologists whorecognized that no matter how much could belearned about the component molecular structuresof a cell, there could be no way to predict life.Similarly, no matter how much is learned about theindividual cells that make up an organism, therewould be no way of predicting the behavior of ahuman being. It is true of all systems in nature thateach has unique characteristics that cannot bedetermined only from the isolation and analysis ofits components. In thinking about problems, Fullersaw that analysis (the separating out of parts forstudy) is the basis for all present-day planning andpolicymaking. It was clear that society had not yet

understood the significance of the word synergy. Hestated a corollary to this law of whole systems whichis a fundamental underpinning of design science:the known behaviors of the whole system and theknown behaviors of some of its parts makes itpossible to discover or to predict the behavior of theremainder of the system’s parts. By puttingtogether what is known about the whole with what isknown about some of its parts, it is possible toprogressively understand more about unknownparts. Since “problems” are parts of larger systems,we can solve a single problem only by understandingits relationship to other problems and to the largerenvironment.

In order to be comprehensive, any problem-solvingendeavor should start with the “whole” and worktowards the particular. There are many conceptual“wholes” from which to begin subdividing: theuniverse, the Earth, all of humanity’s problems, allthe variables of a particular problem, all of theresources of the Earth. Local problems should beviewed in the context of global problems for tworeasons: first so that seemingly unpredictableaspects can be understood by the behavior of thelarger system, and second so that local solutionsdon’t create problems elsewhere in the largersystem.

2. SYSTEMS AND ENVIRONMENTS

A system is a set of two or more interrelatedelements, which can be subdivided into parts. Thehuman body is a system comprised of organs, cells,molecules, atoms, etc. Anything you can describe isa system because anything you can identify is, bynature, composed of a plurality of components. TheEarth is a system, you are a system, and I am asystem. Everything we can perceive is a system.Because the universe is the largest system we can

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describe, anything else we define must be a sub-system that divides the universe into twofundamental parts: the system itself and itsenvironment (the rest of the universe).

Environment to each must beAll that is

That isn’t me.And Universe in turn must be

All that isn’t meAnd me.

-Buckminster Fuller

All systems whether ecosystem, techno systems, orsocial systems, have an environment into whichthey fit. Being able to clearly understandrelationships between a system and its environmentis important because systems are always affectedby their environment. The ecologist Howard Odumstates this when he says, “the only way tounderstand a system is to understand the systeminto which it fits.”

3. UNIVERSE

The word universe is the most comprehensive andinclusive term in our language. It is a word we use todescribe everything. Albert Einstein, in his theory ofrelativity, formulated a comprehensive concept ofuniverse by defining it in terms of energy. He saidthat universe is the aggregate of all non-simultaneous and partially overlapping energyevents. Everything, he theorized, is energy, and thetotal energy is equal to that which exists“associated” as Mass times that disassociating asradiation – E=MC2. This definition takes into accountthe fact that although the universe is the largestpossible system, it is not a single instantaneousevent and therefore cannot be unitarily experienced

or conceptualized. Fuller became interested in theidea that Einstein’s definition describes only thephysical universe and does not include Einstein’sown thoughts and questions. The theory itself is notenergy but it certainly is part of the universe. Ifuniverse is the most inclusive system we canperceive, Fuller felt it important to have anoperational definition which would include bothEinstein’s description of the physical universe andEinstein’s consciousness manifest in his theory.Fuller stated the following definition.

Universe is the aggregate of all humanity’sall time consciously apprehended and

communicated experiences of the non-simultaneous and partially overlapping

energy events.

This means that our universe can be described asthe aggregate of our experiences. It is importantbecause Fuller’s new definition is not only inclusive,it is understandable and useable in our everydaylives. Because we are inside of our experience, ouruniverse is our experience.

To each of us, our universe is the total of ourexperience. As we learn, our experience andtherefore our universe expands. When wecommunicate and share experiences, our collectiveexperience expands – ergo: universe is theaggregate of all of our “consciously apprehendedand communicated experience.” Our collectiveexperience is continuously increasing but alwaysfinite, because it is the aggregate of finiteexperiences (since the experiences of eachindividual are finite, the experiences of all individualstogether must be finite). This view of a finiteuniverse serves as an “operational definition” whichcan be practically employed. By Fuller’s definition,we are integrally part of universe – participants in its

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evolution – not objective outside observers. Thedesign scientist is an individual who seeks toconsciously participate in expanding experience.

If we are going to be able to take care ofhumanity, we must find out how most

economically and satisfactorily to organizeour environment. Humanity must achievethe success it was designed to be. But we

are at the point where there could be astillbirth.

Nothing is so critical as birth, and whetherthe world survives its birth into an entirely

new world and universe relationshipdepends on our individual integrity, not on

that of political representatives.

You and I are given hunger so that we will besure to take on fuel and regenerate our

bodies; we are given a drive to procreate sothat humankind will be regenerated; we aregiven brains with which to apprehend, store,

and recall information. We are also givenminds with which to discover metaphysical

principles. The function of mankind is tothink, to discover and use principles. We arehere to serve as local universe informationharvesters and as local universe problemsolvers employing human mind’s unique

access through science to some of thegeneralized principles governing eternally

regenerative universe. We are going to haveto exercise this responsibility within

decades or perish.

- Buckminster Fuller

4. HUMANITY’S FUNCTION IN UNIVERSE

The Law of Conservation of Energy states thatenergy cannot be created or destroyed; it can onlybe converted from one form to another. We knowthat the physical energy universe is in constanttransformation and that the two most generalcharacteristics of this process are “entropy” and“syntropy.”

The physicist Heinrich Boltzman observed that whenenergy converts from one form to another or movesfrom one place to another in a local subsystem ofuniverse, some energy is lost from that subsystem.A process is entropic when a subsystem of universeis transformed from a state of higher order andcomplexity to a state of lower order and complexity.Conversely, a process is syntropic when asubsystem or set of subsystems is transformedfrom a state of lower order and complexity to a stateof higher order and complexity.

Fuller points out that entropy and syntropy only andalways coexist in a finite universe. This means thatevolution in a finite but expanding universe ischaracterized by processes in which energy is beingreleased as entropic radiation as well as beingsyntropically organized as matter and life. Forexample, in the sun, atomic structures are beingbroken down and energies outwardly released. Onthe Earth, random radiation from the sun is beingsorted, collected, and reorganized in new morecomplex forms. Plants collect the sun’s radiationand transform that energy, through photosynthesis,into new molecular structures that in turn becomepart of even more complex living systems. Animalseat plants and utilize that stored energy to growmore complex structures. Thus the evolution of lifeseems to be a process of continuously organizingenergy. Nothing in nature remains static; systems

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are always in flux and are therefore either generallyevolving (syntropically collecting and organizingthemselves) or they are entropically degenerating.

Humanity is part of the evolving syntropic functionof universe. If, in light of our expanding effects onthe rent of the Earth, we fail to carry out thissyntropic function, we become responsible forpossible breakdowns of the ecological integrity ofthe Earth. The design scientist recognizes thatconstructive change means finding ways of betterorganizing our matter-energy environment to bettersupport life.

5. GENERALIZED PRINCIPLES

Generalized principles are laws of nature. The word“generalized” means behaviors that hold true inevery special case experience.

Humans monitor their environment using theirsenses and store the collected information in theirindividual brains. As the number of experiencesincrease, patterns become apparent which seem todisclose principles common to all these experiences.Science observes and records these “generalized”behaviors that appear to hold true in every specialcase. When new experience contradicts oldobservations, principles must either be restated toaccommodate this information, or entirely newprinciples must be formulated.

Newton observed that when objects fall and arepulled toward the center of the Earth, their mass isbeing attracted to this greater mass of the planet.Further, this attraction could be observed betweenall objects which have mass. As he experimented, heformulated a principle – the Law of Mass Attraction –that would describe similar behaviors in Nature.Examples of other Generalized Principles are:

Synergy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, andthe Law of Conservation of Energy.

Principles (or laws) that have been discovered byscience are potentially useful to the design scientist.For example, science’s progressive understanding ofthe laws of aerodynamics and chemistry have beenpermitted the design of increasingly better air andspace craft – from Kitty Hawk to lunar excursionmodules. All tools and artifacts are special casereductions of generalized laws of nature. The designscientist consciously employs new scientificbreakthroughs and new integrations of scientificinformation of the law of nature in solving problems.

6. SPACESHIP EARTH

Earth is a small automated, spherical spaceshiporbiting rotatively at 66,000 miles per hour aroundthe sun, which in turn is on its own course at 6kilometers per second within the galactic nebula.With the exceptions of radiation from the sun andthe gravitational effects of the moon on oceans andatmosphere, the Earth can be viewed as a relativelyclosed system.

The conception of Earth as a spaceship helps us toorganize our thinking about ourselves. Themetaphor can help to make us aware that we areinherently linked to the well-being and effectiveoperation of this tiny ship; like astronauts, we areresponsible for the maintenance of the craft thatprotects and supports our lives.

The idea that humanity is responsible for its action isfundamental to design science. Since SpaceshipEarth did not come with an operating manual, ourfuture depends on our ability and willingness toemploy our know-how in designing the best possiblesolutions to the problems that confront us. The

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design scientist is aware of this responsibility andacts on it. The Earth is a “whole “ from which to begina systematic design science process.

The following diagram describes the functionalrelationships between various processes and theirinteraction with their environment. The outer circleof the diagram represents the ongoing ecologicalcycles of our biosphere.

The second largest circle represents the variousindustrial/technological processes that can bebroken down for examination. The third circlerepresents the internal biological metabolicfunctions of people. The diagram shows how rawmaterials and energy are extracted from theEcological Context and converted into useful formsto provide increased life support services for people,(food, shelter, education, etc.). People, in turn, inputtheir energy and intellect into running and improvingthe external metabolic system. Human waste iseither returned directly to the ecological context orto the external metabolic system to be furtherprocessed.

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7. EXTERNAL METABOLIC SYSTEM

Technology is the primary means by which humansprovide for their physical needs and adapt tochanging environmental conditions. Like otherspecies, human adapt by making internal biologicalchanges over long periods of time in order toaccommodate new conditions, but the accelerateduse of technology and industrialization in the lasttwo hundred years represents an apparently newmanifestation of the evolutionary process.

In addition to adapting by genetic evolution, humansreorganize their environment itself to better supporttheir lives. They take energy and materials from theenvironment and reorganize them into tools thatextend their ability to survive. For example, housingprovides an external skin that permits us to functionin climates where we otherwise could not survive.Computers store information and do many routinecomputing functions that free people’s minds forother more creative tasks.

