A DSR methodology for conceptual solution development of public open space governance

Abstract

Considering the importance of the 11th Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable cities and communities and the New Urban Agenda, it is imperative to address one of today’s crucial urban planning challenges, which concerns overexploitation, mismanagement, and quality issues related to public parks and state-owned public open space (POS). Selecting an appropriate methodological framework to formulate a solution to cope with the encountered challenges is necessary; however, finding a suitable one is difficult as there is a lack of research, particularly on the step-by-step development of a conceptual countermeasure (solution). Against this background, we adopted the revised design science research (DSR) framework and its procedural methodology to formulate a conceptual solution, represented as an artifact, within the institutional-social-ecological context of Sabah, Malaysia. The data obtained for the development and validation of the solution were secondary, based on a review via content analysis of prior studies. The proposed conceptual artifact (self-governing collective action) based on the root causes (i.e. property rights and transaction costs issues) from the ‘why’ analysis was then validated via the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework using its socialecological system (SES) criteria. The main contribution of this study is to showcase the application and relevancy of the DSR framework for urban and environmental planning research through a problem-solution analysis by demonstrating the process of how the artifact was systematically constructed, validated and standardised. It was found that the proposed conceptual solution can be considered valid and appropriate to address the local governance issues of POS.