Be Water, My Friend: Water as a Model for Complexity
This mental model uses water's fluidity to represent the Complex domain, contrasting it with the ordered solid state and chaotic gas state. It applies Daoist principles to contemporary water management, contrasting rigid, control-focused approaches like the Three Gorges Dam with adaptive, holistic strategies like China's sponge cities.
THE IDEA
“Be water, my friend.”
I have developed a penchant for thinking about water - the nature of water, and its management - when considering Complexity and the Dao. I find it apt, and Dave has also used the different states of water to illustrate the difference between domains. Liquid water serves as a metaphor for the Complex domain, ice for the Ordered domains, and vapor for Chaos. The analogy concerns fluidity and constraint; it is not a physical measure of the energy efficiency of a social system.
In the traditional Yellow River story, Gun seeks to contain floodwaters while Yu works with their flow. Floods continue to be a threat to our living environments. Rapid urbanization, global warming, and rising sea levels compound to make water management more pertinent than it was in 2000 BC. Two contemporary water-management approaches illustrate the comparison:
- Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China
The dam was first envisioned by Sun Yat-sen in 1919, and the ambition transferred from government to government over the years that lapsed till 2003. Constructed over nine years, from 2003 to 2012, the Three Gorges Dam was developed to control flooding and harness the river’s current for hydro-electricity. Adopting an approach similar to Gun’s of seeking to control water flow, the dam is a modern engineering feat: made of concrete and steel, and costing U.S. $32 billion. The dam produces hydroelectricity, alongside the environmental effects described below. However, the rigid constraint imposed by the dam holds the mass and pressure of a 410-mile long reservoir of moving water. This added pressure has increased the danger of earthquakes and landslides in the region. It has also caused residents in a downstream province to lose access to drinking water. The dam solved a resource problem but created geological and ecosystem challenges. In early July 2020, officials had to open their discharging outlets to ease pressure, contributing to one of three floods that plagued the Yangtze River and surrounding regions.
The dam illustrates a tradeoff: flood control and electricity generation can create other geological and ecosystem pressures.
- Sponge Cities, China
All coastal cities are facing sea-level rise. Asian cities are in for a particularly rough ride... populations of coastal cities are bulging: about four out of every five people impacted by sea-level rise by the middle of this century will live in East or South-East Asia. To tackle the issue of rising sea levels, select Chinese cities have started investing in the development of “sponge cities.” They have recognized that hard engineering alone is not enough. Strategies have to involve environmental and people-based approaches. The goal is to distribute absorption capacity across targeted areas. They are covering roofs with plants, and cultivating wetlands along coasts. Reconstruction of pavements with permeable materials is underway. This will allow the storage of excess water, and allow for evaporation, which will moderate temperatures. The source also cites a projected 70% to 80% reuse of wastewater.
The author relates this distributed approach to adaptive practice and the Dao. Its success depends on local conditions, maintenance, and how it works with the rest of the water-management system.
When to use it
Comparing seawalls, drainage, permeable surfaces, and wetlands when designing a city’s flood-management strategy.
Managing a team project in a rapidly changing market: apply a rigid project plan (like the dam) or use agile, iterative methods that adapt to feedback (like sponge cities).
Addressing personal stress: rigidly suppress or control stress (like damming emotions) versus creating flexible coping mechanisms (like meditation, exercise, social support) that absorb and release tension.
Assessing how rain gardens and bioswales could complement pipes and drains in a city’s stormwater system.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Three Gorges Dam (Rigid Control)
A massive concrete and steel dam built to control flooding and generate hydroelectricity. While it reduced flood risk and produced clean energy, it increased geological instability (earthquakes, landslides) and caused downstream water access issues, illustrating the unintended consequences of a rigid, control-oriented approach in a complex system.
Sponge Cities (Adaptive Holistic)
Green roofs, permeable pavement, and wetlands distribute a city’s capacity to absorb and store stormwater. The author uses these sponge-city measures to illustrate adaptation through many local interventions.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What is one area in your life or work where you are applying a rigid 'dam-like' solution? How might a more fluid, adaptive 'sponge city' approach yield better long-term outcomes?
Where could you allow a process to adapt through feedback? Which constraints would it still need?
The text contrasts Gun's control approach with Yu's adaptive approach. Can you identify a problem where you've tried to 'control the flow' and it created new problems? What would a complementary, holistic strategy look like?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World ED02 (Dave Snowden Sonja Blignaut Zhen Goh)