MIT Press

The Designer's Role in Facilitating Sustainable Solutions

Author(s): Daniel Christian Wahl and Seaton Baxter
Source: Design Issues, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Spring, 2008), pp. 72-83
Published by: MIT Press
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 The Designer's Role inFacilitating
Sustainable Solutions
Wahl and Seaton Baxter
DanielChristian

Introduction
Sustainability is rapidly becoming an issue of critical importance
fordesigners and society as a whole. A complexity of dynamically
interrelated social, cultural, economic, and
ecological, psychologi
cal (awareness) interact and converge in the current crisis
problems
of our unsustainable civilization. However, in a
constantly chang
environment, is not some ultimate
ing sustainability endpoint,
but instead is a continuous process of learning and adaptation.
for sustainability not the redesign of our
Designing only requires

habits, lifestyles, and practices, but also theway we think about

is a process of coevolution and co-design that
design. Sustainability
involves diverse communities inmaking flexible and adaptable
decisions on local, and scales. The transition
design regional, global
towards is about a human civilization that
sustainability co-creating
flourisheswithin the ecological limits of the planetary life support
system.

Design is fundamental to all human activity.At the nexus of

values, attitudes, needs, and actions, have the potential to
designers
act as transdisciplinary integratorsand facilitators.The map of value
as
by Beck
and described and Cowan1 "Spiral
systems perspectives
can serve as a tool in facilitating "transdisciplinary
Dynamics"

design dialogue." Such dialogue will help to integrate themultiple

and diverse knowledge base of different disciplines,
perspectives
value and stakeholders. Further expansion of the "integral
systems,
1 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral
consolidates a framework for understanding,
vision" by Wilber2
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership,
and weaving different and
and Change (Cambridge:Blackwell, acknowledging, together perspectives
worldviews. and Brown3 describe the applica
1996). Esbj?rn-Hargens
2 An
K.Wilber, A Theoryof Everything: tion of this framework to solving complex problems of local and
IntegralVisionofBusiness, Politics, relevance, and to sustainable When to
global development. applied
Science and Spirituality(Dublin:
can help us to conceptualize how
design, this kind of framework
Gateway, 2001).
different value and different onto-epistemological assump
3 S. Esbj?rn-Hargens,"IntegralEcology: systems

TheWhat, Who, and How o? tions our of reality, and therefore intentionality
change experience
Phenomena" in"World
Environmental behind design. This change inwhywe design things and processes
Futures,"Journal ofGeneral Evolution in turn affects what and how we design.
61:1-2 (2005): 5-49; and B.C. Brown,
Since sustainability requires widespread participation,
"Theoryand Practice of Integral
communities need to begin to shape local, regional,
Sustainable Development (Part 1),"AQAL everywhere
and visions of sustainability, and to offer strategies to engage
Journal of IntegralTheoryand Practice global
1:2 (2006): 1-39. in cooperative that will turn visions
humanity collectively processes

? 2008 Massachusetts ofTechnology

Institute
72 Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 2 Spring2008

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 (designs) into reality.However, rather than believing thatwe can

design universally applicable blueprints tobring about sustainabil

ityby prediction and control-based, top-down engineering, itmay
be more useful and appropriate to think of the outcome(s) as an

emergent property of the complex dynamic system inwhich we all

participate, co-create, and to and
adapt interdependent biophysical

processes. Such a view has enormous

psycho-social consequences
for the way we view As an and
design. integrative transdisciplinary
process, design thinking can informmore integral/holistic solutions
thatpromote the emergence of systemic health and sustainability as
properties of the complex dynamic system that contains culture and

nature, and of which we are This is a

integral participants. paper
contribution to theproject of rethinkinghow we thinkabout design
in the context of an urgent need for sustainable solutions in the face

of uncertainty, turbulence, and rapid change.

