Complexity Theory For A Sustainable Future

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Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future

Author : Jon Norberg,Graeme Cumming
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2008-07-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 0231508867

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Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future by Jon Norberg,Graeme Cumming Pdf

Complexity theory illuminates the many interactions between natural and social systems, providing a better understanding of the general principles that can help solve some of today's most pressing environmental issues. Complexity theory was developed from key ideas in economics, physics, biology, and the social sciences and contributes to important new concepts for approaching issues of environmental sustainability such as resilience, scaling, and networks. Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future is a hands-on treatment of this exciting new body of work and its applications, bridging the gap between theoretical and applied perspectives in the management of complex adaptive systems. Focusing primarily on natural resource management and community-based conservation, the book features contributions by leading scholars in the field, many of whom are among the leaders of the Resilience Alliance. Theoreticians will find a valuable synthesis of new ideas on resilience, sustainability, asymmetries, information processing, scaling, and networks. Managers and policymakers will benefit from the application of these ideas to practical approaches and empirical studies linked to social-ecological systems. Chapters present new twists on such existing approaches as scenario planning, scaling analyses, and adaptive management, and the book concludes with recommendations on how to manage natural resources, how to involve stakeholders in the dynamics of a system, and how to explain the difficult topic of scale. A vital reference for an emerging discipline, this volume provides a clearer understanding of the conditions required for systems self-organization, since the capacity of any system to self-organize is crucial for its sustainability over time.

Complexity Approach To Sustainability, A: Theory And Application (Second Edition)

Author : Espinosa Angela,Walker Jon
Publisher : World Scientific
Page : 584 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-23
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781786342058

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Complexity Approach To Sustainability, A: Theory And Application (Second Edition) by Espinosa Angela,Walker Jon Pdf

Business sustainability and sustainable development are of great importance in modern-day socio-economic study. Despite this, the impact of recent contributions from systems and complexity sciences in addressing these issues has not yet filtered down into effective practice. This book argues that there is a need for urgency in the application of analytical tools which embody the principles of complexity management in sustainability research, in particular in the context of the global climate change. The approach presented is based on the concept of clusters of whole systems coming together through collaboration, in order to create larger wholes capable of dealing with the issues facing our socio-economic environmental systems. In this updated second edition, the authors further clarify the viability and sustainability (V&S) approach, and the criteria and framework needed for sustainable governance. It includes a more detailed perspective on the implications of the V&S approach to businesses and networks towards changes in structure, strategy and processes, inspired by specific case studies. Key additions include a criteria for designing more viable and sustainable self-governed organizations, the methodologies and tools to design and implement self-transformations towards sustainability, and how these tools support sustainability management individually and globally, for businesses and society.

Managing Complexity: Earth Systems and Strategies for the Future

Author : Walter R. Erdelen,Jacques G. Richardson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2018-09-03
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780429816949

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Managing Complexity: Earth Systems and Strategies for the Future by Walter R. Erdelen,Jacques G. Richardson Pdf

Managing Complexity: Earth Systems and Strategies for the Future introduces and explores systems and complexity in relation to near-synchronous world and environmental problems. These relate to but are not limited to water, biological diversity, worldwide climate change, trade and conflict, global migration and the quest for sustainable development. Complemented by discussion of the new era of the Anthropocene, its many manifestations, and Earth system properties such as planetary boundaries and tipping points this book offers practical suggestions for how a sustainable future for humanity can be realised. Specifically discussed in Managing Complexity: Earth Systems and Strategies for the Future are innovation, education and capacity building, application of the natural and social sciences and new paths towards sustainability based on industrial development and engineering, as well as in diplomacy and foreign aid. The book’s conclusions discuss the ambitious yet vital reforms the authors propose as routes to a sustainable existence. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainability, sustainable development and complexity theory.

A Complexity Approach to Sustainability

Author : Angela Espinosa,Angela María Espinosa Salazar,Jon Walker
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 583 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2017
Category : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
ISBN : 1786342049

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A Complexity Approach to Sustainability by Angela Espinosa,Angela María Espinosa Salazar,Jon Walker Pdf

"Business sustainability and sustainable development are of great importance in modern-day socio-economic study. Despite this, the impact of recent contributions from systems and complexity sciences in addressing these issues has not yet filtered down into effective practice. This book argues that there is a need for urgency in the application of analytical tools which embody the principles of complexity management in sustainability research, in particular in the context of the global climate change. The approach presented is based on the concept of clusters of whole systems coming together through collaboration, in order to create larger wholes capable of dealing with the issues facing our socio-economic environmental systems. In this updated second edition, the authors further clarify the viability and sustainability (V&S) approach, and the criteria and framework needed for sustainable governance. It includes a more detailed perspective on the implications of the V&S approach to businesses and networks towards changes in structure, strategy and processes, inspired by specific case studies. Key additions include a criteria for designing more viable and sustainable self-governed organizations, the methodologies and tools to design and implement self-transformations towards sustainability, and how these tools support sustainability management individually and globally, for businesses and society."--Publisher's website.

