Graduate Exit Seminar - Harrison Fried

Plan to join Harrison Fried's graduate exit seminar on July 10, 2024, at 9:00 am in Kottman Hall 245 or via Zoom. Harrison will present, "Navigating complexity in social-ecological systems: How interdependence shapes collaboration and issue management in the context of climate change adaptation governance."

Abstract: In this dissertation, I show how social-ecological network analysis methods can be applied, grounded, and reshaped through meaningful involvement with environmental practitioners who are part of the network. To do so, I analyze climate change adaptation governance in Columbus, Ohio, which is a system comprised of over one hundred unique stakeholder organizations, 19 climate adaptation-related issues, and their interconnections. In the first chapter, I apply social-ecological network analysis methods to explore how community-engaged network tools can help to overcome issue-based fragmentation in environmental governance systems. In doing so, I uncover the uses, limitations, and design principles of a social-ecological network decision support tool that recommends social partnerships based upon ecological interdependence. In the second chapter, I ground social-ecological network analysis methods by exploring whether social-ecological interdependence affects how stakeholders evaluate potential partnerships. Then, in the third chapter, I reshape common approaches to social-ecological network analysis by qualitatively identifying the range of strategies that environmental stakeholders utilize as they navigate ecological interdependence. Across each of the three chapters in this dissertation, I explore how complexity in social-ecological systems shapes stakeholder decision-making related to collaboration and issue engagement.

Advisors: Dr. Ramiro Berardo & Dr. Matthew Hamilton