Skip to main content

Science with Society in the Anthropocene

AMBIO volume 42, pages 5–12 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Interdisciplinary scientific knowledge is necessary but not sufficient when it comes to addressing sustainable transformations, as science increasingly has to deal with normative and value-related issues. A systems perspective on coupled human–environmental systems (HES) helps to address the inherent complexities. Additionally, a thorough interaction between science and society (i.e., transdisciplinarity = TD) is necessary, as sustainable transitions are sometimes contested and can cause conflicts. In order to navigate complexities regarding the delicate interaction of scientific research with societal decisions these processes must proceed in a structured and functional way. We thus propose HES-based TD processes to provide a basis for reorganizing science in coming decades.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Notes

  1. There are several other notions of science–society interaction, for instance action research, consultancy, and participatory research; for an overview cf. chapter 15 of Scholz (2011).

References

  • Barth, M., J. Godemann, M. Rieckmann, and U. Stoltenberg. 2007. Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 8: 416–430. doi:10.1108/14676370710823582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, W.C., and N.M. Dickson. 2003. Sustainability science: The emerging research program. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100: 8059–8061. doi:10.1073/pnas.1231333100.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cundill, G., and R. Rodela. 2012. A review of assertions about the processes and outcomes of social learning in natural resource management. Journal of Environmental Management 113: 7–14. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.08.021.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Folke, C. 2006. Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 16: 253–267. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funtowicz, S.O., and J.R. Ravetz. 2001. Global risk, uncertainty, and ignorance. In Global environmental risks, ed. J.X. Kasperson, and R.E. Kasperson, 173–194. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, M. 1999. Science’s new social contract with society. Nature 402: C81–C84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, M., H. Nowotny, and C. Limoges. 1994. The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson, L., and C.S. Holling. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guston, D.H. 2001. Boundary organizations in environmental policy and science: An introduction. Science, Technology and Human Values 26: 399–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haberl, H., M. Fischer-Kowalski, F. Krausmann, H. Weisz, and V. Winiwarter. 2004. Progress towards sustainability? What the conceptual framework of material and energy flow accounting (MEFA) can offer. Land Use Policy 21: 199–213. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2003.10.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. 1984. The theory of communicative action (Vol. 1: Reason and the rationalization of society). Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hukkinen, J., L. Müller-Wille, P. Aikio, H. Heikkinen, O. Jääskö, A. Laakso, H. Magga, S. Nevalainen, et al. 2006. Development of participatory institutions for reindeer management in Finland: A diagnosis of deliberation, knowledge integration and sustainability. In Reindeer Management in northernmost Europe. Ecological Studies 184, ed. B. Forbes, M. Bölter, L. Müller-Wille, J. Hukkinen, F. Müller, N. Gunslay, and Y. Konstantinov, 47–71. Berlin: Springer.

  • Jantsch, E. 1970. Inter- and transdisciplinary university: A systems approach to education and innovation. Higher Education Quarterly 1: 7–37. doi:10.1007/BF00145222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krütli, P., T. Flüeler, M. Stauffacher, A. Wiek, and R.W. Scholz. 2010a. Technical safety vs. public involvement? A case study on the unrealized project for the disposal of nuclear waste at Wellenberg (Switzerland). Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 7: 229–244. doi:10.1080/1943815x.2010.506879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krütli, P., M. Stauffacher, T. Flüeler, and R.W. Scholz. 2010b. Functional-dynamic public participation in technological decision-making: Site selection processes of nuclear waste repositories. Journal of Risk Research 13: 861–875. doi:10.1080/13669871003703252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leshner, A. 2002. Science and sustainability. Science 297: 897. doi:10.1126/science.297.5583.897.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J., T. Dietz, S.R. Carpenter, C. Folke, M. Alberti, C.L. Redman, S.H. Schneider, E. Ostrom, et al. 2007a. Coupled human and natural systems. AMBIO 36: 639–649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J.G., T. Dietz, S.R. Carpenter, M. Alberti, C. Folke, E. Moran, A.N. Pell, P. Deadman, et al. 2007b. Complexity of coupled human and natural systems. Science 317: 1513–1516. doi:10.1126/science.1144004.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martens, P., N. Roorda, and R. Cörvers. 2010. Sustainability, science, and higher education—The need for new paradigms. Sustainability 3: 294–303. doi:10.1089/SUS.2010.9744.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, A.J., C.D. Butler, and C. Folke. 2003. New visions for addressing sustainability. Science 302: 1919–1920. doi:10.1126/science.1090001.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mostashari, A., and J. Sussman. 2009. Framework for analysis, design and management of complex large-scale interconnected open socio-technological systems. International Journal of Decision Support System Technology 52–68. doi:10.4018/jdsst.2009040104.

