I’ve been doing work this week with teams thinking about interconnection. More precisely, how connected we are to the places impacted by our design decisions.
Take the component of a building and a product. Try to trace it back to its origins, and you will probably find that that part in itself is made of sub-components. Each of these sub-components with places from different places. The further we try to trace, the more our grip on the supply chain disappears. Like trying to carry water with your hands cupped together, the water just slips away the further we try to carry it.
Connection is important because it leads to understanding — we get deep feedback on the impacts on of our decisions, and how to make decisions that actually bring positive impacts.
So what do we do?
We can’t redesign global supply chains. But we can seek to shorten the distance in what we do.
Work with supply chains that are shorter and more transparent
Select materials whose origins we actually understand
Reduce the number of nodes in the system, thereby reducing complexity and increasing predictability.
In regenerative design we want to make sure our deisgn choices are creating thriving. The shorter the distance between us and material, the simpler the supply chain, the better feedback we get and the better choices we can make.