Problematique Dialogue was an intensive, five-day experience to learn, apply, & adapt the Banathy Conversation Methodology for generative dialogue, toward greater understanding & positive change in the face of proliferating, interconnected, wicked problems and opportunities. The gathering was planned, co-designed, and attended by thirty-five leaders and learners from across our regional community of systems thinkers and systemic designers, in an intentional continuation of traditions first developed amongst systems researchers, five decades ago.
“A set of two or more interdependent problems constitutes a system. The French call such a system a problématique; for lack of a corresponding word in English, I call it a mess.... If planning involved only independent problems — it would be nothing but multiple problem solving.”
—Russell Ackoff, 1982, Our Changing Concept of Planning
The event took place May 10–15, 2026, hosted by OCAD University’s School of Graduate Studies in Toronto, Canada. Details and perspectives from the event are currently in preparation, including Proceedings. For additional materials, please revisit, and inquire with the organizers.
The first Problematique Dialogue, applying the Banathy Conversation Method, was convened as a five-day immersive in-person event, May 10-15, 2026. In anticipation of published proceedings, and plans for a subsequent annual event… Continue
This paper from RSD7 explains the power of systemic design to bring positive change & unintended consequences. We argue for alloying systemic design with ethics, social justice & data literacy. Read the paper.
Pre-competitive purposes / innovation / research / collaboration refers to early stage, multi-sector, “market development” efforts that aim to open up space and capacity for cooperation & competition by developing knowledge, expectations, standards.