Changing behaviour starts not with communication, but with redesigning the environment. Systems design is the art of building contexts that make the right behaviour the path of least resistance.
13 articlesChoice architecture is the deliberate design of the environment in which people make decisions. Whoever designs the context, designs the behaviour.
Defaults are the most powerful tool in the behavioural designer's arsenal. The default option is followed by the vast majority of people - by design.
Friction is anything that makes behaviour harder. Good systems design knows when to add friction and when to remove it entirely.
A commitment device is a self-imposed constraint that steers future behaviour. How to design them and when they work.
Nudging is the subtle adjustment of choice architecture to guide behaviour without restricting freedom. The essence of systems design in practice.
Danish cohousing developments are built around shared kitchens, common rooms, and paths that route residents past each other's front doors. Neighbours do n
A residential building in Christiania, Copenhagen, was redesigned so every resident passes through a shared courtyard to reach their front door. The shared
Grorudalen, Oslo, redesigned shared spaces across a multiethnic neighbourhood - playgrounds rebuilt together, a jointly tended community garden, a shared s
The cities where residents walk and cycle the most have not solved the motivation problem. They have solved the design problem. Separated cycle paths, shor
Albert Lea, Minnesota enrolled in the Blue Zones Project and redesigned its sidewalks, school lunches, and walking clubs. Residents did not get more inform
Copenhagen's age-friendly redesign added benches at the right height, removed kerbs, and installed handrails that make walking to the local shop possible r
Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan organically developed a market street, Za'atari's Champs-Élysées, where residents opened shops, traded goods, and rebuilt th
Jane Jacobs showed that safe streets depend on active frontages and natural surveillance, not on lighting and locks alone. When a street has windows that l