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What Is Social Sustainability? A Clarification of Concepts
Abstract
a b s t r a c t Though the concept of sustainable development originally included a clear social mandate, for two dec-ades this human dimension has been neglected amidst abbreviated references to sustainability that have focused on bio-physical environmental issues, or been subsumed within a discourse that conflated 'devel-opment' and 'economic growth'. The widespread failure of this approach to generate meaningful change has led to renewed interest in the concept of 'social sustainability' and aspects thereof. A review of the literature suggests, however, that it is a concept in chaos, and we argue that this severely compromises its importance and utility. The purpose of this paper is to examine this diverse literature so as to clarify what might be meant by the term social sustainability and highlight different ways in which it contrib-utes to sustainable development more generally. We present a threefold schema comprising: (a) 'devel-opment sustainability' addressing basic needs, the creation of social capital, justice and so on; (b) 'bridge sustainability' concerning changes in behaviour so as to achieve bio-physical environmental goals and; (c) 'maintenance sustainability' referring to the preservation – or what can be sustained – of socio-cultural characteristics in the face of change, and the ways in which people actively embrace or resist those changes. We use this tripartite of social sustainabilities to explore ways in which contradictions and complements between them impede or promote sustainable development, and draw upon housing in urban areas as a means of explicating these ideas.
... Policy concern, and consequently research for social sustainability, has been somewhat overshadowed by concerns for environmental and economic sustainability (Vallance et al., 2011). This is notable within farming and agriculture in the Global North where societal demands for improvements in the environmental performance of farming systems led to a focus on the development of environmental and economic sustainability indicators. ...
... For the purpose of this article, we draw on Vallance et al.'s (2011) trifold conceptualisation of social sustainability and, specifically, the concept of maintenance sustainability that 'speaks to the traditions, practices, preferences and places people would like to see maintained (sustained)' (p. 344). ...
... The focus on economic, and more laterally environmental sustainability, reflects the theoretical, conceptual and measurement challenges associated with the social sustainability measurement owing in part to its perceived fluidity and subjective character (Lebacq et al., 2013;Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska et al., 2020). That being said, more recent progress resulted in the emergence of a literature critiquing the dominance of ecological, environmental and economic perspectives by highlighting and conceptualising the centrality of human (societal) behaviours to the attainment of overall sustainability objectives (Åhman, 2013(Åhman, , Boström, 2012Vallance et al., 2011). ...
The measurement of societal wellbeing has moved beyond gross domestic product and has emerged as an important factor within the paradigm of holistic sustainability assessment, including agricultural sustainability. At this juncture, knowledge gaps exist between agricultural policy priorities and data infrastructure to evaluate social sustainability issues, particularly regarding farmer sustainability. This study aims to address this gap through the development of a Farmer Sustainability Index (FSI), a composite index comprising three dimensions: farm continuity, community and social connections and farmer comfort. Socio‐demographic data were extracted from both core and supplementary EU Farm Accountancy Data Network data from the 2018 Teagasc National Farm Survey in Ireland. Statistical analysis was undertaken to compare the distribution of FSI and the individual dimension scores for farms across three socio‐demographic variables: farm system, farmer age cohort and region. The FSI results demonstrate that cattle farmers, farmers over 60 years of age and those residing in regions with poorer infrastructure experience lower levels of sustainability in comparison to other farmers, while the variation in FSI dimension scores identifies numerous sustainability risks to farms with differing socio‐demographic constructs. It is important for agricultural policy to be cognisant of these differences and the relational nature of these risks, to meaningfully address matters pertaining to sustainability, and the FSI provides an effective tool to assist policy in this regard.
... poverty, 'maintenance social sustainability' which addresses the preservation of socio-cultural practices and patterns in the context of economic and social change, and 'bridge social sustainability' which refers to the behavioural changes in order to achieve bio-physical environmental goals. They argue that these distinctions between the different types of social sustainability are often underestimated, overlooked or ignored in the literature (Vallance et al., 2011). More recently, Chiu's points are reflected by Dempsey, Brown, and Bramley (2012) studies, which have further defined urban social sustainability as "the continuous ability of a city to function as a viable, long-term setting for cultural development, human interaction and communication" (2006, p.16). ...
... Overall, while a social dimension of sustainability is extensively accepted, the exact meaning of it has not been very clearly defined or agreed (Vallance et al., 2011). As a multi-dimensional concept, social sustainability is facing an underlying question of 'what does it mean by social dimension of sustainable development?', ...
... Vallance, Perkins and Dixon continue Chiu's work by making a clearer distinction between what Chiu calls 'ecological sustainable development', 'social norms' and 'equitable distribution of opportunities and resources'. In their study,Vallance et al. (2011) present a tripartite definition of social sustainability as 'development social sustainability' with its concerns about inequity and ...
... While the increased focus on social sustainability should affect the outcome in planning practice, this seems not to be the case. So far, social sustainability lacks a consensus on what it is and how it can and should be reached (Rashidfarokhi et al. 2018;Vallance et al. 2011). What previous research shows is that instead of making cities more (socially) sustainable, it is the meaning of social sustainability that changes or becomes simplified when it is actualized in practice Vifell & Soneryd 2012). ...
... The second theme, regarding the ambition to develop the concept's analytical potential, has been a response to the fragmentation and messiness of the social sustainability literature, as well as the separation of the social and environmental and economic dimensions. Developing social sustainability as a socio-ecological framework to address the interrelation between the social and environmental was seen to contribute to ways to study and advance the transition to sustainability (Davidson 2010;Weingaertner & Moberg 2014;Vallance et al. 2011). Scholars working within this theme build on previous understandings of social sustainability as substantive or procedural. ...
... However, this has also been critiqued because when it is treated as an empty vessel it becomes depoliticized (Barrado-Timón 2020). Depoliticising social sustainability becomes highly problematic given the potential for conflicts within the social sustainability dimension itself (Bramley & Power 2009;Vallance et al. 2011;Åhman 2013). For example, social equity and the sustainability of a community may not always be compatible if the interests of social groups within the community are not aligned (Bramley & Power 2009 (Vallance et al. 2011;WCED 1987). ...
While social sustainability is attracting attention in both policy and academia, there are still challenges when turning social sustainability policy into practice. Instead of making cities more socially sustainable, the meaning of social sustainability tends to change, become simplified, or disappear when it is actualized in practice. This thesis aims to better understand how goals of social sustainability become actualized in urban planning by investigating how the practitioners in a Swedish, strategic planning project are constructing, interpreting, and practising the meaning of social sustainability by making and navigating boundaries through the planning process. Through an inductive approach, I build a theoretical framework of situational boundary making and navigation, a composite of the three analytical lenses: conceptual, contextual, and practice-oriented. This framework enables me to approach the different aspects of the planning situation when constructing the meaning of social sustainability. The research was carried out empirically through an exploratory case study of the ongoing planning project Frihamnen. I have followed how the discourse of social sustainability was constructed in the context of strategic planning and shifted due to strategic planning practice. The thesis concludes that the concept of social sustainability is multi-layered, where, in this case, the first layer of meaning remains while the second layer of meaning shifts through the planning process. I explain the shift by pointing to the mutual effect of the ambiguity of the concept of social sustainability, the hybridity of the strategic planning organisation and the enacted authority of the involved participants. In the end, the planning organisation fall back on business-as-usual to determine the meaning of social sustainability, which moves away from the original vision of the socially sustainable city to a less transformative approach. However, as the shift is only seen in the second layer of meaning, the original formulations in the vision still stand.
... Echoing the remit of this special issue then, there is a need to engage with the multiple dimensions of sustainability in terms of their implications for rural areas. For instance, Vallance et al. (2011) call for enhanced engagement with the traditions, social structures, and practices that people value and seek to maintain, as a basis for designing more contextually appropriate sustainability interventions. In the context of agricultural production, Burton (2008) and Chapman et al. (2019) have demonstrated how sustainability interventions targeting farmers often fail due to a stark disconnect with farmers' values. ...
... We do so by drawing on data gathered through a series of in-depth interviews from a single case-study site in Ireland that is emblematic of areas that have been a focus of sustainability discourse and policy interventions at Irish and European levels for some time (O'Rourke et al., 2016;Van Rensburg & Mulugeta, 2016). Our engagement with this data is framed by research on "social sustainability", which has sought to broaden sustainable development discourse to include environmental, economic, and social factors (Janker et al., 2019;Vallance et al., 2011). Janker et al. (2019, p. 34) argue for greater consideration of the "social elements and structures *that+ play an important role in a given agricultural system". ...
... Yet research in this area has been increasing since the early 2000s. Scholars have attributed this growth to several factors, including the failure of narrowly focused sustainable development programmes to bring about meaningful change (Vallance et al., 2011), and a dissolution of conceptual barriers between the natural and social sciences (Janker et al., 2019). ...
A transition to a more sustainable food production system in Europe has significant implications for the social constitution of rural spaces. Moreover, research has highlighted that engagement with sustainability initiatives can be affected by people's desire to maintain aspects of their current social realities pertaining to occupations, traditions, and lifestyles. Farmers are central to a sustainable agricultural transition, yet are also socially embedded in the spaces that are targeted for transformation. This paper engages with this dilemma through an exploration of farmer values in an upland farming area in Ireland. Specifically, we draw on qualitative case‐study data to explore how farmers value their occupation, lifestyles, and social structures in terms of the relationships in which they operate. We highlight a range of dimensions through which case‐study farmers value farming, especially as autonomous, outdoor work; in terms of tacit skills and knowledge; in terms of familial legacies; and, in terms of certain forms of social organisation. Conceptually, this paper builds on calls from within social sustainability scholarship to engage with social aspects of sustainable development. We develop and deploy a relational values analytic framework, which offers a simple yet effective lens for exploring farmer values in terms of the relationships through which they are generated and articulated. Through this framework, we explore how different individuals value their farming occupations and lifestyles. Moreover, by focusing on relational dimension, we tease out the multiple and sometimes conflicting values that individuals navigate in relation to their farming occupations. We conclude that this kind of approach could enhance understanding of farmer engagement with (or resistance to) sustainable agriculture initiatives. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... All these considerations are brought in to the study, with emphasis on the life-cycle perspective and agents for change versus agents affected by change. Vallance et al. (2011) introduce development, bridge and maintenance sustainability. Development sustainability is said to address basic needs and the creation of social capital et cetera, bridge sustainability is described as behavioural change to achieve biophysical goals, while maintenance sustainability addresses sustention of sociocultural characteristics. ...
... As all three projects will be built with normal Swedish standard for permanent housing in locations that provide all basic services and communications, housing quality will be satisfactory and a distinct improvement compared to the housing solutions that the households live in today. The satisfaction of basic human needs and the right to be protected and secured in situations of vulnerability are reached (for example Vallance et al. 2011;Eizenberg and Jabareen 2017). ...
