Peer reviewed journal articles
2024
Orozco-Meléndez, F., Paneque-Gálvez, J. and Kovacic, Z. (2024). Problematizing post-normal science in the Global South. Environmental Science and Policy, 161: 103867.
Kovacic, Z., García Casañas, C., Argüelles, L., Yáñez Serrano, P., Ribera-Fumaz, R., Prause, L. and March, H. (2024). The twin green and digital transition: High-level policy or science fiction? Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1-28. OPEN ACCESS!
2023
Kovacic, Z. and Marcos-Valls, A. (2023). Institutionalising interdisciplinarity in PhD training: challenging and redefining expertise in problem-oriented research. Environmental Education Research, 29 (3): 473-488.
Waylen, K., Blackstock, K., Matthews, K., Juarez-Bourke, A., Hague, A., Wardell-Johnson, D., Miller, D., Kovacic, Z., Völker, T., Guimarães Pereira, A. and Giampietro, M. (2023). Post-Normal Science in Practice: Reflections from Scientific Experts Working on the European Agri-Food Policy Nexus. Environmental Science & Policy, 141: 158-167. OPEN ACCESS!
Kovacic, Z., & Biggeri, A. (2023). Post-normal science 30 years on. Editorial Introduction: Ongoing conversations about knowledge, science practices, integrity and quality through Post-Normal lenses. Futures, 151.
Eversberg, D., Koch, P., Lehmann, R., Saltelli, A., Ramcilovic-Suominen, S. and Kovacic, Z. (2023). The more things change, the more they stay the same: promises of bioeconomy and the economy of promises. Sustainability Science, 18: 557–568. OPEN ACCESS!
2022
Kovacic, Z. and Benini, L. (2022). Striking the balance: sustainability and institutional transitions in the European Environment Agency. Futures, 141. OPEN ACCESS!
Kovacic, Z. and Atia, M. (2022) Spaces of informality and the governing of slums. Guest editorial, Cities, 125: 1-2.
Kovacic, Z. (2022) Governing informality through representation: Examples from slum policies in Brazil and South Africa. Cities, 125: 102122.
Völker, T., Blackstock, K., Kovacic, Z., Sindt, J., Strand, R. and Waylen, K. (2022) The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission. Journal of Rural Studies, 92: 473-481.
2021
Lemus, D. and Kovacic, Z. (2021) Precise yet uncertain: Broadening understandings of uncertainty and policy in the BPA controversy. Risk Analysis, 42 (2): 279-297.
Kovacic, Z., Benini, L., Jesus, A., Strand, R. and Funtowicz, S. (2021) When the unspeakable is no longer taboo: Growth without economic growth. Issues in Science and Technology, 37(4): 16-18.
Muscat, A., de Olde, E.M., Kovacic, Z., de Boer, I.J.M. and Ripoll-Bosch, R. (2021) Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU. Environmental Science & Policy, 123: 21-30.
2020
Kovacic, Z., Musango, J.K., Buyana, K., Ambole, A., Smit, S., Mwau, B., Ogot, M., Lwasa, S., Brent, A. (2020) Building capacity towards what? Proposing a framework for the analysis of energy transition governance in the context of urban informality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Local Environment (in press).
Musango, J.K., Currie, P., Smit, S. and Kovacic, Z. (2020) Urban metabolism of the informal city: probing and measuring the ‘unmeasurable’ to monitor Sustainable Development Goal 11 indicators. Ecological Indicators, 119: 106746.
Marcos-Valls, A., Kovacic, Z., Giampietro, M., Kallis, G. and Rieradevall, J. (2020) Isolated yet open: A metabolic analysis of Menorca, Science of The Total Environment, 738.
Völker, T., Kovacic, Z. and Strand, R. (2020) Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the Circular Economy. Culture and Organization, 26 (2): 103-120. OPEN ACCESS!
Giampietro, M. and Kovacic, Z. (2020) Facing the tragedy of change in the semiotic process: the role of science, International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 22 (1/2): 88–109.
2019
Völker, T., Blackstock, K., Kovacic, Z., Sindt, J., Strand, R. and Waylen, K. (2019). The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission. Journal of Rural Studies, (in press). OPEN ACCESS!
Kovacic, Z., Musango, J. K., Ambole, A., Buyana, K., Smit, S., Anditi, C., Mwau, B., Ogot, M., Lwasa, S., Brent, A. C., Nsangi, G. and Sseviiri, H. (2019). Interrogating differences: A comparative analysis of Africa’s informal settlements. World Development, 122: 614-627.
Ambole, A., Musango, J. K., Buyana, K., Ogot, M., Anditi, C., Mwau, B., Kovacic, Z., Smit, S., Lwasa, S., Nsangi, G., Sseviiri, H. and Brent, A. (2019). Mediating household energy transitions through co-design in urban Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Energy Research & Social Science, 55: 208-217.
Kovacic, Z. and Di Felice, L. J. (2019). Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity: Implications for European Union energy governance. Energy Research & Social Science, 53: 159-169. OPEN ACCESS!
2018
Bidone, F. and Kovacic, Z. (2018) From nationalism to global climate change: analysis of the historical evolution of environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon. International Forestry Review, 20 (4): 420-435.
Smit, S., Musango, J.K., Kovacic, Z. and Brent, A.C. (2018). Towards measuring the informal city: A societal metabolism approach. Journal of Industrial Ecology, (in press).
Kovacic, Z. (2018). Conceptualizing numbers at the science-policy interface. Science, Technology & Human Values, (in press).
