Daniel Christian Wahl, PhD
Daniel Christian Wahl originally trained as a biologist, and holds degrees in Biology (BSc. Hons., Univ. of Edinburgh), Holistic Science (MSc.,Schumacher College) and Natural Design (PhD., Univ. of Dundee). He was the director of Findhorn College between 2007 and 2010, is a member of the International Futures Forum and H3Uni, an advocation partner of r3.0, and on the advisory councils of Ecosystems Restoration Camps, Commonland, the Ojai Foundation, the Systems Change Alliance and the Overview Institute of Australia, as well as, a Findhorn Foundation Fellow. and a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle. Daniel lives on Majorca where he helped to set up SMART UIB and works locally and internationally as a consultant, educator and activist. Among his clients have been Ecover, Forum for the Future, Camper, Balears.t, Save the Med, Lush, UNITAR, UK Foresight, Future Stewards, and many universities and N.G.O.s. He served on the academic working group of the Global Ecovillage Network and has been linked to GEN for almost 20 years. Daniel has worked closely with Gaia Education sine 2007 and contributed to the development of their Design for Sustainability online course and co-authored the current versions of all four dimensions of the curriculum. He also wrote the content and developed the concept of Gaia Education's SDGs Flashcards which with the support of UNESCO are now translated into 7 languages. Daniel teaches regularly on the MAs in Ecological Design Thinking and Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College. His 2016 book 'Designing Regenerative Cultures' has quickly gained international acclaim. It has been published by now in English, Brazilian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian editions with the German version arriving in mid-2022. Daniel's Blog on Medium is followed by over 24k people and his social media advocacy has a combined audience of over 850k people around the world. In 2021 the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacture and Commerce - founded in 1754 - awarded Daniel with the Bicentenary Medal for "an outstanding and demonstrable contribution, through ... design practice, towards an equitable and regenerative world.
Supervisors: Prof Seaton Baxter; Prof. John Todd and Prof. David W. Orr
Supervisors: Prof Seaton Baxter; Prof. John Todd and Prof. David W. Orr
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Papers by Daniel Christian Wahl, PhD
After the postwar Baby Boomers came Generation X, followed by Generation Y-the millennials-and Generation Z – the iGeneration. So what's next? Creating a viable future for humanity on an overpopulated planet in crisis requires all of us to collaborate, across generations, ideologies and nations. We all will need to join the re-generation!
How do we keep the lights on, avoid revolution and turmoil, keep children in school and people in work, yet still manage to fundamentally transform the human presence on planet Earth before 'business as usual' leads to runaway climate change, a drastically impoverished biosphere, and the early demise of our species?
Asking deeper questions Rather than rushing for solutions we better make sure we are asking the appropriate questions. Albert Einstein supposedly said: " If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask. For once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. "
It is time to step back from our cultural predisposition to want solutions and answers as quickly as possible. Do symptomatic quick fix solutions-rather than systemic transformation-actually serve the necessary culture change? Or, are they merely premature responses to mistaken problem statements created within an outdated way of thinking, based on a cultural narrative that no longer serves humanity? By daring to ask deeper questions we begin to see the world differently. As we engage in conversation about such questions, we collectively begin to contribute to the emergence of a new culture. Questions-and the dialogues they spark-are culturally creative. We need to make sure we ask the right questions if we hope to bring forth the thriving, resilient, regenerative cultures and communities most of us long to live in.
The word sustainability begs the question what it is that we are actually trying to sustain: an outdated cultural narrative, an unhealthy conception of the relationship between humanity and nature, business as usual in a deeply inequitable world? Rather than simply sustaining a structurally dysfunctional system and worldview, our questioning has to go deeper.
We need to search for new ways to restore ecosystems, celebrate cultural diversity, initiate a worldview change, and facilitate the transition towards diverse cultures that regenerate not just vital resources and community resilience, but contribute to the health and vitality of nature's life support systems. Such cultures will assure the future of life as a whole and not merely sustain a humanity divorced from its roots and alienated from the ground of its own being.
What questions might serve to find potential pathways towards a regenerative human presence on Earth? Could we define a set of questions to offer an effective cultural compass that would help us steer our way into an uncertain and unpredictable future? ...
Design is fundamentally worldview dependent, and the design decisions of previous and present generations have, at least in part, shaped and continue to shape our worldview and value systems.
Keywords: scale-linking design, complexity, integral ecology, salutogenicdesign, transdisciplinary integration, health, sustainable civilization, vision
transdisciplinary integration. The theory of complex dynamic systems provides a holistic, explanatory frame-
work offering a participatory perspective that recognizes the fundamental interconnectedness, interdependence,
and unpredictability of biological, social, economic, and ecological systems. Building on the tradition of urban
planning within a regional context, to conceive the sustainable city as an emergent property of appropriate
interactions and relationships within a complex, holarchically structured whole, takes contextualization further.
Increased awareness of nature and culture as an interconnected complex dynamic system, and sensitivity to
material and immaterial (psychological) aspects, leads to more sustainable solutions based on transdisciplinary
integration. Worldviews and value systems, and ecological literacy play an important role in the creation of sus-
tainable lifestyles, communities, cities and societies. This article suggests that complexity theory, combined with
aspects of integral theory and integral ecology, when applied through design as a transdisciplinary integrator, can
provide a framework and a methodology that links spatial and temporal scales across all scales of design from
product design, architecture, construction ecology, community design, industrial ecology, to urban and biore-
gional planning. Ultimately, a sustainable city emerges from the interactions among sustainable communities of
ecologically and socially literate citizens who live sustainable lifestyles.
for designers and society as a whole. A complexity of dynamically
interrelated ecological, social, cultural, economic, and psychologi-
cal (awareness) problems interact and converge in the current crisis
of our unsustainable civilization. However, in a constantly chang-
ing environment, sustainability is not some ultimate endpoint,
but instead is a continuous process of learning and adaptation.
Designing for sustainability not only requires the redesign of our
habits, lifestyles, and practices, but also the way we think about
design. Sustainability is a process of coevolution and co-design that
involves diverse communities in making flexible and adaptable
design decisions on local, regional, and global scales. The transition
towards sustainability is about co-creating a human civilization that
flourishes within the ecological limits of the planetary life support
system.