Homelessness has increased substantially in Sweden in the last decade with an emphasis on structural homelessness. Further, municipalities have the responsibility to house a certain number of newly-arrived immigrants under the Settlement Act. Many municipalities have had difficulties in meeting the acute housing need, as well as its costs, and have started to look at new types of housing solutions. Socially innovative initiatives of the civil society and private developers have been encouraged. This paper investigates three civil society and private housing developments and how they might contribute to socially and economically sustainable housing solutions for households in or on the verge to homelessness. In order to operationalize the sustainability concept related to these local projects, an analytical set of questions have been developed based on the literature and project data. It is concluded that all three projects are socially and economically sustainable at the outset, but that certain traits of the project set-ups make them more uncertain in the longer run. The sustainability lens was fruitful in analyzing the projects, but non-physical factors will in many cases be person dependent and therefore difficult to generalize. As it is expected that this new type of housing in the Swedish setting will increase in numbers, the analytical set of questions should be tested in relation to further projects and be developed further.
... Social equity sustainability ensures that people's socio-cultural and spiritual needs are secured in an equitable way (Vallance et al., 2011). It is therefore of paramount importance to carry out a thorough social impact assessment prior to any major engineering project development. ...
... et al., 2011). It is therefore of paramount importance to carry out a thorough social impact assessment prior to any major engineering project development. From an engineer's perspective, this entails an assessment of how engineering projects affect people. Those projects that are of value to the community are likely to be successful. According to Vallance et. al. (2011), it is only when people's basic needs are met that they start addressing other sustainability key dimensions like environmental concerns. In their research, Bhatti and Dixon (2003) have discovered that it is a bit impractical to look forward to people to care about global warming or species extinction when they are cold, hungry, seeking ...
Engineering education plays a pivotal role in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since a significant amount of engineering knowledge is acquired during the tertiary education level, higher education issues must ensure that the quality of education being offered is according to expectation. This study is therefore a survey of the quality of engineering education being offered as well as the extent to which sustainability issues have been incorporated in engineering education curricula within higher education institutions. In this study, relevant engineering education is defined as education that considers the following sustainability indices: engineering ethics, environmental protection and social equity. In the survey, mechanical engineering degree curricula for eight tertiary institution in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have been assessed. Module content has been extracted from the universities' web pages for assessment on whether the required indices are present. From the study, it has been established that it is possible to incorporate sustainability competences in engineering education curricula. While some engineering education institutions are making great effort to incorporate sustainability competences in curricula, there are others that have great work to do in that regard. Even for some higher education institutions that have incorporated sustainability competences within their curricula, the sustainability indices need to be balanced. Another notable inconsistency is the inclusion of the competences in the general degree definition, while leaving out the competences in the course synopsis. This study anticipates a significant and positive influence on realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) following the resolution of the highlighted engineering curricula inconsistences.
... Johnson et al., 2010;Perkins et al., 2000).Cloquet et al. (2018) andGarcía et al. (2018) appealed to the need to be more inclusive in advertising.García et al. (2018) showed that phenotypic diversity in advertising is not yet well represented in the Spanish social reality.Cloquet et al. (2018) showed that the brochures and websites about Cornwall (England) mainly focus on access, neglecting the possibility that people with a disability could be a market target for this touristic place.It is worth noticing that social inclusion is related to social sustainability(Vallance et al., 2011), defining a process toward an inclusive society where everyone can be visible and actively participate in it, embracing people's diversity(UNDESA, 2007). ...
Inclusivity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a community where ethnic diversity and conflict are very low compared to other countries still need to be researched more. This study aims to analyze university students’ awareness of inclusivity and CSR in marketing teaching using a pretest-posttest control group design. Both experimental (n = 138) and control (n = 140) groups are homogeneous regarding nationality, ethnicity, and age. The experimental group was subject to specific training on inclusive products, marketing communication, and CSR, which allowed testing of their perceptions and the training’s effectiveness. The first trial showed that the change in the experimental group was 8%, against 2.5% in the control group. The second trial demonstrated that the change in the experimental group was 30.4%, noting inclusive reasons, and, in the control group, only 6.4%. The third trial found a positive evolution in the experimental group, with more than 8.3% of students choosing the CSR company, and a negative evolution in the control group of –5.6%. These differences were not statistically significant within both groups but significant when comparing the two groups. The results of this study highlight that this homogeneous population does not think about those issues when analyzing businesses, products, or marketing communication. However, when people are submitted to specific training, they become aware and change their perceptions accordingly to what was expected. Thus, one concludes that education for inclusivity and CSR should be part of students’ training, independently of the homogeneity of the social and human environment.
AcknowledgmentThe authors would like to thank their students at Universidade Portucalense for accepting that their school tests were used to design and publish this paper.
... In crisis conditions, social sustainability is also of particular importance, which focuses on maintaining and enriching the well-being and quality of life of contemporary and succeeding generations [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. ...
The article presents the results of research of public opinion during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. The study touches on the attitude of citizens to public health, as well as the reaction of social media users to government measures in a crisis situation during a pandemic. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of infodemic and methods of detecting cases of the spread of false and unverified information about diseases. The article demonstrates the application of an interdisciplinary approach using network analysis of texts and sociological research. A model for detecting social stress in the textual communication of social network users using a specially trained neural network and linguistic analysis methods is presented. The validity and validity of the results of the analysis of social network data were verified using a sociological survey. This approach allows us to identify points of tension in matters of public health promotion, during crisis situations to improve interaction between the government and society, and to timely adjust government plans and actions to ensure resilience in emergency situations for public health purposes.
... ; McKenzie 2004; Polèse and Stren 2000;Shirazi et al. 2019;Vallance, Perkins, and Dixon 2011). Se parte de la hipótesis que en el Sur Global(Mahler 2017) las intervenciones de movilidad urbana que consideran aspectos de sostenibilidad social como enfoque estructurante, contribuyen en mayor medida, a la transformación de las estructuras sociales excluyentes de producción del hábitat que cuando no se consideran esos aspectos. ...
Desarrollar proyectos de transporte masivo no implica solucionar el problema de la movilidad urbana de facto(Flyvbjerg, Skamris Holm, and Buhl 2005), la movilidad urbana es un problema complejo que tiene sobre la base no solo aspectos técnicos inherentes a la eficiencia de las infraestructuras y las distintas modalidades de transporte, también implica un contexto social y unas variables cualitativas que son de medular importancia en la búsqueda de soluciones para la movilidad urbana sostenible sensible al contexto(Dimitriou 2011). Esta investigación centra su atención en el fenómeno de la movilidad urbana considerándola desde un enfoque socio-técnico (Vasconcellos 2011), que viabiliza la idea introducida por el Dr. Warren Weaver en el 1958 y afincada por Jacobs para el análisis urbano, la cual establece que la ciudad es un problema de complejidad desorganizada (Jacobs 2013:22). En concreto se propone un enfoque de análisis de la movilidad urbana desde la perspectiva de la dimensión social del desarrollo sostenible (Colantonio 2009; McKenzie 2004; Polèse and Stren 2000; Shirazi et al. 2019; Vallance, Perkins, and Dixon 2011). Se parte de la hipótesis que en el Sur Global (Mahler 2017) las intervenciones de movilidad urbana que consideran aspectos de sostenibilidad social como enfoque estructurante, contribuyen en mayor medida, a la transformación de las estructuras sociales excluyentes de producción del hábitat que cuando no se consideran esos aspectos. Por ello se opta por estrategia de investigación un estudio de casos comparativos del Sur Global en el contexto
... Moreover, the concept still needs to be differentiated from related concepts [18]: there is still a significant level of conceptual ambiguity in the field of SRI [18]. Such a lack of a uniform understanding of one of the most basic definitions in the field hinders its operationalisation and compromises the term's utilisation [19]. Differing views are fundamental in research, yet a lack of a uniform understanding of fundamental research objects might also hinder further scientific progress [20]. ...
An increasing number of investors is including sustainability considerations in their investment processes. This can improve both financial and corporate sustainability performance. The emergence of sustainable investing as an academic research field has been accompanied by considerable interest from the industry. Despite its importance, there is still no uniform understanding of what a socially responsible investment (SRI) comprises. There is a multitude of similar terms that are not clearly defined and delineated, accompanied by a lack of a uniform understanding of how sustainability should be measured in the investment context. The resulting confusion hinders conceptual clarity, a material barrier for both scholarly and practitioner endeavours in the field. We try to address these issues by conducting a structured literature review based on database searches and cross-reference snowballing. We aim to provide a synthesised and unified definition of SRI and ancillary terms and to draw attention to the exact sustainability measurements. We (1) outline the history of the concept, (2) concisely define SRI and related terms, (3) propose a trinomial sustainability indicator framework (the Cambridge SRI indicator framework) for conceptualisation, and (4) use this framework to provide a structured overview of sustainability indicators for SRIs.
... Since the 1980s social sustainability has constituted one of the three core pillars of sustainable development (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987), but until recently concerns have existed that the social domain has been largely overlooked and plagued by conceptual confusion (Eizenberg and Jabareen 2017;Vallance et al. 2011). In the past several years, calls for more dedicated considerations of social sustainability have been met with robust discussion, with multiple theorizations of the social values embedded within sustainability emerging from diverse disciplines ) and appeals to allow space for multiple lenses (epistemic, procedural, and value) ). ...
The conceptual promise of relational values, theorized as the principles and virtues of human relationships (with other humans and nature), to motivate sustainability may be observed in its rapid uptake in theoretical and policy domains. Both relying on and impacting nature, agriculture has garnered attention among efforts to apply relational values. However, quantitative measures have received little focus in efforts to operationalize relational values. Guided by the assertion that sustainable agriculture is embedded with both relational and instrumental values (i.e., self-interested ends), this study considers theoretical and methodological challenges and offers a pathway to quantitatively measuring relational values within agriculture, focusing specifically on seeds—an agricultural input embedded with plural values. Drawing on 151 survey responses from seed growers in Vermont, this study assesses how relational and instrumental values are reflected among commercial and non-commercial seed growers and are associated with the presence of crop diversity in their farms and gardens. The findings show that those who sell seeds for income have significantly higher relational values, instrumental values, and crop diversity than those who do not sell seeds. Should these findings be confirmed in future studies, potential exists for policy initiatives encouraging market behavior and its governance to express a range of values beyond instrumental ones exclusively. This paper concludes by arguing that all economic exchange is likely embedded with both relational and instrumental values, meaning that policies and programs that activate a range of values will most likely maximize the impacts of the myriad initiatives pursuing sustainable agriculture.
