Discussion

Different kinds of sustainability challenges are increasing on daily basis. The different forms of problems are based on different challenges for solving them would be great. The problem concerning in this report is based on the increasing percentage of tourists in Europe, which has led to a problem for the people residing in the city. The various problems that arise with the increase of tourists in the city of Europe is clogging of streets, pollution of waters, diminishing of housing supplies and many others that would make life to be miserable for the residents and the local governments (Time 2018). This report helps in discussing about the about the critical factors within the issue that is being faced. The report focuses on the impacts of systems thinking and the ways in which they could be applied within the scenario. This approach would certainly be able to address the issues related to sustainability and the extent to which these issues would be critically analysed. Increasing number of tourists as a kind of wicked problem and the application of the fundamentals of system thinking would be able to resolve the issues to some extent.

The primary focus on systems thinking is on the single kind of components, connection and finding the interrelation between the components in order to provide a necessary solution to the particular problem. Systems thinking could be defined as a holistic approach for analysis that would be able to focus on the ways in which the constituent parts of a system would be able to interrelate (Haines 2016). This kind of approach would also be able to define about the ways in which the different systems would be able to work over time within the context of different larger systems. Systems thinking could be applied within the study of environmental, medical, economic, political, human resources and many others.

The approach based on system thinking could be useful in dealing with the various problems based on the issues arising from sustainability. This kind of approach views the objects from a macroscopic approach rather than viewing from a short view. The focus of system thinking is based on the individual components and the interrelation among those components in order to generate a necessary form of solution (Nguyen and Bosch 2013). This kind of thinking approach is regarded as an advanced common sense, which would be applicable to any kind of situation.

Systems thinking based approach is macro in nature. It would focus on the bigger things such as the relationships between certain kind of events and various aspects of any particular problem. The approach would then be further used for solving the issues (Benn, Edwards and Williams 2014). The ways in which different problems are being solved with the help of this form of traditional approach have been helpful for yielding different kinds of benefits. The different kinds of traditional thinking approaches is primarily based on the subject matter or matter of study. Hence, it would have different forms of limits in such a narrow field (Zink 2014). On the other hand, due to a wide form of study based on the interrelation among the different kinds of things and the connection of a wide range if study, it would be helpful for finding a solution in an easy manner (Nguyen and Bosch 2013). The challenges based on system thinking are based on the built-in process in which the different kinds of solutions would be pursued.  

Introduction to Systems Thinking Approach

According to the pattern of systems thinking in every kind of problem, the variations would be broken into different loops. These could be balances in order to result for a particular kind of solution (Hesselbarth and Schaltegger 2014). Dependability on technology could be able to decrease the various need of more resources. Due to no such form of objections based on resource availability, more form of investment could be made within the businesses. More form of useful investment within technology and creation of a loop would be able to solve different kinds of problems in an automatic manner (Doppelt 2017). Though different kinds of simple problems could be addressed easily based on the traditional methods, the system thinking approach would be complex. This would be difficult for the process of implementation in the concerned case.

In the current years, it has been seen that there is a refrain, which is echoing based on the massive growth of the number of European cities. Over the past decades, the number of travellers visiting these places have been seen as different forms of destination risks that has subsumed these places. In a recent survey, it has been seen that 87 million tourists have visited France in 2017 (Hesselbarth and Schaltegger 2014). Around 58.3 million people have also visited Italy. Even the tiny Netherlands have also received 17.9 million of tourists.

With the huge growth of tourism in 218, which is expected to surpass the previously set records, the amount of frustration within the local people of Europe is growing at an alarming rate. During the last season of spring, the state had witnessed different anti-tourism demonstrations within many of the cities throughout the entire Europe. The local governments in these states have tried to curb the least channel, which would curb the streets, pollute waters, diminish the supplies of housing and turn monuments and markets into no-entry zones. These would generally make lives of the people to be miserable for the residents in these states. The main form of explosion in the areas of tourism is based on numerous factors. These include low-cost airlines facilities such as Vueling, Ryanair and EasyJet, which have expanded massively in the 2000s. These were based on competitive prices of tickets of these airline carriers that have helped in driving the increase of the number of passengers. Even the changes in climate would play a major role for the attraction of tourists (Becken 2013). This is due to the fact that warmer temperature would generally extend the summer season and thus would also open the inaccessible areas.

The approach of systems thinking would be helpful for providing different ways for dealing with the ways in which the problem of growing number of tourists in Europe and the adjacent states. This kind of approach would mainly consider about the primary importance of different kinds of circumstances (Bosch et al. 2013). They also express the condition under which a specific decision and the various kinds of impact of such circumstances during the phase of implementation. Based on the dealing with different forms of wicked problems under the systems approach, even a slight change in an individual element could be helpful for making a bigger impact on the various other elements.

Approach of System Thinking in dealing with Sustainability Changes

The mechanism based on the approach of systems thinking could be performed with the impact of computers in the workplace. Although the use of computers could be helpful for solving different kinds of problems, but these are able to solve different problems that are based on data and algorithms. Although a computer would be able to view into a problem based on the supported variables provided for the concerned problem (Valentinov, Hielscher and Pies 2015). The concerned problem discussed in these approach is based on real life complex issues. There are two forms of global problem, which include routinely and sustainable problem. The routine based problem could be easily addressed and thus could be solved with known or predetermined ways. These kinds of problems have a particular procedure, which would not be simple but would be solved based on a particular plan. On the other hand, a sustainable challenge would not be able to solve a fixed problem based on which a solution could be achieved. This form of challenge could also be defined as an adaptive challenge.

