Mapping Mondays

One-hour sessions dedicated to RSD12 maps and exhibits.

The response to the RSD12 (2023) call for contributions exceeded the organisers’ capacity to program an exhibition during the symposium, so contributors organised this series of open studios to accompany the RSD12 exhibition. Each week was an opportunity to learn about different aspects of systemic design mapping, researchers’ approaches, and how they use mapping in their work.

RSD studios have a casual format, starting with a talk by each researcher and moving to a conversation facilitated by a guest commenter. This is an invitation into the virtual studio of each researcher, who will share their map via screen share, slides, online whiteboard or other format.

All recordings are posted on Youtube and the session summaries and recordings are on the SDA blog.

ahem: The RSD13 review process means that I’ve stalled a bit in posting the videos and summaries. They will be done over the winter. Questions? Cheryl May cheryl@systemic-design.org

May 13
Case Studies: Institutionalised systems

Three case studies involving challenging institutionalised systems present promising multi-level and multi-scalar approaches to knowledge mobilisation, support, and translating concepts. Policy adjacent projects include synthesis mapping to communicate net-zero energy modelling in the context of Canada’s Energy Future (Saby et al.) and gigamapping transitions to labour and welfare administration in Norway using Geels’ multi-level perspective combined with gigamapping (Suoheimo et al.). Finally, causal loop diagramming and leverage points lead to a story map and insight cards for businesses focused on GenZ parents in the DACH market (Tschavgova et al.).

Presenters

Angelsea Saby and Matthew Hansen | How is Canada’s Energy Future Projected? A case study for synthesis mapping in net-zero energy modelling

Mari Suoheimo, Daphne Chan, and Marieliz Morales Vega | Gigamapping Rapid Changes in Working Life: Service designing a new service for new labour and welfare administration in Norway

Elisabeth Tschavgova | From Systemic Insights to Sustainable Business Actions—A case study on GenZ parents in the DACH market

Commenter

Peter Jones | OCAD University, Toronto and Tec de Monterrey

Host

Ryan Murphy | ryan@fulcra.design

session summary TBA

MAY 13 exhibits

May 6
Maps about mapping

The four maps presented in this session are maps about mapping that take strikingly different styles. The potent graphics of the Transportation System map (Setty) and extensive accompanying brief exemplify the National Institute of Design approach. The avant-garde approach taken in the Spatialisation and Memory Mapping poster (Wacta & Liu) depicts the ecology and psychogeography of immersion in an urban environment. Smart Cities maps what gives meaning to our life in urban scapes and how to recover lost networks (Ranjan) and The Circularity Project (Shilpi & Deshmukh) functions as an an educational tool that invites exploration.

Presenters

Christine Wacta and Xinyi Liu | Spatialisation and Memory Mapping: An artistic cartographic method for reconstructing the city

Varruna Setty | Transportation System Design for Indian National Parks

Shreya Ranjan | A Study of Smart Cities for India

Hitesh Shilpi & Vedant Deshmukh | The Circularity Project

Commenter

Lorraine Randall | OCAD University

Host

Thomas Maiorana | tmaiorana@ucdavis.edu

session summary TBA

MAY 6 exhibits

APR 15
Context

This session presents maps developed in different contexts. PCOS (Garg) is a National Institute of Design student project that depicts the systemic impacts on women and society in a richly illustrated panel. The SDGs map (Gautam & Thakur) represents the initial phase of understanding the interconnected network of systems in a semester-long focus on localising the SDGs.

The other two exhibits are extended projects that include mapping. The Space for Grief map (Rawlings Quintero & Hossain) constitutes the storyboard for an interactive installation that adapts to onsite environments and has several public exhibitions. The third map, Fibreshed (Jones), is a professional project involving a student team, with the presented map developed and delivered to the client after the student-led phase.