... In the work context, there is a consensus among researchers about the sparse considerations and commitments that have been presented toward social sustainability, but this approach has received less attention (Torkayesh et al., 2021), because the sustainable perspective has underestimated the human and social factors that such a perspective involved (Magis and Shinn, 2008;Vallance et al., 2011). Social sustainability includes people's health and safety, community engagement, philanthropic actions, corporate citizenship, corporate governance, the supply chain, and employee working conditions (Hedstrom, 2018). ...
... Social sustainability is one of the three pillars in the firms' three bottom-line sustainability approaches. Social sustainability is focused on maintaining and preserving the preferred ways of living and protecting particular socio-cultural traditions (Vallance et al., 2011). According to the authors, there are three types of social sustainability. ...
Malaysia is among 192 countries that adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development to move towards more sustainable, resilient and inclusive growth through strengthening the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development. However, among the three pillars, social sustainability is often disregarded than economic and environmental. Social sustainability is an aspect of sustainability or sustainable development that encompasses human rights, labour rights, and corporate governance. It brings a better environmental and positive influence on the employees working in the industry. This study aims to investigate the relationship between diversity practices, environmental practices, product responsibility and, safety and health practices on social sustainability performance in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia. A total of 384 questionnaires were distributed amongst manufacturers with multinational corporation status based on the purposive sampling method. Eighty-two usable questionnaires had been received and analysed. The findings of this study revealed that only diversity practices and safety and health practices significantly influenced the social sustainability performance. Future research is suggested to verify the significance of these factors as well as other potential factors in different industries for better understanding and knowledge of the social sustainability issues in Malaysia.
... Urban social sustainability, on the other hand, is the ability of a city to function as a long-term, viable environment for human interaction, communication and cultural development (Bramley and Power, 2009). The stability of social sustainability is related to how social/cultural preferences and characteristics and the environment are preserved over time (Vallance et al., 2011). ...
... Sin embargo, como se expuso antes, la dimensión social ha sido constante en la reflexión sobre desarrollo sostenible, pero ha sido poco teorizada, ambiguamente definida, de limitada cobertura disciplinar, focalizada en países desarrollados y vinculada siempre a normativas (Shirazi et al., 2019, p. 9). Existen múltiples definiciones o enfoques sobre la dimensión social de la sostenibilidad expuestos por Vallance et al. (2011) y McKenzie (2004, sin embargo, Colantonio (2009, p. 868), Shirazi et al., (2019, pp. 10-11) advierten que la cobertura disciplinar brindada por la planificación y el urbanismo, específicamente Polèse y Stren (2000, pp. ...
El proceso descrito en este texto tiene como objetivo mejorar el análisis y planificación de la movilidad urbana, tal que, expongan el nivel de inclusión y equidad de una porción de ciudad, identificando falencias en el acceso a equipamientos urbanos debido a la organización de los sistemas de usos de suelo y transporte. Para ello se utiliza el enfoque de análisis de la Sostenibilidad Social en la Movilidad Urbana (ssmu) y sistemas de información geográfica open source. La metodología establece dos análisis a escalas distintas de los niveles de servicio de equipamientos públicos. El primero a escala del Área Metropolitana de San Salvador (amss) utilizando teoría de lugares centrales, el segundo analiza las condiciones de accesibilidad a escala municipal de San Salvador (capital de El Salvador) a partir de modelos de localización óptima que permiten generar indicadores de eficiencia y equidad espacial. Los resultados obtenidos son la operativización del enfoque de ssmu, la aplicación de técnicas de análisis multiescalar estableciendo una estructura metropolitana que categoriza a los municipios en función de los niveles de servicio que los equipamientos urbanos prestan a sus ciudadanos, la caracterización de la situación de accesibilidad a nivel municipal para San Salvador con indicadores proxy para grupos vulnerables y la definición de áreas prioritarias para intervenir e impactar en la movilidad cotidiana. Finalmente se abre una discusión que identifica los pasos siguientes en la mejora de esta investigación para fortalecer futuros ejercicios de planificación en el contexto de escases de recursos y acceso a datos base típicos del sur global.
... Sustainability is a concept rooted in concern for nature but has usually been conceptualized by three "pillars": the environment, the economy, and the society (Purvis et al. 2019). However, studies on this concept focus mainly on the economic or environmental impacts; the social component has been neglected to date (Vallance et al. 2011;Eizenberg and Jabareen 2017). Social sustainability is closely linked to the concerns of wellbeing, social capital, and quality of lifeespecially at the neighborhood level -and refers to a process of creating places by understanding what people need from the areas where they live and work, e.g., infrastructure to support social and cultural life, social amenities, civic engagement systems, and space for the development of people and places (Woodcraft 2015). ...
The chapter analyses the impacts of urban gardening on sustainability and focuses on its generally neglected social aspects rather than the environmental or economic components. It is based on a study of 15 non-allotment urban gardens from Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, highlighting the perspectives of often overlooked post-socialist cities with specific development trajectories. The article examines the governance of selected gardens to reveal people’s motivation for urban gardening, the perceived social benefits of the activity, and the ways in which gardens contribute to the social sustainability of cities. Despite gardens’ role as a social corrective for vulnerable citizens, especially in times of economic uncertainty, their social impacts are becoming increasingly more recognized as the main benefit, since they successfully fulfil various other physiological and psychological needs (e.g. socialization, recreation, stress relief, education, and political engagement). However, social sustainability of urban gardening, while clearly recognized as of key importance, depend on the steady financial support and transparent organization of activities rather than social or personal factors, indicating the way for urban planners how to build sustainable city.
... [3] in his second edition publication of the book entitled Understanding Sustainable Development added that there are still many people who do not really understand what sustainable development is. [4] critiqued that the conflict of defining sustainability concepts is due to the phenomenon of overlooking social pillars and this ironically causes the complexity in understanding social sustainability. This condition has been addressed earlier by [5] where he concluded that the reason why social sustainability is often left out was due to the complexity in quantifying the social aspect as compared to the environment and economy. ...
The imbalance of attention given in adapting the social principles in the sustainable development agenda is considered as an indisputable issue that has been highlighted in many scholarly literatures. Scholars were in line in arguing that of the three pillars of sustainability associated with sustainable development, namely environment, economy and social, the social pillar is often being overlooked. In relation to that, a study has been conducted to explore in detail the attributes of social sustainability from the sustainable development perspective. The study managed to outline the key principles of social sustainability from the development perspective based on the in-depth review of the previous scholarly literature. This paper highlights the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology adapted in the study. A total of 81 related scholarly literature from year 1991 to year 2020 were reviewed by adapting the SLR method. Two principles of searching techniques, namely advanced searching (screening) and manual searching (eligibility) were utilized to track the relevant literature. The details of the searching techniques for each reviewed scholarly literature published for almost three decades of publication are outlined in this paper.
... One of the main issues related to social sustainability addresses the need for social justice and equal treatment in society with changes in behaviors (Vallance et al., 2011). However, there are multiple contrary actions to reach this perspective, which directly covers gender diversity. ...
The study of gender diversity in supply chain management (SCM) has been overlooked in the literature and still remains a marginal subject for most companies even though it is part of the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. Nevertheless, this chapter provides an overview of the scientific literature on the subject within three frames: from the careers of women in SCM, analyzing the expected benefits of true diversity management in SCM, and to the issue of women and transgender “victims” approach linked to supply chain activities. This overview leads us to ratify the importance of debating gender diversity as a vital issue towards sustainability. Examples of companies’ initiatives and other representative organizations are presented as illustrations of these frames. All the elements presented allow us to draw up managerial implications on the benefits companies could gain from an increased gender diversity and how to get there. Finally, avenues for future research are presented to foster the subject.
... Though sustainable development originally included an obvious and distinct social mandate, the social dimension has been historically marginalised in discourses that frequently frame sustainability in bio-physical environmental terms. Further, much debate on sustainability and sustainable development has conflated 'development' and 'economic growth' (Germond-Duret, 2022;Vallance et al., 2011). The end result is that of the three constituent domains of sustainability, ecological, social and environmental, the social domain has been afforded the least attention in analytical or policy terms. ...
While the ocean space has long been ignored by social sciences, the past fifteen years have witnessed an increased interest in the marine environment by scholars in Human Geography. The academic literature on the blue economy, almost non‐existent a few years ago, is now burgeoning. The academic debate has offered some critical assessment of blue economy initiatives, but more needs to be done to address the true place of environmental protection within a blue economy, and to put people at the centre of concerns and analyses. Of particular concern, is the ambiguity of the blue economy concept and the confusion over its social and environmental sustainability, which can ultimately result in harmful practices. An important question is then how should social scientists in general and geographers, specifically, engage with these debates, and in particular how should the potential human and social costs of the blue economy be investigated and addressed while assuring justice and fairness? The papers presented here share the vision that environmental sustainability, justice and equality should be at the heart of the blue economy; not just conceptually, but practically too. The papers pursue efforts to identify blue economy risks and the mechanisms through which they occur; assess the place of inclusion and participation in a sustainable blue economy; define what blue economy policies should include to drive just and sustainable practices; and identify where the dominant understandings of the blue economy and its priorities are coming from. In other words, they put considerations of justice and broader cultural structures at the centre of their concerns and analysis. They also highlight the need to bypass Geographical boundaries and gain insights from other disciplines and methodologies to grasp such an encompassing concept, and foster not just a blue economy with social justice, but a blue economy for social justice.
... In the literature, the concept of the social dimension of sustainability is often addressed in a vague and inconsistent manner, thus leading to multiple concepts due to different aspects [2,8]. For instance, Eizenberg and Jabareen [2] proposed a conceptual framework of social sustainability with the vision of having a safer planet and suggested four interrelated concepts of socially oriented practices, such as safety, equity, physical urban forms, and ecoprosumption. ...
This paper investigates how firms’ social sustainability practices can influence their social performance and, ultimately, financial performance. We include two corporate social sustainability practices: employee-oriented (employee well-being and equity) and socially driven (corporate social involvement) practices. Three leading social theories (social identity theory, social exchange theory, and resource-based view) are applied in explaining how firms’ social practices influence intermediate and bottom-line performance outcomes. Empirical results of 212 US manufacturing firms reveal that (1) the social orientation of the firm promotes firms’ social performances (employee-oriented and community-oriented outcomes) directly; (2) social orientation also indirectly promotes employee-oriented outcomes via employee well-being and equity practices, and so does community-oriented outcome via corporate social involvement practices; and (3) the firms’ social performances can enhance financial performance. The theoretical and managerial implications derived from these empirical results are discussed as well.
... Therefore, SMEs in Latin America are also heavily involved in sports, health, and culture (Turyakira et al., 2014). Social issues, stakeholder management, and environmental assessment contribute to social sustainability (Vallance et al., 2011). In the environmental assessment, companies examine socioeconomic and environmental issues. ...
