Sustainability

Annotations:

• “Sustainability is an increasingly important new paradigm of the modern age upon which to base future policies.”      Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.    

1. Development
   1. Quantitative Economic Development

      Annotations:

      • It can help provide a solid empirical/ mathematical basis for the more accurate diagnosis of how to build and maintain economic vitality. The result is both greater validation for the Triple Bottom Line (Elkington, 1998) approach to building social, economic and environmental health in tandem, and a rediscovery of Adam Smith's original vision of free-enterprise networks backed by a new clarity on the critical conditions needed to keep them strong. QED's support for Triple Bottom Line thinking and Smith's original vision comes from an assessment of long-term economic vitality that rests entirely on the health of the multi-scale business networks and human capital that make up the real economy.  This structural approach to economic sustainability adds mathematical precision to Daly's (1997) contention that one of today's key problems is that current theory fails to differentiate healthy development from mere growth in GDP monetary exchange volume. It also helps explain where neoliberalism went wrong. The basic idea behind QED is that the same laws of growth and development apply both to natural flow systems and economic ones. This notion rests on a thermodynamic hypothesis with long historical roots in ecological economics, namely, that similar energy concepts and network analysis methods can be applied to all matter–energy–information flow systems because, as Systems Science has long observed and Prigogine’s (1967) work in Self-organizing Systems confirms, such systems exhibit strong parallels in behavioral patterns and developmental dynamics. QED's assessment of sustainable development grows out of energy flow's natural connection to network structure. Ecologists, for example, have long known that an ecosystem's ability to maintain its own vitality over long periods—that is, its “sustainability”—depends largely on the layout and magnitudes of the trophic pathways by which energy, information and resources are circulated. __ Goerner, SJ, Lietaer, B & Ulanowicz, RE 2009, ‘Quantifying economic sustainability: Implications for free-enterprise theory, policy and practice’, Ecological Economics, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 76–81.
   2. Endogenous Development

      Annotations:

      •  "Endogenous development can be conceptualised as a process which raises the income levels of the population based on the intrinsic resources of society and the respect for community values and traditions." Leo ́ n C, Gonza ́ lez M, Aran ̃ a J. Evaluating eco-endo-development in the rural–urban environment. II. Congreso de la Asociacio ́n Hispano-portuguesa de Economı ́a Ambiental y de los Recursos Naturales (AERNA). Lisboa; 2006. "Crucial to the activation of the endogenous resources is the participatory approach to setting goals, procedures, and the implementation and control of economic activities. Thus, the local process of innovative entrepreneurship should meet the opportunities raised by enhancing traditional local sources of income and bringing in new activities and technologies.” Endogenous development theory emphasises the advantageousness that the territories base their SD processes on the use of local resource endowments. Renewable energy investments provide an example of how those local resources (both physical and human) can be exploited in order to improve the prospects of the local population engaging them in an enduring rural development process. Policies that promote positive-feedback growth in an economy may result in a wealth-concentrating vortex that breeds similar brittleness and bubbles at the same time. DelRio, P & Burguillo, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344.
2. METHODS
   1. FRAMEWORKS

      Annotations:

      • A framework is an entity between a 'model' and a 'method'. A framework is, or contains, a (not completely detailed) structure or system for the realization of a defined result/goal.  Many frameworks comprise one or more models, based on the modelling techniques and often based on (best) practices.  Compared with methods, frameworks give the users much more freedom regarding the (partial or entire) use of the framework and the use of the models or techniques therein. https://www.vanharen.net/blog/general/best-practice-model-framework-method-guidance-standard-towards-consistent-use-terminology/
      1. Accounting Approaches

         Annotations:

         • This perspective is valuable in detecting unsustainable usage of resources based on their availability or inefficient consumption, and it has been extensively applied not only to ecological systems, e.g., Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.                 
         1. Substantive

            Annotations:

            • "It considers how a specific project contributes to the improvement of the economic, social and environmental conditions of a specific territory and, thus, to the welfare of its population." DELRIO, P & BURGUILLO, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344. 
            1. Constant Capital Approach

               Annotations:

               • DELRIO, P & BURGUILLO, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344. Quoting: Munashinge M, Shearer W. Defining and measuring sustainability. Washington: The World Bank; 1995.
               1. The triangular and constant-capital approaches take into account the three dimensions of SD (economic, social and environmental) and try to assess the sustainability of a given development proposal according to them
            2. Triangular approach

