Is resilience a normative concept?

In this paper, we engage with the question of the normative content of the resilience concept. The issues are approached in two consecutive steps. First, we proceed from a narrow construal of the resilience concept – as the ability of a system to absorb a disturbance – and show that under an analysis of normative concepts as evaluative concepts resilience comes out as descriptive. In the second part of the paper, we argue that (1) for systems of interest (primarily social systems or system with a social component) we seem to have options with respect to how they are described and (2) that this matters for what is to be taken as a sign of resilience as opposed to a sign of the lack of resilience for such systems. We discuss the implications of this for how the concept should be applied in practice and suggest that users of the resilience concept face a choice between versions of the concept that are either ontologically or normatively charged

Modeling and Simulation for Environmental Impact Analysis

This paper has been written to appeal to a scientific audience. It is intended to provide guidelines for the individual directly responsible for designing an environmental impact assessment. He may be a project administrator in government or industry, or he may be the head of a committee charged with developing an independent assessment. In any case, he has a specific, and well-defined role in the full decision process and must interact with the other role players. He is presumed to have a technical staff, and it is assumed that he is himself directly involved in the strategic evaluation and that his staff will be involved in the technical evaluation

On Making a Marriage, an Inst., or a Society

Every Mao needs a Chou En-Lai in marriages, institutes, and societies

Notes Towards a Science of Ecological Management

The thesis presented here is quite simply that it is now possible to catalyze a new science of ecological management/engineering. The need is obvious, but most significantly the essential pieces, independently developed, can now be integrated and/or used on ecological problems. And even more important, a relatively new concept emerging from ecology can provide a conceptual focus for a new regional strategy of ecological and resource management

The technique of conservation: on realms of theory and cultures of practice

What is conservation? Simplistic as it may seem, this question has many possible answers. Today, conservation no longer aims simply to prolong its objects’ material lives into the future. It is seen as an engagement with materiality, rather than material—that is, with the many specific factors determining how objects’ identity and meaning are entangled with the aspects of time, the environment, ruling values, politics, economy, conventions and culture. Additionally, beyond the concerns with objects, conservation now also engages with subjects, and the accompanying notions of the transmission of skill, tradition, memory and tacit knowledge. By glimpsing into the theories past and present, this paper argues that conservation is a complex techno-cultural practice with a strong, retroactive impact on its objects and subjects. Conservation offers an invaluably rich context to study a man-made world. Simultaneously, it allows us to pursue fundamental epistemic questions related to what, when and how artworks exist in the world and how our engagement with them is contingent upon the prevailing cultural–historical conditions.Qu’est-ce que la conservation-restauration? Aussi simple qu’elle puisse paraître, cette question prête à de nombreuses réponses possibles. Aujourd’hui, la conservation-restauration ne vise plus seulement à prolonger pour l’avenir, la vie matérielle des objets qu'elle traite. Elle est considérée comme bien plus impliquée dans la matérialité que dans la matière, en ce qu'elle s'attache aux nombreux facteurs spécifiques qui déterminent la façon dont l’identité et la signification des objets sont liées aux aspects temporels, environnementaux, au régime de valeurs, à la politique, à l’économie, aux conventions et à la culture. De plus, au-delà de ses préoccupations pour les objets, la conservation-restauration investit désormais également les sujets et notions connexes à la transmission des compétences, à la tradition, à la mémoire et à la connaissance tacite. A l'aune des théories anciennes et actuelles, cet article soutient que la conservation-restauration est une pratique techno-culturelle complexe avec un impact fort et rétroactif sur ses objets et ses sujets. La conservation-restauration offre un contexte d'une inestimable richesse pour étudier un monde construit par l’homme. Simultanément, elle nous permet d’approfondir un questionnement épistémique fondamental posant les quand, comment et par quoi les œuvres existent dans le monde et comment notre engagement vis à vis d’elles est contingent des conditions historiques et culturelles qui prévalent.Was ist Konservierung? Obwohl eine einfache Frage, gibt es viele Antworten. Heute zielt Konservierung nicht mehr einfach auf die Verlängerung der Lebensdauer von Material und Objekten (Bestandserhaltung). Es ist vielmehr eine Auseinandersetzung mit Materialität und den spezifischen Faktoren, die die Identität und Bedeutung eines Objektes bestimmen sowie die damit verbundenen Aspekten wie Zeit, Umwelt, Werte, Politik, Wirtschaft, Kommunikation und Kultur. Über die Belange des Objekts hinaus beschäftigt sich Bestandserhaltung heute auch mit den Subjekten und den Ideen der Übertragung von Fähigkeiten, Traditionen, Erinnerung und implizitem Wissen. Dieser Artikel argumentiert nach einem Streiflicht auf vergangene und zeitgenössische Theorien, dass Bestandserhaltung eine komplexe techno-kulturelle Praxis mit einem starken, retroaktiven Einfluss auf ihre Objekte und Subjekte ist. Sie bietet einen umfangreichen Kontext, um die vom Menschen geformte Welt zu studieren. Gleichzeitig erlaubt sie es uns fundamentale erkenntnistheoretische Fragen zu stellen, zum Beispiel wann, wie und was für Kunstwerke in der Welt existieren und wie unser Verhältnis zu ihnen von den herrschenden kultur-historischen Bedingungen geprägt ist.什么是保存修复？这个问题看似简单，却可能有很多答案。今天，保存修复不再单单是为了延长物质未来的寿命。它保护的不只是材料，我们可以把保存修复视作与物质性的一种联系，可以说有很多具体因素决定了物质的身份和意义，而这些又与时间、环境、执政价值观、政治、经济、公约和文化等方面串联在一起。此外，超出对对象的关注，如今的保存修复工作伴随着技能、传统、记忆、隐性知识的传播观念，也与主题产生了联系。通过窥探过去和现在的理论，作者认为保存修复是一种综合技术与文化的实践，它对其对象和主题有着强烈的、可追溯的影响力。保存修复为研究人造世界提供了无价的丰富的语境。同时，它使我们能够追寻有关世上存在何种艺术品以及何时、如何创造的等基本的认识论问题，而如何与艺术品产生关联则取决于当前的文化历史条件

Program for Ecology and Environment Project

The overall goal of the project is to demonstrate the practical and theoretical value of combining good ecology, good modeling and good policy analysis in the resolution of resource and environmental problems. There are effective examples of one or even combinations of two of these three, but no example exists of the combination of all three. This goal will be implemented by analyzing specific applied problems, developing a framework for ecological indicators and by initiating concepts of environmental standards

Development and Use of Ecological Modules in Resource Development Simulation

This paper reviews the approaches we have developed for modelling biological interrelations within ecological systems and describes how these are incorporated within simulation models of resource and environmental problems which have economic, social, and physical dimensions in addition to ecological ones