Toward a space-time framework for integrated water and society studies

Cascading effects of climate change, escalating complexity of water systems, feedback loops establishing relations between social and natural processes across scales - it is now well accepted that cultural and natural life-support systems operate on many space-time scales and need to be studied as complex systems. The study of complexity addresses a fundamental question shared across academic disciplines: when is the whole more than the sum of its parts? The study of complex systems also brings together diverse fields and connects different ways of thinking about theoretical and practical problems. Water systems consist of multiple interacting components – social, natural, technological. Understanding how to manage such evolving systems, how to anticipate new opportunities and potential risks requires taking an approach that differs from the reductive focus on isolated components and the linear models that are dominant in social and natural sciences. The main objective of Water & Society Summer School was to invite early career people with various academic backgrounds - meteorology, climate, hydrology, human geography, history, sociology and political sciences - to address integrated studies through space-time scale analysis. Isabelle Ruin; Celine Lutoff; Laurence Creton Cazanave; Sandrine Anquetin; Marco Borga; Sonia Chardonnel; Jean-Dominique Creutin; J.J. Gourley; Eve Gruntfest; Sebastien Nobert; Jutta Thielen

RUIN Isabelle;  LUTOFF Celine;  CRETON-CAZENAVE Lauent;  ANQUETIN Sandrine;  BORGA Marco;  CREUTIN Jean-Dominique;  CHARDONNEL S.;  GOURLEY J.;  GRUNFEST E.;  NOBERT Sébastien;  THIELEN DEL POZO Jutta; 

2012-12-31

AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC

JRC67632

0003-0007,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC67632,