This paper describes the role of systems modeling in the National Parks. The parks have been described as Americas Best Idea, and they are celebrating their 100th year anniversary. Systems thinking and systems dynamics can help the parks plan for the second century.
This paper presents a review of the criticisms of system dynamics and assesses the validity of these against recent findings in the field. The authors survey the literature critical of system dynamics and review their criticisms using the current understandings in the system dynamics field. This work suggests that there are some pertinent criticisms that have been aimed at system dynamics. These include the apparent disagreements regarding the role of historical data in model confidence building, system dynamics' reductionist perspective and how system dynamics addresses plurality and hierarchy. Overcoming these criticisms require the ever present need for education, communication and theoretical work. It is hoped this paper will strengthen the mandate of system dynamics in the eyes of its critics, assist and improve the field and its general acceptance as a tool of analysis.
System dynamics unmistakably has perfect innate capabilities for helping responsible decision making in an increasingly complex world. But as Forrester (2007) sighed, the system dynamics community is not yet making the change for policy making it should aim at. One possible cause is that many system dynamicists are specialists in the SD method and generalists as regards to the themes involved. As a result, there are few position papers collecting the system dynamics insights of all relevant studies in one particular area of application. The purpose of this paper is providing such an overview of system dynamics works on recent dynamics in global real estate markets.
The article sets out to describe the first stages of conceptualization process initiated within the scope of an action research project in the field of waste and residual resource management in a large urban center in a low-income country. For the project it is important to test that the technological concepts developed by the project have the potential of improving waste management in future megacities. This involves evaluating if when implemented, these technological solutions can contribute to the alleviation of the current problematic situation. Additionally, it is important for the project to find out to what extent could the performance (financial, socioeconomic, environmental, etc.) of the waste management system improve as a result from the implementation of the waste management strategies it proposed. For this purpose a set of simulation models is being conceptualized and developed using a modeling methodology (namely System Dynamics), which will allow evaluating how the waste management situation would evolve if a set of strategy options would be introduced. This would be done by comparing the future development of the system in the absence of the strategies (business as usual) with the development of the system in the presence of the strategies. The article presents the first results of model conceptualization and gives an outlook of the activities that will follow.