Complexity and Sustainability

Author : Jennifer Wells
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780415695770

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Complexity and Sustainability by Jennifer Wells Pdf

Introduction -- Elucidating complexity theories -- Complexity in the natural sciences -- Complexity in social theory -- Towards transdisciplinarity -- Complexity in philosophy: complexification and the limits to knowledge -- Complexity in ethics -- Earth in the anthropocene -- Complexity and climate change -- American dreams, ecological nightmares and new visions -- Complexity and sustainability: wicked problems, gordian knots and synergistic solutions -- Conclusion.

Future Sustainable Ecosystems

Author : Nathaniel K Newlands
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2016-10-03
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9781466582576

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Future Sustainable Ecosystems by Nathaniel K Newlands Pdf

Future Sustainable Ecosystems: Complexity, Risk, Uncertainty provides an interdisciplinary, integrative overview of environmental problem-solving using statistics. It shows how statistics can be used to solve diverse environmental and socio-economic problems involving food, water, energy scarcity, and climate change risks. It synthesizes interdisciplinary theory, concepts, definitions, models and findings involved in complex global sustainability problem-solving, making it an essential guide and reference. It includes real-world examples and applications making the book accessible to a broader interdisciplinary readership. Discussions include a broad, integrated perspective on sustainability, integrated risk, multi-scale changes and impacts taking place within ecosystems worldwide. State-of-the-art statistical techniques, including Bayesian hierarchical, spatio-temporal, agent-based and game-theoretic approaches are explored. The author then focuses on the real-world integration of observational and experimental data and its use within statistical models.

Taking Complexity Seriously

Author : Emery Roe
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 141 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781461554974

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Taking Complexity Seriously by Emery Roe Pdf

Taking Complexity Seriously applies the advanced policy analysis technique of triangulation to what is now the world's most complex public policy challenge: sustainable development. One central problem of public policy analysis has been to find new ways of analyzing issues of increasing complexity and uncertainty. Triangulation is perhaps the best example of these novel techniques, as it uses various methods, databases, theories, and approaches to converge on what to do about the complex issue in question. Taking Complexity Seriously uses four different theoretical approaches (Girardian economics, cultural theory, critical theory, and the local justice framework) to triangulation in order to converge on answers to four major policy questions: What is sustainable development? Why is it an issue? What needs to be done? What can actually be done? These four approaches are used to analyze the sustainable development controversy that recently arose in the pages of Science magazine and the journal Ecological Applications. These different approaches prove highly potent in defamiliarizing conventional wisdom about sustainable development. Ultimately the different approaches will converge on novel answers to the four questions. The practical implications of these conclusions are drawn out at the end of Taking Complexity Seriously in a detailed case study of ecosystem management.

The Ecosystem Approach

Author : David Waltner-Toews,James J. Kay,Nina-Marie E. Lister
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780231132503

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The Ecosystem Approach by David Waltner-Toews,James J. Kay,Nina-Marie E. Lister Pdf

Is sustainable development a workable solution for today's environmental problems? Is it scientifically defensible? Best known for applying ecological theory to the engineering problems of everyday life, the late scholar James J. Kay was a leader in the study of social and ecological complexity and the thermodynamics of ecosystems. Drawing from his immensely important work, as well as the research of his students and colleagues, The Ecosystem Approach is a guide to the aspects of complex systems theories relevant to social-ecological management. Advancing a methodology that is rooted in good theory and practice, this book features case studies conducted in the Arctic and Africa, in Canada and Kathmandu, and in the Peruvian Amazon, Chesapeake Bay, and Chennai, India. Applying a systems approach to concrete environmental issues, this volume is geared toward scientists, engineers, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners who are attuned to the ideas of the Resilience Alliance-an international group of scientists who take a more holistic view of ecology and environmental problem-solving. Chapters cover the origins and rebirth of the ecosystem approach in ecology; the bridging of science and values; the challenge of governance in complex systems; systemic and participatory approaches to management; and the place for cultural diversity in the quest for global sustainability.

Education for Sustainable Development in Further Education

Author : Denise Summers,Roger Cutting
Publisher : Springer
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2016-08-20
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781137519115

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Education for Sustainable Development in Further Education by Denise Summers,Roger Cutting Pdf

This book will enable teachers and managers in the post-compulsory sector to consider a range of approaches to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in their practice in the post-compulsory sector. There will be the opportunity to consider key debates, useful links and suggested reading to encourage further investigation and development of practice. Fundamentally, this book aims to empower teachers to critically analyse ESD through their own subject specialisms, engage in the debate and learn with their students. Democratic and participative approaches introduced will help readers to question traditional transmissive styles of teaching and learning and move on to the radical and transformative approaches required to embrace ESD. Therefore this book, whilst including illustrative examples, will encourage the reader to look at their own subject specialisms, practice, interests and those of their students to co-construct a curriculum that embeds ESD.

