Systems Approaches and Their Application: Examples from Sweden

ISBN-13: 9781402023699 / Angielski / Twarda / 2004 / 340 str.

Mats-Olov Olsson; Gunnar Sjvstedt; Gunnar Sjc6stedt

Opis

In the development of an international agenda for applied systems analysis Swedish experience, developed over a considerable number of years, embraces a wide range of application domains. One international focal point for the Swedish interest in systems analysis has been the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, with its headquarters in Laxenburg outside Vienna. The Swedish Research Council for Env- onment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) is currently responsible for the Swedish contacts with . When Formas was established in it inherited the Swedish national committee for the promotion of contacts and systems a- lysis that was originally set up by the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (frn ), which was abolished in conjunction with a major reform of the Swedish research ?nancing system. Within the framework of the Committee a special project was launched in line with a proposal by Gunnar Sjostedt dealing with the Swedish experience in s- tems analysis and thus, indirectly, with themes related to most of s activities. The project co-ordination and editorial tasks were given to Mats-Olov Olsson and Gunnar Sjostedt under the direct surveillance of the Committee. Many of the Committee m- bers and their co-workers as well as several other Swedish scholars have contributed to this book. Several years of work have gone into bringing together Swedish experience in this ?eld, and we hope that the book will be interesting for an international as well as for a Swedish audience."

Spis treści

Preface; Lisa Sennerby Forsse and Uno Svedin Editors’ Preface; Mats-Olov Olsson and Gunnar Sjöstedt Introduction; Uno Svedin Part I: The Systems Approach: History and Schools of Thinking 1. Systems and Systems Theory; Mats-Olov Olsson and Gunnar Sjöstedt 2. Schools of Systems Thinking Development Trends in Systems Methodology; Mats-Olov Olsson Part II: Systems Analysis in Sweden — Examples of Projects Using a Systems Approach Part II-A: A Systems Approach for Better Theory 3. Systems Analysis in Geography; Stefan Anderberg 4. Multi-Agent Systems, Time Geography, and Microsimulations; Magnus Boman and Einar Holm 5. Analyzing Biological Systems: the Brain as an Example; Hans Liljenström and Peter Arhem 6. Defining the Concept of Sustainability — a Matter of Systems Thinking and Applied Systems Analysis; Harald Sverdrup and Mats G.E. Svensson Part II-B: Systems Analysis for Better Practice 7. Scenario-Based Methodologies for Strategy Development and Management of Change; E. Anders Eriksson 8. 'Sweden in the Year 2021' — A Systems Study of Sweden’s Future Environment; Anita Linell 9. Environmental Accounts — a Tool for Interdisciplinary Analysis; Sofia Ahlroth 10. Environmental Systems Analysis — Some Ongoing Research and Ideas About Future Developments; Anna Björklund 11. Some Properties of Environmental Systems Analysis Tools — Life Cycle Assessment as an Example; Göran Finnveden, Tomas Ekvall and Asa Moberg 12. Systems Approaches in Development Work; Semida Silveira 13. The Systems Approach in Research on International Relations: The wro Negotiations; Gunnar Sjöstedt Part II-C: Systems Thinking for Better Design and Construction 14. Humans and Complex Systems: Sustainable Information Societies; Rune Gustavsson and Martin Fredriksson 15 Large Technical Systems: a Multidisciplinary Research Tradition; Lena Ewertsson and Lars Ingelstam Part III: Development Trends, Future Prospects and Needs 16. Systemic Interventions in Sweden: Some Discernible Patterns; Mats-Olov Olsson and Gunnar Sjöstedt Contributors