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Reconstructing the Blue Connection: A Systemic Inquiry into the Improbable Project of Building a New River Through a (Sub)urban Area
Author(s) -
Vaandrager David,
Gerrits Lasse,
Bressers Nanny
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.2297
Subject(s) - connection (principal bundle) , environmental resource management , environmental science , geography , environmental planning , architectural engineering , water resource management , engineering , structural engineering
We analysed how an improbable project of building a new river through a suburban area came to fruition after all. The project is called the ‘Blue Connection’. We deployed systemic causal diagrams as a tool to visually show the structure of a system. The diagrams were derived and synthesized from interviews with participants. They then reflected upon the results. As such, the diagrams served a dual purpose: to understand why the Blue Connection project gained momentum whilst simultaneously contributing to the momentum by providing a coherent diagram of the systemic whole beyond the bounded mental models of individual actors. We identified the mechanisms that enabled or restrained the project as a complex system. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.