Models of Sustainability

The paper presents a general classification of the models being developed in the area of sustainability arguing that the existing models represent the historical conceptualisation of sustainability starting from environmental constraints and moving towards economic valuation and social behaviour and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Todorov, Vladislav, Marinova, Dora
Other Authors: Anderssen, R.S.
Format: Conference Paper
Published: The Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24684
Description
Summary:The paper presents a general classification of the models being developed in the area of sustainability arguing that the existing models represent the historical conceptualisation of sustainability starting from environmental constraints and moving towards economic valuation and social behaviour and policies. Coupled with computer power, sophisticated models with a varying levels of complexity have also been developed (static/dynamic; local/global; specific/general). However as any model is a simplification of the complex reality, the main purpose of any sustainability modelling should be to allow for co-evolution to be represented, including the role of humans as sustainability guardians.