The Future of Systems is in the Past: From the Laws of Form to System Storytelling

tl;dr: Form theory as hardware enables systems research to tell formalized system narratives by (1) formalizing systems and their working as well as (2) enable understanding of systems.

The initial promise of systems research, providing a unique conceptual lens for addressing complex real-world problems, is probably more in demand in our age than ever before. Messy and intertwined problems like climate change mitigation and adaptation, managing the digital transformation of economy and society, as well as finding a new global governance framework in a time of resurgent nationalism and authoritarianism, defy classical predict-and-control approaches in the fields of economics or political sciences.

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Management Beyond Growth

Welcome to the Online Community on Degrowth & Postgrowth for Management Scholars.

Since 2011 critical perspectives on the paradigm of economic growth are being discussed at the Academy of Management Annual Meetings in the form of professional development workshops, caucuses and symposia dedicated to Degrowth and Postgrowth. Degrowth, dating back to Serge Latouche and his “word grenade” of décroissance, is a political-economic concept for abandoning the fixation on economic growth as well as a battle cry for a contraction-based society – to think the unthinkable, a world beyond growth.… Read more

Brown-Green Degrowth? On Nazis, Nationalism & the Postgrowth Economy

tl;dr: Stefan Laurin’s painting of Degrowth into the right-wing nationalist corner is lazy armchair journalism

The ideas of a Degrowth-oriented society are a crude mixture of environmentalism and National Socialism – says German journalist Stefan Laurin in a recent blog article. Laurin, who is writing for German outlets like the conservative high-brow magazine ‘Cicero’ as well as the left-wing ‘Jungle World’, focuses his critique on Niko Paech, German economist and Degrowth researcher.… Read more

Sustainability 4.0

Sustainability 4.0

tl;dr: Sustainability 4.0 implies the empowered co-creation of prosumers in order to re-shape economy and society towards social inclusiveness and ecological soundness.

[Update June 2019: published article on Sustainability 4.0 available now (in German)]

The combination of sustainability and digitalization for solving environmental, social and economic problems seems both promising as well as old hats. Most of us remember the 1980s and 1990s with their call for ecological modernization, not to be confused with the ecomodernists of today.… Read more

Utopian Sustainability, Sustainable Utopia

tl;dr: Utopian Sustainability needs to balance boldness and humbleness to envision a convivial future in which every individual can feel both at home and free.

500 years ago, English lawyer, philosopher and humanist Thomas More published his book »Utopia«. In it he described the »republic’s best state« on the island of Utopia, a fictional place that he used as a criticism and social commentary on the present state of European society at the beginning of the 16th century.… Read more