Approaching complexity: an exposition on research methods for infrastructure systems

Abstract

Public infrastructure is an interdependent system of actors, organisations, assets, services, the society it serves, and the context of each and their whole. This complexity presents research challenges for those focused at the system level, not the least that there is limited research in whole-of-system working for public infrastructure administration and the public sector more generally. Although the available literature appears unified in calling for a probing, pluralist approach, there are few examples of how to approach complex systems in practice. This paper derives from a research programme on the strategic intent and management of infrastructure systems. That programme used the New Zealand land transport system as its focus; nonetheless, it should have wider application given the shared issues being faced within infrastructure practice and matters of sustainability, resilience and system fitness more generally. By melding methods, the action research methodology is aimed at assisting researchers of complex systems and/or problems in gaining more fulsome insights and evidence to support theory. Accordingly, the methodology contributes to the understanding of how to approach infrastructure systems from a research perspective. It offers a road map, a means of sense-making and socialising the issues found at the whole-of-system level and a systemic diagnostic tool.