Metaphorum 2026 · Emerging Methods and Tools, and Contemporary Practice

Designing Viable Identity in Institutional Transitions: A VSM Reconstruction of the Total Veteran Framework

Purpose: This paper advances a VSM-based diagnostic contribution to sustainability governance by showing how urban organic-waste interventions become regressive when sustainability identity is not matched by requisite governance. Rather than assessing composting technologies or measuring impacts directly, it asks whether governance systems can validate, audit, learn from and correct organic-waste consequences. Methods: The paper develops a documentary and comparative VSM diagnosis of Bogotá and Mexico City. Policy, regulatory, institutional and scientific documents are coded across S1, S2, S3, S3*, S4 and S5, and assessed against seven non-negotiable conditions: environmental integrity, public health and biosecurity, scientific and technical evidence, intergenerational and territorial equity, responsible governance, socioeconomic viability and systemic viability. Findings: The comparison identifies two diagnostic pathologies. Bogotá illustrates recursive under-design: neighbourhood-level Paca Digestora Silva-related practices may be framed as community sustainability while prior agreement, site-specific validation, independent ecological audit and adaptive correction remain insufficiently documented. Mexico City illustrates regulated opacity: Basura Cero and the PGIR provide a more formal architecture, yet ecological performance may remain only partially verifiable if audit data are not public, independent and corrective. In both cases, the critical failure is weak coupling between S5 sustainability identity, S3* audit and S4 intelligence across recursive levels. Contributions: The paper offers a tangible VSM diagnostic framework for distinguishing sustainability claims from governed sustainability. It contributes to contemporary VSM practice by translating Beer’s functions and recursive logic into a method for diagnosing when urban sustainability systems can, or cannot, prove and correct what they claim to sustain. Impact: The framework supports systemic practitioners, municipalities and researchers in diagnosing whether sustainability systems can prove, learn from and correct what they claim to sustain. Speaker: Pedro Pablo Cardoso — University of Exeter / De Montfort University

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