Narrative Ecology – Blog of Ron Donaldson – fACILITATOR, TRAINER AND COACH

Fireman Sam has taken ill so Winnie the Pooh has taken over this session on Affordances and their place in Estuarine Mapping. All the residents of the Night Garden are keen to uncover what they might do to shape their environment in ways that allow new solutions to emerge without trying to control the outcome. Makka Pakka (who is not dead despite some rumours circulating on line) is joyous at hearing this and wants to get straight out and wash some stones.

This is part three of twelve posts before Christmas reflecting on the components, tools and principles that I am most interested in, have found most useful, and make up my narrative ecologist identity.

This has to be the concept that has interested me the most over the years. Dave said a few years ago that he thought the Estuarine mapping was more important than cynefin and, from very early on, I agreed with him. Although Affordances on their own are just a part of estuarine mapping they are, for me, the easiest to implement in a one day workshop.

Affordances are a term used mostly in architecture to describe design features.

In design, affordance has a narrower meaning; it refers to possible actions that an actor can readily perceive. eg a chair affords sitting, while a doorknob affords turning. In psychology, affordance is what the environment offers the individual.

It is this second definition which is nearest to how (I think) Dave intends it. So when identifying affordances we are looking for the things that make success more likely. the people, features and landforms that make us more lucky, give us an unfair advantage and shift the energy gradient.

For my first example, I grasped the importance of it while gardening, or more specifically planning how I could tend our overgrown garden without having to climb so high up a big ladder. our old aluminium steps were an engagement present back in 1982 and were too small and so dangerous. I searched, found and bought a new set which had three great affordances.

They have two extra steps, which mean I can reach higher and don’t have to resort to our massive ladder. They have a big inverted U shaped top, well beyond the top step, which means I can lock my knees into it and keep myself very steady. They have handrails which means I can climb and descend more safely while carrying a huge Ryobi extended hedgetrimmer. My recommendation: get one now before you get old, your safety matters.

These three affordances have changed the substrate/landscape of my gardening. they keep me safer and make it much less likely that I will fall and break something (the number one thing to avoid as you get old).

The idea being that rather than just plan and set targets on what to do next (trim the hedges, prune the trees, tackle the pyracantha) I looked for the affordances that would:

create an ecology and change its energy gradient to make good things more likely to happen – Dave Snowden 2024.

For my second example, the place where affordances first got into my head was at Butlins during one of my long weekend Bootleg Ball festivals at SkegVegas on the Lincolnshire coast. Walking along the beach I wondered what affordances Billy Butlin had used over the years to develop the site in Skegness.

My photo of the Butlins Camp as seen from the beach. I think it has a very Dune like look and imagine having to wait for the Shai- Hulud sandworm to come and pick us up for the long journey back.

According to ‘The Lincolnshire Seaside’ book by Winston Kime, back in 1906 a group called Clements Entertainers used to put on regular shows on the sands and in the park in Skegness. By 1930 it had dancehalls and Pier shows that attracted the crowds. Billy Butlin in 1930 used this as an affordance in developing his idea for a self contained complex perfect for cheap family holidays, putting accomodation and entertainment together.

As the site grew, two very large entertainment venues were built, to entertain the kiddies but which afforded them to sell enormous quantities of alcohol (where the biggest profit lies) to the visiting parents.

In the 1980s when I was first attracted to a Butlins Rock and Blues Festival they had realised that these large venues were an affordance for weekend gatherings of music fans. the stages afforded perfect indoor venues during the winter closed season.

The success of the first festivals and all the lessons learned afforded experiments of the many other adult weekends now being offered: 60s, 70s, 80s, Soul, Indie, Folk, Rock and Blues and, my current favourite, the Bootleg Ball where every band is a tribute act.

Careful; curation of bands, done by Blues Matters for the Rock and Blues afforded bigger numbers.

They now do VIP passes, Inclusive food and drinks packages, early checkins, action passes all manner of adjacent possibles.

My third and final example is very recent. My Team Sunderland were recently promoted to the Premier League. In order to play against the big boys a lot of new players were precured. In order to tilt the balance a little more the management set about applying affordances alongside the usual training, set pieces and intelligence.

At one game they repeatedly watered the pitch right up till kickoff and during half time. This gave our team home advantage having practiced all week on a sodden pitch.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta recently suggested that:

Declan Rice is being trained to become their long-throw specialist

Sunderland knew this so they moved all of the advertising hordings in the Stadium of Light within a few feet of the sidelines so that Rice could not get a run up for his long throw. A great example of changing the environment to give Sunderland a slight advantage. We drew 2-2 with the top team in the league.

I have only recently dabbled with identifying affordances as part of a Participatory Narrative Inquiry based workshop but so far the signs are very good. Pulling out existing (and likely) affordances and their nemesis, disaffordances, brings out an additional rich set of ideas, additional to and supportive of the usual ‘what do we need to do’ ideas, in which the energy gradient of the system might be tilted in a more desirable direction.

Here the affordances (to be amplified) above the timeline in green and disaffordances (to be blocked or dampened) below in red. There will be much more on Future Backwards in a future post.

The fourth post (of 12) should appear here on Sunday and feature Insights before I venture into the mysterious world of TRIZ next week.

2026 seems like the right time for a final flourish. With all my favourite rock bands doing their Final Retirement Tours I figured that I should do something similar so if you are at all interested in anything I do, be it facilitated workshops, teaching, coaching or public speaking this may be your last chance to book me.