Resilient Territories and Communities as Futures-Proof Systems

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on sociotechnoecological systems (STES) as an evolution of the social–ecological system concept (SES) considering an explicitly future-oriented and long-term perspective.

Any consideration on sustainability is about a lasting or enduring process, and recognizing that the future conditions could be completely different from today’s, as the surprises of these years are teaching us, we can affirm that any project, plan or policy, to have any chance of achieving its long-term goals, should fit to different futures or be adaptable to a variety of scenarios.

In the last (at least) three decades, social–ecological systems have been recognized and studied in a wide scientific literature and in various disciplines, beyond the natural sciences, from the theory of the commons to the complexity science, recently including futures studies. Similarly, the concept of sociotechnoecological systems is emerging as especially connected to the prospects for resilience and sustainability of urban areas or built environments, including the role of technological innovation. A variety of tools and frameworks have been proposed alongside scientific and technological developments, with a growing ability to untangle the complex interdependencies and nonlinearities in SES-STES behavior.

Unfortunately, many theoretical or methodological contributions often end with “this will help/support/contribute to” a better management, or a better agreement between stakeholders, and so on, without any reference to how to monitor, measure, and accompany along the years the dynamics or the desirable changes in SES-STES.

Here, we would like to collect study examples of “what happens next” or references to monitor what might happen within SES-STES over the years (or, even better, decades). We are looking for answers to questions such as: Are there any effective approaches to overcome the current barriers in communicating the STES complexity, in activating the responsibility of stakeholders, in sharing knowledge, in matching time and space scales within a multilevel governance? Which of these approaches can adapt to different possible future conditions (that is future-proof)? What are promising tools or processes or indicators useful to future-proof the SES-STES considered?

The purpose of this Special Issue is to present an up-to-date overview of these problems from an operational, solution-oriented, future-oriented, and case-based perspective. Topics covered include multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, with a focus on temporal dimension or on multiple possible futures. Papers addressing one (e.g., local, global or "glocal") or multiple levels of SES or STES governance are also welcome.

The documents selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of a rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Scolozzi Rocco
Prof. Sara Favargiotti
Guest Editors

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• anticipatory governance
• future-proofing
• sustainability
• social–ecological systems
• sociotechnoecological systems
• futures of cities
• urban areas
• participatory foresight