Sustainable urban systems: Co-design and framing for transformation

TLDR

Rapid urbanisation creates risks and opportunities for sustainable development, yet the complexity of cities as social‑ecological‑technical systems makes it difficult for policy makers, highlighting a growing need for collaborative, whole‑system approaches to enable transformational change, which remain uncommon in practice. The study aims to advance a co‑design process that engages researchers, practitioners and stakeholders in Australia to develop integrated, system‑oriented strategies at broader urban scales, thereby contributing to international knowledge sharing. The authors employ a co‑design process that builds a systems‑based knowledge framework, incorporating urban trade‑offs and synergies, to guide integrated strategy development. The process produced a shared knowledge framework, identified barriers between urban goals and practice, and highlighted strategic focal areas, offering broader implications for policy makers, researchers, and a shared forward agenda.

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation generates risks and opportunities for sustainable development. Urban policy and decision makers are challenged by the complexity of cities as social–ecological–technical systems. Consequently there is an increasing need for collaborative knowledge development that supports a whole-of-system view, and transformational change at multiple scales. Such holistic urban approaches are rare in practice. A co-design process involving researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders, has progressed such an approach in the Australian context, aiming to also contribute to international knowledge development and sharing. This process has generated three outputs: (1) a shared framework to support more systematic knowledge development and use, (2) identification of barriers that create a gap between stated urban goals and actual practice, and (3) identification of strategic focal areas to address this gap. Developing integrated strategies at broader urban scales is seen as the most pressing need. The knowledge framework adopts a systems perspective that incorporates the many urban trade-offs and synergies revealed by a systems view. Broader implications are drawn for policy and decision makers, for researchers and for a shared forward agenda.