Systemic Design as Born from the Berkeley Bubble Matrix

Abstract

From the early 1960s and continuing into the 1980s, an aggregation of exceptional scholars and professionals formed in the University of California, Berkeley environs, establishing a common bond amongst themselves and with other networks of scholars, students, and professionals globally. They were not in the same disciplines, specializations, or professional fields. They were colleagues sharing a common aspiration. What they shared was a deep interest in, and commitment to, the utility of systems thinking and design action as a means to secure improvements and advancements in the human condition. This common bond resulted in what I have called The Berkeley Bubble—which was internationally influential inside and outside of academia. Unfortunately, the Bubble began dissipating in the closing years of the last century, leaving generative echoes of the ideas incubated and matured in this unique crucible to influence future generations. This essay is a narrative account of the individuals involved—starting with a doctoral committee composed of some of the key people entrained in this bubble—of their influences on one another and on the world of practitioner-scholars worldwide continuing through today.