We can view our collective technological life-supportsystems as an external metabolic system that, likeour bodies, takes in needed resources, processesthem and utilizes them for its maintenance andevolution. Similarly, unutilized wastes from theexternal metabolic system are passed out into itsenvironment. The external metabolic systemfunctions to serve the various individuals andcollective needs of humans just as our internalmetabolic systems service the life support needs ofthe billions of cells which make up our bodies.External metabolics is an organic process and assuch provides insight into the continuousinterdependence of all the components andprocesses of our technological and social systems.

The ecological context is the larger system intowhich the external metabolic system fits. It is theenvironment to the external metabolic system.“Ecological context” describes the diversity ofprocesses that constitute the Earth’s biosphere,other than those that are directly designed andmanipulated by man (i.e., hydrogen and carboncycles, animal migrations, weather patterns, etc.).

The ecological context can be defined as all of naturethat is not part of humanity’s external metabolicsystem. The ecological context also includeshumanity’s own internal metabolic systems as partof the ecosystems of the planet. Humans existedand exchanged materials with the other systemslong before the development of society’s externalmetabolic system. Therefore, “people” is included asa subsystem of the ecological context in whichhumanity as a biological species is studied.

Resources are the food of our external metabolicsystem. They are taken into the system (inputs)and used to build, repair, and maintain the systemas well as produce all the life-supporting goods andservices that are utilized by humanity (outputs)such as food, clothing, shelter, education,transportation, communication, recreation, andhealth care. All of the services and products thatsupport our lives are paid for with resources. We cansubdivide resources into several types:

Renewable resources are energy and materials thatare continuously replenished by nature at a rate thesame as or greater than that of the rate of use. Woodis an example of a renewable resource. Solar energyis an enormous renewable energy source since theexternal metabolic system presently takes in lessthan 1/100 of 1% of the solar energy which the Earthreceives each day. All biologicals (animals andplants) are renewable or harvestable resources.

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These include textiles, forest products, fish andagricultural products.

Even though we have seen that renewable resourcesby definition are those that can be regenerated bynature at a rate approximating or greater than ouruse, renewable resources can be depleted throughour mismanagement or lack of planning. Perhapsthe most dramatic example of this mismanagementof renewable resources is overharvesting of fish inthe oceans. There is every reason to believe that amassive, sustained harvest can be yielded by theoceans indefinitely, but only if care is taken to 1) notsurpass the critical limit beyond which the rate ofreproduction is slower than the harvest and 2) notremove an imbalanced harvest. Removing largequantities of a single species without considerationof the natural food chains and balance of nature inthe ocean ecosystem will permanently damage theavailability of future supplies. Natural ecosystemsare so complex that we may not have the capabilityto reestablish balances once they are disrupted.

Non-renewable resources are resources that arereplenished by nature at such a slow rate that, for allpractical purposes, we can assume that whenexisting reserves are exhausted, there will be nomore. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gasare examples of non-renewable resources that takehundreds of millions of years to replace. If notproperly “melted down” and recycled, primarymetals and minerals are also non-renewable,because concentrated reserves in the earth arelimited. On non-renewable resources: It is importantto understand that with intelligent management andrecycling, non-renewable resources can be renewed,and with mismanagement, renewable resources canbecome non-renewable.

Human resources can be classified in two ways –Labor and Know-How. Labor is the time and energy(muscle power) which people invest in theproduction of goods and services, and Know-How isintellect which has been learned from previousexperience and which is used to redesign andimprove the system. The introduction andwidespread use of large mechanical engines andfossil fuels to power them has made human labordramatically less important as a source of energy.Where once labor was the only direct method ofdoing needed work, now a single machine can do thework of a thousand men. Automation has furtherdecreased the need for human labor. Yet, as we arebecoming obsolete as direct energy sources, theneed for the intelligent use of our mindpower isincreasing. Design science is a method by whichintellect can be reinvested.

Land is also a finite resource that needs to beintelligently planned and managed. As populationgrows, our need for space to live, recreate, andcultivate grows. Our impacts on the Earth also growwith our expansion, so careful planning to minimizeour abuse is essential. The way we use land alsoaffects the way we use other resources. Forexample, urban sprawl means less land foragriculture or recreation. Food must be transportedfarther which means more energy is required. Moreenergy is also required because communities usemore for personal transportation, heating and otherservices.

Wastes are the unused by-products of our externalmetabolic system. What are normally referred to as“wastes” and “pollution” are really valuableresources that are being thrown away because oflack of comprehensive planning and design. Wastescan be found in many forms.

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Vast quantities of potentially useable energy are lostfrom our external metabolic system as waste heatthat is released and not collected from intenseindustrial processes for reuse.

Materials are lost and dispersed into the atmospherein the form of air pollution from smokestacks. Theyare also released into the Earth’s water systems asliquid and solid waste. Human resources are wastedthrough poverty, malnutrition, bureaucracy, jobfeatherbedding and accidents which prevent thismost valuable resource from being re-invested inactivities which could more effectively increase ourwealth.

Life support represents the products and servicesthat maintain the life needs of people and permitsurvival and exploration under an increasingly widerrange of environmental conditions. Humanity’sExternal Metabolic System exists to produce theseproducts and services. Life support can be generallycategorized as:

FoodShelterHealth and Medical CareEducationRecreationTransportationCommunications

8. DOING MORE WITH LESS

Fuller proposed as early as 1936 that humanevolution could be charted by our ability to do morewith less. He became interested in the idea that ourgrowing understanding of systems in natureincreases our ability to get more useful units of life-support for more people with less investment ofresources per unit. If our technological systems are

a reflection of our understanding of the principles ofnature, then waste and inefficiency in our use ofresources, disregard for our environment, andneglect of impoverished populations, are reflectionsof ignorance.

Because we do not learn less, each time resourcesare employed to do a given task, processes canoften be designed or redesigned so that more isaccomplished with the same amount of resources.For example, the first telephone wires carried twosignals simultaneously. More advances technologyenables wires to become thinner and thinner whilecarrying more and more signals until it becamepossible for wires to be eliminated altogether. A one-quarter ton communications satellite nowoutperforms 175,000 tons of transoceanic cable.This principle of “doing more with less” isfundamental to design science problem-solving. Themost important aspect of this “more with less”concept is that it offers a way to take care of all ofhumanity’s evolving needs with increasingly lessresources per person.

The Earth’s resources, which now adequatelysupport 45 to 55% of humanity, need to be employedto support 100% of humanity. The concept of doing“more with less” also furnishes the design scientistwith a standard by which strategies and solutionsmay be evaluated.

9. WEALTH

Wealth is the capacity of a society to deal withpresent and future contingencies. It is themeasurable degree to which we have rearranged ourenvironment so that it is able to support as manylives, for as long as possible, in as many conditions,at a high standard of living. All existing political andeconomic systems on the Earth assume that the

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basis of wealth is the accumulation of capital(physical resources) and that there are not enoughof these resources to go around. Becausetraditionally, survival belonged to the “fittest,”competition for these scarce resources oftendegenerated into war. Neither politicians norscientists have seriously asked the question, “Is itpossible to meet the needs of all of humanitywithout destroying the environment and without anyhuman profiting at the expense of another?” Designscience is not concerned with different ways ofdistributing “not enough.” It is concerned withdeveloping new ways of providing enough by doingmore with less. This approach brings a newperspective to the debate between economists whoadvocate continued economic growth in the presentmanner and environmentalists who recognize thelimits of the biosphere and who advocate stoppinggrowth. Neither alternative seems acceptablebecause each means that there will always be“haves” and “have-nots” in the world or that theEarth might not be able to support life in the future.

Design science assumes that real wealth isgenerated not by the quantity of resources that canbe accumulated, but by the quality of their use. Themore intelligently we employ resources, the morewealth they will yield. Fuller has observed that theonly thing we have identified in Universe that has noapparent limits for growth is our intellect. Therefore,it is logical that the design scientist assumes thatwealth can continuously increase even though thetotal quantity of physical resources may not. Thiscan occur if we continuously find ways of better andbetter reinvestment of our know-how to get morewith less.

This notion of wealth contradicts the existingeconomic assumption first stated by Adam Smiththat the best way to maximize the total social wealth

is for each individual to maximize his/her own. Thedesign scientist is aware of the fundamentalinterdependence of humans with each other andwith their environment. Since intellect is the basis ofwealth, humans who suffer brain damage frommalnutrition decrease our collective potential wealthbecause their full intellectual potential is lost tosociety; “I am better off when you are better off, ‘not,’I am better off when you are worse off.”

Human time is an important resource which Fullerdivides into two groups: coerced time, which is thetime an individual spends doing those tasksessential to his/her survival (eating, sleeping,getting food, etc.); and reinvestible time, which isthe time we have free to reinvest in thinking,learning, and designing. The design scientist isconcerned with minimizing coerced time andmaximizing the total reinvestible time of humans byfinding ways of meeting the most essential needs,and by providing effective alternative ways forpeople to use their reinvestible time. In this respect,the concept of wealth can be used to evaluate therelative merits of design science strategies or otherproposed solutions to current problems.

10. TRIMTAB

Trimtab is a word taken from the vocabulary ofdesigners and pilots of aircraft and ships. A Trimtabis a device on the trailing edge of an airplane wing orship’s rudder. It is very small but it is responsible forchanging the course of the airplane or ship becauseit takes advantage of the dynamic principlesoperating on the vessel by doing the most with leasteffort. When the Trimtab moves, it creates a lowpressure area that pulls the larger rudder to oneside, in turn pulling the trailing end of the shiparound and changing its course. It is, in effect, therudder of the rudder.

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Trimtab is an important concept in design science. Itinvolves using generalized principles to determinethe set of actions that can be taken to change thecourse of a larger system. In design science, theTrimtab metaphor is used to describe an artifactspecifically designed and placed in the environmentat such a time and in such a place where its effectswould be maximized thereby affecting the mostadvantageous change with the least resources, time,and energy invested.

11. MAKE VISIBLE THE INVISIBLE

Making the invisible visible is achieved bygraphically decelerating events which occur toswiftly to be seen or understood, and/or byaccelerating the events which occur too slowly forour perception. The following are methods by whichthe invisible can be made more visible: Trending is atechnique for taking resource data, facts andstatistics and plotting them through time. Thispermits the design scientist to perceive patterns ofchange occurring too rapidly or too slowly to beevident by direct observation. H i e r a r c h i c a lorganizing is the process of arranging data withrespect to its size, shape, form, magnitude,complexity, or any other quality it might possess.Location/distribution mapping is a technique fordisplaying data on maps to demonstrate the shape,size, pattern and/or location of events and theirrelationship to their environment. This methodpermits recognition of special relationships thatmight not be found in charts.

