The Flourishing Cities FrameworkSystemic Civil Planning for an Urban Business Model

Copyright © 2015, Peter Jones

The Flourishing CitiesFramework

Systemic Civil Planning foran Urban Business Model

Peter Jones, PhDOCAD University, Toronto

URBAN ECOLOGIESJune 19, 2015


Context & Purpose

• Purpose of the workshop– Present & engage critically with new framework– Adapt & reconstruct Flourishing as social intent– Adapt co-creative business model thinking

• Future Outcomes– Co-design artifact for both innovation & critique– Systemic thinking tool for citizen participation– A shared language for flourishing


Workshop approach

1. Introduction to Flourishing concepts & research

2. Flourishing Business / Cities Canvases

3. Small Group Design Dialogues

4. Discussions


What do we want from sustainability?“The possibility that human & otherlife will flourish on this planetforever” John Ehrenfeld, MIT

• Audacious• Inspirational• Attractive• Universal• Pragmatic• Values-centred• Continuous

Flourishing - A goal worthy of our vision

Ask yourself, what is it that sustainability sustains over time, and why?(“Strong Sustainability” Is this the same as Thrivability?)


Clean air & water Vibrant soil for food Healthy eco-systemscreating materials for us &rendering our wastesharmless

Trusting relationshipsfocused on well-beingwith all our fellowcitizens (neighbours,communities, cities, regions& countries)

Organizations co-operate,collaborate & compete tobest meet our needstoday & in future, whilecreating the wealth tomeet shared needs(education, infrastructure, etc.)

Individuals choosing toflourish emotionally,spiritually, physically,practically, artistically &economically

Requirements for Flourishing…Big Picture

Macro: Natural Sciences

Micro: Physiology, Psychology, etc.Meso: Businesses, Organizations, etc.

Macro: Cities, Places,Social Systems


“Eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the worldeconomy and correcting models of growth which have provedincapable of ensuring respect for the environment”

Pope Benedict XVI

“Caring for ecosystems demands far-sightedness, since noone looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested intheir preservation. But the cost of the damage caused bysuch selfish lack of concern is much greater than theeconomic benefits to be obtained. Where certain speciesare destroyed or seriously harmed, the values involved areincalculable. We can be silent witnesses to terribleinjustices if we think that we can obtain significant benefitsby making the rest of humanity, present and future, paythe extremely high costs of environmental deterioration.”

Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato Si , June 19, 2015


Why would we start withbusiness models?


Business Model Canvas – the Language of Profit Prioritizing Business

Enables StrategicDiscussion

Makes UsCreative

New IdeaTemplate Fast to

Use

ClarifiesThinking

Enable BetterConversationsand Decisions

Understandcustomers Alignment – get’s us

all on the same page

Shared Languagefor all Depts.& Locations

Helps Tell Our Story to…Investors, Customers,

Suppliers, New Employees

Creates aSense ofUrgency

BetterTeamwork

*From “The business model canvas – why and how organizations around the world adopt it – a Field Report”http://blog.strategyzer.com/posts/2015/2/9/why-and-how-organizations-around-the-world-apply-the-business-model-canvas

Focus Quicklyon Best Ideas

We Can ActImmediately on

Our Ideas

InspiresInnovation

DrivesEffective

Collaboration


A Vision for the Future of Business*

We imagine a world where business• No longer merely attempts to do less harm• Strives toward the possibility of flourishing• Creates “tri-impact” by being tri-profitable

Financially rewardingSocially beneficialEnvironmentally regenerative

* Increasingly shared: see recent Flourishing & Prosperous BusinessConference (www.globalforumbawb.com), the book“The Flourishing Enterprise” by Laszlo, Brown, Ehrenfeld et. al. andthe Future Fit Business Benchmark (www.FutureFitBusiness.org)

OPEN meetings of the StronglySustainable Business Model Group(SSBMG) at sLab 2nd Tuesdays 4:30


A business model is a description of how an organizationdefines and achieves success over time.

New mode of co-creative planning & design• Consistent with systems & social thinkers

(Ulrich, Law, Beck, Giddens, Ozbekhan)• Every stakeholder has perspective, values, relations

And opportunity to contribute to evolutionary design

• Creates “tri-impact” by being tri-profitable– Financially rewarding– Socially beneficial– Environmentally regenerative


• A common language to collaboratively sketch,prototype, design, share, measure, diagnose & tellstories about a flourishing business model

• Based on 3 years of graduate research + 3 years ofpractice community R&D.

• Ontology & visual canvas - Built upon Osterwalder’ssuccessful Business Model Canvas & PhD


Three Contexts for Business – And Cities?

Social &Technological

Physical,Chemical &Biological

Monetary

V2.0© Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2014 All rights reserved.

Each and every business relates to all threecontexts - The environment that supports asociety that creates economies


Outcomes

Process Value People

Perspectives on a Business Model

Who does abusiness do itto, for andwith?

What does a business donow and in the future?

How, where &with what does

the businessdo it?

