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 entry helps build a whole-systems understanding of sustainability. Another entry of the trilogy – Complex Systems and Sustainable Development – addresses complex systems (using a complexity theory approach) and the relationship of complexity and sustainable development. The other entry of the trilogy – Co-Design Methods and Sustainable Development – focuses on the ongoing transformations in design methods and sustainable development.
Definition of Whole-Systems Approach
This entry introduces and defines a whole-systems approach to sustainability as viewed through the perspective of complex adaptive systems. Looking through this lens, a whole-systems approach appreciates the co-adapted relationships existing among the entities that constitute these systems, including both physical and behavioral co-adaptation....
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Motloch, J. (2019). Whole-Systems Approach to Sustainability. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_401
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