Three entries in this encyclopedia serve as a trilogy that interconnects co-design, sustainable development, complex systems, and a whole-systems approach to sustainability. This current entry addresses complex systems (using a complex adaptive systems approach) and the relationship of complex systems and sustainable development. A second entry of the trilogy – Co-Design Methods and Sustainable Development – focuses on the ongoing transformations in co-design methods and sustainable development. The third entry – Whole-Systems Approach to Sustainability – seeks to help build a full-spectrum, analogical, and whole-systems understanding of sustainability.
Definition of Complex Systems
In their most basic sense, systems are networks of entities that interact to produce properties and behaviors beyond those of the individual entities. Complex systems are systems with many components that interact deeply with each other. Complex adaptive systems are a special class of complex systems that...
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Motloch, J. (2019). Complex Systems and Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_385
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