Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Fischer, Joern
• Riechers, Maraja

Titel

A leverage points perspective on sustainability

Ist Teil von

• People and nature (Hoboken, N.J.), 2019-03, Vol.1 (1), p.115-120

Ort / Verlag

London: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Drawing on seminal work by the late Donella Meadows, we propose a leverage points perspective as a hitherto under‐recognized heuristic and practical tool for sustainability science. A leverage points perspective focuses on places to intervene in complex systems to bring about transformative change. A leverage points perspective recognizes increasingly influential leverage points relating to changes in parameters, feedbacks, system design and the intent encapsulated by a given system. We discuss four key advantages of a leverage points perspective. First advantage: A leverage points perspective can bridge causal and teleological explanations of system change – that is, change is seen to arise from variables influencing one another, but also from how human intent shapes the trajectory of a system. Second advantage: A leverage points perspective explicitly recognizes influential, ‘deep’ leverage points – places at which interventions are difficult but likely to yield truly transformative change. Third advantage: A leverage points perspective enables the examination of interactions between shallow and deep system changes – sometimes, relatively superficial interventions may pave the way for deeper changes, while at other times, deeper changes may be required for superficial interventions to work. Fourth advantage: A leverage points perspective can function as a methodological boundary object – that is, providing a common entry point for academics from different disciplines and other societal stakeholders to work together. Drawing on these strengths could initiate a new stream of sustainability studies, and may yield both practical and theoretical advances. A plain language summary is available for this article. Plain Language Summary