The Dymaxion Map is the most accurate type of flatmap that can be used for the display of information.If you consider map projections as a form ofobjective display you can see that a distorted basefor geographical data can lead to distorted orerroneous problem definitions. Buckminster Fuller’s

Dymaxion Map has two significant virtues thatdistinguish it from all other maps. First, it is the onlyflat projection of the Earth’s surface that has novisible distortion. In comparison to the commonlyused Mercater projection which distorts the Earth’ssurface by as much as 80%, near the poles, theDymaxion Projection has less than 2% distortion.This map, when folded along the triangular sections,forms an icosahedronal globe. Second, it is the onlyprojection that shows the Earth’s landmass ascontinuous and connected. It provides acomprehensive picture with only minimal breaks inthe continental contours.

12. THE DESIGN INITIATIVE

People concerned with the quality of ourenvironment need to maintain a global perspectivewhile applying the design process to problems inspecific local areas. Solutions involve bringing thisholistic perspective to bear on one’s immediateenvironment. It is one thing to be able todemonstrate that it is technologically possible tomeet the basic physical needs of humanity, but it isanother to plan and take actions that will increasethe freedom and quality of life for oneself andothers.

The ecologist, Aldo Leopold wrote, “ethics isawareness of independence.” Design science is alsobased on the assumption that each individual isbetter off when every individual is better off, andthat it is the responsibility of those who understandthis principle to act on it.

A traditional course of action taken by peopleinterested in constructive change is political reform.People organize themselves to convince others ofthe necessity of change and to elect politicians tocarry out those changes, or to encourage political

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revolution. The design scientist realizes that changeis the norm and that nature is continually changingour environment. The important question is notwhether changes will have to be made but rather,“when the problems grow more critical, will there besufficiently developed alternatives to turn to?” Forexample, the design scientist recognizes that nomatter what energy policy politicians adopt,petroleum reserves will only last 20 to 50 years.Design science, rather than lobbying for recognitionof this fact, seeks to design practical energyalternatives. The task of the design scientist is totake the initiative and design alternative solutions,to demonstrate the practicality and need for themand to place them in the environment where theycan be used.

Our present education system trains individuals withskills in design and the scientific method.Professionals in all fields acquire these skills, thenopen offices and wait for clients to come to themwith jobs. The jobs are tasks that the client wantsdone in order to further his own interests. Designscientists do not wait for outside clients, or use theirskills in this way. The concept of design initiativemeans that the individual attempts to obtain themost comprehensive perspective possible of humanproblems, to determine what needs to be done(which no one else is doing), to alleviate theseproblems and to set out to do it. Taking the designinitiative means creating jobs to be done, not fillingjobs that don’t.If the design revolution is to excite and interestincreasing numbers of people in taking the designinitiative it has to be a revolution from the ground up.This means that people have to see how they canlearn and participate in designing the environment inwhich they live. Unless this happens, they will mostlikely remain inactive until crises make changeimperative.

In summary, the task of anyone who is concernedabout taking the design initiative is three-fold:

1. To educate oneself to the principles andpotentials of environmental change

2. To design specific solutions to problems of theenvironment, human needs and resources, and

3. To communicate and demonstrate to others thepossibilities of organizing the environment inpreferred ways.

Bringing about change in the environment does nothappen overnight. It is often a long process of manyexperiments and development efforts over a periodof time. It requires many people working on manydifferent levels. The process involves patience,scrutiny, a sense of humor and an overallperspective of the intentions and needs of specificprojects. Taking the design initiative is your step.The next part of the primer, the methodologysection, is intended to help you take the designinitiative. It is a step-by-step guide to the designscience process.

FULLER’S FORTY QUESTIONS

Nothing can be more important to an individual’sgrowth than the willingness to ask questions. Notonly questions about new experience, but questionswhich may encourage change in our conditionedway of thinking. Fuller formulated this list of 40questions that he felt were essential for acomprehensivist to continuously try to answer.

What do we mean by universe?Has man a function in universe?What is thinking?What are experiences?What are experiments?What is subjective?

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What is objective?What is apprehension?What is comprehension?What is positive? Why?What is negative? Why?What is physical?What is metaphysical?What is synergy?What is energy?What is brain?What is intellect?What is science?What is a system?What is consciousness?What is subconsciousness?What is teleology?What is automation?What is a tool?What is industry?What is animate?What is inanimate?What are metabolics?What is wealth?What is intuition?What are esthetics?What is harmonic?What is prosaic?What are the senses?What are mathematics?What is structure?What is differentiation?What is integration?What is integrity?What is truth?

Snowflakes are designs, crystals are designs, musicis design, and the electromagnetic spectrum of

which the rainbow colors are but one millionth of itsrange is design; planets, stars, galaxies, and their

contained behaviors such as the periodicregularities of the chemical elements are all design

accomplishments. If a DNA-RNA genetic codeprograms the design of roses, elephants, and bees,we will have to ask what intellect designed the DNA-RNA code as well as the atoms and molecules that

implement the coded programs.

- Buckminster Fuller

To me the word ‘design’ can mean either aweightless, metaphysical conception or a physicalpattern. I tend to differentiate between design assubjective experience, i.e. designs that affect meand produce involuntary and often unconscious

reactions, in contradistinction to the designs that Iundertake in response to stimuli. What I elect to doconsciously is objective design. When we say there

is a design, it indicates than an intellect hasorganized events into discreet and conceptual

interpatternings.

- Buckminster Fuller

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Methodology

THE DESIGN SCIENCE PLANNING PROCESS

The design science planning process is a method bywhich individuals or small groups can designalternative paths for themselves and society as awhole. By providing a larger vision of change inwhich smaller design projects and initiatives can beconceived, a design science plan can become thebasis for developing specific artifacts. The followingsection of the primer is a guide to the steps of thisgeneral process for developing alternatives andstrategies for environmental and social change.

1. CHOOSE PROBLEM SITUATION

Where do you start?

Often the beginning of one thing is the ending ofanother. You begin because you want to begin andeven though you are embarking on a systematicplan, you certainly will not end up where you thinkyou will because you will change in the process.

The first step of the design science planning processis deciding which directions your group will pursue.You should focus on a problem situation and outlinefor yourselves an approach to carry you through theentire process. The first task is to choose a situationthat needs to be resolved and can adequately bedealt with by your group. The interests, resources,and talents of the participants, as well as the periodof time the group will have to work together, shouldhelp determine the scope of the project. Be carefulnot to pick a project too small to challenge you or toolarge to handle – given the constraints of resourcesand time.

You don’t start out the day with problems all nicelyoutlined and arranged for you to solve. You start outwith a problem situation or to use Russell Ackoff’sterm – a mess. If you accept given prepackagedproblems, you will be starting out with hidden,predetermined assumptions that can interfere withdeveloping a creative response to the real problemscontained in the situation. The difference between amess and a problem is that a mess is something youare aware of in the environment and a problem issomething you construct rationally to assist inunderstanding and effecting change in theenvironment. Messes are given; problems youdefine and construct. Problems are yourperceptions of why and how a mess is a mess. Thereare many approaches a design science planningteam can take in choosing a problem situation. Thefollowing are two that have been used by groups atprevious World Game Workshops. The first is tofocus on a specific functional area of human life –support needs, such as food or shelter, and todevelop a strategy for meeting these needs at achosen geographical scale (from global to individualdwelling). The second approach is to choose aparticular geographical area, such as a neighborhoodor national region, and develop a planning strategyfor that defined region which includes all of thefunctional areas of need.

Examples of functional areas of human needs:

EnergyMaterialsFoodShelterEducationRecreationHealth careLogisticsTransportation

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Communications

Examples of geographic scales for focus:

IndividualDwelling unitNeighborhoodCommunityCityState regionStateNational regionNationGlobal regionGlobal

If you choose to work with an area of human needs,you define the geographic scale on which you wantto focus. If you are planning the development of aspecific geographic region, then decide whichfunctional areas, at that level, which you want toconsider. It is helpful to remember that, at whateverlevel you focus, problem solving should move fromthe general to the specific. In design science,problem recognition starts at the global level andworks down to the local level, thus insuring that allsubsequent strategies or artifacts developed locallyare compatible with global potentials and restraints.

The next step in both approaches is to developworking definitions of the functional area or areaswith which you will be dealing. A functional definitiondescribes the designed operation or role that thesystem under consideration plays in the largersystem. Each part of humanity’s external metabolicsystem plays an essential role in the operation ofthat system just as each part of our internalmetabolic system plays an essential role in theoperations of our bodies. This role is a specificfunction that needs to be performed in order for the

rest of the system to work properly – to maintainitself and to continue to evolve. The functionaldefinition describes the particular function the areabeing studied plays in the larger system. Itdescribes what the system does. For example: whatdo you mean by energy? – The capacity to do work.What role does it perform in the system you aredefining? – When considering a transportationsystem, energy is used to power vehicles.

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2. DEFINE THE PROBLEMS

What are the problems?

How do you define what is not working?

There is no such thing as a social, political oreconomic problem. There are just problems withsocial, economic and technological components.

- Russell Ackoff

Describing the problem state is the step in theplanning process where you define what is wrong.The problem state description should reflect theinadequacies of the present situation and be definedin terms of resolvable factors. For example, if youare considering a transportation system,automobiles could be included as problem factorsresolvable by design, but people or politicalideologies could not.

Recognizing and defining problems is a difficult andcritical task. You are familiar with news reports andanalyses of current events in the media. Usuallywhat we call problems are really only symptoms ofproblems. Symptoms are the visible effects of aproblem, while the problems themselves are usuallyrelated to the functional or structural characteristicsof a system. Distinguishing between symptoms andproblems is important in making more accuratedefinitions of the problems you want to resolve.

The way you describe the problem depends on thelenses you use to see and the yardsticks you use tomeasure. In this sense, the statement of a problemis not an objective thing but rather a sharedexpression of what you determine is not working inthe system you want to change. It is very commonfor people to disagree about the nature of a problem

because people see situations differently. It isimportant to discuss these differences and to findcommon views of the problems involved.

Everyone brings his or her own frames of referenceto the design science planning process. Theseperspectives are based on different political,economic, cultural, psychological, organizational,and religious values and experiences. It is importantto understand when and how you use theseperspectives and to see the degree to which yourown cultural frame of values affects the way youdefine problems. However useful these frames ofreference may be in organizing your ideas of theproblem, you must take care to see that they do notinhibit, limit, or predetermine the descriptions thatyou will develop in the course of stating the problem.

As indicated on the design science planning processdiagram at the beginning of this section, you shouldrepeat the problem state description step severaltimes until you are satisfied with your statement ofthe problems. In the first run through of the problemstate step, you will usually generate a list ofpreliminary questions and statements of theproblem. After you have worked through the nexttwo steps, you can return to the problem state stepand refine your problem state descriptions. Duringthis refinement, you will often find that differentaspects of the problem can be grouped under certainfunctional categories.

Refined descriptions of the problem state willusually include the following four groups ofcharacteristics.

