Heat Trap: Methodological Considerations for a Policy Exercise on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

In social systems an almost limitless number of ill-structured situations exist that cannot be dealt with in isolation. They hardly qualify as problems. Problem solving per se as encountered in mathematics and physics does not provide an appropriate context for dealing with issues such as environmental planning, health care planning, urban planning, and so on. It is against this background that gaming and simulation will be discussed. Gaming provides a language for combining the social/human domain with the physical, technological, and economic domains. Three types of learning environments will be distinguished for integrating these knowledge domains. The methodology presented here provides a framework for dealing with complicated issues such as sustainable development of social systems. This will be illustrated through specifications for a policy exercise on greenhouse gas emissions.