Pattern Lab ­ a tool for Sustainable Development

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Pattern Lab – a tool for SD

The outer boundary of what we currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually must do. -- Al Gore, Nobel Acceptance, December 10, 2007 The planet isn’t waiting for humanity to get its sustainability act together. On the other hand: if we could implement today everything we already know (in principle), we’d be much further along the road to a sustainable society. The reasons why we are not collectively effective at putting our knowledge to work are connected with patterns of thought and patterns of behaviour; for instance, a basic, dysfunctional pattern is the belief that change is a linear process. Pattern Lab is a tool to help us to learn quicker, and to become much better at putting into practice what we learn – for instance by supplying models and tools for nonlinear change. It’s a ‘triple-loop learning’ tool for all stakeholders in the SD process. When to use: before, during or after a sustainable development project.

Objectives o To uncover embedded patterns of thought and behaviour that hold us back, and limit us to making changes – however good – that are far less than the potential best. o Double-loop learning: to enable us to learn from our own experience, positive and negative. o Triple-loop learning: to enable us to formulate what we learn in ways that are meaningful and easily accessible to others. o To build on learnings from others, so that each project leap-frogs its predecessors. o To liberate dormant creative forces (empowerment) focused on discovering functional alternatives to dysfunctional patterns (‘turnarounds’).

Global Action Plan (GAP) International Brovägen 9 SE-182 76 Stocksund, Sweden

tel +46-8612 1440 www.globalactionplan.com secretariat@globalactionplan.com


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