Cabello, V., Kovacic, Z., and van Cauwenbergh, N. (2018). Unravelling narratives of water management: Reflections on epistemic uncertainty in the first cycle of implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Southern Spain. Environmental Science and Policy, 85: 19-27.
Kiravu, C., Diaz-Maurin, F., Giampietro, M., Brent, A., Bukkens, S., Chiguvare, Z., Gasennelwe-Jeffrey, A.M., Gope, G., Kovacic, Z., Magole, L., Musango, J., Ruiz-Rivas Hernando, U., Smit, S., Vázquez Barquero, A. and Yunta Mezquita, F. (2018). Proposing a Master’s Programme on Participatory Integrated Assessment of Energy Systems to Promote Energy Access and Energy Efficiency in Southern Africa. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19 (3): 622-641.
2017
Kovacic, Z., Spanò, M., Lo Piano, S. and Sorman, A.H. (2017). Finance, energy and the decoupling: An empirical study. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, July: 1-26.
Allen, T.H.F, Austin, P., Giampietro, M., Kovacic, Z., Ramly, E., Tainter, J. (2017). Mapping degrees of complexity, complicatedness and emergent complexity. Ecological Complexity, (in press)
Kovacic, Z. and Viteri Salazar, O. (2017). The lose-lose predicament of deforestation through subsistence farming: Unpacking agricultural expansion in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Journal of Rural Studies, 51: 105-114.
Kovacic, Z. (2017). Investigating science for governance through the lenses of complexity. Futures, 91: 80-83. OPEN ACCESS!
Smit, S., Musango, J.K., Kovacic, Z., Brent, A.C. (2017). Conceptualising slum in an urban African context. Cities, 62: 107-119.
Kovacic, Z. and Giampietro, M. (2017). Between theory and quantification: An integrated analysis of metabolic patterns of informal urban settlements. Energy Policy, 100: 377-386.
2016
Kovacic, Z., Smit, S., Musango, J. K., Brent, A. C. and Giampietro, M. (2016). Probing uncertainty levels of electrification in informal urban settlements: A case from South Africa. Habitat International, 56: 21-221.
Gamboa, G., Kovacic, Z., Di Masso, M., Mingorría, S., Gomiero, T., Rivera-Ferre, M. and Giampietro, M. (2016). The complexity of food systems: Defining relevant attributes and indicators for the evaluation of food supply chains in the Spanish context.Sustainability, 8 (6): 1-23. OPEN ACCESS!
Kovacic, Z. (2016). Book review: Crisis without end? The unravelling of Western prosperity by Andrew Gamble. Capital & Class, 40 (1): 190-192.
2015
Kovacic, Z. and Giampietro, M. (2015). Empty promises or promising futures? The case of smart grids. Energy, 93 (1): 67-74.
Kovacic, Z. and Giampietro, M. (2015). Beyond “beyond GDP indicators:” The need for reflexivity in science for governance. Ecological Complexity, 21: 53-61.
Diaz-Maurin, F. and Kovacic, Z. (2015). The unresolved controversy over nuclear power: A new approach from complexity theory. Global Environmental Change, 31: 207-216.
2014
Kovacic, Z.(2014). Assessing sustainability: The societal metabolism of water in Israel. International Journal of Performability Engineering, 10 (4): 387-399.
2013
Kovacic, Z. (2013). The legitimacy crisis of the economic paradigm. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 14: 77-98. OPEN ACCESS!
Books
Kovacic, Z., Strand, R. and Völker, T. (2019). The Circular Economy in Europe: Critical Perspectives on Policies and Imaginaries. Routledge. OPEN ACCESS!
Book chapters
Strand, R. And Kovacic, Z. (2022). The data of the rose. In: Bertolaso, M., Capone, L. and Rodríguez-Lluesma, C. (Editors) Digital Humanism. Palgrave Macmillan.
Allen, T.H.F., Tainter, J., Duncan, S., Giampietro, M. and Kovacic, Z. (2017). Radical transitions from fossil fuel to renewables: A change of posture. In: Labanca, N. (Editor) Complex systems and social practices in energy transitions. Springer.
Kovacic, Z. and Ramos-Martín J. (2014). Accounting for human activity and socio-economic characteristics. In: Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J., Ramos-Martin, J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (Editors) Resource Accounting for Sustainability Assessment: The nexus between energy, food, water and land use. Routledge.
Serrano-Tovar, T., Cadillo Benalcazar, J., Diaz-Maurin, F., Kovacic, Z., Madrid, C., Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (2014). The Republic of Mauritius. In: Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J., Ramos-Martin, J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (Editors) Resource Accounting for Sustainability Assessment: The nexus between energy, food, water and land use. Routledge.
Madrid, C., Cadillo Benalcazar, J., Diaz-Maurin, F., Kovacic, Z., Serrano-Tovar, T., Gomiero, T., Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (2014). Punjab State, India. In: Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J., Ramos-Martin, J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (Editors) Resource Accounting for Sustainability Assessment: The nexus between energy, food, water and land use. Routledge.
Diaz-Maurin, F., Cadillo Benalcazar, J., Kovacic, Z., Madrid, C., Serrano-Tovar, T., Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (2014). The Republic of South Africa. In: Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J., Ramos-Martin, J. and Bukkens, S.G.F. (Editors) Resource Accounting for Sustainability Assessment: The nexus between energy, food, water and land use. Routledge.
Kovacic, Z. (2011). Solidarity economy as an alternative to social exclusion. In: Kirin, R.J. and Prlenda, S. (Editors). Feminist challenges of spiritual practices and economic realities. Zagreb: KB tisak.