Systems Thinking Is Critical In Developing Solutions To Sustainability Challenges

Sustainability as a Concept

Systems thinking is a process that is increasingly being used to solve problems belonging to the field of sustainability. In this context, it is very important to understand in this context that systems thinking helps in organising and relating the various parts of a problem in order to yield a holistic solution to the problem (Arnold and Wade 2015). It helps in connecting the different part s of human behaviour, technological aspects and environmental impacts that exist in any modern day society to solve problems related to sustainability issues. Generally, it has been observed that there are no particular or specific framework for building solutions to problems of sustainability (Williams e al. 2017). This is why such challenges and problems are referred to as wicked problems. In this report we examine the suitable use of systems thinking processes to solve the problem of excessive tourism and its impacts on the local population and crowd of Europe. This research report is aimed to address the issue of huge influx of tourist population and its detrimental impact on the social and environmental aspect of lives to the local population of these places.  Thus, the problem presented here is that of a tourism trap (Haines 2016). The report studies the problem persisting and the concept of systems thinking in detail and then evaluates and analyses the role of the solution being played to solve the existing problem.

Sustainability as a concept is best described as sustaining the capacity of any system to ensure that the balance in the system is maintained as a whole. In the environmental context it is described as the biological balance that is maintained in the nature in terms of the biodiversity and its various nuances (Clayton and Radcliffe 2015). Sustainability as a concept is however a much wider phenomenon which includes a balance between the environmental, economical, political and cultural aspects of a particular society. A problem arising in any one of these aspects affects the other aspects and this causes a breakdown in the balance of the entire system. Thus, it becomes very difficult to form and implement an optimal solution to the problem in the long- run. To develop a solution that is both optimal and holistic in nature, the thinking for the solution has to be lines of unconventional thinking and should involve new approaches. Global sustainability or even sustainability as a whole for a particular region is not solvable with a one directional problem solving approach. This is because these challenges do not have any fixed procedures and are generally prone to high amounts of diversification. These diversifications may be based on people, environment, culture, economy and so on. The whole challenge of solving the wicked problem of sustainability is the adaptive nature of the challenges (González et al. 2016). The trick associated with this sort of problem solving is the unanticipated and unexpected changes in outcomes depending on the very minute changes that cause the problem and impact the other variables of the problem.

Systems Thinking as a Concept

Systems thinking is regarded as a new approach to problem solving especially in the context of sustainability issues even though the concept has been there since long and is quite traditional as compared to other methods (Matlin et al. 2016). It is increasingly being used for solving such problems as it helps in mapping the different directions of a problem and hence the solution is generally conceptual as well as customised depending upon the source or cause (Waller, Fawcett and Johnson 2015). In this particular method of problem solving, the approach used is generally macroscopic in nature and a systems thinker is not required to look after the microscopic details of the problem. There are a few components of a system thinking framework which include processes, technicalities and a few skills. The three most important steps involved in the process of system thinking include:

• Dynamic thinking and its application to the framework being built for solving the wicked problem through the implementation of a system
• The next step involves building of understanding  through the implementation of pragmatic and scientific thinking, generic thinking as well as operational thinking.
• The last step involves empathetic thinking and implementation of communication skills for understanding the various perspectives to the problem and hence develop the interrelations amongst the various parts of the problem existing.

In other words, in the process of systems thinking, the various loops existing in a particular problem are broken down into various subparts consisting of variables that help in approaching and solving the problem from various aspects.  Even though the concept of system thinking is being increasingly used, there are certain shortcomings to the problem in the sense that it is a very long procedure and involves long run solutions to the wicked problems especially pertaining to human psychology.

The exponentially increasing number of tourists across different continents of the world is a rising issue. In the recent years, the tourist growth has been particularly disturbing in a few regions of the world like Asia, Caribbean, Latin America and Europe.  Europe has particularly been impacted to the largest possible extent as compared to all the other adversely affected regions of the world (Arbulú, I., Lozano, J. and Rey-Maquieira 2015). This has been the growing source of concern in most of Europe and is leading to widespread frustration and notions of revolt amongst the local population and residents of the European countries and regions. Most of the people originally belonging in these regions are showing protests in different forms. Reports suggest that in the year 2017, there has been a surge in the total influx of tourists with 1.3 billion travellers visiting Europe which is a 51% increase. It is also being estimated that the number of tourists are going to increase in the year 2018, which is again increasing the cause of concern among the inhabitants of particular areas within the continent. Even though the increase in the total amount of revenue generation has increased for the tourism sector which in turn increases the amount of GDP of the country as a whole, the amount of resources available for the local residents and inhabitants of these areas is drastically reducing and is also being polluted.

