The ‘Boundary Idea’ in Sustainability & Sustainable Development

Weaver, Miles; Fonseca, Ana Paula; Tan, Hock

Abstract

The grand challenges businesses and society face are complex and messy. These challenges are articulated in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), outlining the economic, social, and environmental goals to be attained by 2030. The SDGs highlight many “wicked problems”, and perhaps the sheer complexity, messiness, interdependences and need for cross-sector and multi-actor working make attaining these goals the ultimate wicked problem (Weaver et al., 2020). Leading organisations such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO, WHO, and other industry sectors declare systems thinking an essential leadership skill (Jackson, 2019). The paper is twofold. Firstly, the authors suggest a review of systems thinking to embed sustainability and its system approach in supporting the actors involved to accelerate the progress towards the SDGs. We introduce the concept of systemic sustainability (first coined by Laszlo and Laszlo, 2011) – moving the actors from ego (purposeful activity from people(s) perspectives) to ecosystems thinking (to co-exist in partnership with the living systems of our environment). Secondly, we propose to advance this concept by incorporating the ‘boundary idea’ and elements of critical systems heuristics (e.g., Ulrich and Reynolds, 2020; Ulrich, 2012a, 2012b). The authors propose that space should be available for reconciling differing worldviews to determine where a sense of purposefulness and values come from between stakeholders involved and affected by purposeful business activity. Going beyond a meaningful engagement with stakeholders to truly appreciate business interdependencies with individuals, communities, and nature (including absent voices for future generations and planetary pressures). Towards a circular economy and supply chains that requires systems to be both regenerative and restorative. To do so three critical boundary judgements should be reflected upon: stakeholders issues/concerns; value(s) and impact, opening new avenues for future research.

Citation

Weaver, M., Fonseca, A. P., & Tan, H. (2024, September). The ‘Boundary Idea’ in Sustainability & Sustainable Development. Presented at OR66 Operational Research Conference 2024, Bangor, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: OR66 Operational Research Conference 2024
• Start Date: Sep 10, 2024
• End Date: Sep 12, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Systems thinking for Sustainability; Systemic Sustainability; Community OR; purposeful business; boundary critique