The word emergence has an almost quixotic feel for engineers. We are usually employed to maintain control over situations. But if we go back to the old definition of civil engineering—harnessing the forces of nature for the benefit of humankind—the word harnessing captures something important. It speaks of working with the system, not imposing control over it.
It’s the second half of that definition—for the benefit of humankind—that tends to cause us trouble. More recently, definitions have expanded to include protecting the environment for future generations. But it’s the first bit I want to focus on.
The systems we inhabit are complex: communities, ecosystems, supply chains. Their behaviour is not entirely predictable. They resist change, then suddenly shift into new patterns.
When we design with a control mindset, we seek to predict, manage and mitigate system behaviour. And when things don’t go to plan, we throw more time, money, energy and materials at the problem.
But we also know how to work with complexity. We start by observing. We notice trends and look for emergent behaviours. We run small experiments to see how the system responds. We update our understanding. We adapt our plans.
This is the art of emergent thinking. And it is enabled by an emergent mindset: one that tunes into what the system is trying to do, rather than forcing it to behave differently.
Ecosystems have an extraordinary capacity to self-organise around the best-fit solution for a given context. Regenerative designers aim to work with—and as part of—this self-organising capacity.
Several of the motifs in the Pattern Book support this mindset of emergence, for example:
- Continuous Place-Based Design—working in long-term relationship with place
- Framing the Question—finding different ways to look at the problems we encounter
- Changing Mindsets—recognising how shifts in the way we think changes the actions we take
And emergence is also written into the strategy of the book itself. This is a book designed to evolve—through new entries contributed by readers, through patterns that emerge from practice, and through adaptations that prove useful in the real world.
Growing an abundance of tools to support emergent design for our mutual interdependence and thriving—that’s the work the Pattern Book aims to do.