Design is fundamental to all human activity. At the nexus of
values, attitudes, needs, and actions, designers have the potential to
act as transdisciplinary integrators and facilitators. The map of value
systems and perspectives described by Beck and Cowan 1 as “Spiral
Dynamics” can serve as a tool in facilitating “transdisciplinary
design dialogue.” Such dialogue will help to integrate multiple perspectives and the diverse knowledge base of different disciplines, value systems, and stakeholders. ...
((( Co-Author: Prof Seaton Baxter; University of Dundee and Schumacher College, not yet on academia.edu )))
appropriateness of any design is the extent to which it meets human needs and integrates sustainably
into the life-supporting natural processes of the planetary biosphere. The author suggests that an
aesthetic of health, based on ecological literacy, can inform the evaluation of the qualitative fit
between design and its environment. Eco-literacy - a detailed understanding of nature as a complex,
interacting, creative process in which humanity participates – results in a shift in perception toward an
ecological ethics and aesthetics of participation that considers cultural, social and ecological, as well
as economic value.
As perception becomes informed by ecological literacy it can begin to bridge the dichotomy
between the artificial and the natural, as well as between humanity and nature. Ecological literacy
creates awareness of the fact that a disproportionate amount of the artificial environments,
infrastructures, artefacts and processes that have been created since the Industrial Revolution are
harmful to natural process and decrease the dynamic stability and health of the biosphere. The
diversity of approaches within the Natural Design Movement affirms that we can create artefacts and
processes that are expressions of appropriate participation in natural process. Sustainable and
responsible design is a creative possibility and an ecological necessity.
Ecological literacy emphasizes that humanity is an integral participant in natural processes,
which are fundamentally unpredictable and uncontrollable. Local actions can have far reaching global
effects. Interconnectedness results in cause and effect relationships within complex systems that are
not linear but circular, multi-causal, and often time delayed. This awareness confronts us with the
need to assume responsibility for the outcomes of our actions and furthermore changes the perception
of humanity’s relationship to nature. The aim shifts from control and manipulation to appropriate
participation. There is therefore an important ethical and aesthetic dimension to ecologically literate
design.
The Natural Design Movement shares an ecological worldview. The movement unites diverse
disciplines ranging from ecological design, industrial and urban ecology, sustainable architecture and
bioregional planning to ecological economics, eco-literate education and green politics. Furthermore it
considers the philosophical, sociological and psychological implications of the ecological worldview.
Design in the 21st century will be grounded in eco-literacy and aspire toward community-based
designs that are adapted to the specific conditions of a particular place and culture.
This paper concludes that long-term sustainable design has to integrate into natural processes
as the basis for planetary and human health. There is an ecological dimension of ethics suggesting
ecological imperatives that transcend the relativistic moralizing of purely socio-philosophical ethics.
Eco-literacy creates awareness of these ecological imperatives that will help designers to create
responsible and sustainable artefacts, processes and organizations. Designing the artificial as an
expression of appropriate participation in natural process has to be based on ecological literacy and
supported by the emerging aesthetics of health, also referred to as the ecological aesthetics of
sustainability and the aesthetics of complex dynamic systems.
Keywords: aesthetics, complexity, diversity, eco-literacy, ethics, health, interconnectedness, Natural
Design Movement, participation, uncontrollability, unpredictability, salutogenesis, sustainability
confrontation with his works during the Masters of Holistic Science programme at
Schumacher College have given me the opportunity to explore yet another facet of his
fascinating, multi-talented personality.
Although already in high regard for his literary achievements, the full extend of Goethe’s
significance in the history of culture may not yet have been realized. In many ways, his works
seem still to be gaining in influence. In particular with regard to his work as a scientist, he
surprises with astonishing foresight and continues to provide deep inspiration to the
emerging discipline of holistic science.
To give you a perspective from within the German cultural background: Goethe is most
highly regarded for his work as a poet and his scientific writings are less well known. He is to
German literature and culture, what Shakespeare is to the English, Cervantes is to the
Spanish and Montaigne is to the French, linguistic, cultural identity.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the movement of antroposophy and initiator of the popular
alternative education system, was deeply influenced by Goethe and so was Carl Gustav
Jung. Steiner wrote in his book on Goethean Science: “Goethe’s world-historic significance
lies, indeed, precisely in the fact that his art flows directly from the primal source of all
existence, that there is nothing illusory or subjective about it, that, on the contrary, his art
appears as the herald of that lawfulness that the poet has grasped by listening to the world
spirit within the depth of nature’s working. At this level art becomes the interpreter of the
mysteries of the world just as science is also, in a different sense”(Steiner, 1988).
I decided to attempt my own translation of Goethe’s collected ‘aphorisms on the theory of
nature and science”, after comparing some of the translations offered by Naydler with the
German original and realizing that he not only translated them rather freely, but that there
were also a lot of aphorisms that to my knowledge have so far not been translated into
English.
In my translation, I have attempted to stay as close to the literal meaning of Goethe’s
sentences as possible and this may occasionally result in the need to re-read an aphorism
once or twice, when unusual word order or word use obscure easy access to its meaning. I
deliberately made this decision in order to preserve Goethe’s intent and to avoid interpretive
translation on my part.
In general it can be said of aphorisms, that they loose in clarity what they gain in brevity.
Nevertheless, they can be powerful instruments in conveying deeper insights on a level,
which transcends the purely rational and stimulates intuitive understanding.
After every translated aphorism, I briefly comment on the association it invoked in me. I am
fully aware that these associations are coloured by my own background and are subjective
interpretations, as I realize the impossibility of ‘objective analysis’. The translations and my
comments on them make up the main part of this essay.
I will discuss Goethe’s influence on the newly emerging discipline of holistic science and
investigate to what extent Goethe’s way of seeing the world is central to the emerging new
paradigm, which will hopefully constitute the basis for a more holistic worldview.
