Environmental System Models from Technical Models to World Models

Abstract

The word “system” is pervasive in science and technology. System models are the representation of systems in a descriptive textual form, as physical models, as computer simulation programs and/or as spatial models. In this paper the attempt is made to describe different forms of system models from an application-oriented environmental view. In the introduction, the origins of “system” and “model” are touched, while the relation to “the environment” is implicitly addressed in describing the distinct model applications.