Purpose, processes, partnerships, and products: four Ps to advance participatory socio‐environmental modeling

Abstract

Abstract. Including stakeholders in environmental model building and analysis is an increasingly popular approach to understanding ecological change. This is because stakeholders often hold valuable knowledge about socio-environmental dynamics and collaborative forms of modeling produce important boundary objects used to collectively reason about environmental problems. Although the number of participatory modeling (PM) case studies and the number of researchers adopting these approaches has grown in recent years, the lack of standardized reporting and limited reproducibility have prevented PM's establishment and advancement as a cohesive field of study. We suggest a four-dimensional framework (4P) that includes reporting on dimensions of (1) the Purpose for selecting a PM approach (the why); (2) the Process by which the public was involved in model building or evaluation (the how); (3) the Partnerships formed (the who); and (4) the Products that resulted from these efforts (the what). We highlight four case studies that use common PM software-based approaches (fuzzy cognitive mapping, agent-based modeling, system dynamics, and participatory geospatial modeling) to understand human-environment interactions and the consequences of ecological changes, including bushmeat hunting in Tanzania and Cameroon, agricultural production and deforestation in Zambia, and groundwater management in India. We demonstrate how standardizing communication about PM case studies can lead to innovation and new insights about model-based reasoning in support of ecological policy development. We suggest that our 4P framework and reporting approach provides a way for new hypotheses to be identified and tested in the growing field of PM.

Machine Education: Designing semantically ordered and ontologically guided modular neural networks

“…There exist several typologies for characterising the expected outcomes of employing participatory modelling [13]. Broadly speaking, operational outcomes can be categorised into: cognitive (e.g.…”

How clean is clean: a review of the social science of environmental cleanups

“…Social science theory that situates people's relationships with chemicals, toxics, and post-industrial sites in a broader culture and political economic context (Fortun 2012, Shapiro andKirksey 2017) may be informative, but challenging to incorporate into a model. Participatory socio-environmental modeling techniques may allow site-specific details to emerge (Gray et al 2018). This analysis identifies several important factors to address in a framework: multiple phases of cleanup actions; positive and negative social impacts (e.g.…”

“…The spatial unboundedness of sites is made apparent by the extent of cleanup activities, workers, and community impacts in large-scale disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills (Shaw 1992, Russell et al 1993, Bond 2013. It is underscored by the complexities of managing cleanup goals and actions at Superfund sites that are dozens of square miles or more with varying levels of contaminants across the site (Gray andBecker 1993, Burger et al 2004). Even smaller sites may be physically cordoned off but still retain community ties and be of local cultural or historical significance (Bluestone 2007, Kirkwood 2007.…”

“…Research from several social science disciplines has addressed social conflicts during cleanup (Fowlkes and Miller 1982), institutional decision-making (Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council ITRC 2002, Franco and Bouri 2010, and cost-benefit analysis (Hamilton and Viscusi 1999). Many studies are specific to a particular site such as Chernobyl in the Ukraine (Petryna 1995, Smith 2005 or Hanford in the United States (Gray andBecker 1993, Gephart 2003). To date, however, there has not been a comprehensive review of the social, economic, institutional, political, and cultural factors that affect cleanup processes and outcomes.…”

The Water–Energy–Food Nexus: A Fuzzy-Cognitive Mapping Approach to Support Nexus-Compliant Policies in Andalusia (Spain)

“…In a recent paper, Voinov et al [23] review the progress made in applying participatory modelling in environmental decision-making and stress the need to develop comprehensive guidelines to select the best-suited methodology-among the wide range of existing tools and techniques-depending on the modelling objectives as well as the participants involved. In this regard, several frameworks have been proposed to support the process and to achieve the successful participation of stakeholders in conceptual modelling by, among others, Argent et al [24], Basco-Carrera et al [25], Gray et al [26] and Halbe et al [27].…”