2022/06/16 by Julia Schaeper, Sumit Kothari, Gillian Hamilton · 1 voice
Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Complex Systems and Decision Making #Information Systems Theories and Implementation #Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development
paper · pdf · doi:10.21606/drs.2022.511
openalex publication_date 2022/06/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Increased interest in systemic design approaches and their impact on climate and societal crises make revisiting the theories of the commons and their applicability to system transitions a timely endeavour. By examining a case study of a marine protected area in the South African ocean, the paper explores how a commoning practice could be applied more intentionally in system design to increase cooperation amongst system actors and apply a multispecies - as opposed to human-centred - perspective to the management of natural, social, and immaterial resources. By tracing the historical understandings of the commons, the study explores how Ostrom’s design principles could be applied as a set of heuristics to help system actors thrive in improved cohabitation. Thus, the paper draws on a working hypothesis of how economic and complexity theory could be integrated with systems thinking to create the conditions for increased stakeholder cooperation and alternative systems by design.