Abstract for: Building a shared understanding for carsharing concept using remote GMB workshops

Urban carsharing is often posited as a solution to address urban transport issues, such as high CO2 emission, private car dependency, and intensify fossil fuel consumption. However, its applications in cities within developing countries, where the number of private vehicles is expected to significantly increase in the next decades, is still limited. The unfamiliarity toward the concept among related stakeholders, such as policymakers and regulators, has been identified as a hindrance of its wider implementation. In this study, we explore how a diagnostic participatory tool in remote group model building (rGMB) can build a shared understanding of the concept among the stakeholders, thus support the planning and implementation of the service. We found the rGMB process helped the stakeholders to understand a novel mobility concept in carsharing from their different perspectives and building a coalition between them that will be beneficial to the policymaking process. The resulting CLD diagram also provides a basis for a qualitative policy analysis process and the development of a qualitative System Dynamics model to assess likely impacts of a given policy. Moreover, our rGMB process was innovatively designed to minimize in person-contact, thus reduced the risk of exposure to coronavirus for the participants and the research team.