DISTRIBUTION refers to availability or access. Aproblem can be described in terms of distribution ifeveryone is not receiving or does not have access toa particular life-support system. For example, if 50%

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of a given population does not have adequate dailyfood nutrition in spite of sufficient known foodsupplies in the given region, then it is necessary tomake a statement of the problem in terms ofdistribution.

PERFORMANCE refers to the design characteristics ofthe system itself. These characteristics are usuallydescribed in terms of the system’s capacity toproduce life-support goods and services with theminimum possible investment of resources and theminimum possible amounts of wastes produced inthe process. For example, the U.S. transportationsystem depends almost entirely on petroleum. Aproblem statement of this system could describethe performance of each of the different modes interms of passenger or freight miles per investedresources and the efficiency of each process.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS are the negative,disruptive effects the present system has on theenvironment. They are often stated in terms ofpollution levels, breakdowns in ecological cycles,environmental diseases, and depletion or damage toenvironmental resources (biological species, landuse, soil quality, minerals, water).

MAINTENANCE AND CHANGE refers to those aspectsof the system that regulate and provide channels tochange the system. These problem characteristicsappear when improper regulation and inflexibility ina system limit its effectiveness in continuallyproviding essential life-support services. If thesystem cannot be effectively changed by the usersto better provide for needs, then this characteristicshould be described in the problem state. Forexample, if a region depends entirely on natural gasfor heating and there are no mechanisms for peopleto convert their heating systems to another sourceof energy, then when the supplies of natural gas are

exhausted, they will be unable to heat theirbuildings.

The following is an example of the problem statedescribed in the 1974 World Game Workshop energystrategy:

The main impediments to evolution in the presentenergy state have brought about a situation in whichthere is:

Not enough energy available for 100% of humanity’slife-support, e.g., forced fuel rationing, materialsshortages, forced shorter workweeks, “blackouts,”“brownouts,” etc. in developed countries, and little orno industrial energy available to construct anddevelop tools for life-support in developingcountries.

Inequitable distribution of energy consumption; forexample, the United States, with 7% of the world’spopulation, consumes 32% of the world’s energy.Low efficiency of energy conversion, such asappliances that waste electricity, cars that consumetoo much fuel, materials that require a lot of energyused in place of low-energy-costing materials,uninsulated structures, etc. Present-day energyconverters average 4-5% over-all thermal andmechanical efficiency. For every 100 barrels of oilproduced, 95 go down the drain. An overallefficiency of at least 12-20% is feasible with present-day design and engineering know-how.

High negative environmental impact of energyinputs and outputs of the external metabolicsystem; e.g. resource depletion, waste, pollution ofair, water and land by unwanted chemicals, heat,artifacts, and noise; and disruption of ecologicalcycles through strip mining, pipelines, etc. In short,an environment whose capacity to provide what we

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are demanding of it, and to absorb what we areinjecting into it, is rapidly becoming insufficient.

High use of short supply energy resources, such asfossil and nuclear fuels.

Low diversity/redundancy of energy sources andsystems; e.g., most of our “eggs” are in one basket:oil.

High use of coerced human physical labor input.

Centralized and one-way energy systems; i.e.energy flows from monopolistic utilities andcorporations to individual consumers, without theinverse option.

If our local gas station, the sun, ran out of supportingenergy, the next closest refueling star is 25 trillion

miles away.

- Buckminster Fuller

The new social movements for peace, a humaneworld order, social justice and ecological sanity arenow determined to get in on defining the questions.That’s what public participation is all about. Citizens

now understand that professionals with narrow,specialist training in the sterile, quantitative

methods that women, luckily, often escaped, cannotadequately define our problems. Not that

professionals are not essential to the debate, butthat they must now be able to see where the limitsof their technical competence end, and where their

values carry no more weight than those of any othercitizen in a democracy.

- Hazel Henderson

GROUP METHODS

BRAINSTORMING is a group method for generatingideas. You can use brainstorming in the problemstate step to produce many views of the problem.First determine a period of time the activity will last;usually 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient. Next, definethe subject of the brainstorm and ask all of theparticipants to offer different ideas or views of theproblems. Have a member of the group quickly listthe ideas on the blackboard as they are suggestedwith modification or arranging. The important role ofbrainstorming is that it allows a diverse and wide-ranging set of responses to be generated withoutjudgment. Brainstorming is not analytic andimposes no constraints on the listing of possibleideas.

GROUP CONSENSUS is a method of reducing the manyviews generated by a group to a minimum number ofagreed upon statements. First ask all of theparticipants to list what they think are the mostimportant characteristics of the problem state.Next, compile these lists and make a master list ofall of the responses on the board. Then discuss theappropriateness and priority of each statement.Next, as a group, decide on the most important andarticulate statements.

SIMULATION GAMING is another means to gain anunderstanding of a situation. It is a method ofexperimenting with new perspectives to imagined orreal circumstances which may or may not be similarto your own. You play by imagining that you are in anew role and faced with a particular situation. Howwill you respond?

The Spaceship Captain Game is a simulation gamethat has been used at World Game Workshops. Theparticipants imagine that they are the captain of a

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spaceship that is in trouble. They do not know whatis wrong. The participants are asked, what do youneed to know in order to identify the problems andinsure the ship’s survival? The responses, in theform of questions are listed on the board. This gameis very useful when learning to recognize and defineproblems. It helps to determine what kinds ofinformation are necessary for general problemsolving.

The following are sample responses generated bythis game:

How do we know there is a problem?What are the problems?How critical are they?Where do we find them?How many people do they affect and to whatdegree?What resources are available to solve the problems?Have these problems happened before?How successful were past solutions?What are the alternative solutions?How would we evaluate the proposed solution?

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is a problem?2. What is the difference between a symptom and a

problem?3. What is a frame of reference/?4. What are your frames of reference?5. Ask the people in your group to define the world

food problem.6. What are their hidden frames of reference?

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3. DEFINE THE PREFERRED STATE

What do you want?

Where do you want to go?

How should the systems work?

The preferred state is the step in which you stateyour goals. It is the translation of your values into adescription of an ideal situation. The preferred stateis your definition of success and therefore will be theinverse of the problem state. Outlined as a set ofobjectives, the preferred state represents your ideaof the desired functioning of the system for whichyou are going to plan.

To describe the preferred state, suspend allconstraints except for those of technologicalfeasibility and maintaining ecological integrity, andanswer the question what would an ideal future looklike?

Defining a preferred state can be a simplebrainstorming game for your group. In most cases,this step in the planning process can be conductedentirely verbally. Extensive research and technicalanalysis are unnecessary for determining what youwant. As Russell Ackoff has stated, “there are noexperts for what should be.” Everyone has an equalright to contribute and help form the goals in theplanning process.

Defining the preferred state forces you to makeexplicit what you want and where you want to go.This step involves developing a working hypothesiswhich you will test and document as you develop acomplete strategy. For example, if your preferredstate includes providing adequate nutrition for everyhuman on Earth, the plan you develop then becomes

an experiment to test if the goal is possible and howit might be brought about.

Another way of viewing the preferred state is to seeit as a frame of reference to the present situation.This provides a perspective from which to view thedifference between what is happening and whatshould be happening. A physician diagnoses apatient on knowledge of a “healthy” or preferredstate functioning of the body. Problems can bebetter understood by referencing them against asclear as possible a notion of how the system shouldbe working. Though humans have rarely attemptedto define a preferred state for society and used thisas a tool for understanding and resolving ourproblems it is essential in order to plan for thefuture.

The design team often develops a preferred state byfirst generating a set of general values shared by thegroup and then comparing them to a set of valuesthat are known to be operative in the problem state.From these preferred values you can develop anoutline of those preferred characteristics of thesystem you are planning. For example, if you valueconservation of material resources as opposed toexcessive waste of resources, the description ofyour preferred state would reflect that value: e.g.packaging should be designed in such a way that itcan either be reused or readily recycled.

The following is an example from the 1975 WorldGame Workshop’s Regenerative Resource EconomyGroup of a comparison between preferred valuesand problem state values:

Harmony with nature...man vs. natureAll of humanity...part of humanityConcern for degradation of the environment...limitedawareness and interest in the environment

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Humanitarian...elitistLivingry...weaponryGlobal perspective...national perspectiveInterdependence...independenceSocietal interest...self interestCultural diversity...cultural homogeneitySystemic thinking...reductionist thinkingCooperation...competition

The groupings of characteristics used in the problemstate can also be used to describe preferredcharacteristics.

DISTRIBUTION. Describe the preferred availability ofany life-support service that the system underconsideration is intended to produce. Sinceproviding adequate life-support for all humanity isthe general goal of design science, considering theedistribution of a service or product is very important.

PERFORMANCE. Consider the design of the system interms of its capacity to produce life-support goodsand services with the minimum possible investmentof resources and the minimum amounts of wasteproduced in the process.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. Consider theenvironmental impacts of the preferred state. Tominimize negative or disruptive effects on theenvironment, this step must be carefully described.Designing with nature is fundamental to designscience because it is the only way we can assure ourcontinued health.

MAINTENANCE AND CHANGE. Describe your idea ofhow the system is to be managed and regulated andhow future changes in the design can be initiatedand implemented. This is very important in relationto the popular acceptance and long-termsurvivability of the system.

The following is an example of a preferred statedescription excerpted from the 1975 World GameWorkshop food strategy.

Given the present global food problems, a preferredstate would be one in which sufficient nutritionallysound food for all of humanity’s healthful survivaland evolution is available on a regenerative, non-depleting basis.- A global food system should allow for maximum

individual flexibility in food types to permit asmuch cultural diversity as possible.

- Food should be a birthright, not an economicweapon of exploitation.

- The food system, as well as the food, should besafe. For example, farm workers as well as foodshould not be exposed to dangerous pesticides.

- There should be little coerced human laborinvolved in the food system as possible.

- The global food system should be regenerative;that is, it should not be based on resourceswhich are rapidly being depleted such as fossilfuels and it should not be based on short-sightedpractices such as poor soil management.

- It should have the least possible negativeenvironmental impacts and the most possibleimpact as possible, such as the build-up of poorsoils into rich soils.

- There should be an optimum diversity of foodcrops and a diversity of different strains withineach crop. There should be an overall geneticbank increase.

- There should be a minimal dependence onadverse fluctuations in the natural cycle.

- The global food system should operate atmaximum efficiency – in terms of energy,materials, land and human time use in all stagesof the food system.

- There should be a built-in flexibility in thesystem; there should be a back-up storage

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system to insure the maximum amount ofnutritionally sound forward days for all ofhumanity.

- The fear of an inadequate food supply should bevanquished. Planning and management of theglobal system should be as comprehensive andanticipatory as possible to insure a regenerativesupply of food for everyone.

- A global food system should also have a highamount of monitoring and feedback for qualityand quantity control.

