The SCENE Model: getting a grip on sustainable development in policy making

Abstract. Sustainable development is a politically and scientifically contested concept. This is partly due to its definition, which contains ambiguous, normative and subjective elements. In addition, sustainable development is a complex concept describing developments at different time-scales, geographical scales and across domains. In this article, we describe the ‘SoCial, ENvironmental and Economic (SCENE) model’, a conceptual approach towards sustainable development that explicitly addresses these characteristics. The model is based on the structural representation of economic, ecological and social stocks and the interaction between them. The possible applications of the SCENE model include integrated issue description, monitoring of sustainable development, evaluation of complex sustainability-related issues, strategy planning and a framework for quantitative modelling. In addition, the model provides a tool for the communication of these issues. The different applications are described on the basis of case studies. The common goal of all applications is a better understanding of the underlying dynamics of sustainable development and related issues.