Spatial and Network Game Theory
Games played not against everyone at once but against neighbours on a lattice or a network.
Why it matters now
Where the players sit changes everything. Cooperators who cluster can survive in a sea of defectors, because they interact mostly with each other. This is the formal reason that local pilots, demonstration farms, and regional coalitions matter far more than their size suggests: a cluster is how a better practice gets a foothold.
Where this is happening on Earth
- EuropeMartin Nowak's spatial models, developed at Oxford and ViennaShowed cooperation persisting on a grid where well-mixed populations would collapse into defection.
- AsiaSystem of Rice Intensification, spreading from Madagascar into India and VietnamA water-saving method that propagated farmer to neighbouring farmer rather than by decree.
- South AmericaAgroecology networks in Cuba and BrazilFarmer-to-farmer teaching spread low-input methods along social ties rather than through extension hierarchies.
- AfricaFarmer-managed natural regeneration, NigerRoughly five million hectares regreened as the practice passed between adjacent villages.
- North AmericaCommunity solar clusters, Minnesota and OntarioAdoption is strongly contagious along streets and social ties, not uniform across a market.
The idea itself
The encyclopedia entry first, then live searches at journals and magazines that keep returning current work on this specific idea.
Current reporting from around the world
Standing feeds at reputable periodicals. These stay fresh on their own, which is why they are here instead of a list of articles that would be out of date within a season.