Metadesign Shapes, Awareness, and

Intentionality

Design canmost broadly be defined as the expression of intentional

ity through interactions and relationships. At the downstreamend of
this process our cultural artifacts, institutions, of produc
patterns
tion, and consumption express intentionality materially. Upstream,
in the immaterial dimension, the of our conscious
"metadesign"
awareness, value systems, worldviews, and defines the
aspirations

intentionality behind materialized Here, the term "metade

design.

sign" refers to the and

concepts onto-epistemological assumptions
we to define ourselves, and to make sense of experiencing
employ
our involvement in and
participatory complex ecological, cultural,
social processes. The of different cultural worldviews,
perspectives
and of differentacademic and professional disciplines, all are
shaped
the of the intentions, and basic
by metadesign aspirations, assump
tions that informthem.Each of these differentperspectives generates
different specialized about certain of perceived
knowledge aspects

reality. Appropriate decision-making, within eco-sociaf

complex
us to consider a diverse
dynamics, requires insights generated by
range of perspectives and Richard Buchanan writes:
disciplines.
There is no area of contemporary life where
design?the
plan, project orworking hypothesis which constitutes the
"intention" in intentional not a
operations?is significant
factor in human even extends
shaping experience. Design
into the core of traditional scientific activities,where it is

employed to cultivate the subjectmatters that are the focus

of scientific
curiosity.4

4 R. Buchanan, "WickedProblems in Materially, the intentionality behind design, is expressed through

the interactions and formed consumer
Design Thinking" inThe Idea ofDesign, relationships by products,
V.Margolin and R. Buchanan, eds. transport systems, economies, systems of governance, settlement
MA: TheMIT Press, 1995),6.
(Cambridge, and resource and with
patterns, energy use, the of
complexity

Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 2 Spring2008 73

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 social and ecological processes. Immaterially,our organizing ideas,
worldviews, and value how we make sense of
systems express
our of reality
experience through metadesign. Transdisciplinary
and collaboration can encourage researchers and
dialogue practi
tioners to contextualize and situate their specialist within
knowledge
a largerholistic/integral meta-perspective that acknowledges the

validity and contributions ofmultiple points of view. Changes in

the culturally dominant worldview, value system, and aspirations
will lead to fundamental changes in intentionalityand lifestyle.Such
are in the transition towards
metadesign-induced changes catalytic
a sustainable human civilization.

In sustainable and design processes

general, decision-making
must be open to contributions from diverse and perspec
disciplines
tives and, at the same time, must remain aware of the epis
they

temological and ontological metadesign assumptions that define

the perspective of each discipline. There is an important visionary
element to design that affects how we and our
experience shape
environment. deal with worlds and with opin
"Designers possible
ions about what the parts and the whole of the human environment

should be."5

The transformation towards a more sustainable human civili

zation a process of inclusive and that

requires participatory dialogue

ultimately will turn visions of sustainability into reality.This will

require the individual and collective participation of everyone. In
the face of climate national and international inequity, social
change,
and and resource
ecological disintegration, rapid depletion, nothing
less than a societal and civilizational change?without precedence
in scale and profundity in the history of our species?is urgently
It has to occur during the next few decades if humanity
required.
wants to avoid and social meltdown.
ecological
David Orr argues: "The very idea that we need to build

a sustainable civilization needs to be invented or rediscovered,

then widely disseminated, and put into practice quickly."6 Design

a central role in shaping a sustainable civilization. It does so
plays
in the material dimensions of product architecture, indus
design,
trial design, and town and as well as in the
regional planning,
immaterial dimension of the metadesign of concepts and inclusive

fromwhich a holistic/integral worldview can

multi-perspectives
emerge.

5 R. Buchanan "Rhetoric,Humanism Choosing Sustainable Futures by Design

and Design" inDiscoveringDesign, R. This paper proposes that transdisciplinary design dialogue, guided
Buchanan and V.Margolin, eds. (Chicago, the underlying intention to create healthier and more
by appropri
IL:The Universityof Chicago Press, can be a
ate solutions to the complex of sustainability,
challenges
1995),25.
6 D.W. Orr,TheNature ofDesign: Ecology, powerful tool for societal change. Buchanan calls design thinking
Culture,and Human Intention(Oxford:
the "new liberal art of technological culture" and points towards
OxfordUniversityPress, 2002), 50. its in integrating the knowledge of the natural, social, and
potential

