Synthesis

Dear Dr Sha
 
When would be a good time to connect?  
 
I’d love to see the work you’ve done on experiential, (whole-body) immersive simulations of weather or of heatscapes + urban structures as vehicles for grappling with more general lessons about complex open-ended systems.  And of course, the Alternative Economy modelling. 
 
Let me know what works please?
Thanks and I really look forward to it!
 
Millie
 
 
From: Xin Wei Sha <Xinwei.Sha@asu.edu>
Date: Monday, February 17, 2020 at 6:00 PM
To: Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org>, Prateeksha Singh <prateeksha.singh@undp.org>, Milica Begovic <milica.begovic@undp.org>
Cc: Brandon Mechtley <bmechtley@asu.edu>, Ariane Middel <amiddel@asu.edu>, Andrew Luna <Andrew.Luna@asu.edu>

 
Dear Giulio, Prateeksha, and Millie, 
 
We also found it very inspiring and encouraging to talk with you and Prateeksha!   We approach this with some modesty, knowing that we rely on the deep experiences of everyone who has been grappling with world-scale matters whose complexity exceeds every expertise.
 
Our basic design approach is to be guided by some anthropological tact, and abductive methodology:
we’ll adapt techniques of articulation and observation as we go, based on access to technoscientific / conceptual / humanistic-artistic know-how.   We set up scenarios in which people can palpably encounter concepts and situations, and articulate their own variation.  This requires some in-depth preparation, so maybe I can start by witnessing present concerns and practices.
 
Let me respond more in detail inline.
 
Looking forward!
Xin Wei
 

On Feb 10, 2020, at 3:59 AM, Giulio Quaggiotto <giulio.quaggiotto@undp.org> wrote:
 
Dear Dr. Sha, all,
 
Thanks again for the call last week and for staying up so late to talk to boring UN bureaucrats!
 
At least on my side, I could not stop thinking about our conversation over the whole weekend. Thanks for the inspiration.
 
A few quick things as a follow up to what we discussed:
 

I mentioned the upcoming Istanbul Innovation Days event (April), which this year is focusing on Next Generation Economies. It’s a bit of a flagship event for us, which this year will involve also the Club of Rome. I mentioned to the organisers our brief exchange around your Alter-Eco work and the lines of inquiry you are pursuing around that. They are very much interested in following up with you to explore potential collaboration opportunities. If of interest, Millie (copied) can provide you with additional background.

 
Millie, thank you for the IID_SB.pdf; the “ Next Generation Economies” vent is tremendously exciting.   What are the dates for this event — and is it in NYC?  (In April 21-25, I will be in Copenhagen.)
 
It’d be great to participate in this discussion, to see how I / Synthesis  can best contribute this time around.  Perhaps we can connect with others interested in prototyping alternative ecology-economies and work on some experiments?
 
Would you like to send some possible times (time zone?)  for a phone or zoom conversation, cc. my assistant Andrew Luna ?
 

New York events/dinners: you mentioned that there might be an opportunity to open up the upcoming events you are planning in NY to UNDP participants. I already talked to Haoliang Xu, our Assistant Secretary General in NY and there’s definitely interest in pursuing this opportunity, if you think it’s feasible/appropriate, as a way to educate our senior managers on the possibilities opened up by your work. This is very much in line with our ambition to begin the journey of building new competencies to operate in complex systems. Grateful if you could let us know whether this might be something we can pursue (and if so, what would be the best way to make it all happen). Independently of the events, Haoliang has expressed interest in meeting with you when you are in NY, if you are available.

 
The events are still indeterminate, which is good.  We tailor the format and content of participatory events to the concerns and capacities of the participants.  The formats we’re considering include: (1) an “augmented" meal as a setting for informal but in-depth facilitated conversation, (2) an immersive “blackbox" space in which people can explore realtime responsive simulations of atmosphere or heatscapes.   This depends on local partnerships and sponsorships.
 

“Anthropology” of UNDP: we had some initial internal brainstorming around what/where might be the most useful conversations for you to be part of as a way to understand our current thinking and way of operating. We have at least a few organizational “use cases”/scenarios which we think might be helpful for you to be part of to assess how best the Synthesis center can help us moving forward. Happy to explore options around your upcoming trip to China (corona virus permitting!) or otherwise explore other dates for you to visit Bangkok and/or one of our country offices? 

 
The trip to Tsinghua and Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, which was set for early May, has been postponed due to the corona virus.  
 
Perhaps we can get a sense of current practices by witnessing work in whichever UNDP setting is most convenient and relevant.   
 

Again, our interest would be to eventually come up with some form of activity (workhop/training) that we can use to help colleagues (and government counterparts) have meaningful conversations around operating in complex systems (1. Why more data is not necessarily helpful; 2. What are the connections/interdependencies that our linear planning does not allow us to see; 3. What are options that we could explore that are equally plausible given the current state but we don’t usually consider, etc.)

 
Yes!  To be more effective, we’ll do some pedagogical preparation sensitive to the audience’s experience and expertises.   As we discussed, we could use the existing richly developed experiential, (whole-body) immersive simulations of weather or of heatscapes + urban structures as vehicles for grappling with more general lessons about complex open-ended systems.  
 
Or we could partner to design and compose some participatory, improvisatory events in which people can articulate alternative social forms, and prototype them at lifescale.  This would be a longer process, but this is what we’re prepared to engage in, with partners who have scenarios to explore, and who can marshal support for grappling with them.
 

Finally, grateful if you could share the dates of the October workshop in Malta if you have them already – never too early to put it on our radarscreen (assuming of course it’s open to our participation).

 
Let me consult the European Graduate School with which Synthesis co-convened the Alter-Eco colloquium last year.  I’m pretty sure the EGS would very much welcome this.   We need everyone at the table. 
 
Speaking of this, my senior advisors — Gary Dirks and Sander van Der Leeuw, at ASU — have both suggested engaging with the Club of Rome …
 
Sander van Der Leeuw, Social Sustainability, Past and Future, Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth's Survival (2020)
 

Thanks again for your time and consideration. Much appreciated.
 
Kind regards,
 

Giulio