Large Socio-technical Systems Research Articles

Informality and survival in times of crises: the role of the Quadripartite security committee in wartime Beirut

Infrastructures are crucial for survival, never more so than during wartime. The history of the civil war in Beirut illuminates how access to infrastructure was maintained through informal relations despite strife and divisions. In this paper, the role of the Quadripartite Security Committee (QSC) in managing service provision for Beirut’s habitable areas is explored. The QSC was set up to liaise between political parties in an effort towards reconciliation. At its inception, it focused on preserving the ceasefire between partisans and establishing security in the city. This paper shows how between c. 1984 and 1988, the QSC also managed infrastructure services crucial for the survival of people in wartime Beirut. During that time, the QSC coordinated with various militias, government officials and local authorities to ensure road and street access throughout the city, the maintenance and repair of infrastructure, as well as food provision. The functioning of these infrastructure services meant that the city remained inhabited during the war. Analysing infrastructures as large sociotechnical systems that shape and are shaped by urban socio-political life, this paper delves into this historic case to broaden our understanding of how informality functioned as a crucial element of survivability in the city.

Irreversibility and Nuclear Disarmament: Unmaking Nuclear Weapon Complexes

ABSTRACT This article develops a framework for examining “irreversible nuclear disarmament” by drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS). It argues that maximising the irreversibility of nuclear disarmament is about the “unmaking” of a nuclear weapons complex understood as a large socio-technical system. This entails the discontinuation, or unravelling, of the system’s network of materials, competencies, meanings and institutions, the erosion of tacit knowledge, the discursive reframing of nuclear weapons, and new governance processes to manage discontinuation. The article applies this framework to the experiences of the US nuclear weapons complex in the aftermath of the Cold War to illustrate the ways in which the weapons complex of an established nuclear-armed state could come apart.

INFORMATION COUNTERFEATURE: MODELS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF INFORMATION OPERATIONS

Life activity of modern large socio-technical systems, which consist of two components: technical and social parts, takes place in a competitive information space. Therefore, the information security of such systems in general, in particular of the state, largely depends on the level of societysecurity. Special destructive informational and psychological operations conducted against the social component of the sociotechnical system pursue the main goal of informational struggle, namely: changing its state by reprogramming the society consciousness (the social part of sociotechnical systems). One of the ways to implement a special information operation is the use of a specially prepared conditional unit of information, such as a meme, which spreads in the information space by the using of influence various channels and performs the function of actually "infecting" the social part of socio-technical systems. The problems that must be solved in order to achieve the goal of destructive informational and psychological influence are considered. The main stages of preparation and implementation of an informational and psychological operation are also given. A structural model of the processes involved in the implementation of information warfare is developed. The article proposes a model for the implementation of a special informational and psychological operation, which is built,based on the Bernoulli formula and allows obtaining a probabilistic assessment of the effective implementation of an informational and psychological operation. In addition, further analysis of the developed model allows getting an assessment of the effectiveness of conducting a special informational and psychological operation. The effectiveness of the conducted special informational and psychological operation is evaluated byusing the probable number of social partelements, which, under the influence changed its initial state, and, as a result, the entire socio-technical system came out of equilibrium. The proposed models are can be used in solving the forecasting the risks problems of conducting special informational and psychological operations and, accordingly, building a system for counteracting destructive informational and psychological influences.

The “save the earth!” narrative creates a narrative trap for climate advocates

The phrase “Save the Earth!” encapsulates a common narrative among climate advocates, one of environmentalists battling polluters to save Mother Earth from being despoiled. In this narrative the moral boundaries are clear and the stakes are apocalyptic, leaving no room for doubt or compromise. Nonetheless, the narrative has not been an effective one for climate activists. Most importantly, it does not lay out a path for overcoming the deeply institutionalized barriers to transforming a large sociotechnical system. Climate advocates need a new narrative, one that continues to stress decarbonizing the economy but also emphasizes adapting to climate change that is already in the pipeline and ensuring a just transition that does not harm the most vulnerable parts of the population nor frustrate the aspirations of people around the world who seek better lives for themselves. The burgeoning field of just energy transitions encompasses these concerns, but it too needs a new story, one that avoids the narrative traps that have hampered climate policy more generally.