I will briefly review some of the evidence which links Goethe to the ancient traditions of
Alchemy and Hermetic Science and discuss to what extend Goethe may be regarded as a
conduit for this ancient knowledge from before the scientific revolution to the present day and
whether these ancient disciplines may still be of significance in the attempt to formulate a
new holistic worldview. In their participatory nature they may point the way towards
incorporating the achievements of 300 years of Reductionist science into the wider
framework of a holistic science that re-unites the arts and the sciences, re-introduces a focus
on qualities over quantities, moves from control to participation and provides a basis for a
new ethical way of engaging with nature.
After the postwar Baby Boomers came Generation X, followed by Generation Y-the millennials-and Generation Z – the iGeneration. So what's next? Creating a viable future for humanity on an overpopulated planet in crisis requires all of us to collaborate, across generations, ideologies and nations. We all will need to join the re-generation!
How do we keep the lights on, avoid revolution and turmoil, keep children in school and people in work, yet still manage to fundamentally transform the human presence on planet Earth before 'business as usual' leads to runaway climate change, a drastically impoverished biosphere, and the early demise of our species?
Asking deeper questions Rather than rushing for solutions we better make sure we are asking the appropriate questions. Albert Einstein supposedly said: " If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask. For once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. "
It is time to step back from our cultural predisposition to want solutions and answers as quickly as possible. Do symptomatic quick fix solutions-rather than systemic transformation-actually serve the necessary culture change? Or, are they merely premature responses to mistaken problem statements created within an outdated way of thinking, based on a cultural narrative that no longer serves humanity? By daring to ask deeper questions we begin to see the world differently. As we engage in conversation about such questions, we collectively begin to contribute to the emergence of a new culture. Questions-and the dialogues they spark-are culturally creative. We need to make sure we ask the right questions if we hope to bring forth the thriving, resilient, regenerative cultures and communities most of us long to live in.
The word sustainability begs the question what it is that we are actually trying to sustain: an outdated cultural narrative, an unhealthy conception of the relationship between humanity and nature, business as usual in a deeply inequitable world? Rather than simply sustaining a structurally dysfunctional system and worldview, our questioning has to go deeper.
We need to search for new ways to restore ecosystems, celebrate cultural diversity, initiate a worldview change, and facilitate the transition towards diverse cultures that regenerate not just vital resources and community resilience, but contribute to the health and vitality of nature's life support systems. Such cultures will assure the future of life as a whole and not merely sustain a humanity divorced from its roots and alienated from the ground of its own being.
What questions might serve to find potential pathways towards a regenerative human presence on Earth? Could we define a set of questions to offer an effective cultural compass that would help us steer our way into an uncertain and unpredictable future? ...
Design is fundamentally worldview dependent, and the design decisions of previous and present generations have, at least in part, shaped and continue to shape our worldview and value systems.
Keywords: scale-linking design, complexity, integral ecology, salutogenicdesign, transdisciplinary integration, health, sustainable civilization, vision
transdisciplinary integration. The theory of complex dynamic systems provides a holistic, explanatory frame-
work offering a participatory perspective that recognizes the fundamental interconnectedness, interdependence,
and unpredictability of biological, social, economic, and ecological systems. Building on the tradition of urban
planning within a regional context, to conceive the sustainable city as an emergent property of appropriate
interactions and relationships within a complex, holarchically structured whole, takes contextualization further.
Increased awareness of nature and culture as an interconnected complex dynamic system, and sensitivity to
material and immaterial (psychological) aspects, leads to more sustainable solutions based on transdisciplinary
integration. Worldviews and value systems, and ecological literacy play an important role in the creation of sus-
tainable lifestyles, communities, cities and societies. This article suggests that complexity theory, combined with
aspects of integral theory and integral ecology, when applied through design as a transdisciplinary integrator, can
provide a framework and a methodology that links spatial and temporal scales across all scales of design from
product design, architecture, construction ecology, community design, industrial ecology, to urban and biore-
gional planning. Ultimately, a sustainable city emerges from the interactions among sustainable communities of
ecologically and socially literate citizens who live sustainable lifestyles.
for designers and society as a whole. A complexity of dynamically
interrelated ecological, social, cultural, economic, and psychologi-
cal (awareness) problems interact and converge in the current crisis
of our unsustainable civilization. However, in a constantly chang-
ing environment, sustainability is not some ultimate endpoint,
but instead is a continuous process of learning and adaptation.
Designing for sustainability not only requires the redesign of our
habits, lifestyles, and practices, but also the way we think about
design. Sustainability is a process of coevolution and co-design that
involves diverse communities in making flexible and adaptable
design decisions on local, regional, and global scales. The transition
towards sustainability is about co-creating a human civilization that
flourishes within the ecological limits of the planetary life support
system.
Design is fundamental to all human activity. At the nexus of
values, attitudes, needs, and actions, designers have the potential to
act as transdisciplinary integrators and facilitators. The map of value
systems and perspectives described by Beck and Cowan 1 as “Spiral
Dynamics” can serve as a tool in facilitating “transdisciplinary
design dialogue.” Such dialogue will help to integrate multiple perspectives and the diverse knowledge base of different disciplines, value systems, and stakeholders. ...
((( Co-Author: Prof Seaton Baxter; University of Dundee and Schumacher College, not yet on academia.edu )))
appropriateness of any design is the extent to which it meets human needs and integrates sustainably
into the life-supporting natural processes of the planetary biosphere. The author suggests that an
aesthetic of health, based on ecological literacy, can inform the evaluation of the qualitative fit
between design and its environment. Eco-literacy - a detailed understanding of nature as a complex,
interacting, creative process in which humanity participates – results in a shift in perception toward an
ecological ethics and aesthetics of participation that considers cultural, social and ecological, as well
as economic value.
As perception becomes informed by ecological literacy it can begin to bridge the dichotomy
between the artificial and the natural, as well as between humanity and nature. Ecological literacy
creates awareness of the fact that a disproportionate amount of the artificial environments,
infrastructures, artefacts and processes that have been created since the Industrial Revolution are
harmful to natural process and decrease the dynamic stability and health of the biosphere. The
diversity of approaches within the Natural Design Movement affirms that we can create artefacts and
processes that are expressions of appropriate participation in natural process. Sustainable and
responsible design is a creative possibility and an ecological necessity.