Future Sustainable Ecosystems

Author : Nathaniel K Newlands
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2016-10-03
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9781315356662

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Future Sustainable Ecosystems by Nathaniel K Newlands Pdf

Future Sustainable Ecosystems: Complexity, Risk, Uncertainty provides an interdisciplinary, integrative overview of environmental problem-solving using statistics. It shows how statistics can be used to solve diverse environmental and socio-economic problems involving food, water, energy scarcity, and climate change risks. It synthesizes interdisciplinary theory, concepts, definitions, models and findings involved in complex global sustainability problem-solving, making it an essential guide and reference. It includes real-world examples and applications making the book accessible to a broader interdisciplinary readership. Discussions include a broad, integrated perspective on sustainability, integrated risk, multi-scale changes and impacts taking place within ecosystems worldwide. State-of-the-art statistical techniques, including Bayesian hierarchical, spatio-temporal, agent-based and game-theoretic approaches are explored. The author then focuses on the real-world integration of observational and experimental data and its use within statistical models.

Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions

Author : Nicola Labanca
Publisher : Springer
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-02
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9783319337531

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Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions by Nicola Labanca Pdf

This book offers an interdisciplinary discussion of the fundamental issues concerning policies for sustainable transition to renewable energies from the perspectives of sociologists, physicists, engineers, economists, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists and policy analysts. Adopting a combined approach, these are analysed taking both complex systems and social practice theories into consideration to provide deeper insights into the evolution of energy systems. The book then draws a series of important conclusions and makes recommendations for the research community and policy makers involved in the design and implementation of policies for sustainable energy transitions.

Ergonomics and Human Factors for a Sustainable Future

Author : Andrew Thatcher,Paul H.P. Yeow
Publisher : Springer
Page : 396 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2018-04-04
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9789811080722

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Ergonomics and Human Factors for a Sustainable Future by Andrew Thatcher,Paul H.P. Yeow Pdf

This book focuses on different sustainable products and services, such as electrical vehicles, green buildings, and biophilic and biomimetic systems, at multiple hierarchical levels within its chapters. The authors reflect on individual, organisational, governmental, political, and moral considerations of how Human Factor Ergonomics can build a sustainable future. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with environmental issues and sustainability.

Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation

Author : Ciza Thomas
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2016-12-14
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9789535128410

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Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation by Ciza Thomas Pdf

The book on complex systems, sustainability, and innovation explores a broad set of ideas and presents some of the state-of-the-art research in this field concisely in six chapters. In a complex system, it is difficult to know exactly how the individual components contribute to an observed behavior and the extent of each component's contributions. It is the interactions of the individual components that determine the emergent functionalities. This makes it difficult to understand and predict the behavior of complex systems and hence the effects of any innovations in this field. This necessitates for the emergence of a new age of innovations with the main focus on user orientation and sustainability. This book explores some of the complex systems and their dependence on the environment to provide a long-term perspective, aiding innovations and supporting a sustainable society. The intended audience of this book will mainly consist of researchers, research students, and practitioners in the field of complex systems and sustainability.

Sustainable and Democratic Education

Author : Sarah Chave
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2020-12-20
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780429621895

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Sustainable and Democratic Education by Sarah Chave Pdf

In a world struggling with environmental and social problems resistant to current solutions, education needs to explore ways to ‘enlarge the space of the possible’ rather than only ‘replicate the existing possible’. To respond to this challenge, this book troubles dominant Western philosophical conceptions which continue to have wide-ranging influence in education worldwide and which limit more sustainable ways to be in the world together. It argues for the importance of opening spaces in and through which unique subjects can emerge, bringing potential for new ways of being and as yet unimagined futures. The book makes a valuable contribution to international growing interest in Arendtian thinking, complexity and emergence, feminist thinking, the emerging field of anticipation studies, the posthuman and engagement with Indigenous scholarship and practices in ways which attempt to be non-appropriating. Sustainability continues to be a vital theme in education, and the book responds to a desire to encourage education which invites more sustainable processes and ways of being in addition to education which limits itself to teaching about, or for, sustainability. Sustainable and Democratic Education will be of great interest to academics and practitioners working with sustainability, Indigenous scholarship, complexity theory and the posthuman and what these ideas can mean in and for education.

Intrinsic Sustainable Development

Author : Frank Birkin,Thomas Polesie
Publisher : World Scientific
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9789814365000

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Intrinsic Sustainable Development by Frank Birkin,Thomas Polesie Pdf

Sustainable development sets the agenda for the 21st century. Human technological capability and needs mean that nature is and will be challenged and damaged in many ways. This book offers a solution to sustainable development problems.