Sustainable World: Approaches to Analyzing and Resolving Wicked Problems
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 616
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 616
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Sustainable World: Approaches to Analyzing and Resolving Wicked Problems is the first introductory textbook to offer a comprehensive overview of the problem solving methods used by sustainability scientists to resolve real-world sustainability problems. The book’s content is based on an undergraduate sustainability course taught by the author in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University and was reviewed by world renowned sustainability scientist faculty from the School. The course is taken by a diverse group of students ranging from sustainability to business majors. Thus, the book is appropriate for a wide range of undergraduates, advanced high school students, and also as an introduction to the sustainability science problem solving approach for any interested reader. It is perfect for a stand-alone course focused on sustainability problem solving, whether inside the classroom through case studies or out in the real-world. The book is a reasonable length, such that it can be used as supplemental reading for any course in any discipline that is focused on using disciplinary knowledge to resolve real-world sustainability problems.
Sustainable World: Approaches to Analyzing and Resolving Wicked Problems' content draws from a wide range of disciplines that define the emerging 21st century field of sustainability science, including anthropology, business, ecology, economics, science and technology studies, sociology, urban planning, and major others. The book’s focus is on developing five key sustainability competencies (system thinking, normative, anticipatory, strategic, and interpersonal) that foster the knowledge, skills, and understandings needed by change-agents to resolve sustainability problems in the real-world. The book includes an introduction to sustainability and socio-ecological system complexity and also to each component of the sustainability science problem solving approach: current state analysis, future scenarios, visioning, and transition strategies. Core Questions and Key Concepts structure each chapter’s content. End-of-chapter case studies, discussion questions, and projects allow for exploration and application of concepts.
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Sustainability
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 1.1 People and Nature, Today and throughout
Human History
Section 1.1.1 Recent Human Transformation of Natural Systems
Section 1.1.2 Human Interaction with Natural Systems in the Past
Section 1.2 Understanding Human Transformations Using
the I = PAT Model
Section 1.2.1 Present-Day Application of I = PAT
Section 1.2.2 Comparing Human Transformations Then and
Now Using I = PAT
Section 1.3 Natural Systems and Human Well-Being
Section 1.3.1 Connections between Natural Systems and
Human Well-Being
Section 1.3.2 Defining Human Well-Being
Section 1.3.3 Aspects of Human Well-Being Affected by Natural
System Transformations
Section 1.4 Origins of Sustainability
Section 1.4.1 Environment and Natural Capital
Section 1.4.2 Economy and Development
Section 1.4.3 Society and Equity
Section 1.4.4 Birth of Sustainability
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 2 Wicked Problems and Their Resolution
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 2.1 Understanding Sustainability Problems
Section 2.1.1 Introduction to Wicked Problems
Section 2.1.2 Wicked Problems, Socioecological Systems,
and Complexity
Section 2.2 Resolving Sustainability Problems
Section 2.2.1 Overview of the Transformational Sustainability
Research Framework
Section 2.2.2 Making Tradeoffs for Sustainability
Section 2.2.3 Participatory and Transdisciplinary Approaches
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 3 Current State Analysis
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 3.1 Defining the System and Classifying Drivers
Section 3.1.1 Defining the System
Section 3.1.2 Classifying Driver Scale
Section 3.1.3 Classifying Driver Influence
Section 3.2 Causal Chain Analysis
Section 3.2.1 Assessing Causality
Section 3.2.2 Extent of Influence, Current Trends, and
the Importance of Context
Section 3.2.3 Drivers and Causal Chains: A Western Indian Ocean
Case Study
Section 3.3 Stakeholder Analysis
Section 3.3.1 Identifying Stakeholders
Section 3.3.2 Analyzing Stakeholder Behavior, Interest,
and Influence
Section 3.3.3 Investigating Stakeholder Relationships
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 4 Indicators of Sustainability
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 4.1 Introduction to Sustainability Indicators
Section 4.1.1 Sustainability Indicators versus Traditional Indicators
Section 4.1.2 Characteristics of Effective Sustainability Indicators
Section 4.2 Sustainability Indicators, a Case Study from
the Primorska Region of Slovenia
Section 4.2.1 The Participatory Process of Indicator Development
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 5 Resilience and Patterns of Change
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 5.1 Regime Shifts, Thresholds, and Resilience
Section 5.1.1 Regimes
Section 5.1.2 Thresholds and Regime Shifts
Section 5.1.3 Resilience
Section 5.2 Feedbacks and Resilience
Section 5.2.1 Shifting Dominance of Stabilizing and
Reinforcing Feedbacks
Section 5.2.2 System Fluctuations and Feedbacks
Section 5.3 Adaptive Cycles and Resilience
Section 5.3.1 Introduction to Adaptive Cycles
Section 5.3.2 Adaptive Cycle Application
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 6 Complex Adaptive Systems
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 6.1 Emergent Feature and Behaviors
Section 6.1.1 Sophisticated Properties from Simple Individual
Interactions
Section 6.1.2 Emergent Properties versus Collective Properties
Section 6.2 Interactions between the System and External
Conditions
Section 6.2.1 Disturbance and Patterns of Fluctuation
Section 6.2.2 Disturbance, Internal Dynamics, and Stability
Landscapes
Section 6.3 Adaptation
Section 6.3.1 Biological Evolution by Natural Selection
Section 6.3.2 Cultural Evolution by Learning
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 7 Thinking about the Future
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 7.1 Scenarios and Future Thinking
Section 7.1.1 Challenges to Future Predictions about SESs
Section 7.1.2 Introduction to Future Scenarios
Section 7.1.3 Scenario Typology for Future Thinking
Section 7.2 Visioning and Future Thinking
Section 7.2.1 Visions for Sustainability
Section 7.2.2 The Visioning Process
Section 7.2.3 Quality Criteria for Visioning
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 8 Sustainability Transitions
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 8.1 Understanding Transitions
Section 8.1.1 Niches, Regimes, and Landscapes
Section 8.1.2 Transition Pathways
Section 8.1.3 Tying It All Together
Section 8.2 Guiding Sustainability Transitions
Section 8.2.1 Multi-Phase Concept
Section 8.2.2 Building a Transition Strategy
Section 8.2.3 Intervention Points
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
CHAPTER 9 Governing the Commons
Core Questions and Key Concepts
Key Terms
Section 9.1 Introduction to Tragedy of the Commons
Section 9.1.1 Excludability and Rivalry
Section 9.1.2 The Market, the State, or Communities?
Section 9.2 Characteristics of Successful Common
Property Regimes
Section 9.3 Evaluating the Tragedy of the Commons
Using Essential Ingredients
Bibliography
End-of-Chapter Questions
Glossary
Index