The lecture initiates discussion about what sustainability means to you and understanding how that idea came about.

This video provides an explanation on the challenges with discussing objects in terms of sustainability.

This lecture will provide some readings and chance to discuss solutions that had promised but failed to enhance sustainability.

This lecture discusses the role of object in a system and why focusing on them will not be able to bring about the systemic change we need for sustainability.

This lecture will offer insight as to why accurate understandings of sustainability have been so elusive and the outcome of having such vague definitions.

This section takes a look at the most commonly cited definitions of sustainability and explores where they fail.

This lecture summarizes what we've learnt so far and outline what to expect in the coming weeks.

The SiD Definition of sustainability gives us the chance to touch upon a whole range of different topics and begin building our vocabulary on complexity and systems thinking.

Most importantly, it represents a stage where we start speaking the language of SiD and contributing to a new page  that any discipline can contribute to.

Bear with us: this process has proved worth it every time.

© Except Academy

Sustainability, as a concept, represents the pinnacle of challenges we face in the coming century. Yet, despite it's importance, there is little solid ground for investigating what sustainability exactly is.

If we are even to imagine acting upon systems and the inherent complexity of sustainability we need a shared understanding and vocabulary to talk about it.

We direct you to two TED Talks delivered by two inspiring authors whose work brought the global conversation on sustainability to the next level.

Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Center:

Discusses the Planetary Boundaries Framework. The planetary boundaries concept presents a set of nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come.

Kate Raworth is an English economist and author:

With her concept and book, The Doughnut Economics, Kate is changing the game for global sustainability and economic discourse. With the Doughnut, she merges the Planetary Boundaries with issues of social justice, equity, and access, creating a paradigm-shifting framework.

We recommend spending some extra time on this step to watch these videos.

The lecture looks at the SiD definition of sustainability and outline the reasons as to why it's used.

A ‘state’ of a system can be seen as a position that the system is in, regardless of its containing objects.

It’s not exactly the same as a property, which would be inherent from its physical makeup.

In this video, Tom shines light on the meaning of what a ‘state’ is in the context of systems thinking.

The video is paired a downloadable document, to nail down your understanding of the concept of a “state”.

Download the PDF at the bottom of the step to integrate the video.

A ‘state’ of a system can be seen as a position that the system is in, regardless of its containing objects.

It’s not the same as a property, which would be inherent from its physical makeup.

In this video, Tom clears things up on the meaning of ‘state’ in the context of systems. Integrate the video with the downloadable document, to nail down your understanding of the concept of “state”.

Download the PDF at the bottom of the step to integrate the video.

This lecture introduces the concepts of resilience, autonomy, and harmony and how they are essential for sustainability.

This lecture outlines three distinct feature of a sustainable system and how they are different

Learn about how resilience enhances and is necessary for sustainability.

Learn about how Autonomy enhances and is necessary for sustainability.

Learn about how Harmony enhances and is necessary for sustainability.

This lecture will provides a reading and video to better understand what is meant by "complexity" when referring to a system.

This lecture explains the common misconception of labelling objects as "sustainable" and why it is a problem.

This lecture reviews what we have learnt so far: sustainability as a state and sustainability's need for a balance between resilience, autonomy, and harmony.

This lecture summarizes what has been learnt in the previous week and introduces the how the SiD framework divides complex systems into three key analytical layers - the SNO hierarchy.

This video outlines the anatomy of a system and the SNO Hierarchy

This lecture provides an introduction to the SNO Hierarchy and the distinct levels of a system.

This lecture introduces what is meant by the "object level" of a system.

This lecture looks at the different aspects to the object level of a system.

This lecture introduces ELSI and how we can use it to assess and understand systems.

Understand ELSI in more detail and practice using it to find system parameters.

A network refers to the interactions and relationships between all the objects in a system. For example, flows of people, information, resources, laws, trade, or economic activity. The SiD framework takes it one step further and observes cultural relationships and other intangible and more dynamic processes.

More detailed examples of Network-level indicators are the number of friends you have (your interpersonal connectivity), the time it takes for a bank transfer to complete, and the number of transport connections going in and out of your city.

Simply put, the Network level represents the collection of inter-object relationships in time and space.

It serves as a mid-level between the System-level and the Object-level.

While the network level inventories the ways objects connect and interact, determining the entire system's character and behavior.

SiD foresees many Network-level parameters and divides them into three core sets for accuracy. These three sets are structured along with the system-level indicators of Resilience, Autonomy, and Harmony. We will further clarify this relationship in the following steps.

The "objects" of a system refers the "what" - the physical form, the things that can be seen and touched within a system.

This step is more interested in the "how". How are objects connected in networks, what impacts do they have on each other, and what does this tell us about the system as a whole?

Network Parameters

The Resilience Set

Download the downloadable resource on the Resilience set!

Network Parameters - the Autonomy Set

In this video, Tom walks us through the Autonomy parameters, giving examples on when pursuing autonomy in a system might or might not be a good idea.

For an overview of the Autonomy Set, download the document at the bottom of the step.

Network parameters: The Harmony set

In this video, Tom explains how these parameters work in society, and how they inform the overall Harmony within a system.

This lectures provides an overview of all network parameters and shows where each category sits in terms of Resilience, Autonomy and Harmony.

This lecture looks at using network-level indicators and how to use them to look at systems from different perspectives.

This lecture concludes week three by reviewing the system, network, and object levels and how we can utilize these concepts to create more positive and systemic changes.