Sustainable Project Network — Our first Quest
We are a team of four Digital Transformation Design trainees from the Systems for Sharing track of the Spring 2021 semester at the Digital Society School. Our first quest in this journey of the Digital Transformation Intensive Program has reached the end (for now, let’s not forget how iterative this process is!). The time has come to reflect and share our findings and accomplishments from the discovery and empathize phase of the design process.
Finding Inspiration in nature
While diving into the research for our project, we had the opportunity to zoom-out and explore how the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals are intrinsically connected with it. This session of The Global Goals Jam featured invited international experts in the field of Sustainable Development to collaborate with the teams in helping us grasp how these goals could be translated into design principles.
After participating in an immersive exercise that involved listening to the Advancing Sustainable Solutions podcast episode about Storytelling for Sustainability while walking around and absorbing nature’s energy, we were left to think:
How can we connect Stakeholders Involved in Sustainability Efforts by taking inspiration from nature?
Stories allow us, in a compelling way, to envision a different future and perspective. By using storytelling as a tool to engage and to motivate people to imagine a sustainable future by emotionally connecting them with that vision, we conceptualized a communication system inspired by a natural ecosystem that facilitates the sharing of information among stakeholders.
What can we learn from a healthy ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. These symbiotic relationships based on mutualism and cooperation, happening organically throughout natural ecosystems, were our source of inspiration:
- Mother, ancient tree: Central communication tool which allows the rest of the forest to thrive.
- Small trees: The decentralised projects are fertilizers for the system. Represent the direct communication necessary between the projects that allow resource sharing.
- Animals: Awareness and access. These actants come to explore and decide whether to be a part of the Ecosystem.
- The Root system: The platform, facilitates and structures communication.
- The Nutrients: Different communication channels (i.e. Microsoft Teams — Emails — Canva — Slack).
- The Oxygen: Actants freedom to integrate into the System at their own pace.
- The Light & the Shade: Balance between centralized and decentralized communication (Public — Private — Groups — Teams).
The Quest
The initial dive in the process was guided by the following proposition:
How might we understand the context in which the stakeholders interact with sustainability efforts within the university?
During this first Sprint, we were dedicated to the exploration of our design challenge through diverse in-depth research moments to understand the context around the stakeholders involved. Our main aim was to engage in conversations with the different actors (students, facility and policy staff, educational body, Green Offices and teams working in sustainability projects) and empathize with their perspectives and needs.
Quest Tools
Research & Empathize methodologies:
- Design thinking Methods (empathy phase);
- Semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders on general and specific questions about sustainability and its communication;
- Context Analysis — PESTEL and Organisational framework;
- Desk research;
- Internal Benchmarking — SWOT Analysis;
- Stakeholder Mapping — Prioritization matrix.
Unlocked Achievements:
- Narrowing down of context.
- Definition of Problem statement, vision and mission.
- Discussion over challenges and responsibilities.
- Stakeholder System Map.
Context
We are before a growing urgency to address sustainability as a priority topic on a global scale and, therefore, with the necessity of national and local commitments. In all spheres — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal, The Netherlands and the municipality of Amsterdam and its institutions are taking action towards the achievement of a Circular Economy and the 2030 UN Agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals.
In accordance, both Uva and HvA envision to become an example as the most sustainable universities in terms of resource management to adhere to Amsterdam’s strategy of becoming the frontrunner in the circular economy by 2024 (a collaboration between the Municipality of Amsterdam, Dutch central Government and European Union to work on policy choices to make the world cleaner and society more equitable). The universities aim to update their sustainability goals in every fibre, by effectively changing behaviour on a community level to shift to more sustainable administration and services. To achieve that, not only the focus of the contract for waste and disposal managing partner’s needs to shift to more sustainable measures but also a shared sense of community around sustainability efforts should be fostered.
That is where the Sustainable Network Project comes in!
Problem Statement
There are many initiatives at HvA & UvA regarding sustainable efforts, but there is a lack of proactive communication, awareness, and resource sharing. That’s because there is a perceived lack of effective communication about the shared purpose within the community which leads to low interest and involvement.
Our Vision
Create a system that involves the sustainability community to build on each other’s work intending to have a more tangible impact on sustainability projects in HvA and UvA to make use of that outcome in a broader perspective in Amsterdam and embody the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Our Mission
Designing a communication system that is more efficient and effective at involving people in sustainability efforts within the University community. This will be achieved by empathizing with the stakeholders’ needs, ensuring clarity and effectiveness in their relationship to sustainability projects.
Challenges and responsibilities
Our challenge is to understand the relationship between the parties, empathizing with their wishes and needs, and identify the pain point that has been stopping the communication network to be clear to all participants used to its full potential.
Our responsibility is to create an environment that provides the possibilities for the parties involved and the external community to discover, keep track of, and exchange information and resources regarding sustainable efforts within the HvA & UvA. This way, staff and students know where to go when they want to express their ideas and participate and design waste is prevented.
Stakeholder System Map
As a result of our stakeholder analysis, interviews and platform analysis we created a stakeholder system map to visualise the current state of the communication network as we see it so far.
We started by splitting up the stakeholders into two distinct groups: the active organisations and the connected actors. Then, we used different coloured lines to show the purpose of different communication channels, as well as different types of lines to show their performance. Finally, we added icons to indicate which platforms were being used in the respective channels of communication.
Some lessons and opportunities we have learned for the next quest
Throughout this first sprint, we have learned a lot about the context of the stakeholders, which has enabled us to understand the current situation of the sustainability community within the UvA and HvA. We learned about the hierarchy and communication between stakeholders to prioritise them in a meaningful way for our project.
- The Green Office plays a central role in a currently decentralised communication system.
- We need to think about which communication needs to be centralized communication through a specific platform and which communications need to be decentralized and direct.
- There is a lack of time and motivation from students to get involved with sustainability matters, so there is a need to strengthen its promotion to tap into the students’ interest to engage.
- Slow progress seems to be happening due to lack of engagement, so improving the communication of the upper management would make transparent their intentions.
- Design waste from projects is getting lost, so there is a need to organise and foster resource sharing.
This has given us a decent basis to continue empathising with stakeholders as we gained a clear picture of their situation with its benefits and shortcomings. We have also identified some key opportunities and threats to serve as a foundation for ideation when we get there.
Follow our Journey
- Go take a look at Our Call to Adventure
- Check our project’s web page
- Keep an eye on our breakthroughs on Medium