This study explores the impact of mimicry isomorphism on the operationalization of sustainable development among 242 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The study used self-administered questionnaires distributed to the surveyed enterprises, and a random sampling technique was applied to collect primary data. The primary methods of data analysis were exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using SPSS version 24 software, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS version 24 software. The empirical findings of structural equation modelling showed that mimicry isomorphism significantly affects all three measured dimensions of sustainable development (i.e., social, economic, and environmental). Thus, the study provides strong evidence for operationalizing sustainable development through mimicry isomorphism.
... Economic Sustainability requires knowledge of the limits with potentials of economic growth, knowledge of their impact on society and the environment. Social Sustainability should guarantee conditions of human well-being through security, health, education, democracy, participation, justice and equity (Vallance et al. 2011). ...
Uncontrolled expansion of agro-allied factories on agricultural farmlands usually impact on the socio economic and environmental quality thereby threatening the livelihoods of inhabitants of such communities. Rico Gado feed mill was established to produce feeds for livestock that could help diffuse the conflicts between farmers and herdsmen that compete over land. This research assesses the impact of the physical and socioeconomic characteristics of Hosere and Wuro Jauro Bappa communities affected by Rico Gado, with a view to identify existing problems and proffer solutions. The study observed that about 60% of respondents from Hosere and 57% from Wuro Jauro Bappa engage in farming. Despite the acquisition of the land upon which the communities farm and rear livestock, only about 6%-7% of the people are employed in the factory. The factory has not impacted positively on the income of residents and low income is evident as 25% of respondents earn between N5,000-N10,000 monthly in Wuro Jauro Bappa, while 50% earn N10000-N20000 in both communities, and about 50% in Hosere and only 25% in Wuro Jauro Bappa earn above N20000. The resulting unemployment rate coined with inadequate infrastructural facilities led to increasing poverty, forcing other residents to relocate elsewhere. The study therefore recommend sustainable development strategies to promote development that impact positively on environmental quality, and encourage desirable physical, economic and socioeconomic conditions, in intergenerational manner to circumvent consequent dislodgment of the communities.
... An imbalance of cultural content, in particular of local and global cultures, may handicap the development of cultural sustainability, as well as the development of equal intercultural communication. Cultural sustainability has been emphasized as a fourth pillar of sustainability (Hawkes, 2001) because culture is considered a central aspect of the preservation of sociocultural patterns (Vallace et al., 2011). Therefore, cultural heritage, both local and global, as the cultural capital that has been inherited from previous generations can be transmitted to future generations to meet the changing needs of globalization. ...
In the age of globalization, studies of cultural representations in foreign language textbooks take account of cultural sustainability. This article reports on a case study of cultural representations in two English language textbook series that are widely used in senior high schools in China. The study investigated whether the cultural representations in these textbooks contribute to the development of local cultural sustainability. Content analysis was employed to examine the texts used in these textbooks, with references to the synergy of the theoretical frameworks of cultural sustainability and world Englishes. The study results indicate that there is an imbalanced cultural representation with respect to the categories of international cultures and national culture in these textbooks. The results point to the cultures of the inner circle countries (BANA: Britain, Australasia, and North America) being predominant, while the representation of Chinese culture has a low profile. As these textbooks are an important learning and teaching resource in China, they have the potential to play a significant role in influencing learners’ worldviews as they develop their understanding of different cultures. The imbalanced presentation of culture may in turn lead to a biased worldview where learners, rather appreciating cultural diversity, may instead discriminate against certain cultures. The implications for redressing the imbalance in cultural representation and cultural sustainability are discussed.
... The social aspect of sustainability has been neglected and is also one of the most difficult to define. The failure of development and economic growth sparked a growing interest in social sustainability, but it has been termed as a 'concept in chaos' which compromises its importance and utility (VALLANCE et al. 2011). The authors suggest that social sustainability has three components: the first, 'development' sustainability, is concerned with meeting basic needs, inter-and intra-generational equity; second, 'bridge sustainability' focuses on changing behaviour so as to achieve bio-physical environmental goals; third, 'maintenance sustainability' refers to social acceptance or what can be sustained in social terms. ...
Techno-optimism, the belief that technology and technologists are building the future, is the paradigm based on which modern societies place faith in narratives of progress and technology eventually overcoming all emerging challenges. A techno-optimist view of environmental sustainability is centred around the notion that technology will be able to address ecological problems through the use of innovation, growing efficiency and (un)expected breakthroughs. The adoption of renewable and eco-friendly innovations is usually seen as the most important drivers of sustainability transformations, especially in the case of energy usage and consumption patterns. Although in policy narratives, a green technological revolution is often portrayed as the sole driver of sustainable change, we have to note that such revolution cannot happen without a societal transformation.
Replacing two centuries of dominant socio-economic narrative that prizes economic growth above all, based on fossil energy and unconstrained use of natural resources might require more than technological innovation as the benign deus ex machina. Our aim is to uncover narratives in the public and personal spheres that can advance or hinder such sustainable transformation. The study is based on extensive review of related literature and secondary sources, and does not contain primary research, therefore it represents the opinion of the author based on cited literature.
... In sustainability science, these connections between natural and social sciences have recently been considered increasingly important [2,3]. Social sustainability can be defined as meeting all the basic needs of human life [4]. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been introduced as a new method to measure the social impacts of products or systems [5]. ...
The interconnected nature of social, environmental, and economic sustainability aspects must be considered in decision-making to achieve strong sustainability. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been developed to better include social sustainability aspects into life cycle thinking. However, many of the current S-LCA impact assessment approaches have been developed only on a theoretical level, and thus more case studies are needed. We assess the challenges and opportunities of the S-LCA approach through a case study on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Data for the case study were collected from scientific literature, reports, newspaper articles, and interview material. The applicability and possible strengths and weaknesses of the WELBY approach for the case were interpreted. The results showed that applying the WELBY approach in practice is possible, even though there is a lack of existing case studies. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed before the approach can be more widely used. The main challenge with the WELBY approach is the overestimation of impacts when adding multiple impact categories, as is recommended in the S-LCA guidelines. More case-specific severity weights should be developed to address this challenge. Moreover, the interpretation of the results from the perspective of informal work should be executed carefully. Even though the WELBY approach is promising, more methodological development is still needed to build a more ethical and reliable S-LCA methodology.
... It is suggested that our concept of sustainable buildings is mainly focused on improving their energy efficiency with insufficient emphasis on the social [1,2] and economic [3] aspects. Aspects like the embodied CO2 of our buildings are often overlooked [4] in pursuit of more efficient building performance, as noted by Ibn-Mohammed et al. in their comparison of operational and embodied emissions [5]. ...
This paper seeks to establish the current state of research into adaptive building reuse with the view to highlighting new approaches and opportunities for expanding the collective knowledge on this subject. This approach focuses on appraisal and evaluation of current methods by looking through a structural engineering lens and considering the most beneficial options in terms of reducing additional embodied carbon intensity in our built environment.
... In WOS, this article received 439 citations. The second rank was obtained by Vallance, Perkins and Dixon (2011), who clarified the concept of social sustainability and its importance for the urban planning field. The third rank was obtained by Hutchins and Sutherland (2008), published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. ...
In recent years, ensuring social sustainability has been a global concern for sustainable urban development in both the academic arena and sustainability science. Many studies have been conducted in this area, but a bibliometric analysis has not yet been done previously. This study identified research streams and research hotspots in the urban social sustainability field based on a bibliometric analysis from 1985 to 2020, involving 1,623 documents from the Web of Science database. We used two software packages, Bibliometrix (Biblioshiny) and VOSviewer, for performance and science mapping analysis. The result showed that this research field is growing fast in multiple disciplines. In the publication trend analysis, we found significant changes since 2015. Analysis of leading countries and institutions revealed that developed countries are performing better than developing countries in producing publications on urban social sustainability. In the content analysis, we selected 214 documents and found that the survey method was the most used. Additionally, we found that 13.08 percent of papers (28 out of 214) used as many as 21 different theories, where 'stakeholder theory,' 'planning theory,' 'theory of urbanism as a way of life,' and 'theory of good city form' were significantly used. The findings of this study can assist researchers and practitioners by providing valuable insights into the research area of urban social sustainability. Sultana Razia and Abu Bakar Ah, S.H cara hidup', dan 'teori kebaikan bentuk kota' digunakan secara signifikan. Temuan penelitian ini dapat membantu peneliti dan praktisi dengan memberikan wawasan yang berharga ke dalam wilayah penelitian keberlanjutan sosial perkotaan.
It is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the design, use, and perception of public spaces in the future. The meaning and use of public spaces designed to bring individuals together is changing and transforming. This study seeks answers to the following questions: How will it change our relationship with public space? How long will we endure this change and transformation? Is the COVID-19 pandemic diverting our attention from climate change and sustainability? The aim of this chapter is to read these research questions and ideas about how the relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic with public space will change and transform through the social sustainability feature of public space. The study focused on the relationship between these 11 dimensions of social sustainability and public spaces. The dimensions determined in this framework are accessibility, security, comfort, readability, social cohesion, quality of life, sense of belonging, inclusiveness, social opportunities, public services, diversity.
The recent Covid‐19 pandemic highlighted rural–urban interactions, in particular the fact that cities are dependent on the accessibility of non‐metropolitan and rural spaces and vice versa. This article seeks to understand how these interactions contributed to emergent relational spaces of rurality during the Covid‐19 crisis. The article analyses politicised mobilities between localities and rural–urban linkages that are tied to the sustainability of rural change. The study focuses on two countries: Estonia and Finland, exploring thematic narratives on second‐home practices and related politics during the outbreak of the Covid‐19 crisis. The explored regions were the South Savo region in Finland and the island of Saaremaa and northern coastal villages in Estonia. The analysis indicates ways in which the mobility restrictions and disturbances triggered by the Covid‐19 pandemic attributed certain demands and hopes to rural areas and led the shift in rural–urban interactions. The article contributes to the understanding of co‐existences between im/mobilities and multi‐local living and sustainability in rural change.
