Complexity-and-sustainability crash courses for specialists

As more people become aware of human encroachment on planetary boundaries, experts from many disciplines are wondering how they can help to solve this complex, transdisciplinary suite of challenges. Maybe that’s you.

Below, I give short lists of resources intended as on-ramps from mainstream specialties into the wildly transdisciplinary spaces of complexity and sustainability science. For each family of specialties I list some combination of videos, audio, web pages, papers and books, so you can choose your investment level. I suggest working through each list roughly in order.

The lists are works in progress and not exhaustive; worthy entries have been left out for brevity. Further reading, listening and viewing can be found here. Of course, I’m less familiar with some disciplines than others. You are welcome to help improve these lists by sending suggestions.

All (start here)

It helps to start with accessible, transdisciplinary overviews of complex systems science and the human predicament. This short list provides an compact course in its own right, or an appetiser for the more detailed lists below.

Videos

Papers
1. Siegenfeld, A. F., & Bar-Yam, Y. (2020). An introduction to complex systems science and its applications. Complexity, 2020, 1-16.
2. Hagens, N. J. (2020). Economics for the future–Beyond the superorganism. Ecological Economics, 169, 106520.

Books
1. Mitchell, M. (2009). Complexity: A guided tour.
2. Meadows, D. H. & Wright, D. (2008). Thinking in systems: a primer.
3. (For those seeking mathematical details) Thurner, S., Klimek, P., Hanel, R. (2018). Introduction to the Theory of Complex Systems. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, USA.
4. Hagens N. J. & White D. J. (2021). Reality Blind: Integrating the systems science underpinning our collective futures, volume 1.

Skip to lists for:

Physical scientists
Life scientists & clinicians
Social scientists & humanities scholars

Crash course for economists

Papers
1. Holt, R. P., Rosser Jr, J. B., & Colander, D. (2011). The complexity era in economics. Review of Political Economy, 23(3), 357-369.
2. Diesendorf, M., Davies, G., Wiedmann, T., Spangenberg, J. H., & Hail, S. (2024). Sustainability scientists’ critique of neoclassical economics. Global Sustainability, 7, e33.
3. Foster, J. (2005). From simplistic to complex systems in economics. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 29(6), 873-892.
4. Arthur, W. B. (2021). Foundations of complexity economics. Nature Reviews Physics, 3(2), 136-145.
5. Hidalgo, C. A., & Hausmann, R. (2009). The building blocks of economic complexity. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 106(26), 10570-10575.
6. Levin, S., Xepapadeas, T., Crépin, A. S., Norberg, J., De Zeeuw, A., Folke, C., … & Walker, B. (2013). Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems: modeling and policy implications. Environment and Development Economics, 18(2), 111-132.
7. Peters, O. (2019). The ergodicity problem in economics. Nature Physics, 15(12), 1216-1221.
8. Wilson, D. S., Madhavan, G., Gelfand, M. J., Hayes, S. C., Atkins, P. W., & Colwell, R. R. (2023). Multilevel cultural evolution: From new theory to practical applications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(16), e2218222120.

Books
1. Orrell, D. (2010). Economyths: How the science of complex systems is transforming economic thought. Icon Books Ltd.
2. Arthur, W. B. (2015). Complexity and the Economy. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
3. Farmer, J. D. (2024). Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World. United States: Yale University Press.
4. Hall CAS & Klitgaard K (2018). Energy and the Wealth of Nations: An introduction to biophysical economics. Springer.
5. West G (2017). Scale: The universal laws of growth, innovation, sustainability, and the pace of life, in organisms, cities, economies, and companies. Penguin Press.
6. King, C. W. (2020). The economic superorganism. Springer Nature.
7. Gowdy, J. M. (2021). Ultrasocial: The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future. United States: Cambridge University Press.

Crash course for physical scientists

Papers
1. Holovatch, Y., Kenna, R., & Thurner, S. (2017). Complex systems: physics beyond physics. European Journal of Physics, 38(2), 023002.
2. De Domenico, M. (2023). More is different in real-world multilayer networks. Nature Physics, 19(9), 1247-1262.
3. Boguna, M., Bonamassa, I., De Domenico, M., Havlin, S., Krioukov, D., & Serrano, M. Á. (2021). Network geometry. Nature Reviews Physics, 3(2), 114-135.
4. Liu, Y. Y., & Barabási, A. L. (2016). Control principles of complex systems. Reviews of Modern Physics, 88(3), 035006.
5. Liu, X., Li, D., Ma, M., Szymanski, B. K., Stanley, H. E., & Gao, J. (2022). Network resilience. Physics Reports, 971, 1-108.
6. Murphy Jr, T. W. (2022). Limits to economic growth. Nature Physics, 18(8), 844-847.
7. Pueyo, S. (2014). Ecological econophysics for degrowth. Sustainability, 6(6), 3431-3483.

Books
1. West G (2017). Scale: The universal laws of growth, innovation, sustainability, and the pace of life, in organisms, cities, economies, and companies. Penguin Press.
2. King, C. W. (2020). The economic superorganism. Springer Nature.
3. Giampietro M, Mayumi K, Sorman AH (2013). Energy Analysis for a Sustainable Future: Multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism.
4. Smil V (2008). Energy in Nature and Society: General energetics of complex systems. MIT Press.
5. Kleidon A (2016). Thermodynamic Foundations of the Earth System. Cambridge University Press.
6. Hall CAS & Klitgaard K (2018). Energy and the Wealth of Nations: An introduction to biophysical economics. Springer.
7. Odum, H. T. (2007). Environment, power, and society for the 21st century. Columbia University Press.

Crash courses for life scientists and clinicians

Papers
1. Kaneko, K. (2006). Life: an introduction to complex systems biology. Springer.
2. Allen, C. R., Angeler, D. G., Garmestani, A. S., Gunderson, L. H., & Holling, C. S. (2014). Panarchy: theory and application. Ecosystems, 17, 578-589.
3. West, B. J. (2006). Where medicine went wrong: Rediscovering the path to complexity (Vol. 11). World Scientific.
4. McNamara, M., & Teeling, S. P. (2021). Introducing healthcare professionals to systems thinking through an integrated curriculum for leading in health systems. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(8), 2325-2328.

Books
1. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. (2002). Slovenia: Island Press.

Papers
1. Page, S. E. (2015). What sociologists should know about complexity. Annual Review of Sociology, 41(1), 21-41.
Books
1. Sawyer, R. K. (2005). Social emergence: Societies as complex systems. Cambridge University Press.
2. Buchanan, M. (2007). The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You. New York: Bloomsbury USA.