Metaphor: Seeing The Forest

This section aims to ‘explore the whole forest and its ecology’, in order to understand what exists, what is becoming, and what areas may benefit the most from action.

This idea draws on systemic design practice which researches both the structures, relationships and forces in a system, as well as the human and ecological needs. This is the kind of ‘pre-design and generative design’ needed at the fuzzy front end of design (Sanders & Stappers, 2014).

Much like taking the time to properly understand a forest before attempting to do restoration work, systemic design practice draws a wide boundary around a challenge in order to understand relationships which aren’t always obvious, explore futures, and take accountability for outcomes.