Climate change deniers, hippies, and preppers. Oh my!: Unpacking engineering student perceptions of renewable energy technology adoption in the United States

Engineers play a key role in the formation, operation, and maintenance of large socio-technical systems. Enmeshed in these practices of engineering are shared perceptions and visions of how society should be ordered, and what role of engineers should play. These value systems and how they shape the perception of who and where alternative energy belongs will shape who does or does not have the opportunity to participate in these alternative visions of energy. Drawing on engineering studies and dialectology research this study examines how a group of engineering students engaged in learning about renewable energy systems perceive the kinds of people in the United States who would or would not adopt alternative energy. Rather than see adoption/non-adoption as a purely “technical” matter, students brought their own perceptions of regional, social, and political differences to characterize the potential acceptability of each technology. Certain regions of the United States, despite their technical potential based on government and industry sources, are cast as too culturally backward and resistant to change to embrace new energy sources. These insights elucidate the importance of 'engineers' value systems as they continue to play a significant role in shaping the development of alternative energy technologies and markets.

Human functions in safety - developing a framework of goals, human functions and safety relevant activities for railway socio-technical systems

This paper presents a framework to express the role of people in establishing and maintaining system safety. The Human Functions in Safety (HFiS) framework has been developed for the railway context, describing safety-related activity within functions, and how this is shaped by overall organisational goals and contextual factors. Analysing human functions in this way moves from the reactive, accident-analytical approach that is commonly used in rail, by instead emphasising the human activity that maintains safety. The development and first application of HFiS involved three iterative stages of 1) mapping requirements to the safety literature to determine the concepts of the framework; 2) collating and synthesising data from the rail domain to determine the content of the framework; 3) review within the research team and with subject matter experts. The output from applying HFiS to railways is a detailed description of 66 human functions carried out by wide-ranging frontline staff, and the associated activities to maintain safety. This covered different types of goals (systemic, functional and individual) that shape work and specified the contextual factors that influence safety. Interrelations between human functions across the rail system are also identified. As well as supporting the understanding of rail safety, HFiS demonstrates how safety concepts can be combined and potentially applied to other large socio-technical systems. Specific guidance is presented on generic applications of HFiS concepts, including a set of generic functions with the potential to inform application of HFiS in other domains.

Darkness, Datafication, and Provenance as an Illuminating Methodology

Darkness, Datafication, and Provenance as an Illuminating Methodology

Temporality, consumption, and conflict: exploring user-based injustices in European low-carbon transitions

ABSTRACT The urgency of climate change means that low-carbon transitions are needed in large socio-technical systems such as energy and transportation. These transitions must be rapid, but also fair. An emerging body of evidence suggests that users have important roles in transitions, yet much previous research has examined user involvement while assuming it to be largely a positive force. This goes against a growing amount of evidence within sociotechnical studies that highlight the potentially obstructive or negative role that users may play in transitions and innovation. In this study, we pose a critical question: In what ways may users perpetuate injustices within a transition? To answer this question, we provide conceptual background on energy justice and user adoption of low-carbon energy and mobility technologies. We then analyse users and energy injustices in three low-carbon transitions – solar energy in Germany, electric vehicles in Norway, and smart meters in Great Britain – based on empirical data from interviews, focus groups, and internet forums. Our main contribution is to show how users in low-carbon transitions are not always positively engaged, or even neutral, but can introduce and contribute to inequality and exclusion.

