ABSTRACT
The introduction to this book posits that one of the most fundamental challenges is to develop new approaches to knowledge co-creation and governance; the silo-based approach to science and expertise, government, and practice that has co-evolved with industrialization is no longer deemed adequate for our civilization to cope with twenty-first-century challenges. Different forms of sustainability science present new approaches to combining research, governance, and learning in communities of public authorities, stakeholders, and scientists; these approaches can complement our disciplinary and now increasingly fragmented knowledge fields. The chapter also explores in more depth what we mean by ‘transformation’ and transformative learning for sustainability and how sustainability science might contribute towards such goals. Sustainability science can be designed such that it can help us to judge transformations and evaluate learning for and about change. The final section of the chapter provides an overview on the structure of the book and the sequence of the individual chapters.
