title: A framework to observe and evaluate the sustainability of human-natural systems in a complex dynamic context.
abstract: This paper aims to explore the prominent implications of the process of observing complex dynamics linked to sustainability in human-natural systems and to propose a framework for sustainability evaluation by introducing the concept of sustainability boundaries. Arguing that both observing and evaluating sustainability should engage awareness of complex dynamics from the outset, we try to embody this idea in the framework by two complementary methods, namely, the layer view- and dimensional view-based methods, which support the understanding of a reflexive and iterative sustainability process. The framework enables the observation of complex dynamic sustainability contexts, which we call observation metastructures, and enable us to map the contexts to sustainability boundaries.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI), Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Niranji
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Satanarachchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Socio-cultural Environmental Studies, Graduate Program in Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI), Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mino
keywords: Complex dynamics; Dimensional view-based method; Layer view-based method; Sustainability boundaries; Sustainability contexts; Sustainability evaluation