Ecological literacy emphasizes that humanity is an integral participant in natural processes,
which are fundamentally unpredictable and uncontrollable. Local actions can have far reaching global
effects. Interconnectedness results in cause and effect relationships within complex systems that are
not linear but circular, multi-causal, and often time delayed. This awareness confronts us with the
need to assume responsibility for the outcomes of our actions and furthermore changes the perception
of humanity’s relationship to nature. The aim shifts from control and manipulation to appropriate
participation. There is therefore an important ethical and aesthetic dimension to ecologically literate
design.
The Natural Design Movement shares an ecological worldview. The movement unites diverse
disciplines ranging from ecological design, industrial and urban ecology, sustainable architecture and
bioregional planning to ecological economics, eco-literate education and green politics. Furthermore it
considers the philosophical, sociological and psychological implications of the ecological worldview.
Design in the 21st century will be grounded in eco-literacy and aspire toward community-based
designs that are adapted to the specific conditions of a particular place and culture.
This paper concludes that long-term sustainable design has to integrate into natural processes
as the basis for planetary and human health. There is an ecological dimension of ethics suggesting
ecological imperatives that transcend the relativistic moralizing of purely socio-philosophical ethics.
Eco-literacy creates awareness of these ecological imperatives that will help designers to create
responsible and sustainable artefacts, processes and organizations. Designing the artificial as an
expression of appropriate participation in natural process has to be based on ecological literacy and
supported by the emerging aesthetics of health, also referred to as the ecological aesthetics of
sustainability and the aesthetics of complex dynamic systems.
Keywords: aesthetics, complexity, diversity, eco-literacy, ethics, health, interconnectedness, Natural
Design Movement, participation, uncontrollability, unpredictability, salutogenesis, sustainability
confrontation with his works during the Masters of Holistic Science programme at
Schumacher College have given me the opportunity to explore yet another facet of his
fascinating, multi-talented personality.
Although already in high regard for his literary achievements, the full extend of Goethe’s
significance in the history of culture may not yet have been realized. In many ways, his works
seem still to be gaining in influence. In particular with regard to his work as a scientist, he
surprises with astonishing foresight and continues to provide deep inspiration to the
emerging discipline of holistic science.
To give you a perspective from within the German cultural background: Goethe is most
highly regarded for his work as a poet and his scientific writings are less well known. He is to
German literature and culture, what Shakespeare is to the English, Cervantes is to the
Spanish and Montaigne is to the French, linguistic, cultural identity.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the movement of antroposophy and initiator of the popular
alternative education system, was deeply influenced by Goethe and so was Carl Gustav
Jung. Steiner wrote in his book on Goethean Science: “Goethe’s world-historic significance
lies, indeed, precisely in the fact that his art flows directly from the primal source of all
existence, that there is nothing illusory or subjective about it, that, on the contrary, his art
appears as the herald of that lawfulness that the poet has grasped by listening to the world
spirit within the depth of nature’s working. At this level art becomes the interpreter of the
mysteries of the world just as science is also, in a different sense”(Steiner, 1988).
I decided to attempt my own translation of Goethe’s collected ‘aphorisms on the theory of
nature and science”, after comparing some of the translations offered by Naydler with the
German original and realizing that he not only translated them rather freely, but that there
were also a lot of aphorisms that to my knowledge have so far not been translated into
English.
In my translation, I have attempted to stay as close to the literal meaning of Goethe’s
sentences as possible and this may occasionally result in the need to re-read an aphorism
once or twice, when unusual word order or word use obscure easy access to its meaning. I
deliberately made this decision in order to preserve Goethe’s intent and to avoid interpretive
translation on my part.
In general it can be said of aphorisms, that they loose in clarity what they gain in brevity.
Nevertheless, they can be powerful instruments in conveying deeper insights on a level,
which transcends the purely rational and stimulates intuitive understanding.
After every translated aphorism, I briefly comment on the association it invoked in me. I am
fully aware that these associations are coloured by my own background and are subjective
interpretations, as I realize the impossibility of ‘objective analysis’. The translations and my
comments on them make up the main part of this essay.
I will discuss Goethe’s influence on the newly emerging discipline of holistic science and
investigate to what extent Goethe’s way of seeing the world is central to the emerging new
paradigm, which will hopefully constitute the basis for a more holistic worldview.
I will briefly review some of the evidence which links Goethe to the ancient traditions of
Alchemy and Hermetic Science and discuss to what extend Goethe may be regarded as a
conduit for this ancient knowledge from before the scientific revolution to the present day and
whether these ancient disciplines may still be of significance in the attempt to formulate a
new holistic worldview. In their participatory nature they may point the way towards
incorporating the achievements of 300 years of Reductionist science into the wider
framework of a holistic science that re-unites the arts and the sciences, re-introduces a focus
on qualities over quantities, moves from control to participation and provides a basis for a
new ethical way of engaging with nature.
short-changes him/herself for two main reasons. Firstly, this thesis is in itself already a work of
integration and synthesis. It combines insights from a wide variety of disciplines and
complementary epistemologies. Its conclusion – a further reduction of complexity and
necessarily a further abstraction – may be difficult to comprehend in its full significance to the
‘world problematique’ out of the context of the interconnected complex whole that is described
through the multifaceted perspective offered in each of the six chapters.
Secondly, while I tried – as suggested in the preamble – to make the meaning of each
part reflect the meaning of the whole as in a hermeneutic circle, there is nevertheless a deeper
intention to the sequence in which subjects are introduced. I have tried to present and facilitate
a more integral and holistic understanding of sustainability and to increase awareness of the
transformative power of design. I hope to catalyse and contribute to the emergence of new and
ancient meaning that spurs appropriate participation in natural process – sustainable design.
I make no apologies for the length of this thesis. The very nature of attempting such a
broad synthesis made habitually or conventionally enforced brevity an inappropriate attitude to
take. Nor do I believe this thesis contains an unnecessary amount of repetitions, it merely
revisits certain nodes in the web of synthesis in order to make integration possible and
comprehensible.
