Discovering more of the neighbourhood, bicycling mostly in the mornings.
Toronto, Ontario
Philosopher’s Walk: Placid footpath following contour of Taddle Creek, east of Trinity College and west of the Faculty of Music, attracts pedestrians after work, and dogs with their walkers. This week would normally be the calm before students move into residences, and the campus coming alive. New school term will surely see new protocols. (Philosopher’s Walk, Queen’s Park Circle, University of Toronto) 20200901Jimmie Simpson Park: Physically distanced conversation with @cdnorman, updating each other on #SystemsThinking projects. So many years of electronic communications, to discover he walks by my street almost every day. Park bench is a convenient plan while the weather is favourable. (Jimmie Simpson Park, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20200903Warden Woods Hydro Corridor: Footpath between Pidgeon Street and Chestnut Crescent connects two residential neighbourhoods with townhouses backing onto the hydro towers. West side is new townhouses, east side is more established detached houses. Found cycling route as a detail on map, to avoid street descending into St. Clair Ravine and then having to climb out again. (Warden Woods Hydro Corridor, Pidgeon Street to Chestnut Crescent, Scarborough, Ontario) 20200905Nathan Phillips Square: Quiet and cool Labour Day morning, found city plaza devoid of both tourist visitors and civic workers. Barricades at edge of pond discourage contaminants in water. Feels like autumn is arriving soon. (Nathan Phillips Square, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20200907Front Street East: Turned faucet handle, no water. Unlikely location for public tap, presumably of potable water, in the median between eastbound and westbound lanes of traffic. Is this an artifact of the Old Town, before indoor plumbing became common? (Front Street East, east of Church Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20200908Artscape Distillery Studios: On Case Goods Lane, #distillerywisdom installation invites visitors to write memories on wooden plaques to be hung, or on small stones placed at the base of a cylindrical frame. Messages left by participants from many parts of the world, and in many languages. Art that changes daily, and is durable in weather fair and fowl. (Art Distillery Studios, Case Goods Lane, Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario) 20200911Lakeview Park: Bright Saturday day trip westbound, as opportunity for outdoor date with social distancing. Sunflowers were planted in rows, by developers as phytoremediators to purify the soil by absorbing toxins. Site of Lakeview Generating Station, demolished in 2007. (Lakeview Park, Lakefront Promenade, Mississauga, Ontario) 20200912Riverdale Farm: Since 1975, the old zoo has been domesticated, hence the flock of sheep now part of the urban park. Immediate vegetation is overgrazed, as animals are restricted to the pen. Many toddlers and preschoolers guided by elders, routes now clearly marked with arrows to reduce human collisions. (Riverdale Farm, Winchester Street, Cabbagetown, Toronto, Ontario) 20200914Metro Hall: About half of the 17 bronze rabbit-dog sculptures #CynthiaShort 1992 Remembered Sustenance, originally installed expecting that children might play with them. Small grass parkette is popular with dogs and walkers, who seem to ignore the figures. Just south of the theatre district, where the stages are dark. (Metro Hall, Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20200915Villiers Street: Unplanned encounter of #VidIngelevics #RyanWalker Framework installation @ContactPhoto with photomural of 130 Commissioners Street of January 2020. The Lower Don Lands is now under major construction, with streets blocked and fenced properties with warning signs. Bicycling is/was the best way to view the display from August 2020 to April 2021. (Villers Street, Toronto Portlands) 20200916Concord CityPlace: From Front Street West, Puente de Luz (Bridge of Light) pedestrian bridge spans north to south corresponding to Canada and Chile of sculptor #FranciscoGazitua. Installed in 2012, bicyclists and pedestrians can cross over to Canoe Landing Park and Concord CityPlace. Inspired by nature, skeletons and armatures are bridges. (Puente de Luz, Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20200918Bala Rail Underpass: In the mouth-of-the-Don district, a passage fot pedestrians and bicyclists from the Lower Don River Trail westbound towards Corktown Commons. On The Canadian passenger train from Union Station 4 days to Vancouver, the next step is Washago, and then Parry Sound. Constructed in 2007, the interior murals painted for the PanAm games in 2015 have faded, with external clearance hazards now more prominent. (Bala Rail Underpass, Lower Don River Trail, Toronto, Ontario) 20200921Lane South Queen East Knox: Wrought iron sign of Ye Olde Blacksmith Shoppe has entry fence locked up, with shell of a building to the south. This laneway seems to be one of many in Toronto yet to be named, running dead end into TTC Russell Carhouse at Connaught Street first established in 1916. Entry to the building northbound from Minto Street is obstructed by a prominent fire hydrant. (Lane South Queen East Knox, Leslieville, Toronto, Ontario) 20200923
Unwin Avenue: Industrial age rail leading to space age satellites? Tracks rarely used from Toronto Container Port to the southwest, curve north beyond fence parallel to Leslie Street, then westbound alongside Lakeshore Boulevard as Keating Yard. Earth stations that upload and download broadcast television video, and Internet to rural and remote areas on land leased from the city, will be moved to another Ontario location before year’s end. (Unwin Avenue, Toronto Portlands, Ontario) 20200928
It’s an indicator when the New York Times publishes that “Queen Street East is the new Queen Street West”. The area is called South Riverdale, and we’re either at the eastern edge of “Riverside”, or the western edge of “Leslieville“. Besides the explosion of restaurants down the street from us, I’ve noticed two other signs of gentrification in our neighbour.
