Topic Editors
2. School of Management Fribourg (HEG-FR), Chemin du Musée 4, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
3. Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
4. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
Resilience in Times of Uncertainty: Toward a Pragmatic and Solution-Oriented Understanding of Sustainability
Topic Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainability is often presented as if it were a matter of eliminating or even mitigating decline, harm, trade-offs, and permanent crises. Yet this framing is too narrow for the world we now inhabit. More than a decade after the launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, progress remains uneven and, in many areas, insufficient. The usual explanations point to disruptions, including pandemics, war, food and energy insecurity, fiscal pressure, and geopolitical fragmentation. These are real constraints, but they are not the whole story. Another obstacle lies in how sustainability itself is too often misunderstood.
Much contemporary debate still relies on simplistic oppositions: society versus business, people versus profit, nature versus technology, or resilience versus efficiency. Such binaries may generate artificial clarity, but they rarely present workable solutions. They obscure the fact that sustainable transitions, at their best, are not about choosing one side against another. Sustainability is about building or promoting institutions, technologies, and forms of cooperation that allow societies to adapt, innovate, and flourish under conditions of uncertainty. This Topic invites contributions that move beyond ritualized critique and toward pragmatic, solution-oriented understandings of sustainability. We seek interdisciplinary and practice-based research, as well as strong case studies from agriculture, industry, services, health, and related sectors, that show how innovation can strengthen resilience while also supporting livelihoods, inclusion, and environmental protection and management. We are particularly interested in work that examines how societies can respond constructively to disruption through experimentation, institutional learning, and the renewal of economic and social ecosystems. We also welcome conceptual and theoretical contributions from geography, sociology, economics, ethics, philosophy, anthropology, urban studies, and adjacent fields that challenge schematic thinking in sustainability. At a time when uncertainty and change have become defining conditions rather than a temporary disturbance, resilience should not be understood merely as recovery. It should be seen as the capacity to reimagine systems as future foundations for shared well-being. This Topic aims to explore that shift.
Manuscripts may be submitted at any time before the deadline. Please submit your paper as soon as it is ready. Accepted papers will be published on a rolling basis in the listed journals and will also be featured on the Topic’s website.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Philipp Aerni
Prof. Dr. Manfred Max Bergman
Topic Editors
Keywords
- resilience
- sustainability
- water security
- food security
- energy security
- AI
- biotechnology
- pragmatism
- meliorism
- inclusive economic ecosystems
- technology and innovation for development
Participating Journals
| Journal Name | Impact Factor | CiteScore | Launched Year | First Decision (median) | APC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Businesses
|
- | - | 2021 | 22.3 Days | CHF 1000 | Submit |
Economies
|
2.3 | 5.2 | 2013 | 23.3 Days | CHF 1800 | Submit |
Environments
|
4.3 | 5.7 | 2014 | 18.6 Days | CHF 1800 | Submit |
Regional Science and Environmental Economics
|
- | - | 2024 | 35.5 Days | CHF 1000 | Submit |
Social Sciences
|
2.0 | 3.5 | 2012 | 30.3 Days | CHF 1800 | Submit |
World
|
2.8 | - | 2020 | 29.5 Days | CHF 1200 | Submit |
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