The work you hold in your hands is a gradual preparing of the soil of understanding, a
planting of the seed of a holistic and integral perspective, and the careful nurturing of ecological
consciousness and new insights about fundamental interconnectedness and the participatory and
co-creative nature of being, to finally harvest empowered designers who are committed to
creating meaningful visions of a sustainable human civilization through appropriate
participation in natural process and salutogenic design for human and planetary health.
This synthesis and conclusion cannot revisit all the diverse strands of the integrative
web that was woven over the last 774 pages. Chapter six already provides some of that iteration
and further integration of the complex and diverse issues that make sustainability the wicked
problem of design. It also offered a prescriptive outlook towards a more sustainable future
catalysed by meaningful, global and local visions, created by engaged responsible citizens,
facilitated by design as a trans-disciplinary integrator, and supported by our innate love for life
and a rediscovery of the natural world as the sacred ground of our being.
In the remaining pages I will attempt to, once again, move all the way upstream to the
very source of the river of all design, to that first distinction that identified the conscious,
perceiving and creative “self” in its relationship to the wider process of an evolving Kosmos in
which it participates.
As Maturana and Varela have pointed out, everything that is said, is said by an observer
(Maturana & Varela, 1987). All form of knowledge about the world, reality, the Kosmos is
therefore an interpretation, based on a particular point of view. In synthesis, I argue that design
starts with that interpretation – the first distinction, differentiation, and categorisation.
God us keep from single vision and Newton’s sleep!” Blake saw that the basis for our culture’s
decision- and meaning-making processes was narrowing down to rely almost exclusively on
dualistic logic, the measured, quantitative, and mechanistic epistemology of rational and
reductionist science. Reason, though, is only one aspect of the fourfold vision humanity is
capable of according to Blake. Human beings can perceive and make meaning based on: i) the sensuous and participatory experience of the senses; ii) the intuition that informs the poetic and
creative act, iii) the concepts, logic, and theoretical frameworks of reason; and iv) their ability
to en-vision a new and meaningful future, which can be collectively co-created through design.
As locally adapted communities, societies, and as a global civilization, we will have to
learn to make decisions and envision our future based on multiple perspectives and trans-
disciplinary – even trans-epistemological – dialogue. The complex dynamic systems in which
we participate and that constantly transform through the effects of our actions cannot be
comprehended from a single point of view or through any one, exclusively employed,
epistemology. We cannot predict the future, but we can co-create a healthier future thorough
appropriate design decisions informed by the integral wisdom of multiple perspectives.
The need for wise and sustainable decisions will require us to become more aware of
our participatory and co-creative involvement in reality through the fourfold vision of our
senses, intuition, reason, as well as our ability to envision a sustainable future.
The world cannot be thought of as ultimately meaningful unless the organisation of its parts is meaningful,
that is, unless there is some point to the way things are put together or, at least, to the direction in which
they are developing. This would mean that we would have to attain a view of the world in which the
universe, per se, is not ‘value-free.’ Some intelligible directional lines must be thought to be operative in it.
Therefore, in order to find the world meaningful, it is insufficient to suppose it to be meaningful only in
terms of formulas that explain everything as resulting from orderly and “rational” interactions of forces
(Polanyi & Prosch, 1975, p.161).
Polanyi and Porsch argue: “Modern science cannot properly be understood to tell us the world is
meaningless and pointless, that it is absurd.” They suggest: “the supposition that it [the world]
is absurd is a modern myth, created imaginatively from the clues produced by a profound
misunderstanding of what science and knowledge are and what they require, a misunderstanding
spawned by positivistic leftovers in our thinking and by allegiances to the false ideal of
objectivity from which we have been unable to shake ourselves quite free” (Polanyi & Porsch,
1975, p181). The systems theorist and founder of the Club of Budapest, Erwin Laszlo explains:
Many scientists are highly conservative – actually they are just as conservative as their colleagues in the
academic world in general. So it is a great challenge asking scientists to assume responsibility for
communicating knowledge that is meaningful to people and that at the same time opens up new
perspectives. In the conservative tradition of the hard sciences there is nothing meaningful but mathematics and the readings on our instruments. One does not care what it all means, as long as the equations work out
and check with observations and readings. This has become a dangerously outdated attitude (Laszlo, 1999,
p.29)
This chapter returns to the theoretical framework introduced in chapter one. It will revisit the
notion of meta-design – the design of society’s basic assumptions, the effects of changing value
systems. While chapters four and five have provided a framework and strategy to engage in
practical salutogenic design within the material world, this chapter will return to discussing the
importance of appreciating and considering the internal and non-material dimensions of
consciousness and how they relate to and ultimately manifest in design.
Through how we think about ourselves, our families, our communities, our world, and
through the goals and aspirations that motivate us, and the myths and sciences that guide our
participation we create most of our experience of reality and we define what is meaningful to us.
Here we return to the up-stream end of the river of conscious design, where the world as we
know it is coming forth into existence.
Here –in consciousness, in the noosphere - design is at its most powerful and most
consequential. Here we design our sciences and our humanities, we define epistemologies,
shape ethical and aesthetic perception and profoundly affect how we relate to each other, the
natural world and our own interior dimensions. Here design designates meaning and shapes
our interaction and relationships.
Effective salutogenic design for human and planetary health, or any other strategy for
achieving long-term sustainability, will have to address the all important role of the noosphere
in the transformation towards a sustainable human civilization. This transformation is only
possible if a cooperatively united humanity makes a more or less conscious decision to embark
on a journey which future generations will be able to continue into a sustainable future.
On a fundamentally interconnected planet where the collective actions of 6.3 billion
human beings have already jeopardized systemic health and sustainability such a vision is not
an idealistic utopia. Indeed, such global and local cooperation, synergy and symbiosis aimed at
improving health and resilience at all scales is the only attainable utopia which offers a future of long-term human and planetary health. Sustainability requires all of humanity to engage in the
salutogenic meta-design of co-creating a meaningful vision of a sustainable future.
Subchapter one explores the critical role that vision plays in the design process. It
describes the process of visioning and introduces a number of individual and collaborative
visions that have so far been proposed to describe a sustainable society and civilization.
