A Systems Thinking Approach: Shifting Mobility Policy to a Transformative Solution Space
As part of the ITRL Breakfast Seminars series, Aimée Aguilar Jaber, Programmes Director at Hot or Cool Institute presented her work on Systems Thinking Approach to investigate the shift of Mobility Policy to a Transformative Solution Space.
Moving towards meeting ambitious sustainability and well-being goals requires moving towards a much wider framing of the problem and the possible solutions. Policy, including for mobility, needs to guide a crucial transformation. Cities and territories need to be reorganized to provide services and produce places that allow people and the planet to thrive; making low-carbon and nature-positive lifestyles affordable, appealing, and accessible. Guiding this transformation requires a crucial mindset shift in policymaking to focus less on the elements and more on the interactions of the system. This will also allow shifting emphasis from means (often coinciding with parts in systems- including mobility infrastructure- ) to end needs (e.g. accessibility), which depend more on the interconnections between infrastructure, ecosystems, and non-tangible aspects of social life. But shifting policy mindsets also calls for improved methods. Those that can allow policymakers to make visible the interconnections in the system and identify the high-leverage points to an action that can effectively help reorganize territories in the right direction. This presentation will explore how systems thinking can be used with this objective. It will draw from new work from the Hot or Cool Institute and the Club of Rome on bringing systems thinking to the built environment (including mobility). It will also bring perspectives on the use of systems thinking in the case of cities in developing countries, highlighting work from the OECD Development Centre and new work that will be undertaken by the OECD Development Centre in partnership with the Hot or Cool Institute. Other relevant past work from the OECD will also be highlighted.