Does deepening understanding of social-ecological systems make sense? A partial success story from the Slufter, Texel.

The Slufter is an estuary located in Texel’s North Sea dunes and protects the hinterland from flooding from the North Sea. As the multi actor environment and the diversity of values and functions associated with the Slufter are recognized, this research focuses on developing an approach for the district water board to broaden the knowledge base and include stakeholder perspectives. The deepened system understanding is used in a knowledge intervention aimed at enhancing the long-term decision making on the inherently dynamic, coastal nature reserve. Although the knowledge intervention was possibly not as effective as it could have been, there are indications that synthesized system understanding can be useful in stakeholder settings. In particular, the information derived both from the model and the interviews with stakeholders provides an indication that a shared understanding of the ecological and social functions of the Slufter estuary can be enhanced by integrating a stakeholder approach and problem modeling. Also, practical implications for monitoring the inherently dynamic nature reserve. Further research should be aimed at development and verification the approach in order to have practical value for other projects within and beyond the district water board.Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and ManagementMulti Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

A System Dynamics Model For Deepening The Understanding Of Greater Kirkwood’s Water Supply System, South Africa

The provision of water and sanitation services to citizens living within the municipal boundaries is a struggle for the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM), South Africa. In this municipality, the interrupted operation of the water distribution system has led to perceptions of systemic social injustice that are rooted in the apartheid on the part of citizens. Overall, misconceptions and stakeholder's lack of a common understanding of the system complexity limit the cooperation between the stakeholders. In this project a system dynamics model is developed to serve as a tool to support strategic conversations concerning water supply between stakeholders in this part of rural South Africa. As such, the modeling objective of this project is defined as: "To deepen the understanding of the performance of Greater Kirkwood’s water supply system". During the model construction process and as these questions were answered, three key dilemma’s in management and operation of the water distribution in this part of rural South Africa have surfaced: technical system aspects versus perceived social systemic injustice; short-term supply disruptions versus long-term supply disruptions; adding pipeline infrastructure versus overall system capacity. These identified key dilemma’s should be used as input for strategic stakeholder conversations in order to open the ongoing discussions on responsibilities and water management in Sunday’s River Valley Municipality.Policy AnalysisMulti Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Application of a co-design process on a nature-based intervention in the coastal system of Texel, the Netherlands

The field of coastal management is characterized by a strong collaborative tradition and a willingness on the part of the coastal authorities who embrace listening and actively engaging with stakeholders. Nowadays, coastal policy making in the Netherlands is aiming for enhancing collaboration between different types of actors (e.g. local experts, specialized scientists, policy makers), to for integration at the level of the interface between scientific challenges and societal problems. In this paper we report case-specific, participatory co-design process that occurred in Texel, the Netherlands, where local stakeholders were asked to collaboratively design (“co-design”) utopian and dystopian future visions. We applied an action-type method that addresses the need for empirical exploration of underlying stakeholder values. Professionals with specialized expertise joined in transdisciplinary activities for co-design iteratively towards feasible solutions. Final designs were validated by local participants on value-consistency. A number of considerations contributed to the success of this collaborative and transdisciplinary approach: working directly and locally with local stakeholders; appreciating the local knowledge, stakeholder preferences and underlying stakeholder values; prioritizing a multi-directional flow of information; and engaging professional multidisciplinary specialists in the social-ecological system. Experiences gained from this approach can be used as input for next iterations of collaborative design activities, for the Texel coast and elsewhere

Criteria for a framework of analysis for transdisciplinary and collaborative co-design processes in coastal management

The long tradition of water management in the Netherlands went hand in hand with a long tradition of collaboration and a Dutch culture of making compromises. In this paper, we identify a number of practically recognizable criteria for evaluating collaborative design processes for problems within the coastal context. First, by examining the theoretical roots in literature. Second, experiential lessons drawn from a stakeholder-inclusive knowledge intervention on coastal management on Texel, the Netherlands. Insights are used to substantiate criteria for evaluating collaborative design processes in coastal management. By expressing our suite of theory-based and experiential-based criteria, we seek to collate these findings into an aggregated framework of a co-design process, and so to contribute to the enhancing the embedding of the concept of “co-design in coastal systems”

Flipping the Advanced System Dynamics classroom

This paper describes lessons learned while teaching Advanced System Dynamics, at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology. The course is an elective for Master students of the faculty who are already familiar with system dynamics modelling. We report on the course in the academic year 2014-2015, the first year in which a new teaching style was adopted - a “flipped classroom” approach was employed. In particular, the student and teacher evaluations of this approach which places student learning centrally are discussed. Conclusions on the usefulness and the role of flipping the classroom in system dynamics modelling are drawn. Further, this document includes the full lesson plan, and can be useful for other system dynamics teachers who are interested in adopting an active learning approach

A knowledge intervention to explore stakeholders’ understanding of a dynamic coastal nature reserve

As quantitative modelling can be used to build stakeholder understanding for management decisions, and can help build consensus (Stave, 2003), a system dynamics modelling study of the abiotic dynamics of an archetypical small estuary, the Slufter in the Netherlands is formulated. The model is used in combination with an analysis of stakeholders’ values, their perceptions and the multi-functional utility of the Slufter in the design and application of a participatory approach aimed at enhancing the (collaborative) long-term decision-making on the inherently dynamic, coastal nature reserve. In particular, the information derived both from the model and the interviews with stakeholders provides an indication that a shared understanding of the ecological and social functions of the Slufter estuary can be enhanced by integrating a stakeholder approach and problem modelling. Although stakeholders’ opinions changed less than expected, we believe that such an integrated approach can contribute to increasing the effectiveness of problem modelling in multi-actor systems

Addressing stakeholder conflicts in rural South Africa using a water supply model

A system dynamics modelling approach is adopted to deepen understanding of the effects of operational management on the performance of the Greater Kirkwood water supply system in South Africa. Currently, the interrupted operation of the system has led to perceptions of systemic social injustice on the part of citizens and contention between the municipality responsible for supplying water to the citizens and the Water User Association responsible for delivering untreated water to the municipality. The model is used as a means of exploring the technical constraints of the water supply system, and of supporting discussions between stakeholders about contentious issues, and the ways they can address these issues. Research on the utility of the model as a means of supporting strategic conversations between stakeholders (cf. Howick & Eden, 2010) is ongoing.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen