Embracing the challenge of multisolving
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Many of the big, complex problems we face cannot be resolved without acknowledging their inter-connections. Multi-solving is based on the idea that “siloed” thinking is part of the problem. Only by working to find solutions that “float more boats” can we access the innovation generated in working across diverse sectors and create truly equitable solutions.
I was introduced to “multisolving” by a group of high-rise residents in Scarborough in 2010. TAF had a program to increase use of LED lighting in parking lots. We’d worked with the lighting product developers, the police, electrical engineers, and building managers and owners to see what might work and selected some options for pilot testing. Some of the most promising savings came from combining LED lights with motion sensors and dimming technology that turned lights way down when the garage was unoccupied. We wanted to know how tenants felt about the options, concerned they might feel a reduction in parking garage lighting associated with the dimmers would compromise their safety.
To find out, we organized a tenant tour of the pilot site so people could experience the new lighting arrangements and provide feedback. We gathered in the party room of the building and then we all trooped down to the parking garage to take a stroll. The insights we got that evening proved extremely valuable, and a bit surprising, too. When we pushed open the pedestrian entrance door, the dimmed lights blazed on. We demonstrated how zoned lighting in the garage was triggered by motion sensors. Far from finding the light-dimming system a safety concern, residents liked what they called the new “light brightening” technology, which was how they perceived it as dimmed lights pulled up to full upon entrance to the garage. They also appreciated that anyone lurking in the garage would trigger lights to come on and alert you to their presence.
I was pleased with the outcome of the resident tour. We had the support of tenants for the new lighting, and – without actually planning it – had addressed energy efficiency and public safety concerns with one technological solution. But what I really learned was that we had made a mistake.
I realized that we should have engaged residents before we embarked on our lighting retrofit project, to understand what their needs were concerning use of the garage. I wondered how many other potential benefits we missed by focusing only on energy savings.
I realized that we should have engaged residents before we embarked on our lighting retrofit project, to understand what their needs were concerning use of the garage. I wondered how many other potential benefits we missed by focusing only on energy savings.
Seeing the connections – a new type of design thinking
A deepening gap between rich and poor. Indigenous Reconciliation. Mass global migration and conflict. A global pandemic. Housing Affordability. Embedded racism. Climate change. While there are good reasons to focus on one thing at a time, there is a growing sense that many of the big, complex problems we face cannot be resolved without acknowledging their common roots and inter-connections. Multi-solving is based on the idea that “siloed” thinking is part of the problem. Only by working to find solutions that “float more boats” will we access the innovation generated in working across diverse sectors; build the necessary constituencies of support to make tough political decisions that last more than one election cycle; and create truly equitable solutions.
Last year, TAF and Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) partnered with the Centre for Social Innovation to create an online game to help people learn how to design climate programs to solve multiple issues at once. The Multi-Solving Challenge Game took flight, with 100 gamers giving it a go and providing feedback on their experience on this type of integrated, silo-busting design, and on design principles needed to do this work well. See this summary to find out more, or to set up a game for your team. And earlier this month, Dr. Elizabeth Sawin, the academic who first coined the term “multisolving” launched a dedicated Multisolving Institute to help advance the field.
Along with our colleagues at Low Carbon Cities Canada, TAF is fully committed to supporting climate projects that delivered other benefits, confirmed by adoption as of January 2022 of a co-benefits metric to assess our work. The co-benefits metric, one of six metrics shared throughout the LC3 Network, is informed by a new theory of change that takes a more systems-focused, inter-sectional view of climate solutions. We’re excited to be evolving our practice and to be working within the LC3 Network to compare notes on this challenging work. We’d love to hear from you about where you see the connections between key climate actions the other challenges we are facing as a society. What connects high-impact climate actions – electrified transportation, super energy efficient buildings, reduced consumption and waste – with the toughest issues we are facing in our cities – a housing affordability crisis, a widening inequity gap, and a global pandemic?
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This idea of “multi-solving” is one goal that is taught everywhere CONSIDERATE educators, planners, architects, designers, activists and environmentalists are. It might be called other names but the principle is there with any if them who are worthwhile. This is what I refer to as “Intelligent Design”.
Every building affects not only the occupant but society at large.
Energy efficient buildings cost less to operate and if these savings are passed on to the occupants they are more affordable, yet buildings are continually designed to meet code requirements instead of optimizing their performance. Existing buildings with no insulation and crappy windows not only cost a lot to operate but they create opportunities for mould growth and are not usually ventilated well. Expenses are passed on to the occupant, and our government healthcare system.
Heavily insulated buildings have more capacity for passive survivability. This is an important factor going forward into an era with more severe and frequent weather events.
Not every property has the capacity for renewable energy production. Microgrids are important to support not only net zero buildings but also electric transportation systems.
Our space standards for living have drastically changed, and with it, our capacity to store more stuff. We fill our spaces instead of reducing our consumption and waste.
Retrofitting our existing buildings is the opportunity of our lifetime for stimulating our economy with jobs in manufacturing and trades. We need to attract people into this work, train them properly, and build supply chains for the products that are needed. This can provide more equitable and reliable work for thousands of people in this generation.