Current responses to our most pressing societal challenges—from poverty to ethnic conflict to climate change—are not working. These problems are incredibly dynamic and complex, involving an ever-shifting array of factors, actors, and circumstances. They demand a highly fluid and adaptive approach, yet we address them by devising fixed, long-term plans. Social labs, says Zaid Hassan, are a dramatically more effective response.

Social labs bring together a diverse a group of stakeholders—not to create yet another five-year plan but to develop a portfolio of prototype solutions, test those solutions in the real world, use the data to further refine them, and test them again. Hassan builds on a decade of experience—as well as drawing from cutting-edge research in complexity science, networking theory, and sociology—to explain the core principles and daily functioning of social labs, using examples of pioneering labs from around the world. He offers a new generation of problem solvers an effective, practical, and exciting new vision and guide.

Zaid Hassan is managing partner at the Oxford office of Reos Partners, an international organization dedicated to supporting and building capacity for innovative collective action in complex social systems. He has worked on many complex challenges all around the world, ranging from public health care to climate change to finance.

FOREWORD / Joi Ito, Director MIT Media Lab
PREFACE Notes from a practicing heart
INTRODUCTION WHAT ARE SOCIAL LABORATORIES?
Introducing the social lab
Playing In the World Cup
What Does it Mean to be Winning?
The Scale-Free Laboratory
A Cascade of Social Labs
CHAPTER 1 THE PERFECT STORM OF COMPLEXITY
The perfect challenge
What is a complex social challenge?
The futile optimism of optimization
Yemen as a natural experiment
Too big to fail, Too big to jail
CHAPTER 2 THE STRATEGIC VACUUM
Business-As-Usual
The Expert-Planning Paradigm
Flying autopilot in the perfect storm
A lack of genuine strategic intent
CHAPTER 3 THE SUSTAINABLE FOOD LAB: FROM FARM-TO-FORK
“Ten Global Problems In Ten Years”
The race to the bottom
The multiple & conflicting logics of food
Systemic spread betting
CHAPTER 4 THE BHAVISHYA LAB: THE SILENT EMERGENCY
The Indian Experiment
The Moonshot
Movement requires Friction
Fail early, Fail often
Business-As-Usual and It’s Radical Refusals
CHAPTER 5 THE NEW ECOLOGIES OF CAPITAL
The End of the Beginning
Emerging forms of capital
Preventing Collapse
The dumbest idea in the world
More rainforests, fewer plantations
CHAPTER 6 THE RISE OF THE AGILISTAS
Unlearning project management
The practical wisdom of social labs
Events rupture dispositions
The Right Stuff
CHAPTER 7 STEPS TOWARDS A THEORY OF SYSTEMIC ACTION
Slaves of some defunct economist
First Requirement - Constitute a diverse team
Second Requirement - Design an iterative process
Third Requirement - Create systemic spaces
CHAPTER 8 STARTING A SOCIAL LAB: 7 HOW-TO’S
Strategic versus Tactical Thinking
#1 Clarify Intention
#2 Broadcast Invitation & #3 Work Networks
#3 Work Your Networks
#4 Recruit Willing People & #5 Set Direction
#5 Set Direction
#6 Design In Stacks & #7 Find Cadence
#7 Find Cadence
CONCLUSION
NEXT-GEN SOCIAL LABORATORIES
Averting the Zombie Apocalypse
State Collapse: A stabilization strategy
Climate Change: A mitigation strategy
Community Resilience: An adaptation strategy
The battle of the parts versus the whole
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT REOS PARTNERS