The approach of systems thinking could be applied to wicked problems. This could be helpful for generating different forms of possible solutions. The term ‘wicked’ would not be able to depict the evilness based within the problems but has been used based on their complex and unsolved nature (De Roo and Hillier 2016). Hence, these kinds of problems would be highly resistant to different forms of resolution strategies. These kind of wicked problems would require such kind of solutions that would be much convincing than those provided by traditional ways (Domegan et al. 2016). The solution to various kinds of issues would require various kind of methods, which would capture the macro elements and also define the interrelations among the various factors.  

Based on the approaches taken with the help of systems thinking approach, it has been seen that the government of Barcelona have taken several approaches in order to improve the behaviour of tourists. Based on the system thinking approach, it could be recommended that that the government within these states should prohibit the construction of newly built hotels in the prime area of the city, which mainly attracts the tourists from all over the world (Pearce and Packer 2013). These new developed hotels should not also be replaced with the old hotels. The local government in the city of Venice should mainly restrict the construction of new hotels and several restaurants. They should also create a fast lane based on the residents of public transport. There should be a proper plan to ease the congestion in the cities.  

The implementation of strict kind of policies is not only important but the evaluation of stricter policies would be important. The help of a proper form of system thinking approach could also be helpful for different stakeholders and makers of decisions within an organisation or workplace (McCann and Ortega-Argilés 2015). This kind of approach would be able to help in the future of various forms of approaches and potential costs. Systems dynamic modelling would be helpful for dealing with the problem based on excessive increase of tourists within the cities of Europe (Fiksel et al. 2014). The government within these countries should be solely responsible for restricting the tourists in various places. They should restrict the building of new hotels. Systems thinking approach could also be used for helping the government in thinking of other kinds of approaches, which would help in reducing the loads of the tourists within the country. This approach would be able to build a form of interconnection between the different microscopic elements (Boniface, Cooper and Cooper 2016). The inclusion of system thinking approach would be able to enable the government to view the complex challenges based on sustainability.

Growth of Tourism as a Wicked Problem

Conclusion   

Based on the above discussion, it could be concluded that different forms of sustainable challenges could be resolved based on the systems thinking approach. The traditional methods would not be efficient enough for solving the complex problems based on reducing the increasing number of tourists that visit the city on a regular basis. Moreover, the systems thinking approach cannot be applied to various kinds of complex problems and different wicked problems such as the increasing rate of tourists within the city of Europe. The systems thinking approach should be contributed by the professionals within the Human Rights Department and psychologists who would be efficient in dealing with the cases of increasing rate of tourists. These kind of department should be able to devote effort and time together. Based on the research on the systems thinking approach, it could be concluded that the system behaviour would mainly result from the effects based on balancing and reinforcing processes. Based on the entire discussion, it could also be concluded that the question of the topic has been successfully addressed. Systems thinking would be the most vital form of approach based on dealing with the sustainability challenges. Hence, the use of this approach would be helpful for solving the problems and increase the efficiency of systems.

References

Becken, S., 2013. Developing a framework for assessing resilience of tourism sub-systems to climatic factors. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, pp.506-528.

Benn, S., Edwards, M. and Williams, T., 2014. Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.

Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., 2016. Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel and tourism. Routledge.

Bosch, O.J., Nguyen, N.C., Maeno, T. and Yasui, T., 2013. Managing complex issues through evolutionary learning laboratories. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 30(2), pp.116-135.

De Roo, G. and Hillier, J., 2016. Complexity and spatial planning: introducing systems, assemblages and simulations. In Complexity and Planning (pp. 19-52). Routledge.

Domegan, C., McHugh, P., Devaney, M., Duane, S., Hogan, M., Broome, B.J., Layton, R.A., Joyce, J., Mazzonetto, M. and Piwowarczyk, J., 2016. Systems-thinking social marketing: conceptual extensions and empirical investigations. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(11-12), pp.1123-1144.

Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.

Fiksel, J., Bruins, R., Gatchett, A., Gilliland, A. and Ten Brink, M., 2014. The triple value model: a systems approach to sustainable solutions. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 16(4), pp.691-702.

Haines, S., 2016. The systems thinking approach to strategic planning and management. CRC Press.

Hesselbarth, C. and Schaltegger, S., 2014. Educating change agents for sustainability–learnings from the first sustainability management master of business administration. Journal of cleaner production, 62, pp.24-36.

McCann, P. and Ortega-Argilés, R., 2015. Smart specialization, regional growth and applications to European Union cohesion policy. Regional Studies, 49(8), pp.1291-1302.

Nguyen, N.C. and Bosch, O.J., 2013. A systems thinking approach to identify leverage points for sustainability: a case study in the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 30(2), pp.104-115.

Pearce, P.L. and Packer, J., 2013. Minds on the move: New links from psychology to tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 40, pp.386-411.

Time. (2018). https://time.com. [online] Available at: https://time.com/5349533/europe-against-tourists/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Valentinov, V., Hielscher, S. and Pies, I., 2015. Nonprofit organizations, institutional economics, and systems thinking. Economic Systems, 39(3), pp.491-501.

Zink, K.J., 2014. Designing sustainable work systems: The need for a systems approach. Applied Ergonomics, 45(1), pp.126-132