Applying Circular Economy Principles to Urban Housing

This research seeks to develop a step change to the way housing is designed for cities in the UK. Housing demand in cities is predicted to increase. Urban centres are struggling to provide affordable housing. Moreover, cities are wasteful in terms of resource consumption, and waste generation heavily affecting the environment. The circular economy offers new ways to design, make and use houses to address these issues systemically as long as technical innovation is combined with social innovation. To date, the circular economy has mainly focused on technical innovation with limited emphasis on user social practices and behaviours. The combination of technological and social innovations through design has just appeared in emerging research and practice areas of design for sustainability. So, approaches that support the design of integrated solutions for transforming large socio-technical systems like cities are not yet well-established. To contribute to the development of integrated approaches for implementing a circular economy in urban housing, this study reviews a set of existing cases of social innovation for regenerative and restorative urban systems. Through empirical observation, we seek to integrate existing theories and concepts on circular economy and formulate theoretical insights for promoting the development of social-technical innovations.

A perspective on 21st design challenges facing the urgency of solutions for global sustainability

Before the accelerated transformation of reality, we question the human role in the technological context, placing the need of thinking about the importance of intrinsically human competences. In the scope of design, a field of practice and academic discipline, the challenge for the profession and the future education is huge. Above all, these challenges have to do with large scale and with processes requiring the ability to deal with more complex conceptual frameworks, with a set of context dimensions involving economic, ecological, social, cultural, and political issues of societies in permanent change. The design community recognizes the value of designer's multidisciplinary skills and the ability to lead processes involving large socio-technical systems. However, today the designer faces the challenge of multidisciplinary working teams where skills go far beyond their traditional abilities. The thinking and practice of design reveals a set of core values ​​and virtues of the designers that allows a strategic positioning of these professionals in the complex problem-solving context. Nevertheless, designers will have an increasingly demanding role in creating products, services and experiences which mean a profession under pressure to evolve towards a more complex activity requiring new general and specialized skills. The objective of our reflection is about designer’s competencies transition demand, an imperative requiring technological and management skills and leadership capacity on sustainable solutions complex processes. Despite this recognition, designers must be prepared about collaboration and cooperation skills, a necessity more and more in tension with a reality where the whole potential of design to deal with complexity remains unaware. Design community reflects about designer’s strategic value for facing global challenges and points out the complexity approach as a requirement of design education in the future. Considered a condition for design expansion this concern is also revealed in design education research contributions. This contextual disposition makes possible to regard an alignment about a direction to pursue. This paper presents a reflection about this problematic field which intends to be a contribution to understand how design discipline can evolve meeting the designer’s community recognition of the necessity of a set of updated critical dimensions for design activity. This reflection looks at the design community before a strong demand for an evolution, pushing to a design education deep transformation. This kind of evolution for design may occur first in the professional practice and will be primarily caused, in our perspective, by the desirable and the unavoidable impact on design processes of a design community's new mindset about core principles.

Why is exploitation of Arctic offshore oil and natural gas resources ongoing? A multi-level perspective on the cases of Norway and Russia

ABSTRACT The study focuses on the challenging complexity of the energy industry transformation. Despite sustainability and climate concerns the exploitation of conventional oil and natural gas resources is ongoing. We investigate the case of Arctic offshore oil and natural gas resources exploitation through a set of interviews, providing two national examples of Norway and Russia. The study design and methodology are inspired by a multi-level perspective framework (MLP) to large socio-technical systems. We focus on the interaction between the landscape and regime levels of the energy industry. The MLP analysis shows that Norway and Russia act differently under the same landscape factors and adjust on the regime level according to their national goals. We conclude that the landscape level does not shape the regime level equally, which complicates the transformational processes in the energy industry. The paper contributes to the sustainability transitions literature through a rarely investigated case, and suggests theoretical implications regarding the interactions between the regime and landscape levels of MLP. The paper introduces a different analytical perspective for scholars of Arctic studies.

