The author and designer Manuel Lima has been discussing what it means to think in systems on LinkedIn, as well as how and why design thinking should become synonymous with network thinking. This has formed part of his promotion of his new book The New Designer: Rejecting Myths, Embracing Change (The MIT Press: 2023).

I was struck by the diagrams he has been sharing as part of these posts especially the intricate web of interdependencies behind the “Ecosystem of Wicked Problems” one by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler above (see more from Manuel on this here and here).

Could Smart Buildings also be seen an ‘Ecosystem of Wicked Problems’ given there is no single solution to solving the problem of designing, building and managing them?

And could that systems-type thinking be better way of stakeholder mapping, particularly when it comes to Customer Segments as buildings become more mixed use post-pandemic (e.g. office, retail, residential, etc). And perhaps around their different jobs-to-be-done, as well as pains and gains?