               Annotations:

               • DELRIO, P & BURGUILLO, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344. Quoting: Turner RK, editor. Sustainable environmental economics and management. London: Belhaven Press; 1993.
            3. The materials balance approach

               Annotations:

               • DELRIO, P & BURGUILLO, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344. Quoting: Hinterberger F, Luks F, Schmidt-Bleek F. Material flows versus natural capital. What makes an economy  sustainable? Ecol Econ 1997;23:1–14.
         2. Procedural

            Annotations:

            • "It is a participatory approach which takes into account the opinions and interests of all stakeholders. This calls for a wide social participation process in the implementation of SD instruments and activities at the local level whereby all interested parties are involved."      "The ‘‘procedural sustainability’’ stream of the literature argues that the analysis of the sustainability of a given development proposal (project) should not only focus on the impact of this proposal but, also, on how this impact is perceived by the local population, how the benefits are distributed among the different actors and how this perception and distribution affect the acceptance of the project and, thus, its feasibility."       DELRIO, P & BURGUILLO, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1325–1344.  Quoting: Robinson J. Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development. Ecol Econ 2004;48:  369–84.  
      2. Information-Based Approach

         Annotations:

         • The ecological information-based approach examines the robustness of networked systems in conjunction with an extensive parameter measuring the total consumption of a system, and therefore it offers a powerful methodology for quantifying sustainability. The ecological information-based approach, derived from the probability theory and the graph theory, can be utilized for holistically analyzing the structure of networked systems together with the flow of energy and matter through those networks. This approach adopts a system-oriented paradigm that emphasizes holistic properties of a network. Those properties may not be evident from focusing on parts of the network in isolation, requiring instead consideration of the transfers between nodes (Ulanowicz, 1986). This approach is well established in ecology, e.g., for investigating food webs (Wulff et al., 1989), comparing ecosystems (Baird and Ulanowicz, 1993; Christian et al., 2005) and measuring stress levels in an ecosystem (Baird et al., 1996). Recently, this approach has been employed to quantitatively explore the robustness of network systems from the perspective of their structural and organizational relationships (Goerner et al., 2009; Ulanowicz, 2009a, 2009b; Ulanowicz et al., 2009).
         1. Gaps
            1. Little attempts to apply it to human-environmental systems

               Annotations:

               • "While this approach has been applied to natural systems (Chen et al., 2011; Costanza and Mageau, 1999; Vassallo et al., 2013), there have been few attempts to apply it to human–environmental systems (Bodini, 2012; Goerner et al., 2009; Lietaer et al., 2010)." "The main contributions of this paper are to further advance this method by demonstrating a) how the ecological information-based approach can be applied to human–environmental systems, b) what biomimicry as a normative paradigm can tell us about the system-level configurations of the networks, and c) what the trends of the system-level measurements can tell us about the intensive and extensive aspects of the sustainability of a system."  "While the ecological information-based approach can in principle be applied to any economic resource network, including urban, regional, national, and international levels, in reality, research is limited by data availability." Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.    
         2. Advantages
            1. Accounting for the absent

               Annotations:

               • The late Bateson (1972) observed that science deals overwhelmingly with things that are present, like matter and energy. One has to dig deeply for exceptions in physics that address the absence of something (like the Pauli Exclusion Principle, or Heisenberg’s uncertainty). Yet any biologist can readily point to examples of how the absence of something can make a critical difference in the survival of a living system. Nonetheless, because biology aspires to becoming more like physics, very little in quantitative biology currently addresses the important roles that lacunae play in the dynamics of living systems. Information Theory is a means for apprehending and quantifying that which is missing.         Ulanowicz, RE, Goerner, SJ, Lietaer, B & Gomez, R 2009, ‘Quantifying sustainability: Resilience, efficiency and the return of information theory’, Ecological Complexity, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 27–36    
            2. It measures the relative dimension of sustainability

               Annotations:

               • "The ecological information-based approach examines the robustness of networked systems in conjunction with an extensive parameter measuring the total consumption of a system, and therefore it offers a powerful methodology for quantifying sustainability." EXPLANATION: We can distinguish two dimensions in sustainability, an intensive or relative dimension, which describes the robustness of the system as a balance between efficiency and redundancy of resource flows within the system, and an extensive or absolute dimension, which encompasses the total resource consumption within the system. Consider a scenario where an increase in the efficiency of a system, ceteris paribus, leads to the decrease of the total consumption of resources within the system. Resources are usually limited, so this can be viewed as a positive development, encouraging further attempts to increase the efficiency of the system. However, over-efficient systems tend to have lower flexibility and be less robust to disturbances, so one must be careful not to increase efficiency too much for its own sake. Therefore, similar to the accounting perspectives, an ecological information-based approach measures the sustainability of a system resulting from the size of the system's consumption as an extensive parameter. Equally important, however, it also measures the system's robustness, as a balance between its efficiency and redundancy, as an intensive parameter.  Therefore, as a result of both the intensive and extensive parameters, the ecological information-based approach can potentially be beneficial towards the aim of quantifying sustainability (Bodini, 2012). Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.   
            3. It optimises rather than maximises/minimises

               Annotations:

               • " It is argued that if left unperturbed, natural ecosystems tend to develop towards this maximum where the network maintains an optimum balance of efficiency and resilience as a system-level structural configuration (Ulanowicz et al., 2009). However, reaching this optimal level is a long term process, which occurs in the later stages of the gradient of succession of an ecological system. In the early stages, to spur growth, ecosystems tend to develop general connections in the network whereby redundancy is increased. These connections are then replaced by more efficient pathways as the ecosystem matures (Mageau et al., 1998; Ulanowicz and Kay, 1991)."  Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.   
            4. Wholistic: System level
         3. Indicators
            1. Developmental Capacity

               Annotations:

               • Developmental Capacity (C) combines Systemic Efficiency and Resilience Capacity to measure the system's balance of the two factors. Developmental Capacity, defined as E + R, serves as an effective measure of Sustainability (S); it is a single metric of overall health that reflects how efficiently the network circulates materials and energy throughout the system, while simultaneously staying resilient enough to survive normal vicissitudes and flexible enough to adapt, develop and evolve. Goerner, SJ, Lietaer, B & Ulanowicz, RE 2009, ‘Quantifying economic sustainability: Implications for free-enterprise theory, policy and practice’, Ecological Economics, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 76–81.    
               1. Systemic Efficiency

                  Annotations:

                  • Configurations of flow pathways and magnitudes in natural ecosystems to develop a measure of network efficiency.                 
               2. Resilience Capacity
      3. MODELS

         Annotations:

         • Models aid our attempts to predict future changes and can be invaluable for management purposes, and models can help us to understand better the inner workings of these systems and make our management decisions better informed and more effective.  Hoffmann, JP 2016, ‘Simultaneous Inductive and Deductive Modeling of Ecological Systems via Evolutionary Computation and Information Theory’, SIMULATION, vol. 82, no. 7, pp. 439–450.  
         1. TOOLS
            1. INDICATORS

               Annotations:

               • “The challenge lies in the measurement of sustainability as a holistic metric at the system level.”   Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.   
               1. Gaps
                  1. Social Indicators

                     Annotations:

                     • "In terms of business model, many key performance indicators (KPIs) belong to the economic dimension and only few relate to social and environmental, which several authors had expressed their concern about."  "Regarding the supply chain BP, many KPIs are available and are very aligned with indicators related to product development, manufacturing, and end of life, however with a gap in social indicators."   Source: Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 627 Referring:   Manninen K, Koskela S, Antikainen R, Dahlbo H. Do circular economy business models capture the environmental value propositions? -Framework for evaluating of the environmental value propositions circular economy business models n.d      Evans S, Vladimirova D, Holgado M, Van Fossen K, Yang M, Silva EA, et al. Business Model Innovation for Sustainability: Towards a Unified Perspective for Creation of Sustainable Business Models. Bus Strateg Environ 2017;26:597–608. doi:10.1002/bse.1939.  Ashby A, Leat M, Hudson-Smith M. Making connections: A review of supply chain management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Manag 2012;17:497–516. doi:10.1108/13598541211258573.
                  2. System level

                     Annotations:

                     • “The challenge lies in the measurement of sustainability as a holistic metric at the system level.” Kharrazi, A, Rovenskaya, E, Fath, BD, Yarime, M & Kraines, S 2013, ‘Quantifying the sustainability of economic resource networks: An ecological information-based approach’, Ecological Economics, vol. 90, no. C, pp. 177–186.
               2. Limitations
                  1. Access to Data

                     Annotations:

