Comparing the HES framework with alternative approaches

• Published in: Environmental Literacy in Science and Society pp. 509 - 522
• Main Authors: Scholz, Roland W., Brand, Fridolin
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: 21.07.2011
• ISBN: 0521192714; 0521183332; 9780521192712; 9780521183338
• DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511921520.022

Chapter overviewIn the first decade of the twenty-first century, environmental sciences and sustainability research efforts have been to conceptualize human–environment systems (HES). To provide an HES framework is one of the main objectives of environmental literacy, and of the Postulates and ideas put forward in Chapters 16 and 17. In this chapter we discuss the HES framework within the context of the international research community and compare it to three alternative approaches: the resilience approach, the Vienna social metabolism, and the Dutch transition management. The objective of this section is to show the strengths and limitations of the HES framework and the alternative approaches. Furthermore, this chapter highlights the value of the HES framework for both an academic perspective, to support better analysis of HES, and from an applied project or transdisciplinary perspective, to promote inclusive communication and collaboration between academia, legitimized decision-makers, and stakeholders.