74
Design Issues: Volume 24, Number2 Spring2008

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 humanistic sciences into adequate solutions to thewicked problems
of design.7Wahl has suggested that the transition towards a sustain
able human presence in theworld is thewicked problem fordesign
in the twenty-firstcentury.8
Based on thework of Horst Rittel in the 1960s, Buchanan

proposed thatmost of theproblems faced by designers are "wicked

defined as "a
problems," by Rittel class of social system problems
which are ill-formulated, where the information is where
confusing,
there are many clients and decision makers with values,
conflicting
and where the ramifications of the whole are
system thoroughly
wicked are real-world
confusing."9 Basically, problems problems
that acknowledge the complex interdependence of diverse factors
and stakeholders, rather than linear cause and effect
simplistic,
abstractions that isolate the product of design from its context.
Wicked problems call for integrated and flexible design solutions
that are appropriately adapted to the eco-social complexity of their
context.
scale-linking
Buchanan argues that the creative power behind think
design

ing is in "turning to themodality of impossibility,"and recognizing

that the impossible "may actually only be a limitationof imagination
that can be overcome by better design thinking."He suggests design

thinking in this context is "not thinking directed toward a techno

logical 'quick fix' inhardware but toward new integrationsof signs,
actions, and environment that address the concrete needs and
things,
values of human in diverse circumstances."10 and
beings Metadesign
both envision and create the future, as
design just they often perpetu
ate past decisions.
design

John Wood also stresses the need for designers to engage in

and a discourse that

cross-disciplinary co-operation "professional

acknowledges the complexity of wholeness." He argues that, while

engaging in the design of individual products, we simultaneously

have to be aware of the kind of these products effect
"meta-design"
in human culture. What kind of society uses such products and how?

"will need to further back' in order to

7 R. Buchanan, "WickedProblems in Designers alternatively 'step
the whilst
Design Thinking,"3. acknowledge 'bigger picture,' engaging self-reflexively
8 D. C.Wahl, "Bionicsvs. Biomimicry: in the system itself."11 This process can be facilitated transdis
by
FromControlof Nature to Sustainable
ciplinary design dialogue. Integrative and transdisciplinary design
ParticipationinNature," Transactions can ensure that our choices are conscious and well-informed
thinking
on Ecology and theEnvironment, 87:
289-298 (2006).
by a holistic/integral perspective, rather than hastily forced and
9 R. Buchanan, "Wicked Problems in
based on the limited perspective of a specific discipline.
As Homo as makers?our material
Design Thinking,"14. faber?humans actions,
10 Ibid.,19-20. mental constructs, and value our world and
systems shape guide
11 J.Wood, "(How) Can Designers Enhance our of it.Design, when can us
perception broadly conceived, to
help
within Complex
OrganicSynergy
integrate the remarkable wealth of specialized knowledge and skill
Systems?" EuropeanAcademy ofDesign
that rests within is worldview
ConferenceProceedings {Bremen2005), humanity. Design fundamentally

Paper No. 96,1. dependent. Rittel suggested in 1972: "For every wicked problemthere
12 R. Buchanan, "WickedProblems in is always more than one with
possible explanation, explanations
Design Thinking,"14. depending on theWeltanschauung [worldview] of thedesigner."12

Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 2 Spring2008 75

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 Since all design decisions are fundamentally worldview
and value-system dependent, a dynamic map of the emergence of
more inclusive worldviews in human could
progressively society
us to understand decisions, as well as
help past design provide
a way to make future decisions from a more holistic and
design
inclusive perspective. Through transdisciplinary design dialogue,
itwill be possible to create engaging local, regional, and global
visions of sustainability. Transdisciplinary design dialogue can help

humanity to face the intricate complexity of sustainability as the

wicked problem of design. In a fundamentally unpredictable and
there are no
constantly changing complex dynamic system guar
antees of success. Nevertheless, can?with imagination,
humanity
and caution?intend to choose and materialize
humility, sustainability

by design.