  • Nowotny, H. 2003. Democratising expertise and socially robust knowledge. Science and Public Policy 30: 151–156. doi:10.3152/147154303781780461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. 2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social–ecological systems. Science 325: 419–422. doi:10.1126/science.1172133.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raven, P.H. 2002. Science, sustainability, and the human prospect. Science 297: 954–958. doi:10.1126/science.297.5583.954.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, L., P. Sutton, and C. Hunter. 2010a. Theorizing the meso level: The household as a crucible of pro-environmental behaviour. Progress in Human Geography 34: 309–327. doi:10.1177/0309132509346994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, W.V., D. Chen, L. Goldfarb, H. Hackmann, Y.T. Lee, K. Mokhele, E. Ostrom, K. Raivio, et al. 2010b. Earth system science for global sustainability: Grand challenges. Science 330: 916–917. doi:10.1126/science.1196263.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, D. 2007. Education for a sustainable future. Science 317: 323–324. doi:10.1126/science.1143552.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruddiman, W.F. 2003. The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago. Climatic Change 61: 261–293. doi:10.1023/B:CLIM.0000004577.17928.fa.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruddiman, W.F. 2007. The early anthropogenic hypothesis: Challenges and responses. Reviews of Geophysics 45: 1–37. doi:10.1029/2006RG000207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, R.W. 2011. Environmental literacy in science and society: From knowledge to decisions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, R.W., D.J. Lang, A. Wiek, A.I. Walter, and M. Stauffacher. 2006. Transdisciplinary case studies as a means of sustainability learning. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 7: 226–251. doi:10.1108/14676370610677829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, R. W., A. Roy, F. S. Brand, D. T. Hellums, and A. E. Ullrich (eds.). in preparation. In Sustainable phosphorus management: A transdisciplinary roadmap. New York: Springer.

  • Scholz, R.W., and M. Stauffacher. 2007. Managing transition in clusters: Area development negotiations as a tool for sustaining traditional industries in a Swiss prealpine region. Environment and Planning A 39: 2518–2539. doi:10.1068/a38318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, R.W., and O. Tietje. 2002. Embedded case study methods: Integrating quantitative and qualitative knowledge. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidl, R., and Q.B. Le. 2012. Modelling human–environment systems in transdisciplinary processes. In International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software: Managing Resources of a Limited Planet. International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs), Sixth Biennial Meeting, Leipzig, Germany, ed. R. Seppelt, A.A. Voinov, S. Lange, and D. Bankamp, 1811–1818.

  • Stauffacher, M., T. Flüeler, P. Krütli, and R.W. Scholz. 2008. Analytic and dynamic approach to collaboration: A transdisciplinary case study on sustainable landscape development in a Swiss Prealpine region. Systemic Practice and Action Research 21: 409–422. doi:10.1007/s11213-008-9107-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stauffacher, M., A. Walter, D.J. Lang, A. Wiek, and R.W. Scholz. 2006. Learning to research environmental problems from a functional socio-cultural constructivism perspective: The transdisciplinary case study approach. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 7: 252–275. doi:10.1108/14676370610677838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen, W., Å. Persson, L. Deutsch, J. Zalasiewicz, M. Williams, K. Richardson, C. Crumley, P. Crutzen, et al. 2011. The Anthropocene: From global change to planetary stewardship. AMBIO 40: 739–761. doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0185-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson Klein, J., W. Grossenbacher-Mansuy, R. Häberli, A. Bill, R.W. Scholz, and M. Welti (eds.). 2001. Transdisciplinarity: Joint problem solving among science, technology, and society. An effective way for managing complexity. Basel: Birkhäuser.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, A.I., S. Helgenberger, A. Wiek, and R.W. Scholz. 2007. Measuring societal effects of transdisciplinary research projects: Design and application of an evaluation method. Evaluation and Program Planning 30: 325–338. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2007.08.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westley, F., P. Olsson, C. Folke, T. Homer-Dixon, H. Vredenburg, D. Loorbach, J. Thompson, M. Nilsson, et al. 2011. Tipping toward sustainability: Emerging pathways of transformation. AMBIO 40: 762–780. doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0186-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiek, A., B. Ness, P. Schweizer-Ries, F.S. Brand, and F. Farioli. 2012. From complex systems analysis to transformational change: A comparative appraisal of sustainability science projects. Sustainability Science 7: 5–24. doi:10.1007/s11625-011-0148-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiek, A., L. Withycombe, and C.L. Redman. 2011. Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science 1–16. doi:10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ralf Seppelt and Ulli Vilsmaier for comments on an earlier draft and Sandro Bösch for developing the figures in their current form. We thank Heather Murray for English language editing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 22, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Roman Seidl, Michael Stauffacher, Pius Krütli, Quang Bao Le, Andy Spörri, Grégoire Meylan, Corinne Moser & Monica Berger González

  2. Südzucker AG , Gottlieb-Daimler-Str. 12, 68165, Mannheim, Germany

    Fridolin Simon Brand

  3. Ampèrestrasse 3, 8037, Zurich, Switzerland

    Roland Werner Scholz

Authors
  1. Roman Seidl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fridolin Simon Brand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michael Stauffacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pius Krütli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Quang Bao Le
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Andy Spörri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Grégoire Meylan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Corinne Moser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Monica Berger González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Roland Werner Scholz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roman Seidl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Seidl, R., Brand, F.S., Stauffacher, M. et al. Science with Society in the Anthropocene. AMBIO 42, 5–12 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0363-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0363-5

Keywords

  • Transdisciplinarity
  • Human–environment systems
  • Science and society
  • Local–global scales