Applicability of accident analysis methods to Chinese construction accidents

IntroductionIt is necessary to clearly understand construction accidents for preventing a rise in Chinese construction accidents and deaths. Better analysis methods are required for Chinese construction sector accidents. MethodsChoosing and analyzing a typical construction accident based on four popular contemporary accident causation models: STAMP, AcciMap, HFACS, and the 2-4 Model. Then we evaluated the models' applicability to construction accidents, including their usability, reliability, and validity. ResultsSTAMP addressed how complexity within the accident system influenced the accident development, and its output makes the responsibilities clearer for the accident. AcciMap described the entire system's failure, the entire accident's trajectory, and the relationship between them. AcciMap showed that the accident was a dynamic developing process, and this method has a high usability. The taxonomic nature of HFACS is an important feature that provides it with a high reliability. In the accident reviewed here, we found that poor management was a critical factor rather than the individual factor in the accident. The 2-4 Model provided detailed causes of the accident and established the relationship among the accident causes, the safety management system, and the safety culture. It also avoided capturing all of the complexity in the large sociotechnical system and revealed a dynamic analysis and developing process. We confirmed that it has a high usability and validity. Therefore, the 2-4Model is recommended for future Chinese construction accident analysis efforts. Practical ApplicationsThe study provides a useful, reliable, and effective analysis method for Chinese construction accidents.

Оценка крупномасштабных железнодорожных проектов: неосистемный подход

The problem of assessing the social effectiveness of large-scale railway projects (hereinafter referred to as the CPAW) is considered in this article in the light of J. Kornais system paradigm and its instrumental specification as a non-system approach. In this context, the CPCR is analyzed as large and complex socio-technical systems. The objects of research are the Lensko-Kamchatskaya and Subpolar railway lines, which are at the stage of pre-investment studies in the first case and partially implemented in the second, when the uncertainty of costs and results is extremely high. To assess the comparative effectiveness of these projects, computer products were used – foreign and domestic, designed to work within the framework of the theory of making complex decisions with semiverbal models and expert information. Computational experiments have shown that different computer products, as a means of supporting investment decision-making procedures, give analysts different recommendations about the preference of compared projects. It is shown that the reason is inadequate accounting for foreign products (as applied to large-scale projects) of the uncertainty factor. The conclusion is made about the productivity of the tools of the neosystemic approach implemented by the authors of the article as an integrator of verbal and mathematical models in evaluating large-scale projects in a situation of uncertainty.

Transition and transformation: A review of the concept of change in the progress towards future sustainable energy systems

It seems generally accepted that change will occur in global energy systems. There also appears to be consensus on the kinds of changes that may possible for the future, even though there may be disagreement over the exact mix of technologies and policies needed to increase sustainability or mitigate climate change. The terms transition and transformation have both been used to denote the type of change needed in large socio-technical systems. However, the terms have been used both in contradiction of each other and synonymously by different authors. A comprehensive review of both theory and usage in scientific publications was conducted to determine if the terms have been used to denote fundamentally different concepts and if the concept of change is framed differently by usage so as to affect understanding. Despite two camps being readily identifiable, it was concluded that the terms generally refer to the same fundamental concept. At the same time, framing of the concept can be viewed as somewhat different, resulting in a potential for confusion on the part of the reader that may detract from achieving the outcome of change. It is suggested that change to physical forms and systems be denoted as transformations, and that changes to large socio-technical systems be denoted as transitions when the focus is on a higher order of change that highlights the ways that society motivates, facilitates, and benefits from change.

Eskom: electricity and technopolitics in South Africa by Syvly Jaglin, Alain Dubresson

