{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T07:45:17Z","timestamp":1767771917121,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,18]],"date-time":"2025-07-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752796800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000269","name":"Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ES\/V016075\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ES\/V016075\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aimed to develop a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) to visualise how urban environment factors impact dementia and cognitive decline, and potential causal mechanisms. In Group Model Building workshops with 12 researchers, a CLD was created to identify factors contributing to cognitive decline, and the dynamic interrelationships between these factors. The factors were classified in nine main themes: urban design, social environment, travel behaviours, urban design by-products, lifestyle, mental health conditions, disease\/physiology, brain physiology, and cognitive decline outcomes. Five selected feedback loops illustrated some dynamics in the system. The workshops helped develop a shared language and understanding of different perspectives from an interdisciplinary team. The CLD creation was part of a comprehensive modelling approach based on experts\u2019 knowledge which informed other research outputs such as an evidence gap map and an umbrella review, helped the identification of environmental variables for future studies and analyses, and helped to identify future possible systems-based interventions to prevent cognitive decline. The study highlights the utility of CLDs and Group Model Building workshops in interdisciplinary research projects investigating complex systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13070606","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,18]],"date-time":"2025-07-18T13:33:27Z","timestamp":1752845607000},"page":"606","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Mapping the Complex Systems That Connects the Urban Environment to Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: A Group Model Building Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4353-2256","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ione","family":"Avila-Palencia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Innovation and Technology for Development Centre, Technical University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5947-2617","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leandro","family":"Garcia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Claire","family":"Cleland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7028-5633","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bernadette","family":"McGuinness","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Joanna","family":"Mchugh Power","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amy Jayne","family":"McKnight","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Conor","family":"Meehan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Innovation Lab of the Northern Irish Civil Service, Belfast BT3 9ED, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7315-0382","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruth F.","family":"Hunter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen\u2019s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(18)30403-4","article-title":"Global, regional, and national burden of Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other dementias, 1990\u20132016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016","volume":"18","author":"Nichols","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Neurol."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"World Health Organization (1992). 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