February 18 was the twenty-third meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration was on Eventbrite.

Theme: Systems and Resilience:  Deciphering Panarchy

Panachy is a theory of adaptive change that is cross-scale and dynamic.  Amongst systems thinkers, the 2002 book Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems by Lance H. Gunderson and C. S. Holling is well known as a classic work.  However, many readers of the text have found the concepts and diagrams difficult to grasp.

This Systems Thinking Ontario session will be a group sense-making opportunity, where individuals can bring their understandings and questions for discussion with others.

The short 90-minute duration of our sessions will favour individuals who have done the pre-reading.

Venue: 

• Special time:  6:30 to 8:15 (15 minutes later than usual, there's a booking ahead of us!)
• Lambert Lounge, OCAD U.

Required pre-reading: 

Please read this comprehensive article:

• C. S. Holling, C. S. 2001. “Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social Systems.” Ecosystems 4 (5): 390–405. doi:10.1007/s10021-001-0101-5, cited at http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=1326346503885901396.

For background context, participants may be entertained by a casual video by Lance Gunderson.

Featured reviewer

To help our group through some of the fine points on panarchy, we have a featured reviewer:

• Marta Berbés-Blázquez is finishing her PhD in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University and has recently been appointed a post-doctoral fellow in Climate Change Adaptation in the department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on the dynamics of human well-being and natural resource management in agricultural communities in Costa Rica informed by resilience thinking and political ecology.

Agenda

Post-meeting artifacts

Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.