scholarly journals Health in cities: is a systems approach needed?

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 9-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana V. Diez Roux
Keyword(s):  
Population Health ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Potential Utility ◽  
Systems Approaches ◽  
Data Gaps ◽  
New Policies

Abstract This paper reviews the potential utility of using the concepts and tools of systems to understand and act on health in cities. The basic elements of systems approaches and the links between cities as systems and population health as emerging from the functioning of a system are reviewed. The paper also discusses implications of systems thinking for urban health including the development of dynamic conceptual models, the use of new tools, the integration of data in new ways and the identification of data gaps, and the formulation of different kinds of questions and identification of new policies. The paper concludes with a review of caveats and challenges.

Systems Approaches to Urban Health

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-248
Author(s):  
Ana V. Diez Roux ◽  
Ivana Stankov
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Systems Modeling ◽  
Systems Approaches ◽  
Modeling Methods

This chapter reviews ways the concepts and tools of systems approaches can help understand how city environments affect health and identify the most effective policies. The authors discuss basic conceptual elements of systems thinking, review core systems modeling methods, and provide examples of their applications in urban health. They conclude with a discussion of the challenges involved in using these approaches.

Conceptual Models and Frameworks for Understanding the Links Between Urban Environments and Health

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-75
Author(s):  
Ana V. Diez Roux
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Health In All Policies ◽  
Health It ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Urban Places

This chapter provides an overview of alternative ways to conceptualize the links between places and health with special attention to urban places. It reviews some common conceptual models of the drivers of urban health and introduces the idea of systems thinking for urban health. It reviews the connections between urban health and two key multisectoral approaches to health: health in all policies and planetary health. The chapter concludes by summarizing different types of research questions and studies of urban health and key features of urban policies and interventions that may have health impacts.

scholarly journals Using Systems Thinking to Improve Tourism and Hospitality Research Quality and Relevance: A Critical Review and Conceptual Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Gianna Moscardo
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Problem Area ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
Published Research

This paper argues that that much published tourism and hospitality research has had little influence on tourism or hospitality practice especially with regard to the problems of sustainability because of a failure to use systems thinking to guide research questions and approaches. This critical review and conceptual paper demonstrates how a systems thinking approach could be used to improve both the relevance of, and theoretical development in, tourism and hospitality research in the area of sustainability. This paper reviewed recent published research into tourism’s social impacts to demonstrate the power of taking a systems approach to map out the research problem area. It then critically reviewed the use of concepts from psychology in published research into guest engagement in sustainability programs in hospitality businesses to demonstrate the value of systems thinking for organising theoretical concepts. In both of the reviewed areas the overwhelming conclusion was that the majority of the research lacked both practical relevance and was based on inappropriate or deficient theoretical understanding.

Cognitive risk culture and advanced roles of actors in risk governance: a case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchi Agarwal ◽  
Sanjay Kallapur
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Risk Governance ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cognitive Risk ◽  
Risk Culture ◽  
The Uk

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the best practices for improving risk culture and defining the role of actors in risk governance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents an exemplar case of a British insurance company by using a qualitative case research approach.FindingsThe case study shows how the company was successful in changing from a compliance-based and defensive risk culture to a cognitive risk culture by using a systems thinking approach. Cognitive risk culture ensures that everybody understands risks and their own roles in risk governance. The change was accomplished by adding an operational layer between the first and second lines of defense and developing tools to better communicate risks throughout the organization.Practical implicationsPractitioners can potentially improve risk governance by using the company’s approach. The UK regulator’s initiative to improve risk culture can potentially be followed by other regulators.Originality/valueThis is among the few studies that describe actual examples of how a company can improve risk culture using the systems approach and how systems thinking simultaneously resolves several other issues such as poor risk reporting and lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities.

scholarly journals Whose Health in Whose City? A Systems Thinking Approach to Support and Evaluate Plans, Policies, and Strategies for Lasting Urban Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12225
Author(s):  
Silvio Cristiano ◽  
Samuele Zilio
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The Impact

An increasing interest has been present in scientific literature and policy making for the links between urban environments and health, as also learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaboration between urban planning and public health is therefore critical for enhancing the capabilities of a city to promote the well-being of its people. However, what leverage potential for urban health can be found in existing plans, policies, and strategies that address urban health? Starting from the relationship between urban systems and health issues, the purpose of this contribution is to broaden the systemic knowledge of urban systems and health so as to try to figure out the impact potential of local urban governance on public health. Considering the systemic nature of health issues, as defined by the World Health Organisation, this is done through a systems thinking epistemological approach. Urban health proposals are studied and assessed in four European cities (Copenhagen, London, Berlin, and Vienna). Current criticalities are found, starting from the guiding goal of such proposals, yet a systemic approach is suggested aimed at supporting and evaluating lasting and healthy urban planning and management strategies.

scholarly journals Perspectives on urban conditions and population health

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 949-957 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Vlahov ◽  
Sandro Galea ◽  
Emily Gibble ◽  
Nicholas Freudenberg
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Systematic Study ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
Urban Conditions ◽  
Key Questions

The majority of the world's population will live in cities in the next few years and the pace of urbanization worldwide will continue to accelerate over the coming decades. While the number of megacities is projected to increase, the largest population growth is expected to be in cities of less than one million people. Such a dramatic demographic shift can be expected to have an impact on population health. Although there has been historic interest in how city living affects health, a cogent framework that enables systematic study of urban health across time and place has yet to emerge. Four alternate but complementary approaches to the study of urban health today are presented (urban health penalty, urban health advantage, urban sprawl, and an integrative urban conditions model) followed by three key questions that may help guide the study and practice of urban health in coming decades.

scholarly journals A Framework for Systemic Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Integrated Systems ◽  
Value Conflict ◽  
Systems Approaches ◽  
Systemic Design

As designers move upstream from traditional product and service design to engage with challenges characterised by complexity, uniqueness, value conflict, and ambiguity over objectives, they have increasingly integrated systems approaches into their practice. This synthesis of systems thinking with design thinking is forming a distinct new field of systemic design. This paper presents a framework for systemic design as a mindset, methodology, and set of methods that together enable teams to learn, innovate, and adapt to a complex and dynamic environment. We suggest that a systemic design mindset is inquiring, open, integrative, collaborative, and centred. We propose a systemic design methodology composed of six main activities: framing, formulating, generating, reflecting, inquiring, and facilitating. We view systemic design methods as a flexible and open-ended set of procedures for facilitating group collaboration that are both systemic and designerly.  

Systems Thinking in Strategy Development

2012 ◽  
pp. 32-60
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Causal Models ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Marketing Process ◽  
The Given

Systems thinking is considered as an important tool in developing strategic decision in marketing. The systems approach enables connecting objects of various types to a single platform of thinking, to organize different forms of activity within the given time and space of the situation in business. This chapter describes how systems thinking could provide a framework to various marketing process and create a map of the value chain that specifies relationships among the components of the marketing processes. Discussions in the chapter provide a conceptual framework of the development of systems thinking and systems methodologies and explain how such approaches can deal with issues of market complexity. Causal models in developing marketing strategy are illustrated, and new insights on thinking as a method to achieve desired business performance are also discussed.

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