Transdisciplinary Design Dialogue, Spiral Dynamics, and

Integral Theory
In a interconnected system, collective and inclusive deci
complexly
is likely to create more sustainable solutions, since it is
sion-making
informedby a broader knowledge base thandecisions thatare based
on the advice of only a single specialist discipline. Transdisciplinary
and will require media
integration, synthesis, decision-making
tion between the perspectives of different stakeholders. "Spiral
a useful tool to structure
Dynamics" provides transdisciplinary
a framework for mediation and
design dialogues, thereby offering

integration. Dialogue is used here in the sense firstproposed by

David B?hm,13but with a significant distinction. While, forB?hm,
was not here dialogue is explored as a tool to
dialogue goal-oriented,
create more sustainable solutions. Such dialogue draws on the contri

butions of all the diverse fields of human knowledge. Itmaintains

that different are not that should be avoided
perspectives something
adherence to a set of onto-epistemologi
through dogmatic particular
cal assumptions, the exclusively reductionistic, dual
exemplified by
istic, and materialistic that defines most contemporary
perspective
science. Rather, the pluralism of perspectives
dialogue acknowledges
as an of the evolution of human consciousness itself. It
expression
aims to the wisdom of many minds and multiple perspec
explore
tives. According to B?hm:
... is a multifaceted well
dialogue process, looking beyond
notions of conversational and exchange....
typical parlance
most explores the manner in
Perhaps importantly, dialogue
which thought [viewed by B?hm as an inherently limited
medium, rather than an objective representation of reality]

is and sustained at a collective level. Such an

generated

13 D. B?hm,On Dialogue (London: calls into question held assump

inquiry necessarily deeply

Routledge, 1996). tions culture, and In its deepest

regarding meaning identity.

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 sense, then,dialogue is an invitation to test the viability
of traditional definitions ofwhat itmeans to be human,
and collectively to explore the prospect of an enhanced

humanity.14

In order to create a sustainable civilization, we have to confront the

issue of how different value and worldviews are

systems affecting
our solutions and how?at the metadesign level?our mate
design
rial and immaterial decisions create the culture we live in.
design
The interrelated social and ecological dynamics that link the local,
and scale are now so and has
regional, global complex, humanity
become such a dominating influence on thehealth and resilience of
the complex dynamic system inwhich we participate, that itnow is
to raise awareness of the effects of
crucially important widespread
our actions and attitudes, and to take for our collective
responsibility
future. This process has to occur and
simultaneously cooperatively
at a local, and scale. This is no small but
regional, global challenge,
it is likely to be crucial to the survival of our species.
Graves's map of psychological and
types "spiral dynamics"

may help us to better understand and acknowledge the valuable

contributions offeredby varying perspectives and ways of knowing;
and Bohmian dialogue offersa participatory process throughwhich
we can a more holistic The intention here is to
gain perspective.

suggest, and begin to demonstrate, that the application of dialogue,

spiral dynamics, and integral theory to design thinkingand practice
make it possible to
integrate diverse perspectives into a more inclu

sive basis for complex and more sustainable

decision-making design
solutions. The remainder of this paper on these ideas.
expands
In 1974, theAmerican psychologist Clare Graves published a
paper entitled "Human Nature
Prepares for a Momentous in
Leap"
which he argued thathuman society is facing a period of fundamen
tal change, "... the most difficult, but at the same time most exciting
transition the human race has faced to date." Graves believed that
was at the of "... not a transition to a new
humanity beginning merely
level of existence, but the start of a new movement in the
symphony
of human
history."15
After more than a of a century of research into how
quarter
human beings live, act, engage in processes, and
decision-making
as of Graves a
change participants complex systems, provided

dynamic map of the of human consciousness,

developmental stages
14 Ibid.,vii value systems, and worldviews. He described a number of behav
15 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral ioral systems, based on the biological, psychological, and social
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, interactions and
relationships that these
"biopsychosocial systems"
and Change, 319.
result in.16The Gravesian model so far "has been tested inmore than
16 Ibid.,49.
17 K.Wi Iber,A Theoryof Everything:
An fiftythousand people fromaround theworld, and therehave been
no found to the
IntegralVisionofBusiness, Politics, major exceptions general scheme."17 Graves himself
Science and Spirituality,6. summarized his model of human as follows:
development

Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 2 Spring2008 77

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 Brieflywhat I am proposing is that the psychology of the
mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating

spiraling process marked by progressive subordination of

older, lower order behavioural systems to newer,
higher
order as an individual's existential
systems problems
Each successive or level of existence
change. stage, wave,
is a state throughwhich people pass on theirway to other
states of being. When thehuman is centralized in one state
of existence, he or she has a psychology which is particular
to that state. His or her motivations, ethics and
feelings,
values, of neurological activation,
biochemistry, degree

system, belief system, conception of mental health,

learning
ideas towhat mental illness is and how it should be treated,

conceptions of and preferences formanagement, education,

economics, and are all

political theory practice appropriate
to that stage.18

Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, both former research associates

ofClare Graves, thendeveloped theGravesian model further,chang
ing some of the terminology but littleof its content. They suggested
that "a spiral vortex best depicts [the] emergence of human systems
as levels and
they evolve of increasing complexity" argued
through
that "each upward
turn of the
spiral marks the awakening of a more

elaborate version on exists."

top of what already Their dynamic
"consists of a coiled of value worldviews
spiral map string systems,
and mindsets, each the product of its times and conditions."19 Beck

and Cowan proposed:

The same principles of Spiral Dynamics apply to a single
person, an or an entire Since it
organization, society.
describes human nature in a universal sense rather than

or racial, and ethnic

through personality types gender,
traits, the model a common for grap
provides language

pling with both local and global problems. It offersa unify

ing framework thatmakes genuinely holistic thinking and
actions possible.20

One of the changes in terminology proposed by Beck and Cowan

relates to what Graves called which
"biopsychosocial systems,"
renamed "vMEMEs" as a shorthand for value m?mes. First
they
described within a limited neo-Darwinian context
18 Ibid.,5-6. by Dawkins,21

19 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral Csikszentmihalyi subsequently used the word "m?me" (from
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, Greek mimesismeaning imitation) as a descriptive term fora unit of
and Change, 29. cultural information, attitude, orway of thinking that is replicated
20 Ibid.,30.
through cultural tradition and imitation.Csikszentmihalyi defines
21 R. Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (Oxford:
it as "any of matter or information
permanent pattern produced by
OxfordUniversityPress, 1976).
an act of human As such, vMEMEs can be under
22 M. Csikszentmihalyi,TheEvolvingSelf: intentionality."22
stood as of metadesign that determine and how
A Psychologyforthe Third
Millennium patterns why, what,
(New York:HarperCollins,1993), 120. we
design.

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 Beck and Cowan proposed "vMEMEs are so vital they reach
across whole groups of people and begin to structuremindsets on
theirown. [In doing so] they structure the thinking,value systems,

political forms,and worldviews of entire civilizations." Each person

may operate from theposition described by a differentvMEME in a
different context or situation and various vMEMEs can be active at

the same time.The vMEME stacks that are active within an individ
ual are central to our and cause us to form
personalities relationships
in a certain Beck and Cowan "A vMEME
way.23 explain: transposes
itself into a world view, a value
system,
a level of exis
psychological
tence, a belief structure, an
organizing principle,
a way of
thinking,
and

a mode of living."24 vMEMEs are an influence on

Clearly, important
how and what we describe of metadesign.
design. They patterns
Wilber explains: "[vMEMEs] are not rigid levels but flowing
waves, with much overlap and in a mesh
interweaving, resulting
work or of consciousness He used the
dynamic spiral unfolding."25
work of Graves, Beck, and Cowan to the framework of
develop

integral theory.
Wilber that all the m?mes are
poten
emphasizes
available to everyone, and that this redraws the lines of social
tially
tension since no are "based on skin colour,
completely, they longer
economic class, or clout, but on the type of m?me a person
political
is from." He stresses the importance of that
operating understanding
"the focus is not on types ofpeople, but types inpeople."26
While new vMEMEs might emerge during the evolution of
consciousness, basic vMEMEs have been described.
currently, eight
In distinguishing these different vMEMEs, the aim is not to sort
into different boxes, but rather to make certain value
people systems
and modes of thinkingmore intelligible. It is possible to stand at
several on the vortex at once.27 Each of these
places spiral biopsy
chosocial systems has important and appropriate contributions to
make, on the circumstances. Each level the
depending higher up

spiral transcends and includes the attitudes and of

thought patterns
the preceding levels. Wilber refers to Howard Gardner's idea that

