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Science, engineering, and society increasingly require integrative thinking about emerging problems in complex systems, a notion referred to as convergence science. Due to the concurrent pressures of two main stressors—rapid climate change and industrialization, Arctic research demands such a paradigm of scientific inquiry. This perspective represents a synthesis of a vision for its application in Arctic system studies, developed by a group of disciplinary experts consisting of social and earth system scientists, ecologists, and engineers. Our objective is to demonstrate how convergence research questions can be developed via a holistic view of system interactions that are then parsed into material links and concrete inquiries of disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature. We illustrate the application of the convergence science paradigm to several forms of Arctic stressors using the Yamal Peninsula of the Russian Arctic as a representative natural laboratory with a biogeographic gradient from the forest‐tundra ecotone to the high Arctic. Plain Language Summary: This paper represents a synthesis of conceptual analyses, case study analyses, and practical thoughts on the application of convergence science in Arctic change studies. During a virtual workshop in 2020, a diverse, multi‐national team of authors consisting of social scientists, engineers, earth system scientists, and ecologists came together to formulate broad, scientifically, and societally important questions on how the Arctic system in the Yamal Peninsula of Western Siberia responds to pressures of rapidly changing climate and increasing industrialization. The team "engineered" a novel approach for expert (representing a disciplinary domain) and non‐expert (representatives of other disciplines) communication and at the workshop conclusion developed several convergence science questions of high appeal. Three of such questions are presented in this manuscript to illustrate how the search and identification of appropriate mechanistic linkages are critical to the development of system‐level understanding of stressor impact propagation. The need to understand underlying disciplinary and cross‐disciplinary mechanisms connecting Arctic system elements is viewed to be an inherent part of the convergence science approach. Through pursuit of such understanding, the approach naturally leads to other novel emerging questions, thereby stimulating further application of the process of integrative thinking. Key Points: Arctic research demands convergence science as essential method to understand impacts from novel stressorsAn integrative approach is developed by a diverse team to formulate questions that cannot be fully addressed within disciplinary studiesA convergence science analysis is illustrated for three questions applicable to Yamal, Russian Arctic, a microcosm of the changing Arctic [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists, geographers, criminologists, and health scientists are often tasked with finding data to best capture the impact of "community context" on individual outcomes, including residential services, physical resources, and social institutions. One outlet for such data in Canada is Digital Map Technologies Inc. (DMTI) Spatial, which offers a national repository of over one million businesses and recreational points of interest. The database is generated through CanMap Streetfiles, which includes geocodes of each point's precise location. These data are available to researchers from their university data library and Esri Canada, but primarily available to private sector and government markets. That said, the goal of the current paper is to encourage researchers to access this rich yet under‐utilized data source. Each service, business, or resource in the DMTI Spatial database is assigned to a respective category using Standard Industrial Classification codes and North American Industrial Classification System codes. It is not clear, however, which is the more reliable coding criteria. We provide an overview of our review of DMTI Spatial data and take‐away suggestions for using this valuable resource for future research on meso‐level residential markers. Key messages: The goal of this paper is to outline existing data source(s) and measures from DMTI Spatial that might help capture meso‐level residential institutions.We recommend "best practices" for using DMTI Spatial data in researchers' own work to capture neighbourhood resources/amenities, or the social infrastructure of the community using either Standard Industrial Classification codes or North American Industrial Classification System codes.We conclude that Standard Industrial Classification codes in DMTI Spatial enhanced points of interest data are more complete—and more accurate—than North American Industrial Classification System codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water constitutes an important natural and strategic resource, crucial to sustainable development, as well as the social stability and  wellbeing of every economy. The coordinated development of water resource utilisation and economic growth  is currently the focus of attention of social scientists and other representatives of the scholarly community, being one of the key factors for the long‐term development of a country. Based on theories of sustainable development and water resource utilisation, this paper examines the ‘quantity’ and ‘quality’ of water resource utilisation in 19 provinces, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and autonomous regions in the Yangtze River basin from 2006 to 2021, and explores the internal interaction mechanism. First, the decoupling model is used to explore the decoupling relationship between water resource use and economic growth in the Yangtze River Basin, and the LMDI additive index model is used to analyse the corresponding four driving factors. After discovering the interaction between the ‘quantity’ of water resources and economic growth, the ‘quality’ of water resources in the Yangtze River basin was explored, and after measuring the utilisation rate of water resources in the Yangtze River basin, the Tobit model was applied to introduce the explanatory and control variables to deeply analyse the influencing factors of water resources, and the two regulating variables of the digital economy and water endowment are introduced to further analyse the regulating mechanism. The results demonstrate that there is a corresponding ‘weak decoupling‐strong decoupling‐strong decoupling’ stage of development between water resource use and economic growth in the Yangtze River basin, with the corresponding technology effect