Presenters

Mamta Gautam & Sneha Thakur | One System Affects All: Uncovering dynamic relationships across SDGs 11, 14 & 15

Khyati Garg | Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)—Emerging Epidemic

Frances Rawlings Quintero & Ziyan Hossain | Space for Grief

Peter Jones | Fibreshed: A positive alternative for the fashion industry, consumers, and the planet

Commenter

Gian Wieck, Co-Founder & Systems Modeller, System Mapping Academy | www.system-mapping.com

Host

Thomas Maiorana | tmaiorana@ucdavis.edu

session summary TBA

APRIL 15 exhibits

image: red eye and handwriting. text: the conversations about reviewing for conferences and journals you might never have had

APRIL 29/30
Reviewing Reviewing

The conversation about reviewing for conferences and journals you might never have had

A conversation in two time zones—hosted by Ryan Murphy. This is a set of hour-long conversations concentrated on reviewing submissions for conferences and journals. Bring your curiosity, stories, pragmatism, and the proverbial red pen.

These sessions are an opportunity to consider a range of topics, such as how reviewing is positioned in an academic career path and how it contributes to research and praxis. The sessions are recorded and aim to represent various perspectives and answer questions as a resource for people new to reviewing while offering fresh insights for established reviewers and editors.

session summary

MAR 18
Frameworks

These project posters describe and inspire frameworks that work across multiple perspectives and at different scales. SODIF (Strange) maps pathways and critical elements that support the continuous cycles required for implementation in complex situations, and the packaging value map serves as a common ground for discussing the complex ecosystem with stakeholders (Park). Tejiendo Montañas (Mallma, López Elenes & Sandoval Osio) explores socioecological re-connection with the landscape as a process to build a new relationship between city and mountain. Ecotones (Muljono) zooms in with an approach that navigates the transitions between ecosystems to identify systemic pain points.

Presenters

Espen Strange | SODIF: Systems oriented design implementation framework

Eunji Park | Value Mapping For Stakeholder Engagement

Sally Torres Mallma, Guadalupe López Elenes, and Gerardo Sandoval Osio | Tejiendo Montañas: Corredores Socioecológicos en Monterrey

Darwin Muljono | Ecotones: Tensions, innovations, and systemic changes

Commenter

Jonathan Rhomm | Oslo School of Architecture and Design

Host

Aakash Bhadra | aakash@systemic-design.info

session summary

MARCH 18 exhibits

MAR 25
Socioecological design

Five presentations represent a range of metaphor approaches in mapping socioecological design projects. Locally Grown (Visser) maps the spaces between the elements to explore systemic design interventions in human hair waste. The four National Institute of Design projects (Sipani et al., Guru & Mandlik, Rajan & Sasikumar, Parvathi & Babu) represent the consistently high graphic standard applied to exploring the design space through mapping and deep engagement with the subject.

Presenters

Preksha Sipani, Geetanjali Khanna, Rucha Dave, Himanshu Chandrikapure, and Ajinkya Balachandran | The Silent Crisis: Unravelling the complexities of biodiversity loss

Ananya Guru and Neha Mandlik | Residue to Resource

Sanne Visser | Locally Grown: Mapping the spaces between the elements of a hyperlocal human hair waste ecosystem

Rachel Mary Rajan and Abhijith Sasikumar | Untwining Coir: Understanding the coir industries in Kerala

Parvathi B S and Bibin Babu B S | Unearthing Hidden Treasures: Waste management in urban cities through value generation from the discarded

Commenter

Birger Sevaldson | Oslo School of Architecture and Design

Host

Ryan Murphy | ryan@fulcra.design

session summary

MARCH 25 exhibits

APR 8
UNMAPPED

These exhibits are a departure from pictorial maps. Two site-specific installations (KraalD, Özçetin & Özçetin) mapped systems so they could be experienced from multiple points of view. The third, an experiment in art-science collaboration (Berry-Firth), resulted in richly rendered systemic representations of scientific findings. Also presented is the inventory of graphical devices and an opportunity to consider notations in multi-media mapping (Stoyko).

