Socio-technical scales in socio-environmental modeling: managing a system-of-systems modeling approach

Abstract

System-of-systems approaches for integrated assessments have become prevalent in recent years. Such approaches integrate a variety of models from different disciplines and modeling paradigms to represent a socio-environmental (or social-ecological) system aiming to holistically inform policy and decision-making processes. Central to the system-of-systems approaches is the representation of systems in a multi-tier framework with nested scales. Current modeling paradigms, however, have disciplinary-specific lineage, leading to inconsistencies in the conceptualization and integration of socio-environmental systems. In this paper, a multidisciplinary team of researchers, from engineering, natural and social sciences, have come together to detail socio-technical practices and challenges that arise in the consideration of scale throughout the socio-environmental modeling process. We identify key paths forward, focused on explicit consideration of scale and uncertainty, strengthening interdisciplinary communication, and improvement of the documentation process. We call for a grand vision (and commensurate funding) for holistic system-of-systems research that engages researchers, stakeholders, and policy makers in a multi-tiered process for co-creation of knowledge and solutions to major socio-environmental problems.

Highlights

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  Scale incompatibilities among system representations of constituent systems are identified as a key challenge in socio-environmental systems modeling.

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  Issues of scale arise from the complexity, size and heterogeneity of the constituent systems and their interactions.

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  A more holistic systems-of-systems modeling framework is needed within which to integrate current approaches and tools.

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  A range of system modeling considerations within the socio-technical context of system-of-systems modeling is presented based on input from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary experts.