A Systems Approach to Urban Health and Wellbeing in the

Asia-Pacific Region

Katrina Proust1 & Nordin Hasan2

1 The Australian National University, Canberra2 ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Kuala Lumpur

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The ICSU Community

The International Council for Science

(ICSU) based in Paris

Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

(ROAP) based in Kuala Lumpur

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ICSU ROAP UHW Program

The ICSU ROAP Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHW) Program

takes a system dynamics approach to health and wellbeing in a changing urban

environment in the Asia-Pacific region

ICSU An Interdisciplinary Science Plan (2011)

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ICSU ROAP Science Plan

Science Plan launched in June 2011

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Features of UHW Program

• Recognises that urban health issues are complex, and require multi-disciplinary approaches

• Promotes research into urban health and wellbeing where researchers address multi-sectoral issues and involve a wide range of stakeholders 

• Adopts a system dynamics approach

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Features of UHW Program

The Projects

• Individual pilot research projects focused on the dynamics of selected urban health problems in different regional settings

• An overview project that gathers insights from individual projects, and provides a collaborative learning environment across the UHW Program

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Features of UHW Program

The Systems Approach

• Adoption of Collaborative Conceptual Modelling (CCM), developed by Newell & Proust (2012), as the system dynamics approach

• Capacity-building in systems thinking and analysis via CCM workshops, written materials and on-line instruction (facilitated by Proust & Newell)

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The Pilot Projects

Systems Workshop

Kuala Lumpur January 2013

Photo: B. Newell

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Thailand

Agricultural Vulnerability in the

Context of a Changing Urban Environment.

A case study of the Phuttamonthon

District, Bangkok

Map of Phuttamonthon (K. Nakhapakorn)

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India

Towards a Systems Understanding of Urban Transportation, Health and Well-being in Pune

Photos: Centre for Environment Education, Pune

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Taiwan

Planning Green Transportation for Better Urban Health under Climate Change

(Photo: Candice S.C. Lung)

Cross-sector team with skills in public health

atmospheric sciences, environmental change,

economics, environmental engineering – led by

Candice Lung

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China

Integrated Assessment of Urban Transportation related to Health and Wellbeing.

A case study of Haicang District, Xiamen

Led by Dr Heqing Shen

with a team from the Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of

Sciences, Xiamen; and the Xiamen Center for Disease Control and Prevention

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Indonesia

Healthy Settlement, Healthy People: toward a dengue-free urban environment through

improved sanitation

Photos: U. F. Achmadi

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The Philippines

Improving the nutrition status of under-5-year-old children and breast-feeding mothers of

selected urban poor communities in Manila: a systems approach

A mother shows winning meal in a cooking contest: nutritious, cheap, using local ingredients. (Photo: I. Sia)

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The CCM Approach

Introduction to

Collaborative Conceptual Modelling

Barry Newell a,b and Katrina Proust a,c

Working Paper

August 2012

a Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANUb Research School of Engineering, ANU

c National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU

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The CCM Approach

• CCM is a practical way for groups to develop robust adaptive plans in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

• It has a strong base in dynamical systems theory and cognitive science, but is designed to be accessible to a wide range of people and flexible in application.

• It has been developed in collaboration with a wide range of academic and community groups, including managers from the public sector, industry and natural resource arenas.

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CCM PrinciplesStudies in complexity science have demonstrated that the behavior of a complex system emerges from the interactions between its parts (sub-systems, sectors).

 

 

This observation leads to system

principles for urban health studies . . .

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CCM PrinciplesIt is not possible to improve the performance of an urban health system by improving the performance of its sectors taken separately.

Policy silos lead to policy failures

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CCM Principles

Cross-sector feedback loops are important drivers of behaviour in any urban health system.

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CCM PrinciplesAny action taken in an urban health system will have multiple outcomes, some wanted and some unwanted. The unwanted outcomes will usually be delayed, and therefore not associated with the triggering action.

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CCM Principles

The behaviour of an urban health system unfolds over time. Therefore historical studies are essential in any attempt to understand the likely response of such a system to policy interventions.

A 19th century view of Penang

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CCM Principles

The interactions in an urban health system cut across the

boundaries of traditional disciplines, institutions and sectors

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CCM Principles

A systems approach requires effective dialogue and collaboration between policy makers and other stakeholders across sector boundaries

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CCM

The CCM protocols and tools are designed to be:

• used in collaborative settings where policy makers and other stakeholders work with the research team from the beginning

• practical and easily assimilated• flexible and adaptable to the needs of individual projects

For more information see:

Newell, B. & Proust, K. 2012. Introduction to Collaborative Conceptual Modelling. ANU Working Paper. ANU Open Access Research.

https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/9386

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Next Steps

• Teams to develop the required skills in system dynamics – capacity-building via CCM

• Teams to develop projects that are genuinely cross-sector and cross-disciplinary – CCM

• Training to be tailored to match aims and capability of each team via distance education – CCM booklets and on-line materials

• ROAP to establish the environment for a community of projects – collaborative learning