Earlier this summer, we shared a piece examining the government’s proposal to ‘nudge’ the public to make healthier eating choices by making fruit and nutritious snacks more prominent in retail displays than sweets and crisps. We suggested that while positive, the measures outlined didn’t tackle the underlying reasons driving people’s choices, from lack of time to poverty. Here, Behavioural Scientist, Lara Suraci explains how local authorities could apply an alternative behavioural lens to help bring about change…
From community safety to health inequalities and digital exclusion, local governments face increasingly complex social challenges. A novel approach to overcome these challenges is Behavioural Systems Mapping – a multidisciplinary method designed to reveal interactions between institutions, services, and individuals, and enable smarter, more efficient interventions that maximise impact even with tight budgets.
Behavioural science traditionally relies on so-called ‘human deficit models’: frameworks that place both the blame and the responsibility for change on the individual. While this perspective has yielded useful insights over the years, it tends to overlook the broader systemic factors at play. Human deficit models – Nudge Theory being its perhaps most famous example – fundamentally assume that behavioural issues stem from internal flaws such as an individual’s lack of knowledge, motivation, or self-control. In reality, however, actions and choices that may appear ‘irrational’ at first often turn out to be perfectly rational responses to a flawed system.
In other words, human behaviour does not happen in a vacuum – and we shouldn’t treat it as such.
This is where Behavioural Systems Mapping comes in: combining insights from behavioural science as well as systems mapping, it offers a more holistic way for local governments to understand and shape behaviour – one that recognises systemic barriers and structural inequalities, and advocates for solutions that look at the bigger picture and deliver lasting change for our communities.
From individual deficits to system insights
Behavioural Systems Mapping helps us explore individual motivations as well as the context in which behaviour happens. It asks: What structural barriers are in the way? How do policies, service design, and local infrastructure shape choices? And who holds the power to make change?
By creating a visual map of the diverse and interacting factors that shape behaviour – such as policies that constrain choice, misaligned incentives, and competing organisational priorities – Behavioural Systems Mapping shifts the focus from individual decision-making to the complex system around it. It helps uncover leverage points that often go unnoticed, like policy gaps or process roadblocks, and shows where change can really make a difference. In other words, rather than just treating symptoms at the individual level, it reveals deeper, systemic drivers of behaviour that can be targeted for more sustainable and equitable solutions; without losing sight of individual, behavioural factors.
Unlocking smarter interventions in the public sector
For local government, policy-makers, and community organisations Behavioural Systems Mapping can unlock smarter interventions. It helps reveal the complex and often conflicting ways in which different departments and services – like public health, housing, transport, and waste – interact, between one another and with members of the public. This helps identify where policies or interventions may be misaligned or unintentionally working against each other, and encourages more coherent, systems-informed approaches.
In a context of tight budgets and growing demand, it’s also a useful tool for designing interventions that are not only effective but also efficient; minimising costly trial-and-error and ensuring limited resources are directed where they’ll have the greatest impact.
Grounded in practice
Here at DG Cities, we’re currently exploring a participatory approach to Behavioural Systems Mapping by involving experts and stakeholders who deliver work for Greenwich Council on specific local issues. Rather than taking a top-down view, this approach draws on the lived experience and practical knowledge of those working on the ground. Each participant contributes a different piece of the puzzle, helping to build a more accurate, context-sensitive understanding of the behavioural system at play.
Of course, this isn’t without its challenges. With a Behavioural Systems Map, finding the balance between complexity and usability can be tricky: a map that’s too simple risks missing key dynamics, one that’s too complex can become overwhelming and hard to act on. However, by working collaboratively and iteratively, we can create maps that are both meaningful and actionable – and we’re excited to continue exploring how this approach can support more effective solutions to the complex challenges facing local government!
