Tobias LutheETH Zurich | ETH Zürich · Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
Tobias Luthe
PhD Associate Professor
About
74
Publications
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Introduction
I am a science-engineering-design hybrid, bridging natural-social science interface with systemic transition design for developing real-world solutions in regenerating resilient social-ecological systems. My “circularity” approach spans systems from raw materials to products to buildings, services, landscapes and economies. I am Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich, Associate Professor at AHO Oslo, Visiting Professor at Politechnico Torino, and director of the MonViso Institute real-world laboratory.
Additional affiliations
January 2011 - April 2016
Publications
Publications (74)
The complexity of sustainable development and societal transitions require both analytical understandings of how coupled human-environment systems function and transdisciplinary science-to-practice approaches. The academic discourse has advanced in developing a framework for defining success in transdisciplinary research (TDR). Further empirical ev...
While ecological resilience is conceptually established, resilience concepts of social-ecological systems (SES) require further development, especially regarding their implementation in society. From the literature we (a) identify the need for a revised conceptualization of SES resilience to improve its understanding for informing the development o...
Social systems in mountain regions are exposed to a number of disturbances, such as climate change. Calls for conceptual and practical approaches on how to address climate change have been taken up in the literature. The resilience concept as a comprehensive theory-driven approach to address climate change has only recently increased in importance....
To leverage the fullest potential of systemic design research in real-world contexts, more diverse and reflexive approaches are necessary. Especially for addressing the place-based and unpredictable nature of sustainability transformations, scholars across disciplines caution that standard research strategies and methods often fall short. While sys...
Mountain regions face substantial challenges and opportunities arising from global change. The capacity of mountain regions for (systemic) innovation will be determinant to the success of system transformations envisioned by social actors of mountain communities. By analysing the social networks of two regions in the Alps and relating them to desir...
Mountains are home to a considerable share of the human population. Around a billion people live in mountainous areas, which harbor rich natural and sociocultural diversity. Today, many people living in mountainous areas worldwide face fundamental changes to their cultural and economic living conditions. At the same time, mountain communities have...
Scientists increasingly cross their disciplinary boundaries and connect with local stakeholders to jointly solve complex problems. Working with stakeholders means higher legitimacy and supports practical impact of research. Games provide a tool to achieve such transdisciplinary collaboration. In this paper, we explore the use of a game in a partici...
Wie soll der Tourismus mit den aktuellen Krisen umgehen? Wie erhöhen wir die gewünschte Resilienz und begreifen Veränderung als Chance? Empirische Forschung illustriert, wie innovative Kooperation und bewusste Transformation zur Vision werden: Einer Vision zukunftsfähiger Berggemeinden und Regionen.
How should tourism deal with the current set of...
Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...
The paper examines ecotourism in the Aral Sea region of Uzbekistan, an area with a fragile environment that has faced ecological crises and requires careful sustainable development. It looks at the supply side of ecotourism by examining Uzbekistani tour operators' awareness of benefits derivable from promoting ecotourism in the region, and the loca...
Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...
The Sustainability Leadership Training (SLT) is a transdisciplinary higher education block course to train future opinion leaders on the concept of sustainable development, using embedded case study methods and outdoor activities to achieve a more effective and more time efficient learning progress and outcome. Mental or social skills such as leade...
Reaching New Heights.
Systemic Innovation and Identity for Resilient Alpine Communities.
A systems-oriented design poster by Haley Fitzpatrick and Tobias Luthe.
This poster entitled “Reaching New Heights” showcases systemic innovation in relation with cultural identity for resilient alpine communities on the case of the MonViso Institute in t...
Hemp is a circular plant with all its parts potentially having societal, ecological or industrial value, direct or indirect. This article is exploring hemp systems at the MonViso Institute, a real-world mountain laboratory for systemic regenerative design.
Published in: Hanf Magazin
When is Systemic Design (SD) regenerative? When does SD contribute to the societal sustainability transition? Systems thinking is not inherently good. For example, the practice of SD without ethical values and direction could be used to develop unsustainable land use policies that are resilient against changing them towards becoming restorative, su...
ABSTRACT: Mountain systems are particularly vulnerable due to natural climate harshness, exposure to natural risks, as well as socio-economic changes. Traditionally, inhabitants of these systems tend to rely on a diversified portfolio of activities to spread the exposure to risks. Climate and other global changes to come add another level of diffic...
Innovative teaching didactics on complex sustainability and engineering design.
Melting glaciers, thinning sea ice, traditional subsistence hunters looking for new ways to survive: changes in nature and ways of life seem to be the dominant drivers in many Arctic communities. While this situation is dismaying to many, another way to look at it is that change means chance. According to TOBIAS LUTHE, flexibility, diverse social c...
Snow sports are a fascination that succumbs to those who have already experienced the unique, multi-dimensional pleasure of gliding in snow. Several thousand years of ski tradition have led to a mass winter tourism industry that peaked with the exponential construction of ski resorts between the 1980s and the millennium change. Snow sports became m...
Resource limitations are drivers for engaging in sustainability. Systemic design approaches to address complex sustainability challenges need to be implemented more in education curricula, especially in design and engineering programs. Innovative and adequate didactic concepts should be effective in the long-term learning outcomes, and motivate stu...
