Soft computing techniques and sustainability science, an introduction

Abstract

Sustainability Science is a research field that seeks to understand the fundamental character of interactions between Nature and Society. Because of the high degree of complexity of the problems and challenges it faces, this field requires new methodological approaches, tools and techniques that enable decision-makers and stakeholders can evaluate and make decisions based on a wide range of uncertainty and little information. It is here where Soft Computing methodologies can play an important role in addressing many of these challenges. The inherent tolerance of uncertainty and imprecision, and the robustness of the techniques that make up this paradigm can help solve or reduce the impact of these problems. This chapter introduces this book as a a catalogue of the most successful Soft Computing methodologies applied to Sustainability Science.