The aim of this chapter is to critically discuss theoretical perspectives on sustainability, providing a conceptual anchor for the chapters in the book. Bessell and Kjørholt map the challenges facing small coastal communities in the context of economic and social transformations that are closely associated with globalisation and challenges such as the out-migration of young people. Moreover, small coastal communities are confronted with tensions arising from efforts to ensure economic sustainability as the environment is degraded and ecological sustainability is threatened. Although highly important, questions related to the social and cultural sustainability of coastal communities receive less attention in discussions around sustainability. This chapter contributes to the nascent literature on social and cultural sustainability. Bessell and Kjørholt argue for an intergenerational approach to sustainability that encompasses four pillars: environmental, social, cultural, and economic. They explore the ways in which cultural sustainability can be conceptualised and map associated concepts of cultural heritage and collective social memory, local knowledge transmission, and justice as they relate to sustainability.KeywordsSocial sustainabilityCultural sustainabilityLocal knowledge
Este estudo tem como propósito analisar a dimensão social da sustentabilidade enquanto reflexo de ação coletiva na empresa ECOVINCO. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo de caso único, de cunho descritivo e caráter qualitativo. O objeto de estudo foi uma empresa que comercializa produtos veganos e 100% recicláveis. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista, documentos e arquivos, os quais foram analisados com base na técnica de análise de conteúdo. As principais evidências destacam que as ações da empresa estão vinculadas a dimensão social da sustentabilidade, visualizadas a partir de ações sociais junto à comunidade, comercialização de produtos com matéria prima ecológica, padrões e práticas sustentáveis, bem como o enfoque no bem comum dos colaboradores a partir da cooperação, comunicação, autonomia e voluntariedade, o que destaca a ação coletiva. Portanto, a ação coletiva é um reflexo da sustentabilidade social da ECOVINCO, principalmente por construir um espaço aberto e para todos, em vista de que os envolvidos se sintam valorizados e entendam que seu trabalho é mais do que um fim econômico, mas o caminho para um ambiente sustentável para todos.
The concept of sustainable development has entered the shipping industry for good. A recent example relates to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals presented by the United Nations in 2015, which pushed the shipping industry, through the International Maritime Organization, to take early action and recognize the strong impact of shipping on sustainable development. Since then, and alongside the regulatory framework, a number of side steps have been taken by the industry to strengthen the social aspects of sustainable development in shipping. Recently, one of them refers to the Seafarer Human Sustainability Declaration, launched in April 2022. In view of such a development, this article explores whether corporate social responsibility is able to meet the demands of this recent Declaration, thereby helping the shipping industry to achieve the social aspects of sustainable development in shipping. Based on the results of an applied content analysis method, we argue that corporate social responsibility can adequately cover aspects of social sustainability and is therefore, recommended as an effective voluntary tool. However, further initiatives and reform of the regulatory framework are needed to address issues related to seafarers’ families, which have been highlighted as a vital element of Seafarers Declaration.
Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the strategic necessity of consolidating human capital in the Arctic territories, which determines the importance of a deeper study of the connection between the life strategies of the population and the local problems of monotowns, as hard points for the formation of the economic space of the Arctic. The purpose of the article is to identify the reasons for the formation of migration attitudes of the population of the monotown. Materials and Methods. The information basis of the study was the data of official statistics and the results of a questionnaire based survey of the population of Kostomuksha district, conducted in the fall of 2021. The participants of the survey were representatives of the population permanently residing in the district, aged 15‒74. The average age of the respondents was 44.9. The sample size was 697 people. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS software. The final conclusions were based on a combination of methods of spatial economics, the theory of sustainable development and the dialectical approach. Results. Environmental features were identified by way of comparing the data of sociological survey of the population (town’s problems, satisfaction with different aspects of life), the results of previous studies and expeditions of the authors and the data of official statistics. The severity and features of the migration attitudes of the population were established, the social portrait of the migration-prone part of the population was examined. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the correlation between the environmental features of the territory and the results of the migration attitudes analysis, conclusions were made concerning the competitiveness of Kostomuksha district in terms of reproduction of its human capital and social sustainability, sustainable and favorable ecological conditions, supported in part by the stable operation of the city-forming enterprise, as well as general protection of the population from crime. Measures were proposed for the transition to an expanded quality of human capital reproduction. The results of the study and the identified threats to local social stability make it possible to form an analytical basis for their timely elimination, and, in a broader context, are of practical importance for managing the development of the Russian Arctic economic space at all levels of administrative regulation. The findings will form the basis of analytical materials addressed to the subjects of state and municipal government.
Nature conservation has often been depicted as an effective policy measure to redress the ongoing environmental problems across the globe. The need to ensure sustainability for people’s secured subsistence has rendered nature conservation an indispensable scheme in the tourism development policy. It is evident that during the last couple of decades, the notion of “conservation” has become less established whilst tourism development has been prioritised as a profit making venture by both the national and international agencies. Numerous solutions have been prescribed by international organisations adopting tourism as an “immense potentiality” which mostly represented a sustainability effort for the local development and environment. South Asia in general and Bangladesh, in particular, are no different, since policy for nature conservation has been misplaced and misread to reach sustainability goals, as it has always been connected with the tourism development agenda. From a systematic literature review, it was found that the use of natural resources by local people was exemplified as a threat to sustainability where the relations between conservation and tourism became a policy issue. The paper intends to problematise the mechanism of tourism policies for nature conservation or conservation policies for tourism development that overlooks the local eco-cultural management practice for sustainability. Along with the environmental discourses, an eco-cultural critique on sustainability was employed.
This article explores the question of what constitutes the “social” in (social) sustainability. It applies a governmentality perspective and focuses especially on how social sustainability is understood in relation to the concepts of society and community. Furthermore, it investigates what social sustainability means, or could mean, in the specific context of water governance in South Africa – one of the most unequal countries in the world. This case study is based on original fieldwork in the country, conducted between 2017 and 2018. The theoretical exploration, together with the empirical study, demonstrate that there are two interrelated tensions between understandings of social sustainability, between approaches that place society/social cohesion in focus and those that emphasise community and between approaches that focus on basic needs and those that emphasise equal access. At stake here, between these different understandings, is the role of equity and to what extent social sustainability takes into account the situation of individuals and groups in relation to one another. Ultimately, the article raises the question of the (South African) elephant in the room: to what extent can large inequities between individuals and groups be accepted in a society considered to be (socially) sustainable?
Water demands have grown and become more diverse in the twenty-first century. Subsequently, sustainability has become an important topic globally, socially and sustainability of water is important for communities to have access to reliable and safer water sources. Water management is important for the economy and population growth of developing nations. Issues such as water accessibility, household water management are challenges that have increased water demand in developing economies. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are deemed to be drivers that can improve the sustainability of water management in urban areas. The study aims to propose a theoretical framework that can be used to investigate the factors of sustainable urban water management.The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach was deemed as relevant to investigate sustainable urban water management. Additionally, the study used the SLR to find the different theories used in sustainability under urban water management. The SLR applied one literature source ScienceDirect and several databases within the database. The findings of the SLR were analyzed using graphs, counts, and text analysis of the data. Using the text analysis, the SLR results confirmed that the articles screened through the process fitted the study as they focused on sustainability, water management, and within the African context.Thirty-one articles were the results of the SLR process which were synthesized for the study. The SLR results discovered that one study applied theories in addressing sustainability issues within urban water management. The study underpins the proposed theoretical framework on the philosophy of the socio-technical system. The framework was based on the social aspect of sustainability focusing on factors, namely, ICT, accessibility, and urban water management. The theoretical framework is the contribution of the study, as it proposes key elements that should be addressed to improve sustainability in urban water management.KeywordsAccessibilityICTsUrbanizationUrban Water ManagementSustainabilityTheory
Pillar four recognizes that the social dimension is instrumentally important for successful low carbon, sustainability transitions. The social dimension is central to the development of the institutional, community and governance models needed to address our most intractable challenges. Broad and deep social networks are necessary for the successful societal support for deep infrastructure changes. Empowering communities and involving them in decision-making through genuine participatory models can result in policy and planning decisions that are more likely to be acceptable as well as more effective in the long-term. Justice concepts, as guiding principles of policy development, can allow diverse perspectives in decision-making processes, enabling wider reasoning on what is considered legitimate as well as providing a means to inform ethical actions.KeywordsSocial dimensionEmpoweringCommunitiesParticipatory modelsJusticeEthical
One of the most important and contentious issues in recent years has been the role
of social sustainability in the design of a sustainable community. This concept can be
interpreted on the basis of the cumulative development pattern in residential complexes, according to the hypothesis and theory of the intended research. The neighborhood, as the basic social unit, is critical to the survival of the city. The objective of this article is to illustrate the cumulative development pattern in residential complexes by introducing the characteristics of a sustainable community and demonstrating the fundamental role of social aspects in the design of a consistent neighborhood. It also attempts to analyze the status of this approach in the development of the sustainability of the local community. The study’s findings indicate that incorporating social sustainability principles into the design of neighborhoods and the cumulative aspects
of residential complexes could yield a very positive result
This study empirically examines green HRM practices within social sustainability. Employee green behaviour and green self-efficacy as a micro-level perspective towards social sustainability is under-researched and lacking aspect in the existing literature on human resource management therefore the study addresses this research gap. Drawing from the ability motivation opportunity (AMO) theoretical perspective, it is hypothesized that employee green behaviour and green self-efficacy serve as moderators and mediators between green HRM and social sustainability in organizations. This study used a survey design method and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was run for the data analysis. We collected data from 142 employees working in the hotels located in the metropolitan city of Karachi (Pakistan) by using a purposive sampling technique. The significance and novelty of this study lay in multiple outcomes such as employee green behavior mediates a positive relationship between green HRM practices and organizational social sustainability meanwhile green HRM practices showed an insignificant direct relationship with organizational social sustainability. Furthermore, the moderating impact of green self-efficacy on green HRM practices and organizational social sustainability was insignificant in the current study. Based on these findings, hotels need to foster the green attitudes and behaviors among employees related with corporate green priorities in order to foster organizational social sustainability. Hotels have to incorporate green policies into their HRM to remind and facilitate green attitudes and behaviors.
Can resilience be a relevant concept for industrial policy? Resilience is usually described as the ability of a socioeconomic system to recover from unexpected shocks. While this concept has caught the attention of regional economics researchers seeking to understand the different patterns behind regional recovery after a disruption, it is increasingly recognized that resilience can have policy-relevant conceptual applications in many other regards. In this paper, we apply it to industries and define the “industry resilience” concept and measurements. Our contribution is twofold. Theoretically, we frame industry resilience as a useful conceptual framework for policy-making to support the selection of industrial policy targets that are more capable of recovering after unexpected shocks. In addition, industry resilience can mitigate government failures by supporting decision-makers in promoting both economically and socially sustainable structural change. Methodologically, building on post-2008 U.S. data, we develop two composite indicators (CIs) to separately analyze quantitative and qualitative postshock variations in sectoral employment. Such CIs support policy-makers in visualizing sectoral performances dynamically and multidimensionally and can be used to compare each sector both to other sectors and to its counterfactual. Our results highlight that sectors react heterogeneously to shocks. This points to the relevance of tailoring vertical industrial policies according to sector features and the aims of industrial policy initiatives.