While it’s important to appreciate the systems thinking foundations laid down by the Tavistock Institute and U. Pennsylvania Social Systems Science (S3, called S-cubed) program, practically all of the original researchers are no longer with us. Luminaries who have passed include Eric L. Trist (-1993), Fred E. Emery (-1997), and Russell L. Ackoff (-2009). This […]
In order to move forward, the Systems Changes Learning Circle has taken a step backwards to appreciate the scholarly work that has come before us. This has included the Socio-Psychological Systems, Socio-Technical Systems and Socio-Ecological Systems perspective, from the postwar Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. The deep dive on “Causal texture, contextualism, contextural” takes us […]
For those who haven’t read the 1965 Emery and Trist article, its seems as though my colleague Doug McDavid was foresighted enough to blog a summary in 2016! His words have always welcomed here, as Doug was a cofounder of this web site. At the time of writing, the target audience for this piece was […]
In the famous 1965 Emery and Trist article, the terms “causal texture” and “contextual environment” haven’t been entirely clear to me. With specific meanings in the systems thinking literature, looking up definitions in the dictionary generally isn’t helpful. Diving into the history of the uses of the words provides some insight. 1. Causal texture 2. […]
Towards appreciating “action learning”, the history of open systems thinking and pioneering work in organization science, the influence of Action Learning Group — in the Faculty of Environment Studies founded in 1968 at York University (Toronto) — deserves to be resurfaced. 1. Trist in Canada 2. Environmental studies, and contextualism in organizational-change 3. Action learning, […]
The news that Doug McDavid — my friend, colleague, and one of the original cofounders of the Coevolving Innovations web site in 2006 — had passed, first came through mutual IBM contacts. More details subsequently showed up on LinkedIn from Mike McClintock. Doug left us on May 9, while working at his desk, likely in […]
In web conference, #HermanDaly says #EcologicalEconomics used to get attacked from the right, now it's from the left. Panel @revkin @jon_d_erickson @ktkish @sophiesanniti #TimCrowshaw #KatieHorner livestreamed #sustainwhat .Read more ›
Complementing the idea of a @longnow , @nfergus provokes the challenge of a #shortthen as the online social media platforms distract the larger perspectives on history.Read more ›
Social ecology and environmental psychology described @dstokols @Social_Ecology , interviewed by @katiepatrick . References #WilliamsJames on attention. Book on Social Ecology in the Digital Age released in 2018.Read more ›
Concerns on #personaldata should be reframed as interpersonal, says @sheldrake , less the nodes and more the edge connections. “I want to take back control” superficial, @hartzog says control doesn’t scale. Agency is about negotiation in the world, more rhizomatic…Read more ›
Doing science should be wayfinding (pathfinding), says #TimIngold , gaining grounding in the art of paying attention, towards research as the pursuit of truth. Truth is more than objective facts, where science and art are embraced with materials, so that we can see the quality inside the natural world as it forms, rather than as […]
We should be more vigourous, says @MazzucatoM , in debating differences between value extraction and value creation, and between profits and rents. Lecture at Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford U., January 2019Read more ›
Social Systems Science graduate students in 1970s-1980s with #RussellAckoff, #EricTrist + #HasanOzbehkhan at U. Pennsylvania Wharton School were assigned the Penguin paperback #SystemsThinking reader edited by #FredEEmery, with updated editions evolving contents.
Resurfacing 1968 Buckley, “Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook” for interests in #SystemsThinking #SocioCybernetics #GeneralSystemsTheory #OrganizationScience . Republication in 2017 hardcopy may be more complete.
Proponents of #SystemsThinking often espouse holism to counter over-emphasis on reductionism. Reading some definitions from an encyclopedia positions one in the context of the other (François 2004).
Saying “it doesn’t matter” or “it matters” is a common expression in everyday English. For scholarly work, I want to “keep using that word“, while ensuring it means what I want it to mean. The Oxford English Dictionary (third edition, March 2001) has three entries for “matter”. The first two entries for a noun. The […]
It's been challenging to find sources that specifically define two-word phrases -- i.e. "systemic change", "systematic change", "systems change" -- as opposed to loosely inferring reductively from one-word definitions in recombination. MartinReynolds @OpenUniversity clarifies uses of the phrases, with a critical eye into motives for choosing a specific label, as well as associated risks and […]
The term "environmental" can be mixed up with "ecological", when the meanings are different. We can look at the encyclopedia definitions (François 2004), and then compare the two in terms of applied science (i.e. engineering with (#TimothyFHAllen @MarioGiampietro and #AmandaMLittle, 2003).
