Learn how social simulations navigate through complexity

The purpose of social simulation is to trigger change. This change may affect attitudes, standpoints, our understanding of a given issue or – most desirably – the way we behave or act. Social simulation is supposed to make the process of positive change possible. To accomplish it, the participants of social simulations recreate a real life situation.

The Alpbach story:

Centre for Systems Solutions’ simulations in the village of thinkers

Since 2014, the multinational and multicultural participants of the European Forum Alpbach have been engaged in our social simulations, playing, i.a., Forest@Risk, Bengaluru Quest or The World’s Future through which they explored the difficult task of making decisions under certainty, managing common pool resources, addressing social and environmental problems and transforming towards sustainability.

Bengaluru Quest in Alpbach:

How to trigger reflection and inspire to action in an hour

The Bengaluru Quest is an environment for exploring behavioral, social and institutional challenges connected with sustainability transformation. By painful yet thought-provoking confrontation with a real-world case, participants may face a complex, ambiguous, and uncertain reality of modern policy making. The interactive and dynamic character of this process can lead to a deeper understanding and insights of a universal relevance.

Understanding the nexus approach

The nexus approach can guide a transition to sustainability, by reducing negative impacts within the system and producing gains that outweigh the costs connected with investing in better policy and “greener” technology. Based on a better understanding of the interdependence of water, energy and food, this integrated approach identifies multilateral beneficial solutions to resource management (e.g. water and waste recycling, investing in green infrastructure or renewable sources of energy) and provide way to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.