McIntosh Brian S, Jeffrey Paul, Lemon Mark, Winder Nick
School of Water Sciences, Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom.
Environ Manage. 2005 Jun;35(6):741-52. doi: 10.1007/s00267-004-0172-0.
The current research agenda in environmental science is dominated by calls to integrate science and policy to better understand and manage links between social (human) and natural (nonhuman) processes. Freshwater resource management is one area where such calls can be heard. Designing computer-based models for integrated environmental science poses special challenges to the research community. At present it is not clear whether such tools, or their outputs, receive much practical policy or planning application. It is argued that this is a result of (1) a lack of appreciation within the research modeling community of the characteristics of different decision-making processes including policy, planning, and (2) participation, (3) a lack of appreciation of the characteristics of different decision-making contexts, (4) the technical difficulties in implementing the necessary support tool functionality, and (5) the socio-technical demands of designing tools to be of practical use. This article presents a critical synthesis of ideas from each of these areas and interprets them in terms of design requirements for computer-based models being developed to provide scientific information support for policy and planning. Illustrative examples are given from the field of freshwater resources management. Although computer-based diagramming and modeling tools can facilitate processes of dialogue, they lack adequate simulation capabilities. Component-based models and modeling frameworks provide such functionality and may be suited to supporting problematic or messy decision contexts. However, significant technical (implementation) and socio-technical (use) challenges need to be addressed before such ambition can be realized.
当前环境科学的研究议程主要围绕整合科学与政策的呼声展开，目的是更好地理解和管理社会（人类）与自然（非人类）过程之间的联系。淡水资源管理就是能听到此类呼声的一个领域。为综合环境科学设计基于计算机的模型给研究界带来了特殊挑战。目前尚不清楚此类工具或其输出结果是否得到了大量实际的政策或规划应用。有人认为，这是由于：（1）研究建模界对包括政策、规划和参与在内的不同决策过程的特点缺乏认识；（2）对不同决策背景的特点缺乏认识；（3）实施必要的支持工具功能存在技术困难；（4）设计具有实际用途的工具存在社会技术需求。本文对这些领域的观点进行了批判性综合，并根据为政策和规划提供科学信息支持而开发的基于计算机的模型的设计要求对其进行了解释。文中给出了淡水资源管理领域的示例。尽管基于计算机的绘图和建模工具可以促进对话过程，但它们缺乏足够的模拟能力。基于组件的模型和建模框架具备此类功能，可能适合支持有问题或复杂的决策背景。然而，在实现这一目标之前，需要应对重大的技术（实施）和社会技术（使用）挑战。
