A system dynamics model for stakeholder analysis in environmental conflicts

Abstract

This paper presents a systems model to address the need for a stakeholder analysis tool in the environmental planning and management literature. It captures the dynamic and complex nature of environmental conflicts. This is developed using the system dynamics methodology and is applied to a New Zealand case, the Transmission Gully motorway project. Experiments conducted using the model showed that although the proposed Transmission Gully motorway is capable of easing traffic congestion in the short term, it will not reduce traffic congestion in the long term. Policy and scenario experiments conducted using the model revealed that policies aimed at reducing traffic congestion could also reduce the conflict between stakeholders; however, they showed some counter-intuitive behaviour in the system which highlighted the complexity of the problem situation.

Keywords:

• stakeholder analysis
• system dynamics
• environmental conflict management