Understanding integrated human-Earth system models as boundary objects: Enhancing credibility and interdisciplinary collaboration

Abstract

Integrated human-Earth system models could be a useful tool for interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainability issues. However, it is challenging to integrate all disciplines equally. Considering modeling frameworks as boundary objects could help. In this perspective, a modeling framework, while clearly defined in its basic function, could be adapted and reinterpreted by researchers from different disciplines according to their specific contexts and questions, yet the framework still remains a common reference point behind these different adaptations. This flexibility and plasticity could contribute to the evolution of the modeling framework itself. The authors discuss how this might look, using the copan:CORE framework as an example.