Open lezing Miguel Pantalon: Toolkit: The power of Meta Causal Loop Diagrams, applied to the circular economy.

The systemic toolkit is comprehensive. A causal loop diagram occupies a special place among them. Indeed, it helps to name the specific dynamics in contexts by exploring the dynamic properties associated with our concepts and critically questioning the positive and negative feedback mechanisms.

In spring 2023, a working group led by Miguel Pantalon set about applying causal loop diagramming to the broad domain of circular economy, and more specifically the food system. This led to surprising insights that had hitherto remained beyond the scope of policymakers. But at the same time, it was an exploration of the limits of this systemic methodology and a discovery of how other systems methodologies, such as critical systems methodology, can work enrichingly.

Miguel takes us on an applied take on the essence of the method and some insights that the application inherited.

Miguel Pantalon is a systems-thinking activist and president of SCiO-Spain. Since 2021 Miguel has been working on pushing the boundaries of the causal loop diagram as an analytical and strategic tool. He developed MetaCausalLoopDiagrams to complement the logical cause-effect analysis with a power network and incentive structure to clarify complex social problems. He uses Neo4j as the underlying technology to apply pattern recognition and query capacities and simplify the maps' visualization. In Dialectiq.org he collaborates with PeaceRep applying these Meta Causal Loop Diagrams in rethinking peace & transition processes in a changing conflict landscape.