Health in a changing urban environment: Systems approach
1. A Systems Approach to Urban
Health and Wellbeing in the
Asia-Pacific Region
Katrina Proust1 & Nordin Hasan2
1 The Australian National University, Canberra
2 ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Kuala Lumpur
2. 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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3. 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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5. Features of UHW Program
โข Recognises that urban health issues are
complex, and require multi-disciplinary
approaches
โข Promotes research into urban health and
wellbeing where researchers address multi-
sectoral issues and involve a wide range of
stakeholders
โข Adopts a system dynamics approach
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6. Features of UHW Program
The Projects
โข Individual pilot research projects focused on
the dynamics of selected urban health
problems in different regional settings
โข An overview project that gathers insights from
individual projects, and provides a collaborative
learning environment across the UHW Program
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7. Features of UHW Program
The Systems Approach
โข Adoption of Collaborative Conceptual Modelling
(CCM), developed by Newell & Proust
(2012), as the system dynamics approach
โข Capacity-building in systems thinking and
analysis via CCM workshops, written materials
and on-line instruction (facilitated by Proust &
Newell)
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10. India
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Towards a Systems Understanding of Urban
Transportation, Health and Well-being in Pune
Photos: Centre for Environment Education, Pune
11. Taiwan
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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, envir
onmental engineering โ
led by Candice Lung
12. China
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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
14. The Philippines
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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)
15. 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, ANU
b Research School of Engineering, ANU
c National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU
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16. The CCM Approach
โข CCM is a practical way for groups to develop robust
adaptive plans in the face of complexity and uncertainty.
โข 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.
โข 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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17. CCM Principles
Studies in complexity science have demonstrated that
the behavior of a complex system emerges from the
interactions between its parts (sub-systems, sectors).
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This observation
leads to system
principles for
urban health
studies . . .
18. CCM Principles
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It 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
20. CCM Principles
Any 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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21. 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.
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A 19th century view of Penang
22. CCM Principles
The interactions in an urban health system cut across the
boundaries of traditional disciplines, institutions and sectors
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23. CCM Principles
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A systems approach requires effective dialogue
and collaboration between policy makers and
other stakeholders across sector boundaries
24. CCM
The CCM protocols and tools are designed to be:
โข used in collaborative settings where policy makers and
other stakeholders work with the research team from the
beginning
โข practical and easily assimilated
โข 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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25. Next Steps
โข Teams to develop the required skills in system
dynamics โ capacity-building via CCM
โข Teams to develop projects that are genuinely
cross-sector and cross-disciplinary โ CCM
โข Training to be tailored to match aims and
capability of each team via distance education
โ CCM booklets and on-line materials
โข ROAP to establish the environment for a
community of projects โ collaborative learning
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