Reviewed by: Eskom: electricity and technopolitics in South Africa by Syvly Jaglin, Alain Dubresson Lumkile Mondi (bio) Syvly Jaglin and Alain Dubresson (2016) Eskom: electricity and technopolitics in South Africa. Cape Town: UCT Press The timing of this publication could not have been better. I am in the midst of writing a Doctoral thesis in Economics on the ‘The Foundations of the Financialisation of the South African Economy: a firm level study of Eskom’. It must be said upfront that the book is not ‘new’ to the French speaking market since it was published in Paris in 2015 and has been recently translated into English by the authors. Readers keen to understand the evolution of Eskom and the resignation of Brian Molefe will appreciate the richness of the arguments and supporting evidence presented by Jaglin and Dubresson in a book about an institution closer to the state and the ANC, but somewhat distant from the engineers that built it. Jaglin and Dubresson’s thinking is based on research conducted in South Africa under the French academic programme, the ANR Termos (Energy Trajectories in Metropolitan Regions of South Africa) during which the Eskom question and the question of national energy governance features as a constant refrain. The authors utilised evidence collected from field surveys conducted in Cape Town between 2010 and 2013 and draw also from information, data, technical reports and political controversies that can be accessed remotely from many websites focusing on South Africa’s national energy policy. Their sources also include Eskom, the South African government, the Departments of Energy and Public Enterprises, private companies, political parties, centres of academic expertise such as the University of Cape Town’s Energy Research Centre, national and international energy [End Page 176] consultancy agencies, organisations working on renewable energy (such as Sustainable Energy Africa, Greenpeace, or the Electricity Governance Initiative), the business press, in particular, Engineering News, Business Day and Business Report, as well as personal websites and blogs run by experts with an long-standing involvement in discussion and debate around the evolution and future of the South African energy sector (eg Anton Eberhard 2007, and Chris Yelland 2016). The Jaglin and Dubresson book proceeds by reminding readers that South Africa was once a leader with the cheapest steam generated electricity supplies in the world. Eskom Holding SOC Ltd is ranked eleventh in the world for installed capacity and the sixth largest African company across all sectors. It is vertically integrated, supplying about 95 per cent of the electricity consumed in South Africa and is wholly owned by the state. There are various historiographies on Eskom (see Eberhard 2007, Steyn 2006, Conradie and Messerschmidt 2000, Clarke 1987, 1994, Christie 1984, 1978). For example Christie (1984) locates the foundation of the competitiveness of South Africa’s power generation on the material conditions, the social structure and its method of accumulation. Christie (1984) also argues that the shallow faultless thickness of seams, the compound, pass-laws and reserves that guaranteed cheap labour for the coalmines and electricity generation, and the state provision of cheap electricity for transport, mining and manufacturing embodied the competitiveness of power generating under apartheid. With all these strengths how did the mighty Eskom find itself under severe pressure in 2008 during peak periods reduced in managing uncertainty? Jaglin and Dubresson attempt to understand how and why one of the most iconic pillars of the South African state capitalism, winner in 2001 of the Global Power Company of the Year prize, is now in distress and close to foundering. What follows is a review of the translated book (2016) and a brief critique of the chapters. In their introduction Jaglin and Dubresson locate an interpretation of Eskom in the following domains: the history and sociology of technology (Hughes 1998, 1993, Hecht 1998), institutions and their role in economic performance (North 1990, 1981), the interpenetration and entanglement between public and private interests, as well as the lack of differentiation between economic and political resources in the context of competing norms simply referred to as neopatrimonialism (Medard 1996). Jaglin and Dubresson engage their perspectives by considering the construction [End Page 177] and stabilisation of, and changes in, large sociotechnical systems based on...

An institutional analysis of technological learning in Iran's oil and gas industry: Case study of south Pars gas field development

This aim of this study is to identify elements in the institutional setting which affect technological learning outcomes in large socio technical systems. By drawing on fieldwork and empirical evidence from Iran's oil and gas industry, a multiple-case study has been conducted. It is found that the institutional regime of this sector jeopardizes technological learning scenarios through 4 overarching aspects: Cost, Time, Risk and Management structure, which we call “the CTRM square”. It is also revealed that the locked-in institutional structure of the sector creates a “negative co-evolution” among actors leading to impairment of technological learning. Our data shows that the characteristics of large socio-technical regimes in developing countries act in favour of such impairment. These regimes create strong commitment in stakeholder groups. Such commitment establishes dominancy around technological routines, which is the result of low absorptive capacity of stakeholders and their lack of awareness regarding new technological scenarios. In some cases, political conditions surrounding a project as well as personal gains lead to the stakeholder's deliberate action against a new technological scenario. The negative co-evolution contributes to the supply side change of strategy in order to safeguard their market position which ultimately engenders dominancy of obsolete technological routines in the firms diminishing technological learning in the oil and gas industry.

