Abstract
This chapter discusses six challenges that are posed by the complexity and dynamics in the field of environmental behavior. These challenges are to explicitly represent (1) behavior as a process, (2) decision making, (3) social interaction, (4) interactions of humans with the bio-geo-physical world, (5) space-related interactions, and (6) to connect to the natural sciences, e.g., to climate models. Social simulation is proposed as a method being able to meet all of these challenges. By modeling individual decisions and their interactions as the basis of behavior, macro phenomena at the society level emerge. The method generates observable behavior at runtime, which can be scrutinized and compared to empirical data. It is presented how social simulation deals with each of the challenges, together with corresponding examples. A critical discussion concludes the chapter and relates to the fundamental advantages, but also to the practical costs of simulation.
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Ernst, A. (2010). Social Simulation: A Method to Investigate Environmental Change from a Social Science Perspective. In: Gross, M., Heinrichs, H. (eds) Environmental Sociology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8730-0_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8730-0_7
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