The document discusses the ongoing efforts to tackle air pollution and its impact on human health in Asia through a systems approach and transdisciplinary research. It outlines a two-tier research planning strategy focusing on health and wellbeing, with an emphasis on collaborative conceptual modeling to address complex urban health challenges. The document also highlights successful projects and initiatives aimed at integrating diverse stakeholder perspectives to improve policy-making and urban health outcomes.

1. Air Pollution and Human Health in Asia:
Experience in adopting and promoting the
systems approach
for transdisciplinary research on air pollution
and health in Asia
Nordin Hasan
Chair
Regional Advisory Committee for Future Earth in Asia

2. Presentation
• Background and context
• Two tier planning of the research
– The ICSU ROAP Science Plans
– The Transdisciplinary Urban Health Research
planning process
• Systems approach and transdisciplinary
research

3. Experience in adopting and promoting
the systems approach
for transdisciplinary research (on air
pollution and health in Asia)

7. Context summary
• Air pollution continues to be a serious health
concern – urban; rural/agricultural
• Complex (“wicked problem”) with multiple
drivers, causes, layers of effects
• Need systemic knowledge on causes and effects
their linkages
• Compartmental single sector knowledge has been
useful but unable to address what is essentially a
“wicked problem”

8. ICSU ROAP two-tier research
planning
• 1st Tier: A Science plan for Systems Approach
to Health and Wellbeing
• 2nd Tier: Plans for individual collaborative
research on health and wellbeing employing
the systems approach

9. Development of the work on systems
approach to health and wellbeing
(first tier plan)
Priority
area of
work
Health and
wellbeing in a
changing
environment
Science
plan
2011
Details
the
systems
approach
Pilot
project
proposals

10. Science Planning Group members
(formed in 2010)
Members
 Indira Nath, India, Chair
 Tony Capon, Australia
 Yong Guan Zhu, China
 Phillipa-Howden Chapman,
New Zealand
 Reiko Kishi, Japan
 Jaime Montoya , Phillipines
 Katrina Proust , Australia
 Nordin Hasan (Ex officio)
Method Specialist
 Barry Newell, Australia
ICSU ROAP
 BHJ Mckellar, Chair RCAP
Australia
 Nor Zaneedarwaty Norman,
Malaysia
 Hizam Jaafar, Malaysia

11. • Opportunity to:
– improve decision-
making on human
health in urban
regions
– further improve
decision-making on
health in urban areas

12. 1st Tier Plan
– 3 meetings - Kuala Lumpur (2) and Xiamen (1)
– On-line consultations at every stage
– Plan launched in June 2011 (22nd Pacific Science
Congress)

13. Features of the Science Plan
• 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

14. The System Analysis Challenge
• The behaviour of a human-environment system
emerges from feedback interactions between its
parts.
• These interactions make it difficult to develop
reliable, high-leverage policies without the insights
generated by dynamical modelling.
• But conventional forms of modelling are hampered
by complexity, lack of suitable data, and the
unpredictable aspects of human behaviour.
14

15. Collaborative Conceptual Modelling (CCM) is emerging from
our research into practical ways to overcome these
problems (Newell & Proust 2012).
Basic Hypothesis: Involvement in the construction of low-
order system-dynamics (LOSD) models can increase a
policy maker’s capacity to understand and avoid policy
resistance.
Main Aim: To develop ways to use collaborative construction
of LOSD models to help policy makers to design effective
policies in complex systems.
Collaborative Conceptual Modelling

16. 16
CCM Overview
The CCM process involves six ‘co-evolving activities’. The aim
of each activity is summarised in a guiding question.

17. Individual projects plans (second tier
planning)
• Established ICSU ROAP
Science Committee on
Urban Health in Wellbeing
• Chair Prof Javed Iqbal
Sootiporn Chittmittrapap
Tony Capon,
C.P. Ramachandran
Katrina Proust
Nordin Hasan (Ex- officio)
• Subject matter
specialist Dr Barry
Newell (ANU)

18. Tier-2 Step-1
• Pre-scoping Workshop, Hyderabad, 28 – 29
June 2012.
– Multidisciplinary, multi stakeholder workshop
– Identified needs and priorities
– Explored potential research teams with merit and
output-oriented focus
– Discussed possibilities for research funding and
support
– Developed call for pre-proposals

19. Tier-2 Step-2
• Scoping Workshop Bangkok, 28 – 29 August
2012
– Reviewed concept proposals received (6/8
accepted for development to full proposal)
– Achieved
• clarification of research aims of projects,
• identification of training needs in systems approaches,
• identification of complementary activities required for
successful management of pilot projects
• agreement of selected projects

20. …contd
– Agreed design features:
• Used systems thinking via the CCM approach
• Recognise that urban-health problems are
multi-sectoral, and solving them require multi-
disciplinary approaches, and
• Projects takes into account the interests of a
wide range of stakeholders

