Optimizing Local Sustainable Development Plans Through Participatory System Dynamics

Bibliographic Data

ID19235274
AuthorsTakis Kapsalis (0000-0002-1607-160X, Sustainable Development Association Marousi Greece, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-04-20
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-0802 • E-ISSN: 1099-1719
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sd.71101
OpenAlexW7154989223
LanguageEN
References cited33

Sustainable development planning in small communities is often constrained by limited technical capacity, fragmented participation, and insufficient adaptive feedback mechanisms. This study presents a participatory system dynamics (SD) framework designed to support the co‐creation of medium‐term sustainability plans (24–36 months) through structured modeling of socio‐institutional processes. The model integrates leadership activation, citizen participation, shared vision formation, trust dynamics, methodological quality, technological support, cultural heritage integration, and climate pressures into a unified causal‐loop and stock–flow architecture. Developed through participatory causal mapping and iterative calibration, the framework applies pattern‐oriented validation and sensitivity analysis to identify dominant leverage mechanisms influencing sustainability plan quality (SPQ). Simulation results over a 36‐month horizon reproduce theoretically and empirically plausible behavioral patterns, including delayed vision formation, reinforcing participation–trust dynamics, and S‐curve improvement trajectories. Sensitivity analysis identifies participation and leadership capacity as primary leverage points, while methodology and technological support function as amplifiers of learning processes. Rather than proposing a universally fixed governance template, the study advances a structurally replicable and contextually adaptable modeling architecture: the feedback logic remains transferable under comparable participatory governance conditions, whereas parameter values require local calibration. The framework contributes a transparent and operational bridge between participatory planning practices and simulation‐based decision support, strengthening community learning and adaptive strategic capacity

Adaptive capacity · Adaptive Management · Citizen journalism · Corporate governance · Public participation · Sustainability · System dynamics · Viable system model · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

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