                     • "Many companies do not have bilateral agreements with all the suppliers in different tiers, thus have no accessibility to their data." Source: Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 627 Referring: Ashby A, Leat M, Hudson-Smith M. Making connections: A review of supply chain management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Manag 2012;17:497–516. doi:10.1108/13598541211258573. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability A ssessment: Making informed choices on products. 2011.doi:DTI/1412/PA.
               3. Embodied Energy
               4. Risk Management
                  1. Reactive Indicators

                     Annotations:

                     • "Lagging, or reactive, indicators help measuring the effect of actions approved and undertaken by the company." Source: Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 627.
                  2. Proactive Indicators

                     Annotations:

                     • A proactive strategy for risk management can be defined as one which seeks to determine the boundaries of safe operation, make these visible to decision-makers, and counter conditions which shift activities closer to these limits.
                  3. Leading Indicators

                     Annotations:

                     • "The advantage of using leading indicators is that they provide warning in advance and give a good estimation of the potential sustainability impact of the proposed actions." (Kravchenko et al 2019 pp. 627)  "Many authors advice using leading indicators for corporate performance measurements, as they provide insight into the organization’s potential impact and indicate about future performance, thus assist decision makers with information to introduce improvements in the early stages of decision making." (Kravchenko et al 2019 pp. 627) Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 625-630.
            2. Stakeholder Analysis

               Annotations:

               • The stakeholder analysis is particularly suitable in this context to analyse actors’ interests, incentives and strategies as well as their mutual relationship and interactions. DelRio, P & Burguillo, M 2008, ‘Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1335                   
         2. Quantitative
            1. Input-Output Model
         3. Qualitative
         4. Linear
         5. Non-linear
         6. Hyerarchical
            1. 7-Dimensions Model
               1. Technical
                  1. Circularity

                     Annotations:

                     • Kirchherr J, Reike D, Hekkert M. Conceptualizing the circular economy:An analysis of 114 definitions. Resour Conserv Recycl 2017.doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.09.005. Cayzer S, Griffiths P, Beghetto V. Design of indicators for measuring product performance in the circular economy. Int J Sustain Eng2017;10:289–98. doi:10.1080/19397038.2017.1333543 "Circular Economy should be approached from a systems perspective, often requiring fundamental changes. "This is, it cannot be addressed attending only to one aspect, such as maximising one variable and forgetting the rest. This remains me to the importance of optimising variables instead of maximising or minimising them. For optimising, it is necessary to take this system approach (all the variables).
                     1. Levels

                        Annotations:

                        • Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 625. 
                        1. Design
                           1. Recycling
                              1. Products
                                 1. Risks
                                    1. Attention catcher

                                       Annotations:

                                       • "There is a dominant focus on recycling, which seems to be causing a lack of focus on consumers, supply chain and novel business models as enablers of circularity. " Ghisellini P, Cialani C, Ulgiati S. A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. J Clean Prod 2016;114:11–32. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.007.
                                    2. Higher energy use & waste

                                       Annotations:

                                       • "For instance, using a mixture of recycled and virgin material in product manufacture can contribute to lower virgin resource consumption in the beginning of product’s life; however, it could make recycling at the end of life complicated or impossible, possibly leading to higher energy use and larger fraction of waste generated in the recycling process. "  Kravchenko, M, McAloone, TC & Pigosso, DCA 2019, ‘Implications of developing a tool for sustainability screening of circular economy initiatives’, Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, pp. 626.
                              2. Parts
                              3. Materials
                           2. Effective life
                           3. Reuse
                              1. Refurbishment
                              2. Remanufacturing
                           4. Repair
                        2. Production
                           1. Materials
                           2. Energy
                           3. Transport
                              1. Risks
                                 1. Burden shift

                                    Annotations:

                                    • “Burden shift”: a reduced impact in one stage of a product’s life cycle can induce increased impact in another (e.g. due to excessive use of energy and transport)" van Buren N, Demmers M, van der Heijden R, Witlox F. Towards a circular economy: The role of Dutch logistics industries and governments.Sustain 2016;8:1–17. doi:10.3390/su8070647.
                        3. Strategic
                           1. Fostering innovative circular business models
                           2. Circular supply chain configurations
                     2. Barriers

                        Annotations:

