Operationalizing systems thinking for climate risk assessment in the built environment: insights from a participatory workshop

Dikmen, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6988-7557, Fuertes, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6224-1489, Nikolic, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4001-8104, Madanayake, U. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9122-1882, Shahrestani, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8741-0912 and Shibeika, A. (2026) Operationalizing systems thinking for climate risk assessment in the built environment: insights from a participatory workshop. In: ReShaping the Built Environment through Sustainability and Circularity: ReSBE 2026 International Conference, 20-23 October 2026, Thessaloniki, Greece. (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

Climate change generates cascading risks that propagate through in-terconnected physical, social, and environmental systems, creating complex challenges for the built environment. Effective climate risk assessment and ad-aptation planning therefore require systems-based lens and methods capable of revealing interdependencies, emergent behavior, and system-wide vulnerabili-ties. However, prevailing approaches in built environment practice often treat risks as isolated events, relying on risk checklists and matrices that overlook feedback loops, spatial–temporal interactions, and cross-system dependencies. Although the value of systems thinking for climate adaptation is widely recog-nized, research on systems-based climate risk assessment is rather limited. This paper presents initial findings from an ongoing research project that investigates how systems thinking can be operationalized for climate adaptation planning in the built environment by conducting participatory workshops with domain ex-perts. Using university campuses as an initial testbed, nine experts evaluated al-ternative methods for assessment of overheating risk in buildings. They pro-duced visualizations – including a process model, risk map, a conceptual AI-enabled automated mapping tool and a rich picture to demonstrate how systems thinking can be used by the estate management teams. Findings from this work-shop show that systems thinking provides a useful framework for understanding system behavior perceived differently by diverse stakeholders and communi-cating risk information for climate resilient systems. The study contributes to academic debate on embedding systems thinking into climate adaptation plan-ning, particularly why and how it can be mobilized, and offers practical insights for advancing systems-based climate risk assessment in the built environment.

Item Type	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130498
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment > Construction Management and Engineering Science > School of the Built Environment > Organisation, People and Technology group
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