Systems Dynamics, Sustainability and Construction Complexity

This paper analyzes the work of Forrester and Sterman (J. W. Forrester Chair at MIT) to establish that these reliable studies address sustainability challenges such as emissions generation. However, these studies do not fully address whether the proposed required reductions in ecological impact can be realized to tame the observed growth rates. The Systems Dynamics models are based on algorithms with chaotic assumptions. In other words: there are no available system representations of complex systems that can serve as the basis for studying long-term sustainability through the twenty-first century. This lack of realistic systems representation of ‘wicked’ complex problems is the major constraint, not the number crunching capabilities of technology. Behind the lack of realistic systems representation is a deficient worldview that informs the philosophical and scientific constructs used to generate the modelling processes. This paper proposes a new model for analyzing complexity, using as a basis the reasoning of vectorial calculus.