What is the goal of this systems diagram

1
What is the goal of this systems diagram?

• Show an example of how a sustainability
  challenge, such as how to create sustainable
  mobility for the worlds population, has
  interconnected social and environmental concerns.
• This high level example is to provoke thinking
  and provide a starting example. It is not a
  comprehensive analysis of the transportation
  system.

2
WHAT IS SYSTEMS THINKING?Definition and Origin
Systems thinking is a tool to help us articulate
and test our causal assumptions about how
systems change over time
This set of systems thinking tools was developed
as part of a larger methodology for modeling
social and economic systems called System
Dynamics. It was developed in the 1960s at MIT
by Prof. Jay Forrester and popularized in the
1990s by Peter Senge.
3
What impact does transporting 6 billion people
have on social and environmental sustainability?

• How do the different transportation options
  impact the environment? (both production and
  use)
• How do the different transportation options
  impact social outcomes? (e.g. quality of life,
  health, communities, etc)
• How do personal behavioral decisions, in response
  to the transportation options, impact the
  environmental outcomes? The social ones? The
  economic ones?
• How do environmental impacts influence social
  outcomes? (e.g. how might fuel choice impact
  climate change, rising sea levels, salinization
  of soils, water scarcity, poverty and hunger?)
• How does the economic viability of the
  transportation options impact the social and
  environmental outcomes? (e.g. production jobs)

4
Sustainable mobility impacts economic,
environmental, and social sustainability
Ecological health
Social well being
o
Human Health
emissions
of people in the globe with access to
transportation
R
Economic Prosperity
5
Sustainability mobility means increasing the
access that people have to affordable
transportation around the world while improving
environmental and social health. That
transportation will increase access to jobs,
education, health care, boosting incomes and
furthering a virtuous economic development cycle.
As incomes increase, so will public and private
transportation spending
cost of transportation
o
of people in the globe with access to
transportation
access to opportunities (education, jobs, health
care)
transportation infrastructure (roads, rails, etc)
avg. income level
R
transportation jobs industry ( and global
distribution)
vehicle purchases (trains, cars)
R
6
As more people get access to transportation, and
the more that transportation uses personal
vehicles, the more likely the built world will
sprawl to cheaper lands, DECREASING access to
jobs, decreasing walking as part of daily
routines, and increasing the cost of the
transportation system, and average miles traveled.
vehicle miles traveled per person
land area accessible by road
use of personal vehicles
R
R
sprawl (average travel distance required)
o
walking
o
cost of transportation
community vitality
health/obesity
o
o
of people in the globe with access to
transportation
access to opportunities (education, jobs, health
care)
transportation infrastructure (roads, rails, etc)
avg. income level
R
vehicle purchases (trains, cars)
transportation jobs industry ( and global
distribution)
R
7
vehicle miles traveled per person
biodiversity / ecosystem health
environmental impact, e.g. carbon (climate
change) particulates
o
o
land area accessible by road
clear air, water ,etc
use of personal vehicles
R
R
emissions per mile traveled
sprawl (average travel distance required)
o
walking
o
cost of transportation
community vitality
use of fossil fuels
health/obesity
o
o
of people in the globe with access to
transportation
access to opportunities (education, jobs, health
care)
transportation infrastructure (roads, rails, etc)
avg. income level
R
vehicle purchases (trains, cars)
transportation jobs industry ( and global
distribution)
R
The number of people traveling, the distance they
travel, the efficiency of the vehicle, and the
choice of fuel all influence the local and global
environmental impact of the transportation system
on ecosystem health and public health.
8
vehicle miles traveled per person
biodiversity / ecosystem health
environmental impact, e.g. carbon (climate
change) particulates
o
o
land area accessible by road
clear air, water ,etc
use of personal vehicles
R
R
emissions per mile traveled
sprawl (average travel distance required)
o
walking
o
cost of transportation
community vitality
use of fossil fuels
health/obesity
o
o
of people in the globe with access to
transportation
access to opportunities (education, jobs, health
care)
transportation infrastructure (roads, rails, etc)
avg. income level
R
vehicle purchases (trains, cars)
transportation jobs industry ( and global
distribution)
R
THE CHALLNGE how do we maximize the benefits to
society of accessible transportation (income,
jobs, participation in society) while preventing
sprawl, protecting ecosystem health?
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Observations/questions included

• This seems like a car guys view of the world..
• Arent there many other reasons why sprawl
  happens?
• What impact would investment in public
  transportation have?
• What about good urban planning?
• What about sea and air?