"the whole course of human can be viewed as continu

23 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral development
in is an expansion
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, ing decline egocentrism." He suggests that there

and Change, 32. of and identification the that moves from

empathy along spiral
24 Ibid.,40. to ethnocentrism to world as the perspective
egocentrism centrism,
25 K.Wi Iber,
A TheoryofEverything:
An more
becomes encompassing.28
IntegralVision ofBusiness, Politics,
Graves pointed out that individuals, and societ
Science and Spirituality,7. companies,
ies alike, to those
26 Ibid.,6. "respond positively only managerial principles,
27 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral motivational appeals, educational formulas, and or ethical
legal
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, codes that are to their current level of human exis
appropriate
and Change, 85. tence."29This insighthas important implications for the practice of
28 K.Wi ber,
I A Theoryof Everything:
An
aimed at more sustain
transdisciplinary design dialogue creating
IntegralVisionofBusiness, Politics,
able solutions. The about
Science and Spirituality,20. dialogue transdisciplinary integration

29 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral and collaboration has to meet at their
participants corresponding
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, on the with where are at,
perspective spiral?working people they
and Change, 29. not where you want them to be.

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 Table 1 combines the descriptions that Beck, Cowan, and
Wilber give to the various levels of human existence firstproposed
are
by Graves. The vMEMEs color-coded in order to facilitate

communication about them during processes of transdisciplinary

or trans-stakeholder dialogue. The firstsix levelswere described by
Graves as the "subsistence levels" of the "first tier," and the yellow

and vMEMEs an of consciousness into

turquoise express expansion
"second tier" are referred to as levels."30 (For
thinking. They "being
a detailed description of thedifferentvMEMEs and theirapplication
to the sector, please refer to Spiral Dynamics?Mastering
consultancy
Values, Leadership,and Change by Beck and Cowan.)
All the different levels or vMEMEs always will remain a

part of the range of human psychological expression and decision

making, since healthy psychological development moves through
all of the levels. Wilber emphasizes that only from a second tier
perspective can we begin to fully appreciate the existence of the
other vMEMEs.31 The bio-centric or world-centric and
perspective,
the associated values and ethics that are characteristic of second tier

thinking, acknowledge the validity of all of the diverse onto-epis

on the spiral, and contextualize them on
temological assumptions
the basis of their effectson human and planetary health. A global
appears to be emerging around the need for, and inten
perspective
tion to create, From this perspective, what
sustainability. "finding
makes living healthier forHomo sapiens and other living things is
the job to be done."32 or as
Salutogenic health-generating design,
a framework for transdisciplinary and as a
integration cooperative

strategy to move toward has been

sustainability, recently explored
Wahl.33
by
The and intentions of design solutions
underlying goals
based on second tier thinking are the maintenance and improve
ment of systemic health and the facilitation of healthy and coopera
tive interactions across the whole of human worldviews and
spiral
value as well as across all physical and scales of
systems, temporal
material A holistic/integral fosters conscious and
design. perspective
and metadesign aimed at the creation
responsible design, thinking
of healthy societies inhealthy environments.
30 Ibid.,45-47. A change inworldview, intention,and lifestyle,facilitatedby
31 Ibid.,12. and education, be a far more effective of prob
dialogue may way
32 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral
than the creation of more artifacts and technical fixes.
lem-solving
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership,
and Change, 299. Being unable to shiftbetween the different levels on the spiral and
to acknowledge the of diverse are the most
33 D.C.Wahl, "Design forHuman and insights perspectives
common causes of bad because we fail to consider the design
PlanetaryHealth:A Transdisciplinary design,
Approach to Sustainability" in within the complexity of its material and immaterial context.
Management ofNatural Resources, As international consultants, Don Beck and C.
Christopher
Sustainable Development and Ecological
Cowan have applied the principles of spiral dynamics to a wide
Hazards, Brebbia,Conti,and Tiezzi,
range of situations, from leadership training, community develop
WIT Press, 2006),
eds. (Southampton:
285-296. ment, transformation, health care, education,
large-scale systems
and to management Beck was
public safety, supervision. critically

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Table 1
orBiopsychosocial
ThevMEMEs Systems
of Spiral Dynamics34and IntegralTheory.35

Beck& Cowan(Basedon Wilber

vMEME Occurrence Mode ofThought
and Influence
(Biopsychosocial ClareGraves) (BasedonBeck& (after
Wilber)
System) Cowan)

BEIGE SurvivalSense: Staying Archaic-Instinctual: Approximately 0.1% of Automatic:

Subsistence Level 1 alive through innate Distinct self isbarely people and 0% of power. The structuresare loose
FirstTier sensory equipment. awakened or sustained. bands; the process is
survivalistic

PURPLE KinSpirit:Blood relation Magical-Animistic: Approximately 10% of Animistic:

Subsistence Level 2 ships and mysticism ina Thinking isanimistic and people and 1% of power. The structuresare tribal;
First
Tier magical and scaryworld. kinshipor linage estab the process
lishes political links. will be circular.