As climate change is at the top of the world’s agenda, the armed forces and other defense actors must give a signal that they are environmentally responsible. In this regard, the defense industry should be one of the first actors to devise new strategies and actions aimed at reducing the environmental footprint. This article focuses on the measures being taken by the defense industry and the armed forces, and on how technology, the circular economy (CE) and Lean principles can contribute to a better environment. A qualitative multimethod research model was used, covering more than one research method, such as a systematic literature review and a case study research. Although the literature highlights that the defense sector in Europe is far from being a green actor, a transition to the CE was identified. In that regard, the European Union (EU) defense industry has been a key player in CE R strategies, such as: repurpose, remanufacture, repair, reuse, reduce and rethink. The contribution of new technologies has empowered military equipment to acquire enhanced characteristics, such as material resistance, while EU technology centers have been instrumental in a green transition. Additionally, more comprehensive research is needed in order to allow generalization of the results.
The study aimed at examining the challenges affecting the provision of adult education toward social sustainability. The study was conducted at the Institute of Adult Education in Morogoro Campus where fifty adult learners, four adult education teachers and one administrator were involved as respondents. Respondents were obtained by using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. A mixed research approach with a sequential explanatory design was employed. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, document review and observation. The collected data were analysed through thematic content analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings of the study show that the provision of adult education toward social sustainability was challenged by several factors, such as insufficient funds, shortage of time for studies, lack of political will, language barrier, family problems, and contextual misinterpretation of the term adult education. These findings implies that apart from the substantial role that adult education play to promote wellbeing of the society, it is still hindered holistically. The study recommends that strategic initiatives should be taken by the government to address the challenges of its provision. Adult education institutions should be given enough funds to enhance their operation. Further, adult education institutions should initiate income-generating venues for creating more income, and there should be equality between the provision of adult education and formal education for social sustainability of communities.
This tutorial review synthesizes literature on sustainability analyses to introduce quantitative sustainable design (QSD) for technology research, development, and deployment.
This paper aims at showing the relationship that exists between information risk management strategy and social sustainability in Rivers State-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria. A survey research design was used for the study. A total of 393 copies of a questionnaire were administered out of which 329 were found usable, amounting to 83.7%. Statistical tools were employed for data analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study found that respondents' assessment of social sustainability is moderate. Respondents rated information risk management strategy as having a very high influence. The study also revealed that there is a relationship between information risk management strategy and social sustainability. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that issues of information security and risk should be taken more seriously in tertiary institutions and that social sustainability issues should be investigated to ensure the long-term future of Rivers State-owned tertiary institutions.
Major construction projects are characterized by a heterogeneous audience of stakeholders who can create severe reputational risk to project organizations when not properly addressed. The inclusion and support that project organizations devote to local communities form a crucial part of a project's delivery and social sustainability considerations, yet this has only recently attracted attention in project studies. To address social sustainability, project managers should reinforce accountability and the inclusion of ‘new voices’ in the project decision-making process. Through mixed-methods research, this paper contributes to the project stakeholder engagement discourse and normative stance of stakeholder theory concerning the role of local communities and examines the ways in which inclusion can provide a response to the sustainability challenges of major projects. Findings suggest means-ends decoupling situations where current project management practices towards communities' engagement are weakly linked to their goals and induced by convergent pressures and reactive mechanisms, thus preventing an inclusive decision-making process.
Purpose
The discourse of construction practitioners and decision-makers worldwide has begun to appreciate and acknowledge the advantages of sustainable building. Toward this goal, one of the main steps is creating a control mechanism, which provides the context for moving to sustainable buildings by monitoring the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability. The previous research studies indicate the social dimension has received far less attention than the economic and environmental aspects. Therefore, this study aims at developing a social sustainability framework to evaluate building systems.
Design/methodology/approach
This research has chosen the Parsons sociological theory as its theoretical framework basis and acquires the research theoretical framework with its modification and completion by grounded theory (GT). In the next step, to realize the GT structure validity and model fitting, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used and the research hypotheses were tested.
Findings
An integrated social sustainable framework is presented with five subsystems: socio-political, socio-cultural, socio-institutional, socio-economic and socio-environmental. This research addresses the void of a comprehensive social sustainability framework in the construction industry, and the findings can contribute to construction industry practitioners and decision-makers to evaluate building systems socially.
Originality/value
The application of this framework is not limited to the construction industry and building systems. It can deliver a general use for integrating social perspectives into decision-making on various subjects. Localization and specialization of current research's social sustainability components and factors can be a high potential research topic for future studies, in all fields and scopes. This framework can be a significant contribution to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a basis for creating comparable models to assess social aspects of buildings, campuses and urban sustainability.
The essay began by arguing that 'sustainable development' had for some time been a property of different discourses. The term 'sustainable development' was an oxymoron, which prompted a number of discursive interpretations of the weight to attached to both 'development' and 'sustainability'. Only by exposing the assumptions, and conclusions, of these discourses could we hope to clarify the choices, and trade-offs, which beset environmental policy, and the environmental social sciences. Today 'sustainable development' needs to be linked to new material realities, the product of our science and technology, and associated shifts in consciousness.Este ensaio foi iniciado com a argüição de que o "desenvolvimento sustentável" teve por algumas vezes a qualidade inerente de diferentes discursos. O termo "desenvolvimento sustentável" foi um oxímoro, que instigou numerosas interpretações discursivas com peso para ligar ambos, "desenvolvimento" e "sustentabilidade". Somente em expondo as pressuposições e conclusões desses discursos se pode esperar esclarecer as escolhas e as negociações, que norteiam as orientações, os discursos ambientalistas e a ciência social do meio ambiente. Hoje "desenvolvimento sustentável" precisa se embasar em novos dados sobre a realidade, produto básico da ciência e tecnologia, e associar mudanças em processo de conscientização.
The concept of “environment” usually refers to the external nature of the human world. Nevertheless, the academic discourse on the modern environmental crisis considers and tends to treat human society as part of the environment. In this context, the concept of sustainable development (SD) includes the social, economic, and ecological. This article analyses the social dimension of sustainable development in its evolution as a concept. The paper concludes that the main approaches in this field subordinate the social to the ecological. The implications of this are analysed and assessed.
The Big Clean Up (BCU) started in 2001 as Auckland Regional Council's (ARC) sustainability social marketing project and arose from catalysts for change that occurred within ARC in the late 1990s—leadership, training, partnerships and values. The BCU features strong marketing images and messages that have increased awareness and participation in the region according to extensive stakeholder surveys. It is intended to engage individuals and households in sustainable living—especially among the public middle ground—not those already committed to a green lifestyle. Membership of BCU after one year is about 44,000—almost one in ten households. Although ARC has considered the BCU successful, questions arise about the level of resilience of the campaigns without ongoing investment in expensive multimedia advertising and other initiatives. The paper concludes with a discussion on the impact of the underlying pedagogy in the light of social marketing and behaviour change theory.
This article seeks to unpack notions of governmentality by reading it through the case of nature. By highlighting three key aspects of governmentality - its analytics of power, biopolitics, and technologies of the self - I argue that this approach presents a promising theoretical trend for those who study nature and its rule. However, there have been critiques leveled at this approach which must be considered. Using examples drawn from human/non-human interactions, I explore how the governmentality literature needs to be made more complex and attune to difference. In the final analysis, I argue that the concept of governmentality is not only an effective tool for geographers, but that geography provides a particularly insightful lens with its attention to spatiality, scale, territory and human/non-human relations that enrich the analysis of the making of governable spaces.
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a family of genes classically used to measure levels of organism stress. We have previously identified two HSP70 genes (HSP70A and HSP70B) in sub-tidal populations of the Antarctic limpet (Nacella concinna). These genes are up-regulated in response to increased seawater temperatures of 15°C or more during acute heat shock experiments, temperatures that have very little basis when considering the current Antarctic ecology of these animals. Therefore, the question was posed as to whether these animals could express HSP70 genes when subjected to more complex environmental conditions, such as those that occur in the inter-tidal. Inter-tidal limpets were collected on three occasions in different weather conditions at South Cove, Rothera Point, over a complete tidal cycle, and the expression levels of the HSP70 genes were measured. Both genes showed relative up-regulation of gene expression over the period of the tidal cycle. The average foot temperature of these animals was 3.3°C, far below that of the acute heat shock experiments. These experiments demonstrate that the temperature and expression levels of HSP production in wild animals cannot be accurately extrapolated from experimentally induced treatments, especially when considering the complexity of stressors in the natural environment. However, experimental manipulation can provide molecular markers for identifying stress in Antarctic molluscs, provided it is accompanied by environmental validation, as demonstrated here.
This paper argues that our understanding of how the public understands science is incomplete as long as we do not answer the question of why, under which conditions, and in which form the general public assimilate scientific background knowledge. Everyday life and communication are governed by criteria of social efficiency and evidence. Under the conditions of everyday life, it is sufficient for the lay person to possess and employ metaphoric and iconic representations of scientific facts—called “vernacular science knowledge”—that are wrong in scientific terms, as long as they are able to serve as acceptable and legitimate belief systems in discourses with other lay people. These representations are tools for a purpose that follow local rules of communication. Research within the framework of Social Representation Theory—collective symbolic coping with biotechnology in Europe, lay understanding of sexual conception, as well as traditional versus modern psychiatric knowledge in India—is presented to illustrate.
The growth in the provision of gardens has been an important feature of housing in the UK during the 20th century, and yet the significance of the humble domestic garden has been neglected in studies of housing and home. This paper examines the role of the garden in the meaning of home, and draws on theoretical discussions of nature, environmental risk and social uncertainty in late modernity. Secondary empirical data is used to investigate the changing uses of gardens and practices of gardening. A survey of garden owners provides primary empirical data to examine meanings of gardens and personal experiences of nature. The paper concludes that the garden is an important site for privacy, sociability and sensual connections to nature, and these activities can be understood as negotiations and practices to address the social and environmental paradoxes of late modern life.
Despite occupying a central place in the sustainable development paradigm, calls for individuals in high-income countries to adopt patterns of sustainable consumption have failed to gain ground in the past decade. The low uptake of public messages that emphasise links between the environment and the home are caused by a plethora of 'barriers to action', which range from individual circumstances to public norms and structures. This article argues that in addition to these barriers, consideration of how individuals read and react to sustainable consumption information is important. Based on interviews with participants of a sustainable behaviour change programme called Action at Home, this article considers both how, and in what form, knowledge is mobilised when individuals rethink their personal practices. Using Giddens' structuration theory, a framework is presented. This framework emphasises the importance of 'known' or 'local' information, as well as discursive processes, in addressing individual consumption practices and argues that a 'cultural politics' of sustainable consumption needs to be factored into on-going academic and policy debates.
