Broadening the boundaries: an application of critical systems thinking to IS planning in Colombia

Córdoba, José‐Rodrigo; Midgley, Gerald

doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602081

Cited by 68 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In CSH theory, as described in (Ulrich & Reynolds 2010) and exemplified in several case studies (e.g. (Córdoba & Midgley 2006), (Donaires 2006)), the method is suitable for exploring and improving emancipatory issues related to planned social interventions. There is an assumption that the planners, including experts and decision makers, have the agency to act, and that there is a danger that those who will be affected by the intervention, including beneficiaries and witnesses (those indirectly affected) will not have enough voice -the emancipatory aspect.…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Reflective Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and cities: problem structuring methods and critical perspectives on low-carbon districts

Freeman¹,

Yearworth²

2017

Energy Research & Social Science

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Cities around the world have set climate change mitigation targets, yet actions to implement these targets have so far proved inadequate. Better methodology is needed to support this impetus for action.Problem structuring methods (PSMs) enable improvements to be made in wicked problem situations; they appear to have potential to improve climate change mitigation actions but they are difficult to carry out in highly pluralist problem contexts. A case study (STEEP) that applied a PSM to support lowcarbon urban energy master planning in three cities is presented. The STEEP methodology was effective in reducing the wickedness of the problem but issues of a lack of clarity on problem ownership and lack of interessement were seen. A reflective boundary critique study found that there was a mismatch between power and interest amongst key stakeholders towards the low-carbon vision. Three key issues identified in the case study were discussed through the lens of critical systems thinking: (i) the need for new competencies, (ii) dealing with wickedness, and (iii) behavioural complexity and discordant reference systems. The paper suggests how these issues might be improved through the application of non-PSM theories which can support the use of PSMs in improving city-level climate change mitigation.Key Words: Problem structuring methods; problematisation; Boundary Critique; climate change mitigation; critical systems thinking IntroductionRecent decades have seen slow and insufficient progress on climate change mitigation -the reduction of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to below a "safe" level, as recommended by climate science (Edenhofer et al. 2014). Climate change mitigation has been described as a "wicked" problem (Rittel 2There is much potential for cities to play an active role in climate change mitigation. A 40% reduction in carbon emissions from UK cities could be possible by 2020 just from investing in cost-effective lowcarbon technologies (Sullivan et al. 2013). City governments often control some of the key factors related to carbon emissions such as land use planning, building regulations, public transport, and waste management (Kousky & Schneider 2003). Across the world, cities are joining together to support each other in the goal of transitioning to a low-carbon future (for example, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (www.c40.org) and Local Governments for Sustainability (www.iclei.org)). In reality, however, low-carbon cities are difficult to achieve. A study of eight new-build eco-cities found that the idea of building smart, sustainable cities is still relatively new and unproven, with projects being To guide the reader through the rest of this paper, a brief description of the main sections follows:• Section 2, Background -Perspectives on Urban Climate Change Mitigation: A review of the literature on the nature of the problem of climate change mitigation at the city level, including barriers to mitigation, ideological perspectives from social science, and governance mechanisms that ha...

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Section: Interpretation Of the Reflective Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and cities: problem structuring methods and critical perspectives on low-carbon districts

Freeman¹,

Yearworth²

2017

Energy Research & Social Science

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“…Some examples from CST and TSI are: IS planning (Cordoba and Midgely 2006), knowledge management (Gao et al 2003), quality management (Houston 2007;Taiwo 2001) and designing a user support service (Warren and Adman 1999). There are now many examples of multimethodology applications (Munro and Mingers 2002a).…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Mingers

White

2010

European Journal of Operational Research

353

229

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The systems approach, or systems thinking, has been intimately connected with the development of OR and management science initially through the work of founders such as Churchman and Ackoff and latterly through innovations such as soft systems. In this paper we have undertaken a review of the contribution that systems thinking has been making more recently, especially to the practice of OR. Systems thinking is a discipline in its own right, with many theoretical and methodological developments, but it is also applicable to almost any problem area because of its generality, and so such a review must always be selective. We have looked at the literature from both a theoretical and an applications orientation. In the first part we consider the main systems theories and methodologies in terms of their recent developments and also their applications. This covers: the systems approach, complexity theory, cybernetics, system dynamics, soft OR and PSMs, critical systems and multimethodology. In the second part we review the main domains of application: strategy, information systems, organisations, production and operations, ecology and agriculture, and medicine and health. Our overall conclusion is that while systems may not be well established institutionally, in terms of academic departments, it is incredibly healthy in terms of the quantity and variety of its applications.

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“…The position taken here is aligned with the thinking of (Midgley, 1992(Midgley, , 2006Midgley and Ochoa-Arias, 2001;Midgley and Reynolds, 2004;Ulrich, 1988Ulrich, , 1993Ulrich, , 1994Ulrich, , 2003Ulrich, , 2006Yolles, 2001;Có rdoba and Midgley, 2006) -it is preferable to have a problem-structuring approach based on clearly-defined philosophical principles (which themselves can be criticised and evaluated) and which is developed according to established cognitive theory, so that the approach is consistent with the way in which people are thought to form judgements and make decisions under uncertainty. A clear theme which emerges from the work of these authors, and which has been influential in developing this problem-structuring approach, is the importance of boundary critique in determining the extent of the problem, and to identify interests which are marginalised, so as to include them.…”

Section: System Theory and The Systems Approachmentioning

confidence: 89%

A problem-structuring method for complex societal decisions: Its philosophical and psychological dimensions

Hector

Christensen

Petrie

2009

European Journal of Operational Research

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A novel approach to problem-structuring for decisions relating to the sustainable development of large-scale infrastructure is presented. The philosophical (a critical realist ontology and epistemology), psychological (implications of behavioural and cognitive psychology), and systems dimensions (dynamics and emergent properties) of the problem are discussed, and form the basis of the approach. The problem is structured as a system of ''trilemmas'' (a means of representing and criticising sets of three competing forces), representing different aspects of the problem and considered in the context of a number of problem dimensions. A case study relating to the development of a sustainable water system for a major Australian metropolis is developed to test the value of the approach.

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Broadening the boundaries: an application of critical systems thinking to IS planning in Colombia

Cited by 68 publications

References 34 publications

Climate change and cities: problem structuring methods and critical perspectives on low-carbon districts

Climate change and cities: problem structuring methods and critical perspectives on low-carbon districts

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

A problem-structuring method for complex societal decisions: Its philosophical and psychological dimensions

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