scholarly journals How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe P. Robinson ◽  
Rebecca Laycock Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
University Governance ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Sustainability Governance ◽  
Slow Variables ◽  
The University

Universities have an important role in moving society towards a more sustainable future. However, this will require us to repurpose universities, reorienting and refocusing the different university domains (education, research, campus, and outreach) towards sustainability. The governance structures and processes used to embed sustainability into the activities and operations of the institution are critical to achieving the required transformation. Our current university systems which are seen as contributing to socio-ecological system unsustainability are resilient to change due to slow variables such as organisational and sector-wide prevailing paradigms and culture. Therefore, to repurpose a university requires us to destabilise our prevailing system, crossing a threshold into a new stable system of a ‘sustainable university' across all its domains. This paper utilises an adaptation of Biggs et al. (2012) resilience principles for the governance of social-ecological systems to provide a framework to consider aspects of university governance for sustainability that can be utilised to repurpose universities towards sustainability, and destabilize unsustainable elements of the system. This paper draws out examples relating to sustainability governance within universities with regards to the four principles of (i) managing diversity and redundancy, (ii) managing connectivity, (iii) managing slow variables and feedbacks, and (iv) encouraging learning and experimentation within the context of complex adaptive systems. In this article, we have shown that using resilience in a non-normative way is possible (to decrease resilience of an unsustainable system), and that it can also be valuable to help understand how to shift organisational governance towards a particular end-state (in this case, university governance that advances sustainability). This paper provides an example of how to operationalise resilience principles of relevance to the resilience literature as well as providing a practical framework to guide higher education institution governance for sustainability.

scholarly journals Multiple social network influences can generate unexpected environmental outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Yletyinen ◽  
G. L. W. Perry ◽  
P. Stahlmann-Brown ◽  
R. Pech ◽  
J. M. Tylianakis
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Environmental Interventions ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Private Land Conservation ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Complex Adaptive

AbstractUnderstanding the function of social networks can make a critical contribution to achieving desirable environmental outcomes. Social-ecological systems are complex, adaptive systems in which environmental decision makers adapt to a changing social and ecological context. However, it remains unclear how multiple social influences interact with environmental feedbacks to generate environmental outcomes. Based on national-scale survey data and a social-ecological agent-based model in the context of voluntary private land conservation, our results suggest that social influences can operate synergistically or antagonistically, thereby enabling behaviors to spread by two or more mechanisms that amplify each other’s effects. Furthermore, information through social networks may indirectly affect and respond to isolated individuals through environmental change. The interplay of social influences can, therefore, explain the success or failure of conservation outcomes emerging from collective behavior. To understand the capacity of social influence to generate environmental outcomes, social networks must not be seen as ‘closed systems’; rather, the outcomes of environmental interventions depend on feedbacks between the environment and different components of the social system.

The Role of Evolutionary Studies in Education for Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 249-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Eirdosh ◽  
Susan Hanisch
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Evolutionary Studies ◽  
Complex Adaptive

Evolutionary Studies (EvoS) examines the emergence and persistence of complex adaptive systems, including human social-ecological systems. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to empower students with the skills to develop and sustain human social-ecological systems that reflect the shared values of our species. The aims of EvoS and ESD have clear overlaps, and yet these two fields remain as distant islands of thought with few academic bridges between them. This chapter explores the connections between EvoS and ESD from historical, theoretical, and applied perspectives and presents the value of an integrated approach. The authors argue the strengths of this approach include its cumulative evidence base from wide-ranging disciplines, its explanatory power, and its overall simplicity.

Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems: modeling and policy implications

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Levin ◽  
Tasos Xepapadeas ◽  
Anne-Sophie Crépin ◽  
Jon Norberg ◽  
Aart de Zeeuw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Strategic Interactions ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling

AbstractSystems linking people and nature, known as social-ecological systems, are increasingly understood as complex adaptive systems. Essential features of these complex adaptive systems – such as nonlinear feedbacks, strategic interactions, individual and spatial heterogeneity, and varying time scales – pose substantial challenges for modeling. However, ignoring these characteristics can distort our picture of how these systems work, causing policies to be less effective or even counterproductive. In this paper we present recent developments in modeling social-ecological systems, illustrate some of these challenges with examples related to coral reefs and grasslands, and identify the implications for economic and policy analysis.

scholarly journals Multisystemic Resilience

2021 ◽  
pp. 771-784
Author(s):  
Katrina Brown
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Complex Adaptive

This chapter examines the extent to which cross-disciplinary understandings of resilience support the development and application of multisystemic resilience approaches based on evidence in current literature. It focuses on how systems thinking—especially complex adaptive systems—has informed the evolution of social-ecological systems resilience analysis and the extent to which this provides an example of multisystemic resilience. It reviews some of the underlying concepts and principles in the field and the boundary-pushing areas of recent research. Finally, it identifies how systemic resilience analysis can make a difference in understanding key global challenges and suggests ways forward for development of a multisystemic resilience field.

scholarly journals Collaboration, Adaptation, and Scaling: Perspectives on Environmental Governance for Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schoon ◽  
Michael Cox
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Sustainability Governance ◽  
Communication And Coordination

In preview of the special issue on “Environmental Governance for Sustainability”, this manuscript examines three key themes on governance and sustainability. Governance for sustainability, by its nature, requires long-enduring institutional arrangements. Given the complex adaptive systems in which governance decision-making takes place, we explore three key characteristics of successful, long-term governance. The first of these is working across scale. This includes nested institutions as well as communication and coordination both horizontally and vertically between diverse governance groups. Second, we highlight the importance of collaboration. Building on the previous point, we draw on literature from collaborative governance and co-management to emphasize how collaboration can help to build more enduring governance structures. Third, we examine the importance of adaptation and evolution in the resolution of collective action dilemmas in complex systems filled with nonlinearities, unclear causal chains, and environments in which we have less than a full understanding of the ramifications of governance actions.

scholarly journals University Library as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Moraes De Bem ◽  
Christianne Coelho de Souza Reinisch Coelho ◽  
Gertrudes Aparecida Dandolini
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive System ◽  
Complex Adaptive System ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
University Library ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
The University

The paper introduces a theoretical model based on literature review for understanding the University Libraries as Complex Adaptive Systems, introducing a new methodology to deal with these institutions. It is a possibility for University Libraries managers to glimpse the unstable scenario of these institutions. This approach is based on the literature review to identify approaches considering the complexity within the libraries in order to base the construction of a model as a proposal. Although there are approaches that consider the University Library as a complex institution, it attests that this is not considered in its entirety, that is, not all its services and agents are involved, but only focus on some aspects or services. Besides, the characterization and understanding of the University Library as a Complex Adaptive System is unknown in the literature. The proposal of a model facilitates the understanding and provides the possibility of practical application for characterization of these institutions, University Libraries, as Complex Adaptive Systems, providing different types of knowledge, as well as the strategies and actions necessary to adapt to the ephemeral context in which they operate.

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