Presenters

Katarina-Dimitrijevic aka KraalD | Plastic Entanglement—A visual narrative with single-use plastics

Seda Özçetin and Şeyda Özçetin | Mapping a ToSsphere: Actors and relations that constitute complex policy ecosystems

Joanne Berry-Frith | Art-Science Collaboration Framework: Play as a concept

Peter Stoyko | Anatomy of System Notations: A comprehensive inventory of graphical devices

Commenter

Sally Sutherland | University of Brighton

Host

Thomas Maiorana | tmaiorana@ucdavis.edu

session summary

APRIL 8 exhibits

FEB 26
Mapping for futuring

This session brings together four projects using maps to support sustainability and futuring; however, they represent three distinctly different contexts. The first one is a studio-led university project (Davidová), the second one is the product of a transformation lab’s work on a municipal initiative (Lopoukhine), and two are researcher-led (Singh & Patel/Ramachandra).

Presenters

Marie Davidová | BioDiveIn

Raphael Lopoukhine | Rebuilding the Royal City

Ananaya Singh and Vacha Patel | From Perception to Power: Unravelling the infamous Indian voter and the dynamics of democracy

Prineeth Ramachandra | Truth, by Design: Playing with systems to tackle information dysfunction

Commenter

Birger Sevaldson | Oslo School of Architecture and Design

Host

Aakash Bhadra | aakash@systemic-design.info

session summary

FEB 26 exhibits

MAR 4
Emergence Roundtable

The roundtable is dedicated to a conversation about the state of mapping in systemic design, the various styles and applications, and new approaches and uses. RSD12 Chair Evan Barba centres the discussion on emergence and entanglements with colleagues from four design schools that include mapping in their curricula. Related article.

Panellists

Praveen Nahar & Sahil Thappa | metaphor maps | National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Peter Jones & Lorraine Randell | synthesis maps | OCAD University, Toronto and Tec de Monterrey

Jotte de Koning | TU Delft

Birger Sevaldson & Mari Souheimo | gigamaps | Oslo School of Architecture & Design

Moderator

Evan Barba | Georgetown University and RSD12 Chair

Host

Aakash Bhadra | aakash@systemic-design.info

session summary

MARCH 4 ARTICLE

Mar 11
About our lives

Four projects from the National Institute of Design (India) represent contemporary exemplars of the metaphor style. They incorporate vivid graphics and extended formats to illustrate the factors found in child abandonment in India (Arangath), the life of a trans person in India (Jain), unsustainable loops (Moopan), and consumerism (Nath & Landge). These maps combine information density with detailed and expertly executed graphics.

Presenters

Parvathy Arangath | A Systemic Study on India’s Child Abandonment Crisis

Animesh Jain | Transcending Dualities of Gender: Mapping factors influencing the life of a trans person in India

Imtiaz Ali Moopan | The Unsustainable Loop Of Sustainability: The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it

Gagarina Nath and Mohnish Landge | The Tower of Consumerism in India: Consumerism and its impact on socioeconomic growth and environmental sustainability in India

Commenter

Peter Jones | OCADU and Tec de Monterrey

Host

Aakash Bhadra | aakash@systemic-design.info

session summary

MARCH 11 exhibits

Maps & Exhibits

A Study of Smart Cities for India

Shreya Ranjan, Sneha Bhuva, Praveen Nahar, and Sahil Thappa

Anatomy of System Notations: A comprehensive inventory of graphical devices

Peter Stoyko

BioDiveIn and GoCOLife

Marie Davidová, Hanane Behnam, Maria Claudia Valverde, Thomas Fadini, Jannis Haueise, Adriana Hauke, Valentina Ferrari, Ana Patricia Ros Agulló, Matei Florescu, Samuel Knutelský, Nadja Vujović, Olga Wosiak, Marcelo José Candía Cervantes, Hsuan Yeh, Jianing Huang, Cristina Guerriero, Mahir Köse, and Rui Ma