Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future

Edited by Jon Norberg and Graeme Cumming

Paper, 312 pages, 16 illus; 7 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-13461-3
$34.50 / £24.00

April, 2008
Cloth, 312 pages, 16 illus; 7 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-13460-6
$84.50 / £58.50

Preface

Introduction

Jon Norberg and Graeme S. Cumming

Introduction to Part 1: Diversity and Heterogeneity

1. Environmental Asymmetries

Graeme S. Cumming, Grenville Barnes, and Jane Southworth

2. Diversity and Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems

Jon Norberg, James Wilson, Brian Walker, and Elinor Ostrom

Introduction to Part 2: Networks

3. A Network Perspective on Modularity and Control of Flow in Robust Systems

Colleen Webb and Örjan Bodin

4: Social Networks as Sources of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

Thomas Hahn, Lisen Schultz, Carl Folke, and Per Olsson

Introduction to Part 3: Information Processing

5. Theoretical Challenges: Information Processing and Navigation in Social-Ecological Systems

John M. Anderies and Jon Norberg

6. Regime Shifts, Environmental Signals, Uncertainty, and Policy Choice

William A. Brock, Stephen R. Carpenter, and Marten Scheffer

Introduction to Part 4: Practical Approaches

7. Participation in Building Scenarios of Regional Development

Louis Lebel and Elena Bennett

8. Practicing Adaptive Management in Complex Social-Ecological Systems

Lance Gunderson, Garry Peterson, and C. S. Holling

9. Scale and Complex Systems

Graeme Cumming and Jon Norberg

Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future: Conclusions and Outlook

Jon Norberg and Graeme Cumming

Index

Series

• Complexity in Ecological Systems

About the Author

Jon Norberg is assistant professor of systems ecology at Stockholm University and is affiliated as a researcher with the Stockholm Resilience Center. Coming from a background in ecology, Norberg has become more transdisciplinary, studying the role of social phenomena such as information sharing and trust building for resource management. He completed his post-doc at Princeton University with Simon Levin and has been a long term participant in the resilience alliance. Graeme S. Cumming is Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town. He runs a wide-ranging research program that focuses on the broad-scale spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological communities and ecosystems, with particular interests in conservation, resilience, and sustainability.

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