Abstract for: Combining the Strengths of System Dynamics and the Multi-Level Perspective to Explore Policies for Sustainable Transitions

This paper outlines a system dynamics driven approach that can be used to assess policy making with regard to future sustainability transitions. Insights from transition literature and the multilevel perspective are used to translate policy targets into transition scenarios that are then explored with the help of system dynamics. While past approaches involved the translation of whole socio-technical systems into complex system dynamics models, this approach compares the transition goals of policy makers with stereotypic transition pathways in order to constrain the boundaries of the transition problem. This leads to simple and problem-oriented models that allow a better understanding of the dynamics of the socio-technical systems and therefore a more efficient application of system dynamics. The application of the approach is illustrated with the help of the case study of a transition towards the electrification of private transport vehicles.