DESIGNING

RESILIENT REGENERATIVE
SYSTEMS

FROM SUSTAINABILITY TO REGENERATION

ETH MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSE (MOOC)#1 IN DRRS
FROM SUSTAINABILITY TO REGENERATION

Part 2/4
Mental models

Tobias Luthe, PhD

ETH Zurich, AHO Oslo, MonViso Institute
 Mental models, values, beliefs, assumptions
The Iceberg model

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 A mental model

Effective learning depends on the steady

“experimentation in both the virtual and the real worlds,
and feedback from both informs the development of mental models”.

Sterman JD (2000) Business Dynamics. Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World. Jeffrey j. Shelstad (publisher). Irwin McGraw-Hill Companies Incl., ISBN-13: 978-0-07-231135-8.

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 Complexity and the formation of mental models
Simplified (visual) conceptualizations may inform the development of mental models, understood as
“assemblies of fragmentary beliefs”, which people ”will then use to reach their conclusions”,
e.g. to judge what aspects “in a complicated situation are worthy of attention.”
Morgan G, Fischhoff B, Bostrom A, Atman CJ (2001) Risk communication: a mental models approach.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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 „Sustainable development is a Western concept,
focusing on economic development and excusing quantitative growth.“

Narrative of a student doing an internship in a village in the rainforests of Ecuador

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 Mental models need to relate with diversity of place and culture
As in this ETH MOOC series' learning community with currently 4500+ participants from 100 countries (Febr ‘23)

https://systemicdesignlabs.ethz.ch/drrs-mooc/
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 Sustainable Development
A multi-cultural, worldwide discourse

Sustainable development (English)

Wiñaypaq wiñariy (Quechua)

Desarrollo sostenible (Spanish)

Nhluvukiso lowu nga heriki (Tsonga)

Hållbar utveckling (Swedish)

Whanaketanga tauwhiro (Maori)

Kestävä kehitys (Finish)

Nachhaltige Entwicklung (German)

Endelevu (Suaheli)

Desenvolvimento sustentável (Portuguese)

持続可能な開発 Jizokukanōnakaihatsu (Japanese)

Translated by Google Translate. Please excuse any mistakes. Native speakers are invited to help correct.
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 Indigenous and dominant views of sustainability

Mazzocchi F. A deeper meaning of sustainability: Insights from indigenous knowledge. The Anthropocene Review. 2020;7(1):77-93. doi:10.1177/2053019619898888

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 The power and potential shortfall of simplicity

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 Towards common ground in mental models of sustainability?
The SustainaBuild model

Luthe T. and M. von Kutzschenbach. 2016. Building common ground in mental models of sustainability. Sustainability: The Journal of Record 9(5):247-254. DOI 10.1089/sus.2016.29068.tl.

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 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) defines Ecosystem Services as
“the benefits people derive from ecosystems”
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/

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 Nature's Contribution to People

The ‘ecosystem services’ approach has advanced sustainability, but largely excluded insights and tools from the social
sciences, humanities and other key worldviews.

The much broader notion of nature’s contributions to people emphasizes that culture is central to all of the links between

people and nature, and recognizes other knowledge systems, for example those of local communities and indigenous
people, much more than before.

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

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 I understand ecosystem services in this “mental model”
as the foundation of life – where we as humans are part of this foundation,
being part of nature.

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 Planetary Boundaries
A safe operating space for humanity

Rockström, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, Å. Persson, et.al. 2009. Planetary

boundaries:exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and
Society 14(2): 32

Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., et.al. 2009. A safe
operating space for humanity. Nature 461: 472-475 DOI
10.1038/461472a

Steffen, W., K. Richardson, J. Rockström, S.E. Cornell, et.al. 2015.

Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet.
Science 347: 736, 1259855

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 Ecological Footprint

Wackernagel, M. and Rees, W. (1996) Our Ecological

Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth.
New Society Publishers, Philadelphia.

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 Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value
of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period by
countries.

Critics of the growth imperative:

GDP measures were never intended to measure progress, and
leave out key other externalities, such as resource extraction,
environmental impact and unpaid domestic work.

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 Well-being includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment,
happiness), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety), satisfaction with life,
fulfillment and positive functioning
https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm

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 Doughnut economics

Raworth, Kate. 2017. Doughnut economics : seven

ways to think like a 21st century economist. River
Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing,

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 Technology is the continually
developing result of accumulated
knowledge and application in all
techniques, skills, methods, and
processes used in industrial
production and scientific research.
(Wikipedia)

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 Culture. The often missing dimension of Sustainability.

“Culture is the Fourth Pillar of

Sustainable Development”

17 November 2010, in the framework

of the World Summit of Local and
Regional Leaders - 3rd World Congress
of UCLG, held in Mexico City.

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 Participation
the fact that you take part or become involved in something
Cambridge dictionary

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 A circle or loop.
Time as a series of repetitive cycles, instead of something linear, and constantly evolving.
How long it takes for society to accept change and to transform, to question and overcome certain habits.

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 A circle or loop.
Eternity. Endless return. Wholeness.
Time as a series of repetitive cycles, instead of something linear.
The Ouroboros in its original Egyptian context symbolizes repetition,
renewal, and the eternal cycle of time.

BBC.com/culture

H. J. Sheppard (1962) The Ouroboros and the Unity of Matter in Alchemy: A Study in Origins, Ambix, 10:2, 83-96, DOI:
10.1179/amb.1962.10.2.83

Robert Baden-Powell
Founder of World Scouts movement

His gravestone shows a circle with a dot in the centre:

the trail sign for "Going home"

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 Building Common Ground in Mental Models of Sustainability

Aims of this concept

• simple but comprehensive

• reduction to the minimum
• can be sketched in a bar
• refers to life and home
• guidance in fuzzyness
• quantifiable
• importance of ecosystems
• role of technology
• cultural worldviews
• stress the individual and
collective responsibility
• time

Luthe T. and M. von Kutzschenbach. 2016. Building common ground in mental models of sustainability.
Sustainability: The Journal of Record 9(5):247-254. DOI 10.1089/sus.2016.29068.tl.

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