factor being the most important driver. There is also a corresponding positive regulation impact of the digital economy on the relationship between the two, while water resources endowment has a corresponding negative regulation mechanism, as well as the role of corresponding influencing factors. Relevant recommendations for water resources use have been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance of integrating water management into urban planning to mitigate flooding risks and build resilient cities. It presents a case study of the city of Duran in Ecuador, where a successful partnership model has been implemented to address disaster risk reduction and climate change impact. The study emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary work, community involvement, and the use of early warning systems to effectively respond to potential threats. The article acknowledges the gap between global agendas and their implementation at the local level, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The authors propose a co-production model that involves a transdisciplinary team of experts from various fields to study the urban basin and understand the city's vulnerability to flooding. They collected data from different sources and developed detailed flood risk maps using technology and available data. The implementation of an early warning system for floods was completed in 2023 and proved invaluable during the El Niño/Southern Oscillation event in 2023-2024. The collaborative approach between the community and local authorities has been effective in responding to potential threats and protecting against future disasters. The authors emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary work, evidence-based policy recommendations, and digital transformation to empower communities and local authorities in building resilience. The collaboration between the government of Duran and ESPOL (a public university) resulted in a research paper that examined the vulnerability of Duran to floods and proposed policy recommendations for climate event prevention, response, and adaptation. The COVID-19 pandemic led to adjustments in the project, including the establishment [Extracted from the article]

Social scientists appeal to various "structures" in their explanations including public policies, economic systems, and social hierarchies. Significant debate surrounds the explanatory relevance of these factors for various outcomes such as health, behavioral, and economic patterns. This paper provides a causal account of social structural explanation that is motivated by Haslanger (2016). This account suggests that social structure can be explanatory in virtue of operating as a causal constraint, which is a causal factor with unique characteristics. A novel causal framework is provided for understanding these explanations–this framework addresses puzzles regarding the mysterious causal influence of social structure, how to understand its relation to individual choice, and what makes it the main explanatory (and causally responsible) factor for various outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haila described Singapore as a laboratory for a social scientist given the multiple ways land is used, managed or treated as a source of public revenue. Phang explains how housing has given the bottom 50 per cent of households, wealth equating to the level advocated in Piketty's 'ideal society'. As fixed‐term leases expire, people who own apartments on public land will see their values fall to zero. Inequality will return, challenging the otherwise stable polity. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper explores how and why this unique land regime was created, and expose how theoretically inconsistent policies and their ad hoc, pragmatic application has created several rent leakages to a minority of the population who continue to hold freehold land. It offers some alternative strategies better informed by land rent theory, that might be adopted to preserve the benefits enjoyed for now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies on racial inequality begin with a series of statistics highlighting racial variations in an outcome of interest to illustrate how wide (or narrow) the gaps between racialized groups are. This approach is standard in racial inequality research because emphasizing racial differentials between racialized groups helps researchers frame inequality as a social problem. Scholars across academic disciplines and across sub‐areas within sociology report racial statistics to pay attention to what social scientists refer to as racial disparities. Presenting racial disparities is extremely important for documenting inequality; however, family scholars tend to provide descriptive statistical portraits along ethno‐racial lines (disparities) in the absence of racism, which, in turn, conceals the United States' racialized historical context. In other words, reporting racial inequality as disparities without addressing racism is a critical omission in family science research. Emphasizing racism is important because biological explanation still permeates the American imagination about racial inequality. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual and analytical considerations for future racial inequality and family research by recasting disparities as manifestations of racism instead of mere statistical differences. To illustrate the conceptual considerations, I first build on Williams' theoretical model focusing on structural racism and Black family life. I expand on how racism not only makes the idea of race possible but also manifests in observable, measurable outcomes. In the second section, I present an analytical consideration for understanding Black families' inequality by focusing on within‐group analyses. These conceptual and analytical considerations serve as ways to adequately represent Black families and children in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a summary of the major writings and contributions of economist Gary Becker. It highlights his work on human capital, which emphasized the importance of education, health, and other factors in economic growth. Becker also made significant contributions to the economics of crime and punishment, and his book on the family covered topics such as division of labor, fertility, and intergenerational mobility. The article also discusses a posthumous collection of Becker's unpublished papers, which offer insights into his thoughts on various economic topics. Overall, Becker's work expanded the domain of microeconomic analysis and applied economic principles to a wide range of human behavior and interactions. [Extracted from the article]