Dear Benno Schmidt,

The kind of visualizing that you propose lies at a more general level than a typical operational model, and is more focused than a conceptual model, since it may contain a higher degree of contextual elements.

Consider co-evolving systems and their visualization. Usually involving diagramming that involves feedback loops illustrated as edges radiating and converging on/from multiple vertices. This may be whole families of stakeholders in the in the scenario- of- interest.Mathematically you may also want to consider the entire family of generalized logistic equations if you want to illustrate/graph some causal dynamics.On an ontological, structural dimension, there is also a way to illustrate relationships based on a panarchy (resilience instead of sustainability) rather than a hierarchy. On modeling languages, consider the link and its discussion on metamodeling in software engineering. Also the use of these languages as a way to formalize category theory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamodeling

Conference Paper An Ontology-Based Approach for Evaluating the Domain Appropr...

Article How to Get What You Want When You Do Not Know What You Want:...

There are some great tools out there that you can used to visualize your analysis. Nvivo and Atlas.ti are both qualitative data analysis tools that can be used to conduct networks analysis and also triangulate those results with other quantitative data you may have.

You can use Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs); at the structural level they are graphs representing uncertain causal knowledge, they can also be used to represent cause and effect relationships and FCM inference facilitates causal reasoning to study system dynamics. FCMs also allow group modeling, and have the ability to elicit and combine individuals’ knowledge in an easy and meaningful way.

Requirements Engineering has a specific form of visualization that works well for complex systems.  It identifies actors, actions, results, etc. and can be built up as a very interconnected web.

Conference Paper Goal Modeling for Sustainability: The Case of Time

Hello,

I have good news for you with respect to visualization of sustainability knowledge.  I am the Principal Investigator (PI) for a research task in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program (SHCRP). EPA’s SHCRP develops methodologies, resources, and tools to assist community members and local decision makers as they attempt to implement policy choices that facilitate sustainable approaches in managing their resources.  The tools are designed to help communities make choices amongst alternative sustainability goals that affect the built environment, natural environment, and human health.  In order to assist communities and decision makers in implementing sustainable practices, EPA is developing computer-based systems including models, databases, web tools, and web browsers to help communities decide on approaches that will support their desired outcomes.  Communities need access to resources that will allow them to make decisions to help reduce negative impacts on human health, the economy, and the environment through intelligent decisions in four key decision sectors: land use, buildings and infrastructure, transportation, and materials management (i.e., Municipal Solid Waste [MSW] Disposal/Processing).

I am currently developing a multi-sector sustainability (web) browser (MSSB) tool, which is a sustainability Decision Support Tool (DST).  The tool is designed to assist communities and decision makers in understanding the impacts that decisions made to support sustainability efforts in land use, buildings and infrastructure, transportation, and materials management (i.e., municipal solid waste [MSW] processing and disposal) can have on human health, the environment (ecosystem services), and the economy.  The tool will display the linkages and relationships between sustainability concepts influencing land use, buildings and infrastructure, transportation, and materials management.  It will also include links to the applicable sustainability literature sources and references (1400 references and 4 research reports containing 516 total pages), and the quantitative data and system parameters that must be considered when making sustainability decisions affecting land use, buildings and infrastructure, transportation, and materials management in a community decision making context.

At the end of the development process for the tool (March 2016), a beta version will be available and it will undergo both internal EPA and external review before being made publically available on the EPA EnviroAtlas webpage (http://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas).  The MSSB tool that I am developing will have a similar look and feel as EPA’s Eco-Health Relationship Browser, which is a publically accessible webtool that is currently available on the EPA EnviroAtlas website: http://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/Tools/EcoHealth_RelationshipBrowser/index.html. EPA’s goal is to create a useful tool that provides information that can be used in community sustainability decisions.  The tool is approximately 70% complete at this time (16 Dec 2015).  Please contact me ([email protected]) if you have any additional questions about the tool.  Thank you!

Eric

Knowledge can be mapped similar to how we map a family tree (genealogy)....

However this has to be done specifically to unique knowledge set. For example, if we trace the knowledge we all have of the a round (geoid) earth, and see how that has transformed our behaviour towards earth,we would be surprised to see how stupid we were before this knowledge was fact... Tracing the source/s of knowledge and their morphogenesis (both spatially and non-spatially) will give us a good indication of their sustainability. This knowledge tree can be more complex when we start to make the interrelationships among the different knowledge types. So we not add to the knowledge of the round earth, our knowledge of navigation, sea exploration and trade. This gets even more complex when we when we add to the mixture our knowledge of astronomy and our solar and planetary systems. This knowledge base is sustainable, not because we repeat it over time, but that over time it has morphed into what is currently is.

Hi Benno,

Professor Samuel Mann on ResearchGate has a similar research agenda to ypu and he has written a book "Sustainable Lens: A Visual Guide" which may be of interest to you. It is available on Amazon.com as follows:

http://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Lens-Visual-Samuel-Mann/dp/1468112775/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1450295946&sr=8-7&keywords=samuel+mann

Kind regards, Ivan Johnstone

Hi Benno,

Another suggestion. Have a look at the book "The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures" by Dan Roam, Penguin Group, 2009. Research on ELearning has also got a lot to offer on visualisation.

Kind regards

Ivan Johnstone

Hi Benno. A pleasure. Our research team has generated some experiences in this area based on professional civil engineering. I recommend that you review the following article which enter details of the experience. I also suggest other contribution that may be of help. A greeting and good luck in your research.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095965261501639X

http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000566

http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000720

Hi Benno, here is a paper demonstrating how Causal Loop Diagraming (CLDs) combined with participatory method can be used to produce and represent different insights on issues related to sustainable consumption. A really interesting topic!

Article Participatory systems mapping for sustainable consumption: D...