- Access to all accurate food information shouldbe as high as possible.

- There should be a maximum amount of researchand development related to improving the foodsystem.

Your descriptions of a preferred state will naturallychange and evolve as you explore further new waysof seeing problems and developing possibilities. Asyour personal values change, your preferred statedescriptions will change. It is often useful to repeatthis step over again in order to clarify the commonobjectives of the planning team.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What are values?2. What are your values?3. What is a goal? An objective?4. Ask your group what is their preferred state for a

transportation system in the United States.5. Compare the different values and goals implicit

in the responses.

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4. DESCRIBE THE PRESENT STATE

How can you describe the present state?

How is the present system operating?

What do you need to know?

In describing the present state, you attempt to gaina comprehensive picture – a many-faceted analysisof the present situation. The purpose of this step isto clarify critical factors of the problem that willpermit you to organize data about the system underconsideration. The present state is the environmentin which the problem is defined and out of which thepreferred system will be designed.

Every present state requires a slightly different setof descriptive tools. Sometimes it is necessary toinvent new ways of describing aspects of thesystem in order to understand adequately what isgoing on.

The following set of tools, used by previous designscience teams, were developed out of a need toanswer the question: What types of information areneeded in order to make the most intelligentdecisions about the system being considered? Amore detailed explanation of these tools is located atthe end of this planning methodology section.

AN INPUT/OUTPUT ANALYSIS is a chart or diagram thatshows the inputs and outputs of a system. You canmake an input/output diagram by outlining a systemand listing what goes in and what comes out.

COMPONENTS AND PROCESSES are diagrams thatshow how the different parts and processes of asystem are related. Your body is made up ofdifferent organs which function in different

processes: e.g. the lungs are part of the respiratorysystem; the stomach is part of the digestive system.You can make a components and processes diagramby graphically representing the system andindicating the components and processes involved.

KEY INDICATORS are specific measurements thatindicate the state of the system being examined.Temperature and blood pressure are key indicatorsof an individual’s health. Passenger miles, availableedible protein, energy consumption, populationgrowth rate, unemployment rates, inflation rates,efficiency ratings of tools are all examples of keyindicators of different social and technological

FoodHeating fuelElectricityWaterTelephone, radio, TV signals

INPUTS

HOUSE

Organic wastesWastewaterMetal, plastic, paper wastesDissipated heatTelephone signals

OUTPUTS

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systems. You can invent new key indicators bymeasuring characteristics of a system that youthink provide an indication of its relative health orperformance.

TRENDS OF KEY INDICATORS are charts or displaysshowing changes of key indicator measurementsover periods of time. You can make a trend byplotting key indicators or other quantified data overa time line.

TRENDS MOST LIKELY TO CONTINUE are trends whichavailable evidence indicates are going to continue tofollow a specific pattern or direction. For example, ifevidence suggests that population growth willcontinue to increase during the next twenty years,list that trend and suggest the causes andconsequences.

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER AREAS (CROSS-IMPACTANALYSIS) is a method of analyzing the interactionsof different sub-systems or systems. The analysis ismade by constructing a two dimensional matrix withthe different systems entered along bothdimensions. For example, if you wanted to show theinteractions between an energy system and atransportation system, you could construct a matrixwith both systems indicated along both dimensions.You can quantify the matrix by showing how muchenergy is used by the transportation system, howmuch transportation is use by the energy system,how much energy is used by the energy system, andhow much transportation is used by thetransportation system.

If you want to know the cross-impacts of anadditional system such as communications or if youwant to divide transportation into differentsubsystems, just list those additions along bothdimensions and fill in the new matrix. The quantities

you use are your choice and will depend on the typesof interactions you want to show. For example, youcould use dollars to show money interactions orKilowatt-hours to show interactions in terms ofenergy measurement. The interaction matrix canalso be used to simply catalogue theinterrelationships of different systems, e.g. truckstransport gasoline and gasoline is used to fueltrucks.

NET ENERGY ANALYSIS is a type of input/outputanalysis used in analyzing different energy sourcesand conversion systems. Net energy is the energythat is left over after the energy costs of getting andconcentrating the energy are subtracted from theoriginal gross energy. Gross Energy (output) minusEnergy Costs (input) equals Net Energy output.High net energy sources have higher economicpotential than low or no net energy sources.

AN INVENTION CHART is a chronological inventory ofinventions related to a particular area such asshelter or transportation. To make an inventionschart, list in order of appearance (by year)inventions or artifacts that influenced thedevelopment of your system.

LOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION MAPPING is a method ofdisplaying specific data about technology,environmental resources, and human needs onmaps. The quantified data to be displayed can besubdivided into specific ranges of type, quality, orrate: for example, ecosystem type (tropical rainforest, desert), number of beef cattle (1 to 5, 6 to 10,etc.) or population growth rate (1% to 2%, 2% to 3%,etc.). These ranges are then graphically indicatedand correlated to the geographic area to which thedata refers. The following is an example of locationand distribution mapping of biomes (bioregions) ona Dymaxion Map.

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AN INFORMATION SYSTEM is a tool for filing andstoring information that is researched and collectedfor use in a design science plan or strategy. Thereare many different ways you can store and file data.

The following three tools are included in theinformation system and are helpful in both theprogress of your work and in documenting your workwhen it is completed.

GLOSSARY is a listing and definition of termsimportant for understanding the system you areplanning.

RESEARCHERS, AUTHORITIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS is alisting of 1) individuals and institutions presentlyengaged in research and development, and 2)people to contact for feedback or advice in yourwork, and 3) organizations which influencedecisions in different areas related to your system.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCE is a listing of books,journals, articles, and other information sourcesdealing with the system.

GROUP METHODS

DATA ACQUISITION GAME is a method of learningwhere to find sources of various data. Ask a series ofquestions such as: How many bicycles are there inAustralia? How much milk is consumed in Mexico?Where do date palm trees grow? Then, brainstormwhat information sources you would use to find theanswers. Test the different sources and determinewhich ones lead to the answer most readily. Afterplaying this game many times, it is possible todevelop a list of the best sources of data (or sourcesof sources of data) for use in design scienceresearch.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. Where will you find data for your problemarea? How will you organize it?

2. What is an analysis?3. What is a display method?4. Make an input/output diagram of your house

and quantify it.5. Make a components and processes chart of

your house.6. Make a trend chart showing the number of

miles you have traveled per year over thepast ten years.

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5. INVENTORY ALTERNATIVES

What choices do you have to select from?When you are making a plan and you have seenwhere you are and where you want to go, you needto identify all the known alternatives for getting tothe goal. It is important that this list becomprehensive so that the range of choices madereflect the best options available.

You need to have certain information about eachalternative so that you will be able to know how andwhere each can be used. You should know how theywork and the particular situation to which each isbest suited. Here is a sample form withcharacteristics of what you might need to knowabout each.

ALTERNATIVES CHECK LIST

1. Explanation of Process (include diagrams ifpossible): How does it work?

2. History of Prototypes: Uses, development, etc.3. Capability of Alternative: What can it produce?

What scale can it be operable on?4. Environmental Conditions: Conditions

necessary for operation (i.e. wind speed,sunshine hours, running water, etc.)

5. Resources Utilized: What is it made of? What doyou need to build or install it?

6. What are the best uses? Applications?7. What kinds of personnel are needed?8. How is it managed, regulated, and changed?9. Advantages (benefits): What are the positive

impacts – social, economic, ecological?10. Disadvantages (costs): What are the negative

impacts – social, economic, ecological?

The availability of alternatives reflects the degree ofour freedom of choices. No freedom of choice can

exist where there are no alternatives. The morealternatives a system has, the more viable thatsystem will be. Inventorying existing alternativesand developing new ones is a critical need of societyand the task of the design scientist.

In any situation, the limited availability ofalternatives threatens the survival of the system. Ifan electrical circuit has only one pathway forelectricity to flow and the wire is broken (thepathway interrupted), the system ceases tofunction. In an urban electrical grid, there isredundance. This means that if one cable breaks,there are other paths for electricity to flow so thatthe whole system does not shut down.

Living systems are able to grow in a changingenvironment because they are enormously complex,having many alternative pathways for achieving anyone goal. Humans are the most complex andadaptable systems we have discovered in nature; forexample, it has been estimated by biologists thatthere are 30,000 pathways for information to flowbetween any two neurons in our brains. Thatpermits many alternative paths for a signal to movealong. We need to employ this principle ofredundancy in the design of a preferred system.Alternatives make possible different pathways forachieving the same or similar goals.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is an alternative? An inventory?2. What characteristics will you include in your

inventory?3. Where will you find data to do your inventory?4. Inventory all of the possible methods you could

use to conserve energy in your home.

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6. DEVELOP EVALUATION CRITERIA

How do you choose the best alternatives?

After all alternatives are inventoried, the next step isto develop a set of evaluation criteria by whichvarious characteristics of each alternative can beassessed. After each is evaluated, the bestalternatives can then be selected for your plan.

Evaluation criteria are the guidelines for reaching apreferred state. They represent our values andpriorities and thus reflect what we think is importantin making decisions about the design,implementation, use and maintenance of systems.Evaluation criteria can be general guidelines fordecision makers or they can be performancespecifications for the designer. The criteria aredeveloped by formalizing the set of valuesarticulated in the preferred state. They can first bedescribed qualitatively (general criteria) and thenthey can be more specifically defined in terms ofquantitative measurements (more specific criteria).For example, a general criterion for the selection of atransportation system alternative could be that onlyminimum gaseous hydrocarbon or nitrous oxidepollution be permitted. A specific criterion, on theother hand, could indicate the specific amounts ofthose compounds that are to be permitted. Anothergeneral criterion could be that the alternative mustconvert or use only renewable income energysources. A specific criterion could specify the rangeof energy conversion efficiencies necessary for thedesign of an alternative transportation vehicle.

Our biosphere is a set of delicately balanced,interrelated eco-systems that are inherentlyinterdependent. When one part of these systems isdisrupted, the whole system can be damaged. Forexample, destruction of a link in a food chain

because of local pollution could cause extinction of aspecies several steps down the food chain.

Pollution control standards are evaluation criteriadeveloped to minimize negative environmentalimpacts of human technology. Since thesestandards are criteria to measure undesirablesubstances dispersed in the eco-system, much carehas to be taken in determining what are safe levels,in both the short and long-term perspective. Ideally,the systems you design should have pollutionoutputs as close to zero as possible.

Evaluation criteria reflect the values and priorities ofthose who create them. In recent years, forexample, considerable public debate has beenfocused on what our pollution standards should be.The mandate for the future seems clear, acceptrising levels of harmful pollutants or redesign thetechnological systems. Using pollution as criteria forsystem evaluation allows us to state our values andmeasure how far we are from the desired goal ofminimum pollution.

