Understanding of Complexity Expands the Reach of Industrial Ecology

This special issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology signals a growing interest in complexity among the industrial ecology community. Complexity promises to add a very important domain of knowledge to what has been largely an analytically based discipline. The main branches of the evolutionary tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of industrial ecology 2009-04, Vol.13 (2), p.165-167
Main Author: Ehrenfeld, John R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Community ecology
Complexity
Complexity theory
Ecology
Ecosystems
Environment
Industrial ecology
Knowledge
Networks
Social networks
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Systems analysis
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Summary:This special issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology signals a growing interest in complexity among the industrial ecology community. Complexity promises to add a very important domain of knowledge to what has been largely an analytically based discipline. The main branches of the evolutionary tree of industrial ecology have been the development of and application of descriptive methodologies enabling researchers and strategists to capture knowledge of the flows of materials and energy within systems of various scales. Almost from the very beginning, industrial ecology has recognized a normative interest analogous to pleasure in Husserl's (2001) construction. Complexity is important to industrial ecologists who study the technical systems as embedded in social networks. Sustainability itself is not the explicit target of planners, designers, or any others intent on shaping the future. Complex systems exhibit path dependency -- their future depends on their past. Future states cannot be predicted from an analytic model of the present moment.
ISSN:1088-1980
1530-9290
DOI:10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00118.x