Journal Facts

Journal
Journal of Environmental Systems
ISSN
0047-2433 (print) 1541-3802 (electronic)
Volume
24
Issue
3
Date
1/1/1995

Article Facts

Title
Evolution of Regional Socio-Economic System Toward "Islands of Sustainability"
DOI
10.2190/VL9D-W5UJ-QPY8-RLNJ
Authors
  • Heinz Peter Wallner
  • Michael Narodoslawsky
Pages
221-240
Online Date
05/09/2002

Article Links

Evolution of Regional Socio-Economic System Toward "Islands of Sustainability"

Heinz Peter Wallner
Michael Narodoslawsky

DOI: 10.2190/VL9D-W5UJ-QPY8-RLNJ

Abstract

This article investigates the transition process from the unsustainable to the sustainable socio-economic system. It is assumed that this transition process can be characterized as an evolutionary process. In order to build a bridge from biological evolution to sustainable development the fields of complexity and entropic development are investigated. Furthermore the article emphasizes that sustainable development will most probably be introduced at the local level first. These point-like sustainable systems are defined as Islands of Sustainability (IOS). IOS are characterized as "innovative disturbances" able to jeopardize the structural stability of the unsustainable system, and hence, able to introduce wider sustainable development. It is argued that the development of IOS and furthermore the transition toward wider sustainable development is connected to the state of the ongoing paradigm change from the mechanistic to the holistic (synergetic, network) paradigm.

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