Whole Systems Design

Recently I was struggling with sleep. I wasn’t sleeping well and was going through each day tired. As I figured out how to deal with the problem, I knew there could be several possible issues interacting. It could be my over-reliance on coffee. It could be something out of sync in my body chemistry - a trip to the doctor might give some answers. Maybe the hamster was waking me up in the night. Or perhaps a change in diet or some more regular exercise would help. Tackling the sleep problem really meant looking at my body, habits, and life circumstances as a whole system. 

We know this when we talk about health. We know that to be healthy doesn’t just mean “not sick.” If I want to be a healthy person I also think about my mental health, my sleep patterns, social interactions, diet, exercise, work-life balance, and so on. When I think in a whole-systems way about my health, I consider the impacts various circumstances have on the different aspects of my health. For example, my level of exercise might impact my mental and physical health, but also might be constrained by needing to put in long hours at the office for a couple of weeks. Tweaking one area of my life can have ripple effects on others and changing my overall health might take adjustments in several areas. We know ourselves to be integrated whole beings when we think of our health.

In the same way, our landscapes are also integrated systems. Our yards and gardens and houses have elements that interact with each other and with the larger ecosystem and community around them. We need to recognize this when we design rather than considering each element completely separately.

I’d propose that when we practice whole system design processes we can create communities full of thriving ecosystems working in harmony. Well-designed systems are more likely to be successful and, while they require more effort at the design stage, they ultimately require less effort to maintain.

Furthermore, whole systems design can help us work with nature instead of against it. As can probably be implied from the name, this process encourages us to consider as many factors as possible before making any design decisions. This involves extensive observation! 

Observation, observation, observation!

Two tools that I use to help me with this observation are ‘Scale of Permanence Analysis’ and ‘Needs and Yields Analysis.’ Then when I complete these analyses I make a preliminary sketch and step back and consider the landscape again as a whole system, observing how it functions together.   

Scale of Permanence Analysis is essentially a step-by-step process to help you understand the constraints of your landscape starting from what is most constraining and moving toward what is least constraining. This helps you know what you can change and what you can’t, including where you can achieve the most benefit for the least effort. You can read more about this analysis on this blog we wrote.

Needs and Yields Analysis helps you see how various parts of the design can work together. The more you are able to integrate the various aspects of your property design, the less effort and cost you incur to make the system run smoothly. 

Let’s imagine you want to put a vegetable garden, an orchard, and a chicken coop in your backyard. You would want to complete a needs and yields analysis for each of those elements and see where there are linkages. What does one element yield that can supply another element’s need? For example, the chickens may ‘need’ bugs and weeds to eat which your vegetable garden readily ‘yields.’ Integrating them so that your chickens do your pest management saves you time and effort as well as money on chicken feed. Similarly, some of the vegetables in your garden may thrive best in shade - why not plant them under the trees of your orchard? Or the chickens may need a shady place to rest as well as access to the garden: now you are thinking about connecting multiple elements together and the design begins to take shape.  

To further illustrate how to complete this needs and yields analysis, see the following sketch of a tomato plant. In my sketch I’ve noted the needs on one side and the yields on the other. I can do this for any element in my system - a plant or a whole garden, or even elements such as compost bins, greenhouses, sheds, and play areas. This can be done for detailed components or larger scale components. The point is to think about linkages. How can you get more pieces of your design working together to build a functioning system?

Now that you have observed and analyzed, the next step is to make a preliminary sketch of a design. How could things be laid out so that all the pieces work well together? 

Then take a step back and think about the big picture again. How does your preliminary sketch fit with your vision and goals for your property? How does it fit in the larger ecosystem, including the plant and animal communities that naturally inhabit the area? How does it interact (or not) with the human communities around you?

From there, you can adjust your design accordingly and continue to build linkages between elements. 

This process is a lot of work! But it’s worth it. A well-designed system is greatly satisfying, meeting your needs and the needs of itself and others at the same time. Ultimately, if you have designed the system well, it will require less effort from you in the long run. Careful observation and whole systems design will help us care for the earth, care for people, and plan well for the future. 

Of course, I would love to help you with consulting on any part of this process or by completing a design for you. Contact me for a free initial consultation to see if we would be a good fit to work together!