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Characteristics of sustainability: A complexity-based view to inform evaluation
1Owner, 4.669… Evaluation and Planning, United States.
Evaluation and Program Planning
|March 2, 2025
Summary
Incorporating complex systems behavior into sustainability evaluation is key. Understanding system dynamics helps align sustainability efforts with human values and realistic goal optimization.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Systems Theory
- Ecology
Background:
- Current sustainability evaluation frameworks may not fully capture the dynamic nature of environmental and social systems.
- Recognizing sustainability as a value-neutral concept is crucial for effective goal setting.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose integrating complex systems behaviors into sustainability evaluation theories, models, and methodologies.
- To enhance the effectiveness of sustainability assessments by considering system dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Applying principles of complex systems science, including emergence, sensitive dependence, state change, attractors, and self-organization.
- Integrating insights from ecology and evolutionary biology.
Main Results:
- Complex system behaviors offer valuable insights for designing sustainability evaluations.
- A generic model is presented for adapting to specific sustainability initiatives.
Conclusions:
- Understanding complex system behavior is essential for effective sustainability evaluation.
- Evaluation designs should incorporate concepts like emergence and self-organization to better support sustainability goals.
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