Why: How does abusiness define &measure success?(in Environmental, Social& Monetary units)


Relating Contexts to Perspectives



Describe What’s Unique… & Shared

Unique to this businessEverythingshared with

everyone

Common toeveryone &everything


We must identify boundaries,what is unique about thisbusiness model and what isshared by all organizations

Or institutions such as cities.


Describe What’s Unique… & Shared


Unique to thisbusiness

Everythingshared with

everyone

Common toeveryone &everything


In pairs… generate & discuss

What are 2 things a business requiresto create the possibility for flourishingfor itself & all stakeholders?

Start with business models …


If we can define a business operating systemon a visual map, can we do the same for cityplanning, decision-making, & government?

Let’s start with a flourishing business model.

A Goal of Workshop

Center for Urban Pedagogy


FBC Case - Tiffinday• Delivers hot lunches to office workers in

downtown area in reusable metalcontainers (Tiffins) – collected next day– Customers: single white men

• Recipes, containers and servicemodeled on typical South Asianpractices

• Website to place orders• Operating for 4 years; profitable• Located in North American urban centre


A Flourishing Philosophy

“I believe that the very act of revenue generation

whether it be as:a government earning taxes

a corporation earning revenues oran individual earning a salary

is pointless…

unless it improveslives and communities.”

Seema PabariFounder & CEO of Tiffinday


Seema PabariFounder & CEO Tiffinday

…and her son

• Plant-based recipes (vegan)– If everyone in U.S. ate no meat or cheese

just 1 day a week for a year = 91 billionmiles or removing 7.6 million cars

• Employees are new immigrantmothers available to work whilechildren in school– Includes founder – a single mother

• Delivery via electric vehicle• Shared resources: Kitchen and chef via

arrangement with established veganrestaurant

• Maximize purchases from LocalSustainable certified farms (organic +local + worker welfare)

• Certified Benefit Corporation - 80/200

MoreFacts


Tiffinday’s Goals

• Improving Lives and Communities byBuilding on South Asian Culture (B-02)

• Contribute to a Healthy Environment (B-03)

EnvironmentalSocialFinancialContexts:Goals:

• Sufficient Profitability (A-01)

B

• Having Time to Be a Mother (B-01)

Based on the founder’s values, we now have a rich basis forunderstanding this business:Who – People, What – Value, and How – Process

Copyright © 2015, Peter JonesSimplified for workshop / © Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2014 All rights reserved.

Tiffinday Business Model

V3.40 on FBC v2.0


We ask 20 Questions:SSBM Ontology Flourishing City

1. Actor2. Needs3. Stakeholders Citizens & community participants4. Relationships5. Channels6. Value Propositions Institutions & organizations7. Organization Communications & deliberation8. Decisions Value Co-Creation /Co-Destruction9. Partnerships Processes10. Resourcs Assets11. Biophysical Stocks Partners in Services12. Activities Governing13. Ecosystem Services Accountabilities14. Success15. Tri-profit “16. Valuation method “17. Processes18. Costs19. Revenues20. Assets


Narayana Health


A Community Business Model?

• Can we create a process for participatorysystemic civil planning ?

• Can we adapt the FBC as a planning tool?• Would a canvas be sensitive to capturing

stakeholders & community proposals?• Do the Flourishing distinctions provide

guidance for a sustainability case?






Group Exercise

• Form 6 groups - Handouts & Canvas prints• Assign Contexts or Perspectives per group

1. Environment + Eco-Resources2. Society + Actors & Needs3. City or Community Definition (+ Economy)4. Resources & Assets + Value5. People + Value6. Accountabilities + Value


Using the 20 Questions …

• Our default flourishing city is the “possiblefuture Toronto.”

• Generate responses on notes that presentan ideal model of ecological balance.

• Within your group’s focus, extend ideas tothe adjacent entities where needed.

• Create a narrative or define a purpose.• We’ll share in 15 minutes & integrate.


Concluding Questions

• How might this model enable conversations forFlourishing?

• What are the relationships between business &social ecologies in a place?

• How might we get started with this approach inpolicy debates?

• How could this become a practical, usable modelfor engagement?


REFERENCES

• Upward, A. and Jones, P. (2015). An Ontology for Strongly SustainableBusiness Models: Defining an Enterprise Framework Compatible with Naturaland Social Science. Organization and Environment (in press).

• Jones, P. (2014). Caring for the Future: The Systemic Design of FlourishingEnterprises. In Proceedings of RSD3, Third Symposium of Relating SystemsThinking to Design. Oslo.

• Jones, P. (2014). Systemic design principles for complex social systems. In G.Metcalf (ed.), Social Systems and Design, Volume 1 of the Translational SystemsScience Series, pp 91-128. Springer Japan.

• Weigand, K., Flanagan, TR, Dye, KMC, and Jones, P. (2014).Collaborativeforesight: Complementing long-horizon strategic planning. TechnologicalForecasting & Social Change, 85, 134–152.

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