Subchapter two discusses the role of meaning in the motivation of people to turn visions
into reality. It explores how the natural design movement exists at a point of convergence of
ancient and new meaning; and briefly touches on the role of spirituality, religion and the sacred
in design.
Subchapter three introduces the concept of biophilia and explores how a love for life,
expressed through a careful re-inhabitation of our local bioregions and communities can
catalyse the transformation toward sustainability. The task of developing bioregional sensitivity
and designing a meaningful and appropriate response to global and local challenges calls for a
‘cosmopolitan bioregionalism.’
Subchapter four revisits the notion of increasing quality of life in the context of social
equality, cooperation and salutogenesis through appropriate participation in natural process. It
identifies ecovillage design and bioregional design as the most integrative, and holistic practices
within the natural design movement, since they are the scales at which scale-linking integration
can take place and sustainable lifestyles are created.
Society and how it functions is essentially a reflection of its dynamic nature as a continually emerging
process (Shannon, 1992). The process of defining the networks of social, cultural, economic and political
boundaries is what creates the loose boundaries of social organization and community. It seems that in
reality a continuous variety of interactions and change – up/down, horizontally and at multiple scales –
shapes society. We all play some role in creating the social configurations within which we also live
(Brunckhorst, 2002, p.34).
sustainability, members of the emerging natural design movement are addressing a number of
diverse and interrelated scale-linking design issues. I will concentrate on ten of them, that I
regard as particularly important in the creation of a sustainable human civilization. There are
certainly others that will be explored in future research.
Subchapter one explores the crucial role of education in the cultural change towards a
wide spread intention to participate appropriately in natural process. It discusses the importance
of ecological literacy and the role of formal and informal life-long learning in creating a socially
and ecologically literate citizenry able to assume its participatory responsibility.
Subchapter two discusses how the creation of locally and regionally based sustainable
food systems and their associated economies can be extremely effective in increasing
community participation and ecological awareness as well as promoting more sustainable
patterns of production and consumption.
Subchapter three picks up on the importance of local economies for bioregionally based
sustainable design. It discusses the unsustainability of a purely globalised economic system
without strong regional and local economies to ground such global economic interactions in
local sustainability.
Subchapter four enters into more detail on the design of alternative currency systems
and their diverse applications in creating solutions that are more ecologically, socially and
economically sustainable. Various design tools for sustainable monetary systems are discussed.
In subchapter five the scale-linking design issue of appropriate energy supply systems is
discussed within the context of the ‘Soft Energy Path’ first proposed by Amory Lovins. A variety of issues regarding both renewable and non-renewable energy sources are discussed as
well as the present and long-term dangers associated with nuclear energy systems.
Sustainable consumption as a scale-linking design issues is explored in subchapter six.
Concepts like sustainable genuine progress, sustainable consumption, and sustainable economic
growth are discussed as well as ways to express the material intensity associated with products
and guidelines for choosing more appropriate products.
In subchapter seven, I briefly introduce the concept of natural capitalism in more detail.
The subchapter discusses concepts like ecosystem services, natural and social capital, service
and flow economy, and a factor ten or factor four reductions in resource use along with an
increase in resource efficiency. It explains the fundamental assumptions and strategies of the
natural capitalism approach.
Subchapter eight takes a closer look at the scale-linking importance of creating
sustainable transport systems at the local, regional and global scale. It addresses aspects of the
currently unsustainable transport patterns and suggests more sustainable alternatives. A
hydrogen-based energy and transport economy is discussed in some detail, alongside
complementary technologies.
Taking care of the world’s water is of utmost importance if we hope to create a healthy
and sustainable human civilization. Subchapter nine discusses the crucial issue of designing for
access to clean water as a basic human right, while simultaneously increasing water efficiency
drastically and restoring fresh and salt-water ecosystems.
The final subchapter puts all theses scale linking design issues into the wider context of
restoring the Earth and design for human and planetary health. The importance of maintaining
diversity and the dynamics of natural processes is discussed, as well as the role of resilience and
systemic health as the underlying goal of all sustainable design.
sustainable design. I propose that since natural processes are inherently scale-linking, so should
sustainable design. I will expand the scales of ecological design first proposed by Janis
Birkeland (2002) and dedicate one subchapter to each scale: product design ecology, sustainable
architecture, sustainable construction industry, sustainable community design, design of
industrial ecosystems, sustainable urban design & planning, bioregional design, and the design
of national and international cooperative networks.
Germany. It introduced the concept of the ‘natural design movement’ and discussed the
relationship between eco-literacy, ethics, and aesthetics within the context of natural design.
The paper proposed: “Eco-literacy – a detailed understanding of nature as a complex
interacting, creative process in which humanity participates – results in a shift in perception
towards an ecological ethics and aesthetics of participation that considers cultural, social and
ecological, as well as economic value” (Wahl, 2005b, p.1). Such an approach tries to optimise
human patterns of participation in natural process in such a way that it contributes to the health
and sustainability of the overall system.
The Natural Design Movement shares an ecological worldview. The movement unites diverse disciplines
ranging from ecological design, industrial and urban ecology, sustainable architecture and bioregional
planning to ecological economics, eco-literate education and green politics. Furthermore it considers the
philosophical, sociological and psychological implications of the ecological worldview. Design in the 21st
century will be grounded in eco-literacy and aspire toward community-based designs that are adapted to the
specific conditions of a particular place and culture (Wahl, 2005b, p.1).
The Natural Design Movement encompasses such diverse fields as ecological product-, process-
and institutional design, sustainable architecture, community-, urban- and bioregional planning,
industrial ecology, and ecological engineering, but also political systems of governance,
ecological economics, education for sustainability, renewable resource based technologies and
energy production, as well as aspects of bionics, eco-technology, and green chemistry. All of
which will be discussed in more detail in chapters four and five. As I have already alluded to in
chapter two, the natural design movement is united through a salutogenic intentionality behind
design on all scales of the fundamentally interconnected whole in which we participate.
The perception, preservation and restoration of the condition of systemic health, or dynamic stability, are
the underlying strategies of all sustainable designs. Salutogenesis, or health generation at the scale of local
and global ecosystems and social systems has to become the priority of design in the 21st Century if we
want to create a sustainable global civilization through diverse, locally adapted cultures of co-operation
(Wahl, 2005b, pp.15-16).
