Socio-Hydrological Dynamics Workshop

Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe NM

Investigators

Abstract

Traditionally, scientists and water mangers have thought of the water system as a part of nature that humans act upon. However, as the hydrological system becomes more variable and human demands on this system grow, a more integrated understanding is needed. Human choices and institutions can fundamentally alter the natural water system. In turn, water systems shape regional economic activity and the institutional systems that we devise to manage that water. To better manage the relationship of societies to their water resources, we must be able to conceptualize and model these interactions, both on the short and long run, and from the local to the global scale. The broader impact of this workshop is to progress in our scientific understanding of interactions between human social systems and the physical systems, and support national security by ensuring that our water resources are managed in a way that is secure, resilient, and robust to the social and environmental changes. This interdisciplinary workshop integrates research in the physical hydrology of water with research on the social, economic, and political management of water. Participants analyze how current research and methods used in the field can be extended to include dynamic feedbacks between the sociology and hydrology of water use and management. This workshop is organized around an innovative concept of research jams, in which small groups of participants brainstorm on how to extend and enrich concrete research projects. The challenges and opportunities that participants identify in these focused "research jams" then inform the debates and conversations participants have in plenary sessions. Plenary sessions aim to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different theoretical frameworks and empirical methods, as well as identify some of the most critical questions for the field as a whole. This workshop will inspire new interdisciplinary projects within a rigorous theoretical framework of social and hydrological systems, provide participants ample time for rigorous discussion on their early stage research and contextualize this research within the broader goals of the field and offer the public a synthesis of the state-of-the-art and of the most exciting directions for the future of water-society interactions.