Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is built around a progression of structures.

• · Stocks and flows are the principal building blocks and prime movers of systems.
• · Infrastructures are the next step in the progression. Infrastructures vary in size and complexity. They are built up from various combinations of stocks and flows. In diagrammatic form connectors are lines that represent flows into and out of stocks.
• · Feedback loops are the final step in the progression. Feedback loops are the relationships that link stocks to flows in various ways. In so doing, they enable infrastructures to exhibit interesting dynamic behaviours, which determine the stability of the system which can be expressed as its reslience to bounce back after change.

The above diagram sets out the relationships between stocks and flows which define the human economy as a balance between inputs from commercial management of natural resources and their conservation.