This chapter suggests that such a design response to the current crisis of unsustainability is
already emerging, represented by a diverse, international movement which is as yet not fully
integrated and conscious of its own existence. This thesis hopes to facilitate the process of
networking that is necessary to unite this trans-disciplinary, scale-linking movement by
providing a generalised map of its various contributories.
This chapter begins with a brief history of ecologically conscious design and introduces
some of the key visionaries who have prepared the ground for its emergence. It starts with an
acknowledgement of the important influence of traditional and indigenous knowledge on
appropriate design; and highlights the influence Sir Patrick Geddes, Lewis Mumford,
Buckminster Fuller, Ian McHarg and Victor Papanek on the natural design movement.
Subchapter two discusses the concept of natural design within the context of the shift in
perception facilitated by an ecological worldview. It suggests that a participatory understanding
of humanity’s involvement in natural process dissolves the apparent paradox of natural design
which itself is simply the result of employing an epistemology of Cartesian dualism.
Subchapter three explores the relationship between ecological literacy, an expanded
horizon of empathy and self-identification, and ethical and aesthetic perception and judgement.
It offers a more detailed exploration of how the emerging natural design movement also
engenders a fundamental reconsideration of our understanding of ethics and aesthetics.
Subchapter four describes how the various members of the natural design movement
have approached nature as a source of knowledge, wisdom and insight that deeply informs their
design process. It discusses and exemplifies a new way of learning from nature.
And finally, subchapter five continues with the theme of responsible co-design of
humanity’s active participation in natural processes, by exploring the notion of co-design of
complex systems, which serves as a general introduction to the scales of sustainable design and
the complex scale-linking issues that are explored in much more detail in chapters four and five.
...
property of appropriate interactions and relationships between all the diverse actors on all scales
of the dynamic holarchy (see chapter one) that connects the minute to the vast and the
instantaneous to the eternal. I will explore the significance of such a holistic and integral
understanding of health in the context of a salutogenic – health generating – approach to design.
I propose that a relatively rapid transformation towards a sustainable human civilization is
possible, if all design was created from a fundamentally salutogenic intentionality, if all design
briefs would include the task of meeting human needs while participating appropriately in
natural process.
Subchapter one, introduces a holistic health perspective and the notion of salutogenesis
with regard to its relevance to design for sustainability. Some of the social, economic and
ecological challenges facing humanity with regard to the unsustainability of current practices
are re-examined in the context of global interconnectedness and salutogenic design as a scale-
linking, holistic approach to sustainability.
Subchapter two describes a variety of attempts to map the complexity of health, and
explores such conceptual frameworks in the context of salutogenic design and sustainability. It
establishes the fundamental dependence of human health on healthy societies and ecosystems.
Subchapter three discusses the concept of ecosystems health, as well as salutogenic
design strategies that may improve the health of ecosystems. It explores ecosystem
management as a form of salutogenic design and discusses the limits and merits of this
approach. Improvement of systemic health, resilience, adaptability, flexibility and synergetic
relationships are introduced as relevant design goals.
This sets the scene for subchapter four: a further discussion of ecological and
salutogenic design as an adaptive strategy that tries to provide a multi-scale and multi-
perspective based response to the complex challenges related to achieving sustainability at both
a local and global scale.
Subchapter five explores how participatory decision making processes can contribute to
community-based salutogenic and sustainable design initiatives.
In subchapter six the notion of sustainable meta-design (introduced in chapter 1) is
revisited within the context of salutogenic design. Some major constraints to the promotion of
positive health are identified, and the role of education and cultural transformation as
salutogenic meta-design is explored. The promotion of healing and empathic relationships is
recognized as an effective salutogenesis at both a material and psychological level.
Subchapter seven goes deeper into the relationship between human health and planetary
healing. It introduces the emerging movement of ecological medicine and places it within the
context of salutogenic design for sustainability. An adaptive methodology for improving and
managing ecosystems sustainability and health is introduced.
Finally, subchapter eight concludes this introduction to salutogenic design by discussing
the role of the designer as a health practitioner.
work of broad trans-disciplinary integration. The reading is a lot less taxing in subsequent
chapters. I begin by defining the concept of design employed throughout this thesis and briefly
chronicling the drastic expansion of the design concept over the last four decades.
Subchapter two revisits Horst Rittel’s wicked problems of design and emphasizes that
in a complex and fundamentally interconnected world most design involves facing wicked
problems.
Subchapter three explores the influence of the changing scientific worldview and the
emerging holistic sciences on design theory. How a deeper understanding of complexity theory
may critically inform sustainable design solutions is explored in subchapter four.
Subsequently, in subchapter five, I suggest that since our goals and intentions change in
accordance with our worldview and value systems, design can be understood as a fundamentally
worldview dependent activity. I provide a brief review of the history of the worldview concept,
and introduce a number of conflicting yet complementary approaches to understanding reality.
Sub-chapter six goes to the most upstream point – the source of all design process. It
explores how organising ideas, basic assumptions and modes of consciousness can be
understood as a form of meta-design from which all other design flows.
In response, subchapter seven chronicles the history of holism and the emergence of a
more holistic perspective in science and society. I suggest a holistic multi-perspective as a form
of sustainable meta-design.
In subchapter eight, insights from developmental psychology are related to changes in
worldview and an expansion of ethical concern and empathic horizon from ego-centric, to eco-
centric, to world-centric. The work of the psychologists Clare Graves and Abraham Maslow on human nature, needs and values is put in to the context of the emergence of a more conscious
and responsible design approach.
Subchapter nine introduces the notion of trans-disciplinary design dialogue as a
methodology for creating an integrated multi-perspective base for sustainable decision-making
and design. It introduces the Spiral Dynamics map of worldviews and value-systems, as well as
a number of other potentially useful tools to facilitate such a collaborative and integrative design
approach.
Subchapter ten discusses the relationship between Integral Theory – Ken Wilber’s
framework for trans-disciplinary integration – Integral Ecology, and the design approach
advocated in this thesis.
