Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future

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.

• Preface Introduction, by Jon Norberg and Graeme S. Cumming Part 1: Diversity and Heterogeneity Introduction 1. Environmental Asymmetries, by Graeme S. Cumming, Grenville Barnes, and Jane Southworth 2. Diversity and Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems, by Jon Norberg, James Wilson, Brian Walker, and Elinor Ostrom Part 2: Networks Introduction 3. A Network Perspective on Modularity and Control of Flow in Robust Systems, by Colleen Webb and Orjan Bodin 4: Social Networks as Sources of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems, by Thomas Hahn, Lisen Schultz, Carl Folke, and Per Olsson Part 3: Information Processing Introduction 5. Theoretical Challenges: Information Processing and Navigation in Social-Ecological Systems, by John M. Anderies and Jon Norberg 6. Regime Shifts, Environmental Signals, Uncertainty, and Policy Choice, by William A. Brock, Stephen R. Carpenter, and Marten Scheffer Part 4: Practical Approaches Introduction 7. Participation in Building Scenarios of Regional Development, by Louis Lebel and Elena Bennett 8. Practicing Adaptive Management in Complex Social-Ecological Systems, by Lance Gunderson, Garry Peterson, and C. S. Holling 9. Scale and Complex Systems, by Graeme Cumming and Jon Norberg Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future: Conclusions and Outlook, by Jon Norberg and Graeme Cumming Index