BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

TENSEGRITY

← Back

"The overal tensile stresses of the entire system" (S. BEER, 1994, p.13)

This neologism is a contraction of "Tensile (or tensional) Integrity", an expression related to BUCKMINSTER FULLER's geometrical concept of the general conditions of equilibrium of complex structures, based on structural relationships.

BEER writes: "According to this, the wholeness, the INTEGRITY of the structure is guaranteed not by the local compressive stresses where structural members are joined together, but by the overall tensile stresses of the entire system" (p.13).

Tensegrity allows the redistribution of tensions within a structure submitted to deformations, provided each element in the structure (generally speaking struts and wires) can bear both tensions or compressions. Some structures of this type can even shift from one shape to another in reaction to external pressure, while still maintaining their general characteristics.

S. BEER relates tensegrity to the general notion of logical (or organizational) closure. He derived his concept of Syntegrity, as applied to human teams from the tensegrity model.

For more about tensegrity, see R. CONNELLY and Allen BACK (1998, p.142-151) and Martin BROOKES (1999, p.43-46).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint