Dr Henk Roodt – Sustainable Lens

Dr Dominique Hes is a Senior Lecturer Melbourne School of Design, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning. She is director of the Thrive Research Hub and co-author of Designing for Hope: pathways to Regenerative sustainability. We talk about enriching relationships and designing for possibility.

Samuel Mann with Dominque Hes [ 52:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Talking points

Happiness not wealth

We’re not trained to think of ourselves as nature

Enriching relationships

Designing for possibility

Aim for potential – not just solving a problem

The machine doesn’t know how to break the rules

We’re just aiming for sustaining when we need to be aiming for thriving

Identifying the irresistible narrative – the capacity to develop with positive ripples.

Sustainable: Sustainability is a part of the mechanistic worldview of us saying “how can we manage the system better?” I am critical about the definition of Sustainability, I align much closer to the definition for regenerative development which is to work on projects which increase the vitality, the viability to constructively adapt to change.

Success: Seeing the lights go on in my students eyes, seeing them change from passive consumers to active participants.

Superpower: My superpower is networking, remembering who I have met so that I can connect to them.

Activist: No, to be an activist it means if you don’t agree with me I’ve failed, instead I’m a educator. It’s up to you whether this story fits within your life, your narrative and your way of thinking, I’m not going to enforce it upon you.

Motivation: Curiosity, I’m curious about everything and its potential.

Challenges: I’m looking forward to learning how to slow down, as much as I am taking a time cut instead of a payrise, I still don’t really feel like I have the time to really read or reflect. So, I’ll be going back to two days a week as soon as I can to create that time.

Miracle: That people saw their potential in creating a thriving future, that people switched from passive consumption to active participation, being alert and present with the issues at hand.

Advice: Slow down, It’s as much about finding how you can thrive in the system as how you can help the system thrive!

This conversation was supported by Wintec‘s Centre for Transdisciplinary Research and Innovation.

Dr Henk Roodt on Sustainablelens.org [ 55:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rocket science is simple compared to the complex systems that involve modelling people and the environment.

Dr Henk Roodt knows about the development of technology. And about making that real. A Scientist/Engineer with 25+ years experience in high technology environments, he is currently Research Programmes Manager at Waikato Institute of Technology. We asked Henk to talk about his background (it’s rocket science), whether 3D printing will really change the world, and innovation processes as applied to Green-Tech. Henk is associated with Audacious – Dunedin’s student business incubator, where he is Entrepreneur in Residence.

Talking points:

It’s only when it is really big, and audacious that you go for it. Big things in the history of science were driven by real world problems.

Need to model the environment and the people at the same time. Not the physical model then slap in the people as an add-on. Start with people, the complexity of the people and their culture.

So how do you pitch the right level of modelling? (for complex problems such as hunger in Africa)…one of the things I’ve discovered is that doing mathematical models at that level is stupid. non-quantitative models, morphologies that show how things fit together, that opens up the discussion rather than bringing it into a fixed framework. A model like that gives you an instant picture at a moment in time. This sets the scene for the next level, and the next, the whole model is a work in progress.

Modelling systems is not like modelling airflow over the wing of an aircraft – sure that’s super-mathematics…but to model complex systems and people you often only need a piece of paper and a computer to help you look at all the options.

You have to make certain choices, and that comes down to ‘what are those guiding principles you have in your life that you are willing to live by?’. You have to set those up in your mind and listen carefully to that voice.

Opening up a social good category in Audacious meant they could put their emotions and their hearts into their businesses. They are mixing the social responsibility and the business – this is the edge that will deliver the social good.

I ask myself: can I change things by applying my skills?

Shane’s number of the week: 2.07&#176C is how much hotter the >Australian Spring was above average, producing the warmest spring on record.

Sam’s joined-up-thinking: Sam is working up a survey into the values and educational expectations of incoming IT students.

Henk described Ken Erwin’s book Communicating the New.