A traveler’s guide to smart grids and the social sciences

This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue on smart grids and the social sciences. There is currently a discourse of very high ambitions and anticipation regarding how the implementation of a broad collection of smart grid related technologies across scales and geographies would influence the performance of electricity grids, and through this play an essential role in energy transition processes, renewable energy implementation, de-carbonization etc. So far, the question of how to achieve the desired goals has largely been a technical endeavor. In this special issue, and in this paper, we explore some of the ways through which social scientists have begun to engage the smart grid development. Here, research mainly targets three distinct areas of scientific research. First, emerging infrastructures attract a large number of imaginaries or visions, which can be studied. Second, smart grids have explicit expectations towards its users inscribed in them. The second group of contributions gathered here traces these types of inscriptions and the various relationships that might emerge between new technologies and publics at different scales. Third, infrastructures are large socio-technical systems that have to be built. Studies of this kind of system building and transformation are collected in the third part of this issue.

Path-dependence, lock-in, and student perceptions of nuclear energy in France: Implications from a pilot study

Past energy development decisions can influence and constrain future choices, leading to a lock-in to a certain energy development path. As a large socio-technical system, such lock-in effects in an energy system extend beyond the techno-institutional environments to its human dimension. This paper represents an exploratory attempt to bridge the gap between individual and group level analyses of the human side of energy systems. A mix-methods study investigated how French engineering students view nuclear energy and why nuclear energy is perceived the way it is. Sixty-seven students participated in a survey and forty-three of them additionally took part in focus groups. Survey findings showed that participants not only strongly associated nuclear energy with specific imageries; they also exhibited a positive perceptual bias toward nuclear energy. Through focus group discussions, we identified six factors contributing to the observed positive nuclear perception namely historical development, education system, political environment, economy, media coverage and societal influences. These factors constitute sources of lock-in and represent barriers to societal support of energy developments that has relevance beyond France and nuclear energy. Implications of study findings for future research and energy decision-makers engaged in the task of changing a nation's energy system are discussed.

Normalizing Transantiago: on the challenges (and limits) of repairing infrastructures.

This article looks to propose a new way to understand the repair of failing large sociotechnical systems. Leaving aside romantic valuations, repair always involves a certain degree of normalization. Derived from conceptualizations by Foucault, repair as normalization is understood as a particular form of power that, first, recognizes a certain normal state to which the failing system should evolve and, second, develops different strategies to reach it, usually involving the deployment of particular disciplinary devices. The ultimate aim of such practices is usually not only the improvement of the system but centrally the maintenance of a certain kind of power. In order to show the empirical usability of such conceptualization, the article analyzes the case of Transantiago, a thoroughgoing reform of the public transport system of Santiago, Chile. The start of Transantiago in February 2007 was marred by multiple failures, becoming one of the biggest public controversies in the country in recent decades. Given this, several different strategies were developed to repair such failures, understanding them explicitly as normalization. The article analyzes two particular strategies: attempts to change the negative 'public perception' about Transantiago through the use of quantitative indicators and the introduction of an unexpected type of infrastructure to increase the overall speed of the system. Finally, the conclusion analyzes how the conception of repair as normalization can help us better understand the complexities involved in dealing with failing large sociotechnical systems such as Transantiago, pointing to the need to sometimes move beyond repair.

A Complex Sociotechnical Systems Approach to Provisioning Educational Policies for Future Workforce

Reforming the U.S. educational system and workforce is a national challenge. Both industry leaders 30 and academics 2,28 concur that improving the quality, quantity [and alignment] of U.S STEM graduates are national imperatives. Models of the U.S. educational system, using complex sociotechnical systems’ approaches and tools that instill systems thinking, offer a holistic perspective to the educational and workforce challenges we face as a nation and allow us to identify and understand challenges associated with workforce preparedness, and increasing the number and technical excellence of STEM graduates 9,13,29. These models represent a sociotechnical system of systems with various sub-systems, each one representing an inherently complex and interdisciplinary problem of maintaining bi-directional, non-linear feedback relationships between one another. Each system involves multiple disparate stakeholders that need to collaborate within a time-and resource-intensive process while embedded in a larger sociotechnical system, aligned with the people, ideas, and support required to support desired global outcomes, of the system of systems, society and industry in particular11.