The problems of urban sprawl have long been recognized. The classic response to sprawl has been compact settlements of one form or another. Yet the profession’s modern origins stem from responses to overcrowding. Relieving crowding by letting in more light and air led to less compact urban form. This paradox remains unresolved despite recent compact city, smart growth, healthy community, and new urbanist efforts. This article reviews empirical data of whether compact cities are sustainable. Then, after reviewing current debates on sprawl and the compact city, it outlines the intellectual origins of sustainability and analyzes whether its theory supports the compact city hypothesis: compact is more sustainable than sprawl. It concludes that conceiving the city in terms of form is neither necessary nor sufficient to achieve the goals ascribed to the compact city. Instead, conceiving the city in terms of process holds more promise in attaining the elusive goal of a sustainable city.
The amount of household refuse has steadily increased in Sweden. Strategies for household waste reduction include sorting, recycling, re-use and repair. Two categories of motivational factors determine disposal behaviour, external and internal. The external factors include administrative, economic, information and physical measures. The internal factors include knowledge, values and attitudes of individuals. Environmentally friendly disposal behaviour is best achieved when both external and internal motivational factors argue for performing activities benign to the environment. The data were collected by interviewing households and stakeholders in a metropolitan area and by studying the facilities for recycling and re-use there. The results show that over 80% of the inhabitants sorted most paper and glass; they were satisfied with the facilities and considered the behaviour important for the environment. The external motivational factors for this behaviour were very strong, with numerous bins and ample information. National policy, formulated in the eco-cycle bill with specified achievement levels, local responsibilities for organising waste management, supporting citizens with physical facilities, information and motivational arguments, seems to be a successful combination when implementing environmental policy in this sector.
The author is Professor at the Faculty for Spatial Planning, University of Dortmund. In the 1980s he developed the 'Theory and Concept of Action on Ecological Urban Restructuring" at the Wissenschafts-zentrum Berlin. Parallel to his research work he directed several model projects on ecological urban restructuring in Berlin and in other cities. The projects ranged from experimental eco-houses, pilot projects on the ecological restructuring of neighborhoods and urban districts, up to model projects on the ecological revitalization of urban-rural development. Besides the University of Dortmund he teaches as guest professor at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, and has received invitations for lectures and guest professorships at several other universities in various countries. Since 2001 he has been a member of the World Society of Ekistics (WSE). The text that follows is an expanded version of a paper presented at the WSE Symposion"Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century," Berlin, 24-28 October, 2001.
The author is a member and former Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and a member of Academia Europaea (London) as well as of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE). He is a leader of the UNESCO/MOST Project on Socially Sustainable Cities. The text that follows is a slightly edited and revised version of a paper presented at the WSE Symposion "Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century," Berlin, 24-28 October, 2001.
This paper argues that public understanding of climate change not only involves knowledge of its physical processes, but also encompasses wider issues concerning the relation between society and nature. It examines the conclusions of previous research, and assumptions made within the policy community concerning public understanding of climate change. It is argued that in each case, in accordance with the information deficit model, recorded levels of ignorance are seen as a barrier to effective public involvement in the policy process. This view is challenged by research findings from Newcastle, Australia. Public understanding of global environmental issues drew not only on scientific information, but also on local knowledges, values, and moral responsibilities. Further, respondents connected the issue to their communities, and suggested that individual action is morally sanctioned, despite concerns for the efficacy of such action and the lack of government or industry support. Where institutional realignment has occurred to provide renewable energy to householders, public involvement has been forthcoming. These findings suggest that rather than focus on the provision of information, policy attention should be directed to the social and institutional barriers that act to constrain public involvement in addressing global environmental issues.
Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described as “the organizational advantage,” rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage as accruing from the particular capabilities organizations have for creating and sharing knowledge. In this article we seek to contribute to this body of work by developing the following arguments: (1) social capital facilitates the creation of new intellectual capital; (2) organizations, as institutional settings, are conducive to the development of high levels of social capital; and (3) it is because of their more dense social capital that firms, within certain limits, have an advantage over markets in creating and sharing intellectual capital. We present a model that incorporates this overall argument in the form of a series of hypothesized relationships between different dimensions of social capital and the main mechanisms and processes necessary for the creation of intellectual capital.
The social dimension is central to sustainable development of agri-food systems. If farmers are not satisfied with their situation or motivated to continue farming, many of today's environmental goals will be impossible to achieve. Between 1997 and 2003, several case studies were carried out on social sustainability, the importance of recognition in the farming system, and the potential role of increased collaboration between actors. The main hypothesis was that improved recognition is a basis for sustainable social conditions. Our findings show that many farmers today perceive an impoverished social situation. They believe they lack control over decisions, which hinders their ability to continue farming. Public images and political decisions show a lack of respect for farmers' skills and knowledge. However, increased collaboration among actors is believed to be one important way forward, creating stronger relationships and networks, as well as a stronger identity for farmers. Our findings emphasize the need for authorities and other organizations to support farmers and to facilitate collaborative learning and decision-making processes for socioecological sustainability.
Housing is something that is deeply personal to us. It offers us privacy and security and allows us to be intimate with those we are close to. This book considers the nature of privacy but also how we choose to share our dwelling. The book discusses the manner in which we talk about our housing, how it manifests and assuages our anxieties and desires and how it helps us come to terms with loss. Private Dwelling offers a deeply original take on housing. The book proceeds through a series of speculations, using philosophical analysis and critique, personal anecdote, film criticism, social and cultural theory and policy analysis to unpick the subjective nature of housing as a personal place where we can be sure of ourselves.
For the first time in history, more than half the people of the world live in cities. Comprehending the impact of this widespread urbanization requires an awareness of the complex relationships between cities and natural ecosystems. This innovative book moves beyond the anti-urban lamentations that often dominate today's academic discourse to examine the evolution of cities and to illuminate the roles that humans play in shaping their environments, both natural and constructed. Christopher G. Boone and Ali Modarres argue that understanding the multiple forces of urbanization requires a holistic approach to the interactions of social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental factors. Without casting judgments, City and Environment seeks to engage readers in an exploration of cities from a truly global perspective. Throughout, it illuminates the social-ecological systems of cities not as an academic exercise-although informing academic audiences is one of its goals-but ultimately to help transform cities into livable and ecologically sustainable environments.
This paper critically reviews the concept of sustainability, especially as it has come to be applied outside of environmental goals. It suggests 'sustainability' should not be considered as a goal for a housing or urban programme - many bad programmes are sustainable - but as a constraint whose absence may limit the usefulness of a good programme. It also discusses how the promotion of 'sustainability' may simply encourage the sustaining of the unjust status quo and how the attempt to suggest that everyone has common interests in 'sustainable urban development' masks very real conflicts of interest.
This paper argues that public understanding of climate change not only involves knowledge of its physical processes, but also encompasses wider issues concerning the relation between society and nature. It examines the conclusions of previous research, and assumptions made within the policy community concerning public understanding of climate change. It is argued that in each case, in accordance with the information deficit model, recorded levels of ignorance are seen as a barrier to effective public involvement in the policy process. This view is challenged by research findings from Newcastle, Australia. Public understanding of global environmental issues drew not only on scientific information, but also on local knowledges, values, and moral responsibilities. Further, respondents connected the issue to their communities, and suggested that individual action is morally sanctioned, despite concerns for the efficacy of such action and the lack of government or industry support. Where institutional realignment has occurred to provide renewable energy to householders, public involvement has been forthcoming. These findings suggest that rather than focus on the provision of information, policy attention should be directed to the social and institutional barriers that act to constrain public involvement in addressing global environmental issues.
This paper suggests ways in which 'the environment' needs to be reconfigured so that it better resonates with how people are experiencing politics, nature and everyday life. Through empirical research on environmental concerns and everyday practices , this paper sketches a framework through which the values associated with contemporary environmentalism might be developed in a more reflexive relationship to wider transformations in society. In particular, the research critically evaluates the standard storyline of a 'global nature' under threat and in need of collective action by a global imagined community. In contrast to rhetorics of the global environment, this paper explores ways in which the environment is being embodied , valued and experienced in an array of social practices. The paper further outlines the significance of such embodied practices as significant yet undervalued points of connection for wider, global environmental issues.
In ten years, more than half the world's population will be living in cities. The United Nations (UN) has stated that this will threaten cities with social conflict, environmental degradation and the collapse of basic services. The economic, social, and environmental planning practices of societies embodying ‘urban sustainability’ have been proposed as antidotes to these negative urban trends. ‘Urban sustainability’ is a doctrine with diverse origins. The author believes that the alternative models of cultural development in Curitiba, Brazil, Kerala, India, and Nayarit, Mexico embody the integration and interlinkage of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Curitiba has become a more livable city by building an efficient intra-urban bus system, expanding urban green space, and meeting the basic needs of the urban poor. Kerala has attained social harmony by emphasizing equitable resource distribution rather than consumption, by restraining reproduction, and by attacking divisions of race, caste, religion, and gender. Nayarit has sought to balance development with the environment by framing a nature-friendly development plan that protects natural systems from urban development and that involves the public in the development process. A detailed examination of these alternative cultural development models reveals a myriad of possible means by which economic, social, and environmental sustainability might be advanced in practice. The author concludes that while these examples from the developing world cannot be directly translated to cities in the developed world, they do indicate in a general sense the imaginative policies that any society must foster if it is to achieve ‘urban sustainability’.
Sustainable development and livable communities represent the big visionary ideas of contemporary urban planning. But attempts to implement these popular visions can encounter a host of conflicts. The future of land use planning may well depend on how it copes with these conflicts. I propose the sustainability/livability prism as a tool to understand and express the conflicts, and I illustrate the prism's usefulness through an application to plans in the Denver area.
In a set of US urban areas, this study documents patterns of association between multiple measures of sustainability policies and outcomes on the one hand and indicators of three principal political culture theories on the other. Five dimensions of urban sustainability attributes are examined (environmental, public health, economic utility, sprawl, and local government plans and policies) as well as a summative index across the five dimensions. The three political culture theories are creative class, social capital, and historical legacy. First, the analysis examines the relationships among the five dimensions of sustainability. Second, a correlation analysis exhibits further evidence of major effects attributable to social capital and historical legacy cultural heritage. Third, a multiple regression analysis predicts the summative sustainability index score by measures for creative class, social capital, moralistic cultural legacy, and controls for education level and percentage of low income households; both a moralistic cultural heritage and strong social capital are shown to be facilitative contexts for a US city making a commitment to sustainability, even in the presence of demographic controls. The results suggest that environmental professionals engaged in sustainability efforts must be cognizant of their cultural context and of the linkages among different sustainability domains.
