UMass Boston

Social Ecological Systems Dynamics

Course #: ENVSCI 668, Class #: 3575, Section #: 01

Description

This course will advance students understanding of social- ecological systems, how social-ecological systems change over time, and how a system dynamics modeling approach is ideal for understanding social-ecological systems. Students will focus on fundamental concepts of system dynamics and the modeling process by using real-world environmental issues. System Dynamics is an ideal methodology for studying sustainability research questions because it provides the qualitative and quantitative tools for: (i) Understanding the feedbacks, accumulation, nonlinearities, surprises, delays within social ecological systems; (ii) Tracing the roots of the problem by studying in depth the structure and the processes underlying the relationships between social and  ecological systems; (iii) Testing alternative policy and management scenarios and designing sustainable pathways of development.