21. Tier-2 Step-3
• Systems Workshop, Kuala Lumpur January
2013
– Leaders of selected projects with advanced copies
of projects proposals
– Introduction to dynamic modelling and
collaborative conceptual modelling (CCM)
methodologies
– Assistance to finalise proposals for submission to
funding bodies on-going

22. Features of desired research
22
• Policy-relevant, and outcomes have impact in the
policy sector
• Recognises: urban health issues are complex, and
require multi-disciplinary approaches
• Adopts a system dynamics approach – Collaborative
Conceptual Modelling (CCM)
• Promotes research into urban health and wellbeing
where researchers involve a wide range of
stakeholders and address cross-sector issues

23. • Cross-sector feedback is important, but invisible:
– Governance is fragmented – communication outside silos
is rare
• Absence of historical perspectives and data
– feedback effects are slow to appear
– timescales can be decades or longer
• Tackling these problems is the main aim of using the
systems approach.

24. Cross-sector Feedback
24
Urban Co-Effects Template

25. Expertise needed
25

26. Example: Successful pilot project
Green transportation for better urban health, Taipei
• Energy demand in urban areas results in substantial
emissions of CO2 (cause of climate change) and toxic
pollutants (harmful to human health)
• Transportation sector counts for over 61.5% of world
oil consumption of year 2010 (IEA, 2012)
• Green transportation has potentials to achieve co-
benefits to slow down climate change processes and
improve urban health

27.  The area covers 2334.5 km2, with a population density
of 2791 people/km2 and vehicle density of 2164/km2
Study area – Taipei metropolis

28. Aims of project
• Explore potential co-benefits of environmental
impacts and health risks of green powertrain
technologies under current and future climate
change scenarios
• Establish an integrated cross-disciplinary research
framework to link transportation, air quality (and
climate), and urban health
• Construct a conceptual tool kit which is capable to
assess important determinants and streamline
science-policy dialogue for better urban health

29. Identified problem space based on
Collaborative Conceptual Modelling (CCM)
Public Health
TransportationAir Quality
Climate
1
2
5
3
4
6
7
The conceptual interactions among transportation,
air quality (and climate), and public health

30. Detailed processes within air quality systems;
R: reinforcing loop
Atmospheric
stability
NOx, O3, PM
& CO2 levels
Radiative
forcing
Climate
change
+
+
+
R
6a
7c
6b
7a
7b
7d

31. Climate
modeling
Air Quality
1.modeling
2.monitoring
3.emission inventory
Epidemiology study:
exposure, time-activity,
health impacts
1.panel study
2.population study
Behavior and
Vulnerability assessment:
social drivers
Air quality management:
1.Cost-benefit analysis
2.Short-term intervention
3.Long-term improvement
4.Decision making processes

32. Transportation
modeling
Exposure modeling &
health risk assessment
Air quality modeling
Integration

33. Integration
• The CCM approach enabled integration of
expert views from transportation, air quality,
climate, and health fields
• Frameworks for science-policy interface
– Four project members are members of
• A. Transportation Committee, Taipei City Government
• B. Sustainable Development Committee, Taipei City
Government
• C. Advisory Committee of Taiwan Environmental
Protection Administration
• D. Committee of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation,
Taiwan

34. Outcome
• Enabled establishment of cross-disciplinary research framework
incorporating transportation, air quality, and health
• Provided tool to evaluate health risks in urban areas with
different green transportation options and population
commuting patterns under current and future climate scenarios
• Identified major determinants and controllable pathways of the
complex interactions among green transportation, air quality, and
urban health
• Assessed potential co-benefits of various green transportation
options and population commuting patterns

35. Challenges
• How do we encourage researchers and urban
planners who have not collaborated to think
collectively?
• How do we get researchers from diverse
disciplines and fields of interest to collectively
develop a multidisciplinary research
project/programme?

36. Current capacity development activities
• April 2017 Advanced Institute of Disaster Risk
Reduction – Systems Approach for Knowledge-based
Actions (AI-DRR-SAKA) – Academia Sinica
• July 2017 AI-DRR Systems Approach for Slow Onset
Climate Disaster

37. Relevance to Future Earth
• Transformative, solutions oriented research integrating
science, policy and communities
• Approach fits very well as a tool for planning multidisciplinary
integrated research, the core concept underlying new 10-year
global platform for research on global sustainability Future
Earth
• Co-design, co-produced and co-implemented research
involving multiple sectors and stakeholders
• CCM and systems approach provides a means of more holistic
engagement, design and analysis of complex research issues

38. Acknowledgements
• Members of various ICSU ROAP Science
Planning and Regional Advisory Committees
• Professor Candice Lung, Academia Sinica
• Dr Barry Newell, Australian National University
• Dr K. Proust, Australian National University
• Dr A. Capon, University of Sydney (formerly of
United Nations University)

39. Thank you for your attention!