The following are general evaluation criteria thatwere used by the World Game Workshop energyteam:

ENERGY CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on doing the most withthe least amount of energy

- Minimum use of energy-intensive materials- Maximum use of reusable materials and

packaging- Minimum energy use in construction,

maintenance, and recycling- Minimum dependence on one source of energy- Maximum diversification and interdependence of

energy sources

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- Maximum availability and distribution of power- Maximum value placed on user’s time and

energy- Maximum comprehensive responsibility and

responsiveness to the needs of energy users byenergy suppliers

SAFETY CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on human life- Maximum safety in construction, operation,

maintenance, and recycling- Maximum designed-in safety for emergencies

and breakdowns- Maximum safety for future generations

ADAPTABILITY CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on adaptive stability- Maximum responsiveness to short-term energy

demand changes- Maximum expandability/contractibility

(responsiveness to long-term energy demandchanges)

- Maximum reserves of emergency supplies andfacilities

- Maximum flexibility and adaptability to newtechnology, needs, and know-how

EFFICIENCY CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on doing more with less- Maximum use of minimum numbers of energy

artifacts, systems, and services- Maximum energy output per invested man-

hours, materials, and energy input- Maximum ease, simplicity, and clarity of repair,

replacement, and recycling in minimal time- Maximum use of modularity of construction

where applicable

- Maximum concentration of energy-intensiveactivities

- Maximum interlinkages of energy-intensiveactivities

- Maximum use of low impact decentralizedenergy-harnessing artifacts

- Maximum energy conversion and transportefficiency use

- Minimum heat discharge into environment

ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on virgin areas of globe- Minimum topographical, geological, hydrological,

physiographical, limnological, meteorological,soil, vegetation, and wildlife disturbances

- Minimum use of land, water, water space, air,and air space

- Minimum input of solid, liquid, gaseous, and heatwaste into ecological context

ORGANIZATIONAL CRITERIA

- Maximum centralization of coordinationfunctions, maximum decentralization ofdecision-making functions

- Maximum compatibility between differentenergy systems, as autonomous energy unitsdesigned for use by single families, schools,health units, etc.

USER CRITERIA

- Maximum value placed on 100% of humanity asenergy user; sufficiency – enough energy foreveryone; accessibility – enough distribution toeveryone

- Maximum quality control of energy artifact,system, or service

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- Maximum reliability of energy artifact, system,or service; maximum use of back-up systems

- Maximum durability of energy artifact, system,or service

- Maximum ease, simplicity, and clarity of use ofenergy artifact, system, or service

- Maximum stability and consistency of output ofenergy artifact, system, or service

- Maximum cultural, esthetic, and individualhuman option diversity

- Maximum decentralization of information flow- Maximum use of feedback- Maximum indexing and cataloguing of energy

systems, parts, services, and outputs- Maximum knowledge about energy system

interactions with all other systems, especiallythe ecological context

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is an evaluation?2. What are criteria?3. What kinds of criteria will you include in order to

choose from your inventory of alternatives?4. What criteria would you use if you were going to

design your own house?5. What criteria do you use in selecting the food

you eat?

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7. DESIGN THE PREFERRED SYSTEM

What would your preferred system look like?

What elements would it contain?

How would it work?

Efficiently running systems often have parts that iftested separately would perform inefficiently. This

understanding is implicit in the definition ofsynergy: the behavior of a system unpredicted by

the sum of its parts. A chain is as strong as the totalinteraction of its links.

Designing the preferred system is the step whereyou construct a detailed plan or blueprint of yourideal system. The plan is an organization ordescription of related elements that, if implemented,could resolve a given set of problems.

You can design the preferred system by:1. Considering the values and goals expressed in

the preferred state2. Selecting the appropriate alternatives3. Integrating the alternatives you have selected

into a coordinated system

Selecting the appropriate alternative elements andintegrating them into a preferred system involvesseveral steps. First, you determine which of thealternatives in your inventory meet therequirements or specifications of your evaluationcriteria. Next, inventory the relevant environmentalconditions of the geographic area (global, regional,local) for which you are planning. For example, if youare designing an energy system, you might list solarradiation, density, precipitation, ecosystem types,natural available resources, average daily windvelocity, etc. Then determine which of the qualifying

alternatives are appropriate to your plan bymatching the environmental conditions required byeach to the existing conditions of the area. Forexample, a wind-powered generator would beappropriate in a mildly windy area while a solarcollector would be inappropriate in an area thatreceives very little solar radiation. If it is apparentthat there are few if any appropriate alternativesthat would contribute to the resolution of theproblem, you should outline a set of preferredperformance characteristics for several idealalternatives. These criteria can then be used by adesign team for development of new alternativesand artifacts.

The final step is integrating the appropriatealternatives into a working system where all of theparts are functionally interconnected andcoordinated. This step usually involvesexperimenting with different contributions ofelements until a workable solution is achieved.

When you are organizing your preferred system,consider the following factors and describe the indetail:

1. How the system would operate and function2. How the system would be managed and

regulated3. How the system would differ from the present

system4. How the system would be monitored so that

evaluation of its performance could be made5. How the system would increase the personal

freedoms and number of learning opportunitiesfor people

6. How the system could adapt to furthertechnological innovations and social change

7. How the system could be assimilated to a widerange of cultural systems presently existing

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The preferred system can be described with many ofthe same tools you used to describe the presentstate. For example, you might develop aninput/output diagram showing all of the flowsthrough the system. You might also diagram thearrangement of all of the different components andprocesses of the system. Trend charts could bedeveloped to show how such a system wouldcontribute to the conservation of depletable naturalresources and/or increase the levels of adequatedistribution of essential goods and services.

Following your original intentions, the plan shouldemphasize the level of aggregation (global, regional,community or single dwelling unit) that you chose tofocus on, but it should also describe theinterrelationships of similar functional systems at alllevels of aggregation. For example, a communityfood system could be related to the regional andglobal food systems or vice versa.

A design science plan should not be confused withan outrageous vision of the future or speculativefantasy; but neither should it be confined to presentmodes of thinking, political constraints orprojections of what is likely to happen.

Design science deals with what is technologicallypossible but not necessarily with what is politicallyprobable. The primary constraints on the plan aretechnological (is it possible given current know-how?) and ecological (is it compatible with naturalsystems?). A plan uses what is currently availablein resources, technology, and know-how. Forexample, nuclear fusion could not be included in anenergy plan because fusion is presently not atechnologically feasible energy source.

The unique quality of the plan is that it is based onwhat you want and what is possible. It shows how a

system could be organized to fulfill your preferredvalues and goals. It is real to the extent that you canorganize yourselves and the environment to realizethe plan. In some ways, this planning stage can belikened to what an architect does in designing andspecifying the elements of a new building or systemof buildings. Resources, wants, potentials andconstraints are all integrated into an image – ablueprint – of a preferred system.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is a plan?2. What is a model?3. What levels of aggregation are you going to

include in your plan?4. What technologies are you going to use in your

plan?5. What geographic, climatic, and ecological

conditions are you designing for?6. Design your diet for the next week:

a. What foods will you eat?b. What is their nutritional content?c. Where will you get the food?d. What tools will you need to prepare the

food?7. Make a plan of a house you would like to live in

and consider the following functions:a. Energy sources and useb. Water and waste systemsc. Food preparation and storaged. Lightinge. Space configurationf. Materialsg. Construction toolsh. Structure of enclosure

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8. DEVELOP STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Once you have designed the plan of your preferredsystem, the next questions to be resolved are: Howdo you get from here to there – from the present tothe preferred state? What stages and levels ofimplementation do you have to consider? Astrategy is an arrangement of all the steps that mustbe completed along a time line showing the order inwhich they must be done. At the left end of the timeline is the present problem and at the right is theproposed future. Along the time line will be the“things which need to be done” to get to thepreferred state. When you take a trip by car, youhave to pass through certain points to get to yourdestination. You must stop to eat, to get gasoline,and to rest.

In developing a complex strategy, it becomesobvious that all of the steps cannot be included on asingle time line. In this situation you have to findways of dividing the strategy into separate timelines. These lines can be either parallel oroverlapping. There are two major ways of dividingthe strategy. The first is to separate theimplementation steps into different aggregate levelssuch as single dwelling unit, neighborhood,community, region and global. The next breakdownis to further subdivide each of these levels in termsof the different functional areas. For example, youmight want to divide the implementation steps of aregional food system into the following subsystems:production, transportation, processing, storage,distribution, consumption, waste recycling, etc.

The following chart is an example of a sub-strategyof a global energy development plan proposed inEnergy Earth and Everyone. The development of

wind power is described at different aggregate levelsalong a ten year time line.

An essential question to be asked in developing acomplex strategy after the total implementationperiod has been determined is – what stages ofdevelopment must occur at what point during theoverall implementation period? This kind ofscheduling is “determining first things first.” Ahydrogen-powered transport vehicle, for example,has to be prototyped, tested, and proven feasiblebefore a transportation using this vehicle can bedesigned and implemented.

A detailed strategy will also address these questions(not in order):1. Who will implement the strategy?2. How can they be invited to participate or be

mobilized?3. What tools and artifacts will be needed?4. How and when can they be produced,

distributed?5. How can the strategy be evaluated?

How various groups of people could support andparticipate in the implementation of a systemshould be considered at this point. You might wantto specify how increasing the general awarenessand participation among those people who will beaffected by the plan could be integrated into theentire process from beginning to end. For example,showing people that fossil fuel costs will eventuallybecome prohibitive could help increase theawareness of the energy situation and encouragepeople to participate in an alternative energydevelopment plan.

A helpful exercise in developing a long-rangestrategy is to describe the preferred system and towork backward to the present describing the

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necessary steps which lead to your goal. As youwork backward to the present, you will find it ishelpful to frame the different steps in the prevailingsocial context so that the plan appears both logicaland implementable. For example, you could identifyactual institutions, organizations, agencies andindividuals either engaging in or capable of engagingin the prescribed steps of the strategy.There is a proposal in the global energy strategy,Energy Earth and Everyone, to create a globallycoordinated system of information clearinghousesto monitor, collect, and distribute data regardingongoing research and development in energysystems. These clearinghouses could serve aneducational function by keeping the public informedof potential alternatives, as well as providingsubstantive information to assist public decision-making processes.

Again, the intention of this strategy is not to showwhat will happen, but what can happen over time ifscheduled steps of development are implemented.

