Using group model building to support strategic sustainable development

This paper discusses how group model building can be used to support strategic sustainable development. Four cases in which causal loop diagrams and, or, system dynamics have been used are described. In addition, some recent and adjacent research studies are discussed to expand the ideas for future applications. The paper suggests how different means of visualization, that is, qualitative or quantitative modelling can support different levels of strategic sustainability thinking and planning.
Many initiatives to sustainable development have emerged over the years in different domains ofplanning. At global scale, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are well-established and used asguidance for both public and business policy development and strategy planning. The GlobalReporting Initiative is also increasingly being used which, gathered under a common framework,enhances transparency, understanding and communication of sustainability-related impacts oforganizations. At regional scale, (manufacturing-) corporations can take support in their sustainabilityefforts by a combination of different initiatives, such as life cycle assessment, eco-design, cleanerproduction and corporate social responsibility (Lozano, 2012), to mention a few. Many of theseinitiatives have emerged in collaboration with academia, but many of them have seemed to lack astructured approach to planning that acknowledges the complexity and interdependencies of the socioecological systems which human society rely upon. Now, several authors have therefore highlightedthe need for a strategic perspective on how a sustainability transition can be achieved (see e.g.,Nikulina et al., 2019). This is a core purpose of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development(FSSD) (Broman and Robért, 2017), which aims to guide how planning can be structured strategicallytowards system scale sustainability with minimized risks for sub-optimized solutions. The opportunity to support strategic sustainable development through GMB applications have beeninvestigated in this paper, guided by the research question ‘In which way does the steps of the groupmodel building process support a strategic sustainability perspective in planning and decisionmaking?’ Four examples, i.e., sustainable product development workshop method, sustainabilitydriven design optimization, transport strategy and planning, and sustainability and complexitymodelling in higher education, provided together illustrate that the design of a