RED PowerGods: Enforce PowerGods: Firstemer 20% of

Approximately Egocentric:
Subsistence Level 3 power over self, others, gence of self distinct people and 5% power. The structuresare
FirstTier and nature through fromthe tribe; powerful, empires; the process
exploitive independence. impulsive,ego-centric. isexploitative.

BLUE TruthForce:Absolute be Mythic Order: Life has Approximately 40% Absolutistic:

Subsistence Level 4 lief inone right
way and meaning, direction, and ofpeopleand30% of The structuresare pyra
FirstTier obedience to authority. purpose with outcomes power. midal; the process
determined by an isauthoritarian.
all-powerful "other" or
"order."

ORANGE StriveDrive: Possibility ScientificAchievement: 30%

Approximately Multiplistic:
Subsistence Level 5 thinkingfocused on mak The self "escapes" from ofpeopleand50% of The structuresare
First Tier ingthings better forself. the "herdmentality" of power. delegative; the process
BLUE and seeks truth is strategic.
and meaning in individu
alistic terms.

GREEN HumanBond:Well-being The Sensitive Self: Per Approximately 10% Relativistic:

Subsistence Level 6 of people and building meable Self, relational of people and 15% of The structuresare
First Tier consensus get highest self, communitarian, power. egalitarian; the process
priority. ecological sensitivity, is consensual.
networking,pluralistic.

YELLOW FlexFlow: Flexible adap Integrative:Life isa Approximately 1% of Systemic:

Being Level 1 tation to change through kaleidoscope of natural people and 5% of power. The structuresare
Second Tier connected, big-picture hierarchies [holarchies], interactive;the process
views. systems and forms. is integrative.
Flexibility,spontaneity,
awareness of spirals.

TURQUOISE GlobalView: Attention to Holistic: Unites feeling Approximately 0.1% of Holistic:

BeingLevel2 whole-earth dynamics with knowledge; multiple people and 1% of power. The structuresare
Second Tier and macro-level actions. levels interwoven into global; the process is
one conscious system. flowingand ecological.

Design Issues: Volume 24, Number 2 Spring2008 81

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 involved in facilitating the post-apartheid reconciliation process
in South Africa. As such, spiral dynamics already is a well-tested,
effective tool for mediation and Beck and Cowan
metadesign.

suggest that, in applying spiral dynamics to transdisciplinary and

trans-stakeholder mediation and we can to
decision-making, begin

appreciate chaos and start to think "more like a creative designer

than a The links functions, and ideas
reengineer. process people,
into new, more natural flows that add precision, flexibility, rapid

response, and fun to getting the work done."36

humanity,

Spiral dynamics, Wilber's and their applica

"integral theory,"
tion to the complex ecological and social problems of sustainability in
the formof the recentlydeveloped approach of "integral ecology"37 38
offer informative points of departure for designers intent on
acting
as transdisciplinary integrators and facilitators in the
challenge of
a more sustainable human civilization.
creating
Brown39 calls the application of the framework to
integral
sustainable "natural Baxter40 and Wahl41 have
development design."
both, independently of Brown, used the term "natural design" to

describe a fundamental rethinking and expansion of design in the

context of ecological awareness and Labels and termi
sustainability.

nological issues aside, apparently they

all agree that an application of

and to processes of decision-making,

integral theory spiral dynamics
34 Ibid.,41-44.
and can in
35 K.Wi Iber,>4TheoryofEverything: complex problem solving, visioning support designers

An IntegralVisionofBusiness, Politics, theirpotential role as transdisciplinary integrators and facilitators

Science and Spirituality,
8-13 of more sustainable solutions.