A design science strategy is a logical sequence ofevents that shows how, starting from present

conditions, a future preferred state can be achieved.A strategy is the “bridge” from the present “problem”

state to the future “preferred” state.The more comprehensive and anticipatory is a

strategy, the better its chances of effecting themost positive change for humanity. In developing a

comprehensive strategy, all the variables that affectthe attainment of the global should be taken intoaccount. In defining the problem, these variablesare explored for their effect on the problem, andwhen the solution is defined, the comprehensive

strategy describes the implementation of thesolution.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is a strategy?2. What stages of implementation will be

necessary?3. How long will each stage take?4. What industries and commercial services are

involved in this strategy?5. Who are the users or consumers of the plan?6. Who are the decision-makers that will be

involved? When will they become involved?7. Make a schedule of all the things you would need

to do to make a 400 square foot vegetablegarden in four days. (Imagine turning abackyard into a garden.)

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6. DOCUMENT THE PROCESS

During every step in the design science planningprocess it is important to assemble a file and torecord all research and group sessions. Thisdocumentation provides the raw material to producea finished report after your work is complete. Whilethe objective of your group may not be to publishand distribute a finished document, recording theprogress of the work is often the only possible wayto “store” the generated information for futurereferral. Design science teams often benefit fromrelated work done by others. Seeing differentapproaches to similar problems can provide insightsinto one’s own work as well as help to avoidduplication of effects. The work that you produce willlikely be useful to other groups which follow. Themore thoroughly the entire process is documentedthe more valuable the report will be to you and toother groups.

Design science teams can document their workusing all or a combination of the following formats:

Research reportsFiles of research articlesBibliographiesEssaysJournalistic articlesCharts/graphsDrawingsAudio and video tapesPhysical modelsPhotographyBlogging/WikipediaComputer presentations

After all of the material has been collected and thegroup process has been completed, a smallerdocumentation team can then compile, edit, and

otherwise put into presentable form the results ofthe process.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. List different ways you can document yourwork. Decide which methods you will use.

2. How would you do a film simulating your group’sprocess?

3. How would you design an exhibit of your plan?4. Write a research report on an alternative you

have investigated.5. Write a summary of the problem state of

healthcare delivery in the community you live in.6. Write a report on the values and goals your

group generated and how you came to agree ona shared set of goals.

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7. TAKE THE INITATIVE

Initiative springsOnly from within

The individualInitiative can neither

Be created nor delegatedIt can only be vacated

Initiative can onlyBe taken by theIndividual on his

Own self-convictionOf the necessityTo overcome his

Conditioned reflexingWhich has accustomed

Him heretoforeAlways to yield authority

To the wisdomOf others. Initiative

Is only innateAnd highly perishable.

- Buckminster Fuller

The design scientist undertakes fundamentalinvention, self-underwriting, development and

experimental proof of inventions as demonstratedfor instance by the Wright Brothers wherein the

design science professional will be equipped with allthe economic, legal and technological knowledgenecessary for reducing such inventions to going

industrial practice.

- Buckminster Fuller

Up to this point we have discussed the step by stepmethod by which you can determine what needs tobe done and how, but several important questionsstill need to be answered.

What do I do with the plan?How can I hope to implement it?How can I bring about a positive change in theworld?

There are three ways for your or your group tofurther develop your work and to help bring aboutpositive change. You can:

1. Develop tools or artifacts called for by thedesign science strategy you have formulated

2. Communicate the plan to those who would beinvolved, affected, or interested

3. Initiate a larger planning process whichincludes seeking the participation of those whowould be involved in implementing the plan; orall three can be undertaken concurrently. Wewill consider each in turn, pointing out therelations of each to the others along the way.

DEVELOPING THE ARTIFACT

The design science process thus far has furnishedyou with a supporting rationale and a frame ofreference which tells you what is needed. What isneeded can often be translated into physicalartifacts. This is the first and most important outputof the design science process. Since theimplementation of your plan will likely requiredeveloping artifacts which have not yet beeninvented or tested, you should compile a list of theartifacts that need to be “invented.” Along with theartifact, state the preliminary specifications for itsperformance. These performance specifications ordesign criteria, are specific guidelines for what theartifact is supposed to do in terms of materials andenergy usage, safety, performance, ecologicalimpact, efficiency and adaptability.

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Example: the global design science strategyformulated in the book Energy Earth and Everyonedefines the need to harness the Earth’s incomeenergy sources. After studying the energy flows andconcentrations through the whole Earth system, thewinds of Antarctica were seen as a potential sourceof energy. Because of the unique conditions inAntarctica, a special artifact is needed to harnessthese winds. Most windmills build to date have beenprimarily designed to harness low intensity winds ofthe planet – winds blowing from 7 to 25 mph. Windsbelow or above these limits result in either no poweror damage to the windmill. Winds in parts ofAntarctica average over 28 mph for 340 days peryear and often exceed 100 mph. To harness thesewinds, a wind turbine specifically designed for highspeed winds is needed.

Now, an artifact – a high rpm wind turbine capable offunctioning in the Antarctic has been identified, canbe built, refined, and then utilized to meet the statedneed. Design, building, and testing the artifactinvolves a specific design science process. Theprocess, originally formulated by Buckminster Fuller,is a systematic outline for designing an artifact. Insection 1, Development, the idea for the artifact isdeveloped into a design and workable prototype.The first step is to get more information by making acomprehensive search of the related subjects. Thissearch should tell you whether your idea or a similarone has already been reduced to practice (orattempted) when, where, how, what went wrong orright, etc. Examples of related areas in the Antarcticwindmill example include:

Windmill design (is there already a high rpm windmillor one which could be adapted?), helicopter rotordesign and construction, tower design andconstruction, specific weather and geographicalconditions in Antarctica (where is the best spot for a

forest of windmills in the Antarctic from the point ofview of the wind, from the point of view of logistics),materials science (which materials are best suitedto the Antarctic extremes); local and remotecompanies, agencies and authorities in the fieldwhom you can contact either personally or via email,materials and energy costs and economies of scale.

The next step, after all the relevant information hasbeen gathered, organized, and integrated, is to beginthe actual design. A first prototype is built. If partsfor the artifact are available, they are ordered andintegrated into the desired unit. If apparatus is notavailable, then you must begin to fabricate theartifact from “scratch.” What an individual is able todo him/herself is dependent on his/her own uniquebackground, training, inclinations and the demandsof the design. The design scientist is a synthesizer,an integrator of already existing parts into newsynergetic arrangements. Obviously, an individualcannot mine, refine and alloy the various metalsneeded for a windmill, nor should he or she beexpected to have all the skills necessary to reduce acomplex idea to a physical artifact. The designscientist needs to be skilled in knowing how to getanything that needs to be done done; this entailsknowing who can do what, and where, when, andhow. One very beneficial side effect of this processis that the design scientist can obtain acomprehensive education by following his or heridea through to completion. Many skills and talentsare brought into focus at one time or another in theprocess of reducing an idea to ongoing industrialpractice.

Once the first prototype is built, it is then tested andrefined into a second prototype. It is usuallynecessary to repeat this cycle of prototyping,testing, and refining an average of three times towork out all the bugs in a design. The third prototype

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should fulfill the performance specifications set outin the beginning of the Artifact Development stage,or those specified after more information has beengathered.

The prototyping of an idea, and the subsequenttesting of that idea as a physical artifact to seewhether it is indeed a viable alternative can be doneby an individual or group. The next stage is theactual industrial manufacture of the workingprototype, the production design, tooling,production, and subsequent distribution,installation, maintenance, and service. Becausethese steps usually require more resources than anindividual or small group could bring to bear, theactive support of a much larger group and itsresources may be needed at this point. This is wherethe other two outputs of the design science process,“communicating the plan” and “initiating a largerplanning process” enter the picture.

COMMUNICATING THE PLAN is the documentation andcommunication of the work done in the designscience planning process. It includes the basicinformation and context of what the problem is, whatthe preferred state is, the alternatives, the strategy,etc. This documentation is put together as a reportthat can be sent out to the “authorities” in the fieldand other related individuals, groups, corporations,organizations, and government agencies that wereidentified in the course of the planning process forevaluative feedback. A new document whichincorporates this feedback is written and distributedto the public. This documentation stage is a veryimportant step in the design science process.Science is a collective effort in which currentinvestigators are indebted to those who have comebefore. It is very important that any design scienceexperiment or testing of a hypothesis (e.g. canhumanity feed itself on a regenerative basis?) be

recorded so that others who will carry the workfurther or in different directions can profit from thework.

INITIATING A LARGER PLANNING PROCESS is related tothe preceding outputs of the design science processin two ways. As it has already been pointed out,reducing an idea to an industrially produced artifactmay involve more resources and skills than theindividual needs to communicate the idea for theartifact (and the supporting rationale of the wholedesign science strategy) to those who have thenecessary industrial resources and capabilities. Youhave learned who these individuals, groups, andcorporations are in the initial search phase of ArtifactDevelopment.

The second way in which initiating a larger planningprocess relates to the other outputs in furthering theimplementation of the larger developmentalstrategy of which the artifact is only one part. In allplanning it is crucial to involve the people who willbenefit by a particular plan in its development. Thepurpose of a design science plan or strategy isprimarily the testing of a hypothesis and thedevelopment of alternatives rather than planning forothers. Once a new option or alternative has beendeveloped it can then be widely disseminated and alarger planning process instituted.

In this later process, those who the strategy wouldeffect can become involved in the process. To adegree, this will be similar to the effort that theindividual design scientist or small group hasalready gone through. In no way is this ameaningless exercise; for the people who will beeffected by the plan need to know, need to find outfor themselves (and not be told by “experts”), justwhat are their collective goals and what are thelimitations and possibilities of their specific

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situation. People should plan, not “be planned for”because one of the most beneficial aspects ofplanning is the educational process which takesplace during the actual planning. Beyond this, forany complex development plan to succeed, it needsthe full understanding and active participation of allthe people involved in the plan.

As stated before, the ultimate goal of the designscience process is to bring about constructivechange; to allow everyone on Earth the option ofbeing a “have” rather than a “have not.” Sub-goals, orsteps, along the way to this overall goal include thegeneration and testing of new options for humanity,the development of detailed strategies for therealization of new artifacts that are needed for astrategy, the initiation of a larger planning process,and the self-education of the design scientist.

If 1) the artifact which is perceived to be needed forthe strategy’s realization is prototyped and tested,then mass produced and distributed, maintained,replaced, and recycled when there is an improveditem available; 2) the development strategy isdocumented, made widely available and feedbackelicited; and 3) a decentralized local planningprocess is instituted in the specific areas where thedesign science development strategy has furnishednew alternatives, than the design science processhas achieved its goals. But it should be clearlyunderstood from the beginning that goals are alwaysbeing revised, clarified and restated and that whatdesign science seeks to do is redefine goals andcreate new options. Although, the chances thatthese goals will be achieved rapidly may be slim,design science involves a long-range perspectivewhich includes the knowledge that everything hasits own gestation rates. For a human baby, it is 9months, for an elephant it is 21 months, for anartifact or comprehensive design strategy it is

usually considerably longer. As in any long distancevoyage, period navigational fixes are taken andsubsequent course corrections are made in order to“stay on course.” The same applies to the long-rangegoals of design science. New information will alterthe existing information; as goals are approached,new goals emerge.