This paper introduces into the literature the concept of tactile space. In tactile space, forms of representational and non-representational knowledge are exchanged, resulting in the decentering of the subject/objective dichotomy as well as the senses. In doing this, tactile space helps to instill within individuals a greater sense of relationality with others and the environment, which leads to long lasting attitudinal and behavioral changes (versus the superficial changes provided by, say, financial dis/incentives). To help clarify the concept, two different cases are examined. The first example looks briefly at the Sunnyside Environmental School, located in Portland, Oregon (US). The purpose of this first case is to provide some real world flesh to the concept of tactile space. A more detailed conceptual discussion of tactile space takes place in the following section. Here, attention focuses on an in depth study of two cases of community supported agriculture in Iowa (US). The paper concludes by reflecting upon the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as we further develop our understanding of tactile space and the relations, sensations, and non-representational knowledges it helps to bring forth.
It is increasingly recognized that the success of sustainable development initiatives depends on widespread public identification and support. Indeed, public participation has become a core component of the official discourse of sustainable development, particularly at local level. However to date there has been little research examining the ‘cultural’ factors governing the potential public uptake of sustainability. This paper reports on a study using focus groups drawn from different sections of the Lancashire public which sought to cast light on public understanding of and identification with sustainable development. Considerable public support was found for the idea that current ways of life are generating problems for the future and that economic activity would have to be held within environmental limits. However there was very little support for the idea that sustainabillty would be achieved through government and business initiatives. Government in particular was deeply mistrusted as part of the ‘system’ which was generating environmental and social problems. The paper argues that this mistrust in government and the lack of a sense of individual agency has serious implications for the political salience of sustainable development. Initiatives to generate public participation, particularly by providing information through sustalnability indicators, are unlikely to succeed unless this is addressed.
Basic aspects of sustainable housing design such as increasing density, mixed use and proximity to public transport are being adopted increasingly in Australian cities. Sustainable building codes such as NSW's BASIX and Victoria's Green Star rating systems are also being implemented and advanced. More substantial improvements and endeavours such as onsite food production, energy generation and waste treatment, are being seen increasingly as necessary for urban sustainability, yet little is being done to institutionalise or normalise these through Australia's housing system. Similarly, concerns about the social sustainability of housing identify the need for mixed, flexible tenure and dwelling types, with again little uptake despite evidence of demand. Given that we seem to know what needs doing to move towards sustainability, this paper investigates two ecologically and socially sound community-based housing developments in Australia, with a view to finding what helped or hindered these efforts and what may further the uptake of sustainable design. Assessment of the uptake of sustainable planning initiatives reveals the prevalence of a decidedly neoliberal agenda which shies away from the more substantial challenges ecocity design and community-based enterprise may represent. Such community-based initiatives must, however, be supported at a broader scale, to avoid possible outsourcing of governmental responsibility or the relegation of sustainable design to the sole realm of the wealthy.
A high factor environmental efficiency improvement, towards a Factor 20 by 2050 AD — needed due to the assumed doubling of the world population combined with a fivefold increase of wealth per capita and a halving of the total global environmental burden — cannot be achieved through good housekeeping and technological innovation alone; any technological solutions will have to be combined with social innovations, in lifestyles and cultures. This paper describes the conclusions of the SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household) Project that has been exploring possible socially and technologically innovative strategies for sustainable households. The Project has covered three household ‘functions’: Clothing Care, Shelter (Heating, Cooling and Lighting) and Food (Shopping, Cooking and Eating). These have been studied in five European countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK). The methodology of the Project has involved stakeholder workshops, the construction of Design-Orienting Scenarios, environmental, economic and consumer assessment of the Scenarios and strategy formulation. The paper describes: (1) the methodology for devising design-orienting scenarios, with examples from the three functions; (2) the results of environmental, economic and consumer acceptability assessments of these scenarios; and (3) comments on how the methodology can be developed and applied.
This article explores the concept—sustainability—as a transcendental ideal of planning purpose and value. The article critically argues that sustainability largely has been captured and deployed under a narrative of sustainable development in a manner that stifles the potential for substantive social and environmental change, all of which constitutes new purpose, legitimacy, and authority for the discipline of planning and its practitioners while potentially sustaining or creating adverse social and environmental injustices. These are injustices that planning traditionally attempted to address but now often obscures under the primacy of the economic imperative within dominant institutional interpretations of the sustainable development narrative.
Can the contemporary city qualify as the topos of the good life, as it has in classical literature on human emancipation? As geographical entities, cities are hardly discernible places with distinct identities. They have become an endless inhabited sprawl without clear boundaries and they have become sites of extraordinary circulation and translocal connectivity. Similarly, sociologically, contemporary cities do not spring to mind as the sites of community and well-being. For the vast majority of people, cities are polluted, unhealthy, tiring, overwhelming, confusing, alienating. Politically, too, the contemporary city bears little resemblance to imaginings of the times when urbanism stood for citizenship, the ideal republic, good government, civic behaviour and the ideal public sphere. The politics of emancipation with a big 'P' is no longer a particularly urban affair in either genesis or practice, having given way to national and global institutions and movements. What remains of the urban as demos in these circumstances? At one level, clearly very little, as one instance in a wider demos or demon that pulls in many directions. This said, the urban remains an enormously significant formative arena, not only as the daily space of over half of the world's population, but also as the supremely visible manifestation of difference and heterogeneity placed together. Urbanism highlights the challenges of negotiating class, gender and ethnic or racial differences placed in close proximity. It also profiles the newness that arises from spatial juxtaposition and global flow and connectivity, forever forcing responses of varying type and intensity in the face of negotiating strangers, strangeness and continuous change. Possibilities thus remain for continuing to ask about the nature of the 'good city'. This paper outlines the elements of an urban ethic imagined as an ever-widening habit of solidarity built around different dimensions of the urban common weal. It offers a practical urban utopianism based around four registers of solidarity woven around the collective basics of everyday urban life. These are 'repair', 'relatedness', 'rights' and 're-enchantment'.
Abstract Nothing inherent in the discipline steers planners either toward environmental protection or toward economic development -- or toward a third goal of planning: social equity. Instead, planners work within the tension generated among these three fundamental aims, which, collectively, I call the "planner's triangle," with sustainable development located at its center. This center cannot be reached directly, but only approximately and indirectly, through a sustained period of confronting and resolving the triangle's conflicts. To do so, planners have to redefine sustainability, since its current formulation romanticizes our sustainable past and is too vaguely holistic. Planners would benefit both from integrating social theory with environmental thinking and from combining their substantive skills with techniques for community conflict resolution, to confront economic and environmental injustice.
This paper presents the story of a project undertaken by researchers who are active participants in the national Australian debate over place and belonging. It arose from the desire to ground this debate, which brings issues of ecological sustainability, reconciliation and multiculturalism together, in more localised action aimed at building a place-responsive society'. The project was carried out as a case study in a region that combines part of the Sydney metropolitan area and the separate city' of the Blue Mountains, and involved a consultative committee and then a regional forum of conservationists, environmental educators and community workers. The researchers explored existing place-oriented initiatives in the region and developed practical projects for the future, most notably a proposal for totemic species' work within schools involving local Aboriginal people. The research demonstrated, more than anything else, that indigenous Australian approaches to place awareness' and nature conservation remain highly relevant in contemporary Australia. It also showed that bioregional awareness and the notion of place responsiveness can add value to more traditional approaches to nature conservation and environmental education. There are opportunities to galvanise local action that can integrate community and environmental work and revitalise professional practice in both areas, but the effort involves working constantly with difference and conflict.
This article challenges existing ways of thinking about the proliferation of gated communities. The catalyst for the article was the observation that gated communities have appeared recently in New Zealand where many of the extreme conditions that have driven their emergence in other places are much less obvious. This counterfactual encouraged an exploration of an alternative explanation for the prevalence of gated communities to those of lifestyle, elitism, fear of crime and protection of property values. In this endeavour the emphasis shifts from gated communities as physical and spatial objects to the idea of ‘gatedness’, a mental construct that characterises the nature of existence in a risk society. It is argued that the proliferation of gated communities is one example of individualised ‘forting up’ practices that have become increasingly common as the trust in public institutions to manage the perceived increase in risk has declined. What ensues at the level of everyday life is greater attention to home security and concerns with bodily safety and travel. The article points to the need for empirical work to explore further the extent to which the mentality of gatedness shapes current social practices.
Conflicts over global resources involving war or terrorism, or both, destroy natural capital and, thus, make resources scarcer. Sustainable use of the planet will require a fairer, more equitable distribution of resources not only among humans but with the millions of other species with which humans share the planet. The quest for greater material possessions ? materialphilia ? is unsustainable on a finite planet that has a growing population and greater expectations per capita of material affluence. However, biophilia, the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms, should, if widely practiced, result in a greater accumulation of natural capital. This strategy should lead to greater protection of the planet's ecological life support system, which is a primary need for sustainability.
And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man's Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
King James Version of the Bible, Luke 12:15
Sustainable development has proved to be a most compelling concept, generating enthusiasm across the political spectrum, endorsement from various sectors and industries, and high levels of support from certain individuals. As a corollary, one could argue that the city’s right to exist (Catterall, City 12(3), pp. 402–415, 2008) must now be articulated in terms of sustainability; indeed urban sustainability is an alluring goal for many cities. Unfortunately, the idea’s popularity has not necessarily led to appreciable benefits or improvements for the residents of urban areas, or for those (both human and non‐human) in areas from which cities draw their sustenance. There are even indications that the pursuit of urban sustainability may cause more problems than it solves. We argue that this is, in part, because the sustainable city is often treated as a site wherein particular policies, programmes and strategies may be enacted, with the ‘urban’ prefixed unreflectively to simplistic versions of the concept emphasising bio‐physical environmental goals. Such approaches neglect the city as a complex of social, economic, cultural and political concerns and, consequently, very little progress has been made in terms of synthesising these myriad and often conflicting aims. As an alternative, this paper explores the possibilities associated with treating the urban as a condition, and outlines some of the ways in which cityness contributes to an urbanised sustainability.
Traditional agricultural systems that have met the test of sustainability have not been able to respond adequately to modern rates of growth in demand for agricultural commodities. A meaningful definition of sustainability must include the enhancement of agricultural productivity. At present, the concept of sustainability is more adequate as a guide to research than to farming practice.
Policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in the means by which individuals can be encouraged to engage in environmental actions around the home. This paper uses evidence from existing empirical research and a large questionnaire survey undertaken by the author to argue that environmental action is open to a range of influences, focusing especially on environmental values, situational characteristics and psychological variables. Accordingly, the paper asserts that strategies for promoting environmentally responsible behaviours (such as energy saving, water conservation and waste recycling) should take account of these factors. The implications for the study of environmental behaviour are considered.