Thinking Tools for Systems Thinking

Technology | Architecture + Design, 5:2, 134-139

Azam Khan

November 2021
6 Pages

Thinking tools make concepts concrete so they can more easily be discussed, adapted, and implemented into working tools. When reconsidering the design process as thinking tools in a design system, one must reframe existing parts and expose missing parts. We highlight the lack of dedicated design tools, pattern authoring tools, and systems simulation tools. In reframing current AEC industry practices as anti-patterns that amplify negative climate effects, perhaps new patterns that lead to positive climate outcomes can more easily be discovered. The adoption of systems thinking can help ensure that broader environmental and social factors will be considered. And given the fleeting nature of our remaining time to avoid irreversible climate damage, new thinking tools must be introduced, and new holistic positive outcomes must urgently be achieved.