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A leverage points perspective on sustainability
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Fischer, J., & Riechers, M.
- Venue
- People and Nature
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-01-31
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 115-120
- ISSN
- 2575-8314 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2913311244
- Cited by
- 361
- References
- 34
- FWCI
- 18.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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