                        • Barriers extracted from: Preston, F., 2012. Briefing Paper - A Global Redesign? Shaping the Circular Economy. Energy, Environment and Resource Governance. 
                        1. High up-front costs
                        2. Complex international supply chains
                        3. Resource-intensive infra- structure lock-in
                        4. Failures in company cooperation
                        5. Lack of consumer enthusiasm
                        6. Limited dissemination of innovation
                  2. Easyness
                     1. Usability
                     2. Intuitivity
                     3. Modulability
               2. Institutional
               3. Social
                  1. Indicators
                     1. Reduction of migratory flows
               4. Economic
                  1. Productive activities
                     1. Drivers

                        Annotations:

                        • "Which contextual features matter in driving productive use, and whether such contexts can be encouraged by pursuing specific policies as a complement to electrification efforts." pp.15  "An assessment of commonalities among these contextual factors would point to concomitant factors for realizing economic impacts." pp.15 Morrissey, James, “Linking Electrification and Productive Use,” Oxfam ResearchBackgrounder series (2018)__ #14ec85
                        1. Quality and reliability of electricity supply
                        2. Availability of applicances
                        3. Existing economic base
                        4. Access to markets
                        5. Access to credit
                        6. Knowledge on how to use electricity
                        7. Length of time people have been connected
                        8. Infrastructure (roads, telecommunications)
                     2. Agents

                        Annotations:

                        • Morrissey, James, “Linking Electrification and Productive Use,” Oxfam Research Backgrounder series 
                        1. Increasing the efficiency of energy services

                           Annotations:

                           • for example, using electric motors rather than diesel engines
                        2. Increasing energy inputs

                           Annotations:

                           • for example, making irrigation possible with electric pumps
                        3. Making new energy services available
                     3. Indicators
                        1. Income
                        2. Productivity
                        3. Employment
                        4. New products and services
               5. Financial
               6. Environmental
               7. Implementative
   2. Deductive

      Annotations:

      • Deductive methods require expert knowledge to build a mechanistic-based model and depends on a first-principles understanding of the mechanisms acting within the ecological system. Hoffmann, JP 2016, ‘Simultaneous Inductive and Deductive Modeling of Ecological Systems via Evolutionary Computation and Information Theory’, SIMULATION, vol. 82, no. 7, pp. 439–450.
      1. Theories
         1. Information Theory

            Annotations:

            • Information Theory is a means for apprehending and quantifying that which is missing.  Ulanowicz, RE, Goerner, SJ, Lietaer, B & Gomez, R 2009, ‘Quantifying sustainability: Resilience, efficiency and the return of information theory’, Ecological Complexity, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 27–36.         "Information theory has had four primary applications in biological and ecological research: as an index of physical or structural diversity, as a measure of evolutionary processes, as a measure of distance from thermodynamic equilibrium, and as a measure of transaction propensity in networks [4]. A fifth, more qualitative approach, treating ecosystems as semiotic systems has been recently advanced by Hoffmeyer [5] and Emmeche [6]"Cabezas, H & Fath, BD 2002, ‘Towards a theory of sustainable systems’, Fluid Phase Equilibria, pp. 3–14.     
            1. Advantages
               1. Accounting for the absent
         2. Energy Theory of Value

            Annotations:

            • Odum (1971), Hannon (1973), and Costanza (1981), for example, have all used energy theory as the basis for understanding economic operation. Georgescu-Roegen (1971) used it to create a thermodynamic theory of economics while Daly (1973) used it to urge a steady-state view and a focus on the socio-economic infrastructure needed to undergird structurally stable growth (Daly, 1997).  In fact, according to Kenneth Boulding (1981), many early economists held energy views, until those who favored Newtonian mechanics channeled economics towards today's familiar mechanics of rational actors and the reliable self-restraint of General Equilibrium Theory, which now dominate the academic literature as well as the boardrooms and political venues of the world.             Goerner, SJ, Lietaer, B & Ulanowicz, RE 2009, ‘Quantifying economic sustainability: Implications for free-enterprise theory, policy and practice’, Ecological Economics, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 76–81.   
         3. Graph Theory
         4. Probabilistic Theory
   3. Inductive

      Annotations:

      • Inductive method only uses the information content of the available empirical output data of the system to construct a predictive model.   Hoffmann, JP 2016, ‘Simultaneous Inductive and Deductive Modeling of Ecological Systems via Evolutionary Computation and Information Theory’, SIMULATION, vol. 82, no. 7, pp. 439–450.                
      1. Paradigms
         1. Strong Sustainability