I guess that you are looking for a way to estimate sustainability on some system. in this meaning I could offer you some ideas that may be could be useful for that:

An estimation needs appropriate indicators, them the first tasks could be find these indicators, in my opinion there are three important indicators that you must check when you want to estimate sustainability of any system: Abundance of resources, productivity impact assessment and the   resilience of the component of the system.

A sustainable system  would show high values on these indicators

Thank you for your valuable answers! (It will take some time to follow all those links and hints...) Hopefully our research continues to be supported in the future; I would be very interested in cooperations then. Kind regards, Benno

The word sustainable means meeting the needs of the present without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable design is the systematic consideration, during design, of a project’s life cycle impact on environmental and energy resources. By definition, the overarching tenet of sustainable design is to use resources efficiently and within their renewable limits. While responsible stewardship of the environment is important, sustainable design also provides a better physical environment for students and staff at lower life cycle costs 

The main objectives of sustainable design are to reduce, or completely avoid depletion of critical resources like energy, water, and raw materials; prevent environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructure throughout their life cycle; and create built environments that are livable, comfortable, safe, and productive .Sustainable design advocates commonly encourage retrofitting existing buildings rather than building anew. Retrofitting an existing building can often be more cost-effective than building a new facility. Designing major renovations and retrofits for existing buildings to include sustainable design attributes reduces operation costs and environmental impacts, and can increase building resiliency. The embodied energy of the existing building, a term expressing the cost of resources in both human labor and materials consumed during the building's construction and use, are squandered when the building is allowed to decay or be demolished.

Hello Benno, good day.  As you may know sustainability is not sustainable development; and this can be visualized/showed in theory, in figures, and in concept.  Here sharing some food for thoughts that you may find helpful:

Respectfully yours;

Towards True Sustainability Step By Step Is Fine While There Is Time: Pointing Out The Unifying Nature Of True Sustainability With The Help Of The True Sustainability Wheel

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282317313_Towards_True_Sustainability_Step_By_Step_Is_Fine_While_There_Is_Time_Pointing_Out_The_Unifying_Nature_Of_True_Sustainability_With_The_Help_Of_The_True_Sustainability_Wheel

Beyond traditional sustainable development: Stating specific and general sustainability theory and sustainability indices using ideal present-absent qualitative comparative conditions

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281276522_Beyond_traditional_sustainable_development_Stating_specific_and_general_sustainability_theory_and_sustainability_indices_using_ideal_present-absent_qualitative_comparative_conditions

Linking Sustainable Development Indicators by Means of Present/Absent Sustainability Theory and Indices: The Case of Agenda 21

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298654455_Linking_Sustainable_Development_Indicators_by_Means_of_PresentAbsent_Sustainability_Theory_and_Indices_The_Case_of_Agenda_21

Introducing a Simple Qualitative Comparative Dichotomy Approach to State and Clarify Sustainable Development and Sustainability Related Concepts and Issues

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281244558_Introducing_a_Simple_Qualitative_Comparative_Dichotomy_Approach_to_State_and_Clarify_Sustainable_Development_and_Sustainability_Related_Concepts_and_Issues

Data Towards True Sustainability Step By Step Is Fine While There...

Article Beyond traditional sustainable development: Stating specific...

Data Linking Sustainable Development Indicators by Means of Prese...

Article Introducing a Simple Qualitative Comparative Dichotomy Appro...

Hello Lucio and Osama, thank you for your input!

As said, what I actually would like to have is a way to visualize our argumentations, why action alternatives have a positive impact on issues of sustainable development or not. Preferably, these "diagrams" (which could make things better understandable) would be linked to formal models which allow further processing of the given knowledge as well as collaborative development of improved models.

Yes, in this context indicators will be of relevance (whereby qualitative factors have to be considered as well).

Kind regards, Benno

The Club of Rome essentially did what you are asking for in its 1972 publication, "The Limits to Growth", by modelling a number of different scenarios. The results only of these scenarios were shown in a series of graphs, but not the underlying structure of the models. However, the structure of these models and subsequent models can be viewed and run using dynamic simulation software. One free software package is Vensim PLE. When using Vensim PLE (and other similar software) a conceptual model is first developed graphically using symbols for stocks, flows, and linkages. The direction of influence (positive and negative feedbacks) are then added. Quantification of influence is established by using equations and the model is then validated by comparing simulations against historical data and making necessary adjustments to the model. The validated model can then be used to create different scenarios by using slide controls to change the values of various parameters in the model. I recommend John Sterman's book "Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World".

I agree, the System Dynamics (SD) approach is very interesting! (Indeed we are using Vensim, too.) Notably, SD requires quantitative data and focuses dynamic aspects.

And there are several other approaches to model (and visualize) relevant system aspects, e.g. causal loop diagrams (often semantically imprecise and difficult to process), UML diagrams (quite complex, originally designed to describe software-artifacts, but offering support to describe activities, interactions etc.), knowledge-based systems (focusing logical qualitative reasoning, but requiring deeper mathematical/informatical skills), material-flow descriptions (neglecting social aspects of sustainable development), etc.

Maybe we need a visual language that is operating on a higher abstraction level. Ideally, this language should easily be learnt, provide bridges between disciplines and methodologies ("lingua franca"), allow to discuss models and support co-operative model development (or "model evolution", to follow Earl Bailey's thoughts earlier in this thread). - Are these objectives too ambitious?

Here in this article it is completely different. (The Role of Measuring in the Learning of Environmental Occupations and Some Aspects of Environmental Methodology

 Universal Journal of Educational Research 4(6): 1357-1365, 2016)

The instrument works by measuring the intricate understanding of the illustrative figures broken down into stages using a computer program (Macromedia Flash 8.0).