Complexity Theory For A Sustainable Future

Author : Jon Norberg
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231508865
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future written by Jon Norberg and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-11 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Walter R. Erdelen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429816944
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Managing Complexity: Earth Systems and Strategies for the Future written by Walter R. Erdelen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Espinosa Angela
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 1786342057
Total Pages : 584 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complexity Approach To Sustainability, A: Theory And Application (Second Edition) written by Espinosa Angela and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Nicola Labanca
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331933753X
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions written by Nicola Labanca and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Angela Espinosa
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781786342041
Total Pages : 583 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Complexity Approach to Sustainability written by Angela Espinosa and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.

Author : Prasenjit Duara
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107082250
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Crisis of Global Modernity written by Prasenjit Duara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on historical sociology, transnational histories and Asian traditions, Duara seeks answers to the pressing global issue of environmental sustainability.

Author : Ciza Thomas
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 9535128418
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation written by Ciza Thomas and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Jean G. Boulton
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 0199565252
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Embracing Complexity written by Jean G. Boulton and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.

Author : Emery Roe
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461554977
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Taking Complexity Seriously written by Emery Roe and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Nathaniel K Newlands
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 131535666X
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Future Sustainable Ecosystems written by Nathaniel K Newlands and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.