QUESTIONS/EXERCISES

1. What is initiative?2. What initiatives could your group take to further

the development of your plan?3. What initiative could you take?4. How would you communicate your plan?5. What artifacts could you or your group develop?6. Make a list of authorities you would like to

submit your plan to for feedback.7. Who would you contact if you wanted to initiate a

larger planning process?8. What specialists would you need to assist you in

developing the artifact you have chosen?9. Draft a letter or email to a public decision-maker

explaining your work and the significance of yourplan to your community’s future.

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Origins of Design Science

R. Buckminster Fuller has been variously describedas an inventor, mathematician, poet, cosmologist,architect, comprehensive designer, philosopher, andscientist. His comprehensive thinking in many fieldshas led to the development of a philosophy that hasmanifested itself in practical design. Many ofFuller’s writings are collected essays that chart thecomplex path of his own evolution; however,throughout his books and publications, he invariablyreturns to a common theme and purpose: that dueto technological advances, there are ampleresources on Earth to provide for all of humanity at ahigher standard of living than ever known before,and that humanity can and may well becomprehensively mutually successful.

Fuller charts the trend of humanity’s evolution froma situation of only one percent of humanity beingadequately maintained on Earth, to the currentsituation of 44 percent of the human populationbeing adequately maintained, despite the fact thatthe finite stock of resources per person hasdecreased. For Fuller, the explanation for thisphenomenon is found, not in the realm of socialpolitics, but in the unparalleled advances broughtabout by the proliferation of scientific discovery,technology and industrialization.

Resolving that the trend could continue, and that theworld could thus be made to work for 100 percent ofhumanity, Fuller asked himself the question “whatcould humanity in general, and one person inparticular, do to achieve this goal?” The historicalevolution of his attempt to answer this question isalso the evolution of design science. This evolution,demonstrated in Fuller’s own life, can be divided intothree major parts: Dymaxion design, world

resources inventory, and synergetic geometry. Asummary of his work in these areas follows:

Dymaxion Design

A pivotal juncture seems to have occurred in Fuller’slife in 1927 when he deliberately set out to be acomprehensivist (a person who is seeking tointegrate and synthesize information out of a myriadof specialist disciplines). The precedents for thisdecision were formed throughout the previousdecade of his life. He was one of the last groups ofyoung naval officers to receive comprehensivetraining in navigation, ballistics and logistics before,ironically enough, technological advances madenaval officers specialists. This training, when navieswere masters of the world, greatly influenced Fuller’sthinking. He became interested in finding ways thatthe technology of weaponry could be applied tolivingry and the logistics of war applied to thelogistics of peace. Fuller’s ventures in the housingindustry and the subsequent commercial difficultiesof those ventures, coupled with the personal loss ofhis first child, tempered his decisions. He emergedfrom this difficult period as a self-disciplinedcomprehensivist, ignoring specialization andcommercialization to formulate a more adequatemodel for his own life and the lives of his fellowhumans.

These concerns resulted in the development of aseries of designs and inventions, the first being theDymaxion house (1927). The house was a radicaldeparture from convention. It was hung from a mastin triangulated tension, and was intended to be amass-produced, high-quality, low-cost shelter.Rather than designing a house for a client, as wasand still is the traditional practice of architects,Fuller attacked a whole host of social, economic andpolitical problems by scientifically designing a

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prototype for low-cost mass-producible housing.Several people expressed interest, and otheractively encouraged the project, although thehousing industry as a whole ignored Fuller’s design.He later designed and built a prototype for a mass-produced, all-purpose transport machine, theDymaxion car (1933), which combined mechanicalefficiency with advanced design. Three vehicleswere produced, but the automobile industry, like thehousing industry in prior years, showed littleinterest and foresight. Other artifacts Fullerdesigned and produced included the Dymaxionbathroom (1937) offering an efficient, lightweight,safe and non-polluting personal hygiene modulewhich the plumbing industry ignored. These werenot setbacks for Fuller because rather thanpromoting the commercial success of theseprojects, he was intent on testing his design theoriesand demonstrating that humanity had new options.Many of the basic ideas in Fuller’s original designsare only now, more than 50 years later, being used inindustrial design.

In 1940, Fuller unveiled another house, this onedesigned to provide temporary shelter. It utilized acylindrical design of corrugated steel similar to thehighly practical agricultural grain bins that hadinspired the design. In 1945, Fuller continued hisattempts to advance his concepts of housing withthe design of the Dymaxion Dwelling Machine, thefirst prototype of the “mass-produced installableanywhere around the world, scientificallyadvantaged dwelling unit.” The prototype wasmanufactured in an airplane factory, and it emulatedall the latest design advances of airplanemanufacturing technology.

The culmination of this design period combinedFuller’s explorations into synergetic geometry withhis philosophy of providing shelter by doing more

with less. Their integration resulted in the design ofthe geodesic dome (patented in 1954), perhaps hismost widely accepted contribution to the goal ofsheltering humanity. The geodesic dome is theartifact that probably best reflects the fruition ofFuller’s ideas concerning the beauty of nature’sprinciples, when used in technological design.

Realizing the limited potentials of political systems,and proposing instead a focus on the potentials ofdesign, Fuller was also demonstrating how a personcould take the design initiative and create solutionsto the problems that confronted humanity. TheDymaxion designs provided the first concreterecognition by Fuller of how humanity might attainthe goal of providing for all of its life-support needsby applying the principles of science to the problemsof design. The designs have continued to emphasizeBuckminster Fuller’s views about philosophy: “youcan’t better the world by simply talking to it.Philosophy to be effective has to be mechanicallyapplied.”

World Resources Inventory

Undaunted by the commercial resistance to his earlydesign and aware that they were ahead of their time,Fuller developed a system of thinking which led himto an increasingly more comprehensive perspective.While experimenting with developing thetechnologies that he felt would help provide basiclife-support for all humans, he was also formulating acomprehensive design philosophy. He begancollecting a vast data bank that he called “Inventoryof World Resources, Trends and Human Needs.”Though he began many years earlier, he made thefirst systematic update of that inventory in 1927.The world resources inventory set the stage forFuller’s explorations into forecasting and

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comprehensive planning. He tried to ascertain andinterpret the significant trends of human evolution.

In 1936, Phelps-Dodge asked him to make acomprehensive study of the world’s resources andtrendings, in particular relating the role of copper tothe rest of the world’s resources. In 1938, Fullerserved as consultant to Fortune magazine,producing a special 1940 anniversary issue whichcompared world resource reserves to United Statesresources. In the war years, 1942-44, Fuller waschief mechanical engineer for the Board of EconomicWarfare and was involved in the Inter-agencyAlternate World Resources Substitution Committeewhere he helped formulate a long-range economicplan for Brazil.

The accumulation of data verified some of his earlierhypotheses which contradicted commonly heldassumptions of Malthus and Darwin that the planetwas unable to support more than a fraction of itshuman population with available resources. With hiscomprehensive perspective and understanding ofpreviously unknown technologies, Fuller envisioneda responsibly designed utilization of the planet’sresources to sustain all human life.

In the process of developing one of his best knownmetaphors, “Spaceship Earth,” Fuller observed thatthe only equipment Earth did not provide for humanswas an operating manual. He set out to discoverclues to that manual by investigating thegeneralized principles discovered by science to beoperating in nature, and to apply them to thefundamental design problems confrontinghumanity.

The problem of distribution of wealth and resources,typically an economic problem, is the subject of

another of Fuller’s metaphors, the World Game. InFuller’s words:

“The World Game is a scientific means for exploringthe expeditious ways of employing the World’sresources so efficiently and omniconsiderably as tobe able to provide a higher standard of living for all ofhumanity. The World Game employs design scienceto produce progressively higher performance perunit of invested time, energy and know-how per eachand every component function of the World’sresources.”

Fuller envisioned the World Game as an ongoingactivity for utilizing the information generated by theworld resources inventory in which people could planand design strategies for making the world work.

Synergetic Geometry

Fuller’s third major avenue of exploration has been inthe area of mathematics and geometry. In hisexploring of ways of doing more with less, Fullerfound that what humans called technology wasreally an adaptation of the ultimate technology ofnature. The better we can understand how natureworks, the better we will be able to design our owntools and live in harmony with our environment.Fuller’s geometry was an articulation of his belief inan ultimate a priori existence of fundamental orderin universe, operating through the generalizedprinciples and capable of being described bynumbers and coordinate systems. “Local designconfigurations, whether they be crystals, molecularbiology or human structures, seem to beadaptations of generalized patterns. It is nature.”Fuller reminds us, “that always uses a minimumamount of materials and energy to producemaximum results manifested in her exquisitetechnological forms.”

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Fuller saw that conventional mathematics resultedfrom humanity’s historical experiences with localphemomena, which traditionally seemed to berectilinear and on a flat plane. A 90° coordinatesystem evolved from these experiences along withthe XYZ axes of Cartesian space. The infinite twodimensional planes of Euclidian geometry areanother example of an imaginary system that nolonger corresponded to the reality that physics haddiscovered. Science had long since gone beyondthose conceptions of space, and Fuller reasonedthat the old mathematics was hardly capable ofaccurately describing relationships to a space thatphysics had redefined. Fuller’s geometry was adeparture from convention because it discarded therectilinear cubical basis for structures in favor of thedevelopment of geometrical forms based upon thetetrahedron. Synergetic geometry is based on a 60°coordinate system as opposed to the 90°convention. Fuller said that the universe in realityorients its events in 60° relationships, doing it withsystems of triangles, tetrahedral and spheres.

Another of Fuller’s concerns, “the geometry ofthinking” (the subtitle of his book Synergetics), wasthat language is unfortunately often inaccurate. Hesaid that words carry with them a multitude ofvalues and attitudes that convey mis-informationabout physical reality. The words “sunrise” and“sunset” are examples of how our word perceptionshave been trailing five hundred years behind ourscientific knowledge. “Any scientist knows the sunis not setting, the earth is revolving to obscure thesun.” Fuller emphasized that generalized principlescan be geometrically modeled to permit rationaltranslation into forms of communication that can beunderstood by designers, scientists and laypeoplealike.

Synergetic geometry further emphasizes Fuller’ssearch for a grand strategy for all problem solving,and within the geometry the reoccurring themeemerged again; “there is an inherently minimum setof essential concepts and current information,cognizance of which could lead to our operating ourplanet Earth to the lasting satisfaction and health ofall humanity.”

The geometry, the design and philosophy areintricately interwoven into comprehensive designscience, forming the operating strategy andassumptions for Fuller’s life as well as the elementsof a blueprint for the intelligent use of technology tomake the world a better place to live.