Tackling complexity using interlinked thinking : well-being as a case study : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ecological Economics at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The world today is made up of a series of highly interconnected complex systems characterised by uncertainty. Human minds struggle with complexity, and the tools available to help us are limited. This often leads to reductionism, focusing on the parts rather than the whole. Working with individual parts ignores the dynamics that result from interdependencies between components. It is these interactions that determine the behaviour we experience in real world situations. This dissertation presents ‘interlinked thinking’ as a communication and analytical approach to help people work with, rather than ignore, complexity. It aims to build understanding of feedbacks loops and systems in a way that does not require expert modelling skills. It is a participatory process that allows people not familiar with systems thinking to have a structured dialogue on how components interrelate, and share their mental models. Links between components are debated and decided on in a workshop session. The resultant causal loop diagrams are transcribed to a matrix and an algorithm run to analyse the links in the system. The interlinked thinking method was tested using three case studies to answer the principal research question: Does understanding the relationships between indicators add value and progress sustainable well-being? Well-being is multi-dimensional, and the complex behaviour of the well-being system does not come from individual indicators but from the interrelationships between indicators and resultant feedback loops. Participants who applied interlinked thinking confirmed value was gained from: (1) increased understanding of the indicators in the system; (2) more visible relationships; (3) expanding the toolkit to work with complexity; (4) an increased ability to bring important issues to the attention of decision-makers; (5) consideration of intervention impacts; and (6) encouraging integrated thinking. Interlinked thinking can be replicated and used in any situation where having a better understanding of interconnectedness is important but time, resources, and modelling skills are limited. Key words: interlinked thinking; systems thinking; sustainable well-being; causal loop diagrams; complexity; interconnected; feedback loops; mental mode

Submission-makers' perceptions of the annual plan process in New Zealand local government : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University

A purpose of local government in New Zealand as set out in s37k of the amended Local Government Act 1974 was to provide for public participation in local authority affairs. It was intended that this public participation provide citizens with a means of ifluencing local activities, as well as a way of making representatives more accountable to the citizens who elect them. The statutory annual planning and reporting cycle, and the special consultative procedure that it embodies, were the key mechanisms for achieving these objectives. The focus of this research was to determine if the annual planning and reporting cycle which was introduced as an amendment to the Local Government Act 1974 in 1989 provides citizens with an adequate means of participating in local government and provides local authority accountability to citizens. A postal survey of citizens who made submissions in 1999/2000 was undertaken. It covered submission-makers from two city, two district and two regional councils all located in the lower part of the North Island. The overall response rate to the survey was 57.5%. Statistical analysis was used to isolate key interrelationships. The survey responses indicated that most submission-makers value the opportunity the annual plan process provides to have an input into local government affairs. Despite the majority being of the opinion that submissions do not really make a difference or uncertain about whether they did or not, most submission-makers expressed the view they would make another submission in the future. Submissions were generally regarded as of 'some' importance to local authority decision-makers but not 'a lot'. Citizen satisfaction with involvement related more to benefits such as a chance to make their personal views known, than from any concrete outcomes in terms of influence on council decisions or accountability by council. How submission-perceived the public meetings to hear oral submissions and whether or not they were advised of the outcome were closely related to the level of satisfaction from involvement. People making submissions on behalf of organised groups were generally more positive about the process than individual submission-makers