Intersections in delta development; analyzing actors for complexity-sensitive spatial concepts

Abstract

Delta areas can be considered complex adaptive socio-ecological systems. The Dutch Southwest delta, facing serious flood risks, vulnerability to ecological decline, and various challenging issues of agriculture, industry, harbor development and energy provision, is a case in point. Still, many institutional barriers exist towards governing and planning this complex whole as such. In this article we therefore develop and test a method for the development of integrative, complexity-sensitive spatial concepts: First, stakeholder analysis techniques are used to disclose the diversity of system understandings amongst the actors involved. Moreover, the method mobilizes these constructivist techniques to gain insight into the CAS property of co-evolving subsystems. Through the subsequent inventory, classification and synthesis of such ‘intersections’ between subsystems, the method helps identify the delta’s crucial clusters of interdependent subsystems, or ‘configurations’. We present three of such configurations, to illustrate how this method informs the step from systems analysis to spatial design.