36 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral

Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, Conclusion

and Change, 107.
A modified form of Bohmian dialogue offers a way to collectively
37 S. Esbj?rn-Hargens,"IntegralEcology:
how our process reflects which vMEMEs or
TheWhat, Who, and How o? explore thought biopsy

Phenomena." chosocial we in approaching a and

Environmental systems employ design problem,
38 M. E. Zimmerman,"IntegralEcology: how we solutions. can
suggest Transdisciplinary design dialogue
A PerspectivalDevelopmental, and to contextualize the contributions that diverse can
help perspectives
CoordinatingApproach to Environmental make to more inclusive that are informed
decision-making processes
Problems,"World Futures,Journalof
a wider base. Often, dissolve ifwe shift to a
General Evolution61:1?2 (2005): 50-62. by knowledge problems
different As we explore different scales of context from
39 B. C. Brown, "Theoryand Practiceof perspective.
the perspectives of different we
IntegralSustainable Development (Part value-systems, might suddenly
2)," AQAL Journalof IntegralTheoryand reconsider the soundness of theunderlying design brief, or begin to
Practice 1:2 (2006): 35.
question the need for, or purpose of, the design in
question.
40 S. Baxter,"Deep Design and the
The solutions to the "wicked of design" are more
problems
Engineer'sConscience: A Global Primer
to be new processes, and changes
inmeaning, rather
forDesign Education,"CrossingDesign likely lifestyles,
than purely material artifacts. is an emergent property
Boundaries, Rodgers,Brodhurst,and Sustainability

Hepburn,eds. (London:Taylor& Francis of appropriate interactions and among active partici

relationships
Group,2005), 283-287. pants in the
complex cultural, social, and ecological processes that
41 D. C.Wahl, Design forHuman and
constitute life in the twenty-first century. The necessary shift towards
PlanetaryHealth: A Holistic/Integral
more and sustainable modes of participation requires
appropriate
Approach toComplexityand
that design and education contribute to a widespread increase in
Sustainability (Ph.D.Thesis, School of
social and awareness
Design, Universityof Dundee, Scotland, ecological through transdisciplinary design
2006). dialogues.

82
Design Issues: Volume 24, Number2 Spring2008

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Sustainable development is a community-based process of
coevolution and learning that involves design decisions informed

by a holistic/integral perspective. It requires responsible citizens

our sustainable future.At the
everywhere tobecome co-designers of
same timewe have to remain keenly aware of the indeterminacy of
final solutions and theunpredictability of the complex, dynamic, and
interconnected and/or in which we on
systems processes participate
a local and global scale. Design for sustainability isnot about predic
tion and control, but about and
appropriate participation, flexibility,
constant learning.

Acknowledgement of the interconnectedness and interdepen

dence of nature and culture, as social constructs and ecological reali

ties, shifts the aim of design towards increasing health throughout

thewhole system.A holistic/integral perspective can help us to "act
locally and plan globally,while acting globally and planning locally
at the same time."42

Sustainability requires the ability of an informed citizenry

to engage in the process of continuous lifelong learning through

transdisciplinary dialogue. Sustainability depends on the full

participation of responsible and informed local communities that
meet theirneeds within the limitsof their local ecosystems and the

biosphere, thus remaining able to respond and adapt to global and

local of both nature and culture.
changes
have to become more aware of the power of
Designers
and at the level. As facilitators of
imagination visioning metadesign

transdisciplinary integration,designers can help to change culturally

dominant worldviews and value In to the
systems. helping shape
behind material can effect
intentionality design, designers changes
in and resource use that will drive the sustainability tran
life-styles
sition.With a large and influentialproportion of humanity arrested
in the psychology of the blue and orange MEMEs (see Table 1), our
processes are dominated the quantity-centered
decision-making by

approach of scientific and economic rationalism and materialism.

will us to incorporate
Transdisciplinary design dialogue help qualita
tive considerations health, well
regarding whole-system happiness,

being, meaning, and quality of life into our and

decision-making

design processes. Transdisciplinary about how to design

dialogue

42 D. Beck and C.C. Cowan, Spiral sustainably will help us to integrate the specialist knowledge of
Dynamics:Mastering Values, Leadership, diverse disciplines in the search for more meaningful and sustain

and Change, 13. able solutions.

83
Design Issues: Volume 24, Number2 Spring2008

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