Finally, to conclude this chapter aimed at putting design into the context of a complex
world, I propose that the multi-facetted and interconnected challenges associated with the
transition towards a sustainable human civilization is the wicked problem facing design in the
21st century.
...
intention behind the sustainability revolution is to provide a meaningful and humane existence
for every local and global citizen within the limits set by the natural processes that maintain the
health of ecosystems and the biosphere for this and future generations of life on earth.
Ultimately, sustainable design has to be health generating, salutogenic design across all
scales. The health of human individuals and their communities depends crucially upon the
health of the ecosystems, societies and communities in which they participate. Sustainability is
not a fixed state to work towards and ultimately achieve, it is rather the continuous process of
learning by which local, regional, national and international communities learn to participate
appropriately and therefore sustainably in natural process – both at the local and the global
scale.
How to provide for the real material and immaterial needs of Earth’s current population
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs is a central question
in the discourse about sustainability. This is fundamentally a question of design! For the sake
of future humanity and the community of all life it is the question of design.
...
Abstract:
Design for Human and Planetary Health – A Holistic/Integral Approach to Complexity and Sustainability explores how a radically expanded concept of design, as intentionality expressed through interaction and relationship, can provide an integrative framework for a trans- disciplinary synthesis that structures a holistic, multi-perspective and multi-stakeholder response to the complex, social, ecological and economic challenges associated with the creation of a more sustainable human civilization.
The fundamental intentionality behind all human design should be to positively contribute to the creation of systemic health across the scales of individual, community,
ecosystems and ultimately the biosphere. Salutogenic - health-generating - design is characterized by appropriate participation in natural process.
Long-term sustainability requires that the human needs of this and future generations are met in ways that integrate into natural process at the appropriate scale without jeopardizing systemic health and causing social and ecological degradation in exchange for short-term
economic benefits. The emergence of the ‘Natural Design Movement’ is explored to integrate a
wide range of sustainable design approaches into a coherent movement for global change.
Various scales of sustainable design are described in detail: product design, architecture, community design, construction ecology, urban design, industrial ecology, bioregional design, and co-operative national and international networks of democratic systems of governance.
A number of scale-linking design challenges are identified and examples of their most promising practical design solutions are explored. These include: education for sustainable development, sustainable economic systems, renewable energy systems, sustainable food systems, sustainable transport systems, water care and the restoration of degraded ecological and social systems.
The thesis highlights the need to think and act, both locally and globally. Education for ecological and social literacy is identified as a crucial component in the creation of a responsible and active citizenry. Design changes will have to occur across a wide spectrum, ranging from production processes to life-style changes. Sustainable design solutions are most effectively implemented at the scale of locally adapted communities and their wider bioregion. The
ingenuity and creativity of biological and ecological processes is increasingly informing sustainable design solutions.
Thrivability is our path out of unsustainable practices towards a world where all people have a high quality of life, a voice, and a nurturing earth supporting them. Using whole systems approach, we evolve our way of being together, or collaborating, so that our collective wisdom and action bring forth a flourishing world and thriving life.
- Jean Russel (thrivable.org)
community designers as being a goal of the utmost importance; yet not until I read this
exposition by Daniel Wahl did I fully grasp what it meant. Daniel does an excellent job
explaining not only the essence but the context of this rapidly spreading meme. In well-
versed systems languaging, the author draws on numerous recent studies to make the
case that not only is resilience an important goal, it is the way of Nature herself.
Dr. Wahl makes accessible these recent scientific findings to our global readership.
resilience and diversity, self-reliance and interconnectedness as important indicators of the health of the whole, appropriate participation and sustainability.
A moment's reflection on our own lives helps us realise why this must be so. We are reflective creatures, always questioning, always aware that every advance in knowledge expands the scope of our ignorance: why else would 'a little knowledge' be 'a dangerous thing'? We are all living with more or less acknowledged, more or less conscious, always creative doubt.
At one level we have learned to revel in this, to acknowledge inquisitiveness and curiosity as engines of progress – even in those domains, like the sciences, apparently most wedded to certainty. As the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead put it, life itself is " a creative advance into novelty ".
Yet at another level we see – and feel – the storm clouds gathering. Daniel Wahl reminds us that, since the mid-1970s, humanity has been drawing more from living systems each year than they can effectively regenerate. We have already overshot or are in danger of breaching a number of critical 'planetary boundaries' – the systems that enable life on Earth. This knowledge inevitably makes us anxious and demanding of answers.
The danger is that unless we marry these two conditions, expansive exploration and anxiety to reach a conclusion, both equally present in most of our lives, we risk devoting our energies to finding perfect solutions to the wrong problem.
Don Michael, joint Professor of Planning and Public Policy and of Psychology at the University of Michigan, wrote in his final published essay about " tentative commitment " : the need to acknowledge " our vulnerability, our finiteness, our inevitable ignorance " and yet still commit to action, to change, to hope: " because one hopes that one can make a difference in the face of all that stands in the way of making a difference ".
This is the spirit of Daniel's book. At every turn it invites us to consider a bigger picture. To see ourselves not as individuals but as living in a pattern of relationship with others; and that pattern of relationship not as separate from but as part of the wider living systems of nature; and these patterns not as stable structures but as constantly evolving, emerging processes that stretch over generations, over aeons, over centuries.
At the same time, he invites us to focus on our own actions, our own lives, the 'tentative commitments' we can make, are making, in the face of the great challenges we face. The reader looking for answers will find them here in abundance: frameworks for grappling with the big picture like the World Systems Model and the Three Horizons, and principles for effective action from diverse disciplines ranging from ecoliteracy to permaculture, biomimicry to mindfulness, all combined in the idea of design as the discipline where theory meets practice.
This article in Spanish tells the story of the "Cosmic Walk of the El Molinar". During the last 3 years I have been working with a group of scientists and illustrators to create a 1400 long guided walk that tell the story of the universe from the Big Bang until today through 36 illustrated panels. Every meter of this walk represents 10 million years of the long story of the universe (which is believed to be close to 14 thousand million years old). Unfortunately, due to lack of a crucuial permit from the city government, we will now have to find a different city/place to realize this already well developed project.