The Tourism Trap Problem

It has been observed in many parts of the world which are mainly known for the tourism sector that the residents living there face some concerns due to the constant crowd of tourists. However this is a fact that these tourist destinations are having a developed economy due to the tourists, and the local people sustain their life due to the tourists coming in the region. However there are many problems which are faced by the local residents. One of the problem that is often faced by the local people according to the experts is the problem of vanishing uniqueness of the place and the place getting drowned under a wave of tourist buses, souvenir shops and bars & hotels. A few of the world cities which are presently facing the problem of acute overcrowding include Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Bali and other famous tourism cities.

There are limited number of people a place can support or manage to properly sustain, Venice which is known for its natural beauty and river ways to commute within the city is full of tourists all the time that the local residents are tired of the crowd, noise and the tourists flocking around their local areas all the time. There have been check points in the various parts of the city which has also been a cause of concern for the residents who wants the tourists to be controlled but the city not to be blocked in various parts. There is a visible trend that the tourism in the various regions of the world are increasing with time as the number of people earning surplus income is also increasing throughout the world.

There have been a number of demonstrations as well which are now known as ant tourism demonstration which are directed towards the authorities to control the number of tourists who come in. “More than 15.7 million U.S. tourists crossed the Atlantic in 2017, a 16% jump in the space of a year.”

There have been problems related to transmission of various diseases which are often seen to be carried by the tourists. Overcrowding of tourists makes it difficult for the authorities to check for physical anomalies. It is expected that in the years of 2018 and 2019 the number of tourists would reaching record numbers. This is one of the alarming issue for the resident there, this has led to further escalation of the anti-tourism activities. The problem of over tourism is being handled by some of the cities in some of the most drastic ways, some of these ways include altered taxation, local laws, and control of the crowd. The problems also include lesser facilities and infrastructure and not enough public facilities that can help the tourists in staying or comfortably visiting the different tourist destination. The problems may be resolved by proper planning and managing the tourism sector so that the locals are spared.

Possible Problems Caused by Overcrowding of Tourists

The approach of System Thinking is to comprehend all the parts of the system or the problem and then solving the various parts of the problem one by one so that the problem can be solved in an integrated way and holistic method. The problems related to the overcrowding of the tourist locations needs to be segregated into various categories, like health, hygiene, accommodation and others, these then have to be solved in an integrated way (Antonakakis, Dragouni and Filis 2015). The health problems associated with the increase in the number of tourists can be solved by the health department coordinating and allying with the tourism department, they need to look out different ways in which the health of the people are effected. There may be free health check-up camps for the tourists and the facilities for the tourists and the normal citizens can avail their health solutions in the separate hospitals which are not crowded by the tourists. The Hygiene is a civic problem and too overcrowding of the tourists may cause hygiene problems and the sanitation of the city may be also affected. This has to be taken care of by the civic department and they will again be in coordination with the tourism department. The government must come up with the initiative of building more infrastructure for the people who arrive. However the ultimate initiative must be taken by the tourism department who must assess the number of tourists that can be accommodated by the region, the number must be then updated according to the upgrading of the infrastructure. The authorities must be strict about letting the number of people coming in for tourism. This is very affective to manage the total inflow and outflow of the tourists.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the system thinking approach is very effective in finding sustainable solutions to the problems that are critical and may lead to lack of sustainability. Tourism is a growing sector and every growing sectors needs to be sustainable and the various aspects like economy and security must be taken care of by the administrations of the tourist destinations. In this particular context, in the mentioned article, the problem of overcrowding in Europe has been mentioned. Europe has limited resource in accommodating the huge number of people who are coming in the continent has tourists. Therefore a sustainable solution must be searched for and system thinking is one such solution. A systems thinking solution will effectively to overcome the challenges and barriers related to the process of finding solutions of the loss of sustainability. However, it should always be noted that the process of systems thinking is only applicable in the long run and so measures like implementation of taxes and tariffs is important.

References:

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Arbulú, I., Lozano, J. and Rey-Maquieira, J., 2015. Tourism and solid waste generation in Europe: A panel data assessment of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Waste management, 46, pp.628-636.

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González, A.M., Sandoval, H., Acosta, P. and Henao, F., 2016. On the acceptance and sustainability of renewable energy projects—A systems thinking perspective. Sustainability, 8(11), p.1171.

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