The emerging discipline of sustainability science is focused explicitly on the dynamic interactions between nature and society and is committed to research that spans multiple scales and can support transitions toward greater sustainability. Because a growing body of place-based social-ecological sustainability research (PBSESR) has emerged in rece...
Sustainability has become a leading societal concept of our time, though the term suffers from clichéd use and nor- mative character. Since public inclusion and participation are fundamental for the transition to a more sustainable society, a more constructive and motivational usage of the term should be achieved. The purpose of this article is to...
Sustainability has become a leading societal concept of our time, though the term suffers from clichéd use and normative character. Since public inclusion and participation are fundamental for the transition to a more sustainable society, a more constructive and motivational usage of the term should be achieved. The purpose of this article is to re...
This article (in German) is about innovative education on sustainable development.
http://wissensplatz.htwchur.ch/innovative-bildung-fuer-nachhaltige-entwicklung/
This study integrates quantitative social network analysis (SNA) and qualitative interviews for understanding tourism business links in isolated communities through analysing spatial characteristics. Two case studies are used, the Surselva-Gotthard region in the Swiss Alps and Longyearbyen in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, to test the spatial...
This study integrates quantitative social network analysis (SNA) and qualitative interviews for understanding tourism business links in isolated communities through analysing spatial characteristics. Two case studies are used, the Surselva-Gotthard region in the Swiss Alps and Longyearbyen in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, to test the spatial...
Societal transitions involve multiple actors, changes in institutions, values and technologies, and interactions across multiple sectors and scales. Given this complexity, this paper takes on the view that the societal transitions research field would benefit from the further maturation and broader uptake of modelling approaches. This paper shows h...
While there is ample – though partially contradictory – evidence regarding the effects climate change will have on various regions of the world, there is only very limited work dedicated to the analysis of different governance structures, and how these structures are likely to influence the resilience of alpine tourism systems in the face of climat...
Many existing methods for sustainable technical product design focus on environmental efficiency while lacking a framework for a holistic, sustainable design approach that includes combined social, technical, economic, and environmental aspects in the whole product life cycle, and that provides guidance on a technical product development level. Thi...
This paper discusses systemic aspects of protected areas research with a particular focus on systemic governance. Protected areas are embedded within a dynamic system of socio-economic-ecological interactions on various geographical, value-ethical, cultural and political scales. For example, recent energy politics exacerbates existing pressures on...
Mountain regions and peripheral communities, which often depend on few economic sectors, are among the most exposed and sensitive to climate change. Governance of such socio-economic-ecological networks plays a strong role in determining their resilience. Social processes of governance, such as collaboration between communities, can be systematical...
Il clima e il turismo sono strettamente collegati. Per esempio sciare senza neve a temperature non adeguate non è possibile. Per questo motivo negli ultimi anni sta crescendo l'interesse per lo svolgimento di attività di ricerca sull'impatto che il cambiamento climatico ha sul turismo nelle zone montane. Il libro ClimAlpTour - Il cambiamento climat...
Podnebje in turizem sta običajno tesno povezana. Smučanje brez snega in nizkih temperatur ni možno, če omenimo samo najbolj neposredno povezavo. Zaradi tega je bilo v zadnjih letih opravljenih veliko raziskav o vplivu podnebnih sprememb na turizem v gorskih območjih. In o tem govori knjiga ClimAlpTour. Podnebne spremembe in njihov vpliv na turizem...
Socially responsible investors (SRI) favour certain companies over others for their accomplishment of certain sustainability
criteria from social and ecological aspects, in fields such as labour rights, the production of weapons or the use of alternative
energy resources (Hamilton et al., 1993).
The current and forecasted outcomes of global change put ski destinations under different stresses. Climate change is the most discussed and the most obvious factor that directly affects the economic success of ski areas. Latest since the last OECD report a broad discussion about such ski areas that will lose from climate change, namely the lower a...
Global change, in particular changes in demographic patterns, in socioeconomic developments and in climate, significantly affects alpine tourism, especially ski tourism. In response, mainly technical means of adaptation in ski areas are being applied. After the analogue winter of 2006/07 the current kind of adaptation proofed to be not sustainable,...
Questions
Questions (5)
I am looking for studies that show structural test results for concrete made with hemp fibers. Length of fibers, mixture relation, strength and performance over time. I am thankful for any advice.
Who is interested in network analysis and visualization? A new open source network software is about to be developed by colleagues. Please support and fill out this quick survey:
We are looking for feedback of other researchers and educators and consultants interested and experienced in sustainability.
What framework do you use to explain/teach/communicate sustainability?
Is the model we propose suitable in your opinion?
Please find the paper attached, it is open access until November 18, 2016:
Thanks for any feedback!
I am searching a paper on a case of a SES (social-ecological system) that illustrates the human capacity of social learning, enabling deliberate transformation of the SES, for example to a higher scale of governance, thereby possibly increasing resilience. I am looking for an example for any kind of deliberate transformation, e.g. in urban management, fisheries, forest management, protected areas, community building, etc; it doesn’t have to be a governance scale transformation, but ideally a system that undergoes the adaptive cycle phases and where a deliberate transformation led or might lead to increased resilience. Does anyone know of any such case? Thank you.
I am looking for studies on how e.g. various supporting ecosystem services (or bundles of such) relate to provisioning services (and others). Are there network analyses out there or at least qualitative descriptions?
