Can green growth policies help protect the environment while keeping the industry growing and infrastructure expanding? The City of Kitakyushu, Japan has actively implemented eco-friendly policies since 1967 and recently inspired the pursuit of sustainable development around the world, especially in the Global South region. However, empirical studies on the effects of green growth policies are still lacking. This study explores the relationship between road infrastructure development and average industrial firm size with air pollution in the city through the (...) Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Non-linear Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) methods were applied on nearly 50-years’ time series data, from 1967 to 2015. The results show that the shape of the EKC of industrial growth, measured by average firm size, depends on the type of air pollution: inverted N-shaped relationships with NO2 and CO, and the U-shaped relationships with falling dust particle and Ox. Regarding infrastructure development, on the one hand, our analysis shows a positive effect of road construction on alleviating the amount of falling dust and CO concentration. On the other hand, the emissions of NO2 and Ox are shown to rise when plotted against road construction. The decline of CO emission, when plotted against both industrial growth and road development, indicates that the ruthlessness of the local government in pursuing green growth policies has been effective in this case. However, the story is not straightforward when it comes to other air pollutants, which hints at the limits of the current policies. The case of Kitakyushu illustrates the complex dynamics of the interaction among policy, industry, infrastructure, and air pollution. It can serve as an important reference point for other cities in the Global South when policies are formed, and progress is measured in the pursuit of a green economy. Finally, as an OECD SDGs pilot city and the leading Asian green-growth city, policymakers in Kitakyushu city are recommended to revise the data policy to enhance the findability and interoperability of data, as well as to invest in the application of big data. (shrink)

The structure and “metabolism” (movement and conversion of goods and energy) of urban areas has caused cities to be identified as “super‐organisms”, placed between ecosystems and the biosphere, in the hierarchy of living systems. Yet most such analogies are weak, and render the super‐organism model ineffective for sustainable development of cities. Via a cluster analysis of 15 shared traits of the hierarchical living system, we found that industrialized cities are more similar to eukaryotic cells than to (...) multicellular organisms; enclosed systems, such as factories and greenhouses, paralleling organelles in eukaryotic cells. We further developed a “super‐cell” industrialized city model: a “eukarcity” with citynucleus (urban area) as a regulating centre, and organaras (enclosed systems, which provide the majority of goods and services) as the functional components, and cityplasm (natural ecosystems and farmlands) as the matrix. This model may improve the vitality and sustainability of cities through planning and management. (shrink)

Rosario, Argentina, a city of more than one million people strategically located on the Paraná River in the heart of a fertile agricultural region, is home to a significant industrial corridor where ongoing urbanization for industry, including that associated with the port complex and agroexport industries, vies for real estate space with peri-urban and urban farming production. The city is also the site of thriving municipal programs seeking to change food production and consumption outcomes through urban and peri-urban agriculture (...) projects rooted in agroecology. This paper identifies the socio-natures critical for the formation and endurance of these agroecology assemblages. Based on interviews with 30 stakeholders in government, civil society, and agricultural production, we describe the integrated approach to environmental, social, and economic sustainability embedded in Rosario’s institutional agroecology programs. In particular, we discuss the actors and strategies, discursive renderings of socio-natures, and the marketing of agroecological materialities that form and are formed by these assemblages. We also discuss the power dynamics embedded in sustaining urban and peri-urban agroecological projects through institutional means. This research contributes to literature on agroecology, urban agriculture, and the urban metabolism through providing empirical examples of socio-natural entanglements in urban agroecological assemblages. (shrink)

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is a governance framework promoted by influential policy makers such as the European Commission and academics from the fields of science and technology studies and management. This book is the first text to serve industry. Inspired by existing Corporate Responsibility standards and principles, it offers a selection of tools that can assist practitioners in implementing RRI in business and industry. -/- Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is integrative. It is a convergence of Technology Assessment (TA) (...) and Ethics, including corporate responsibility. The task of linking RRI to existing frameworks has only just begun. This book is a welcome example, showing how Corporate Responsibility tools can drive the implementation of RRI. Prof. Armin Grunwald, Head of the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag and Head of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. -/- This is a simple, short, yet encyclopaedic work designed to help business implement RRI using the many tools of Corporate Responsibility (CR) already in place, everything from ISO9001 to the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability. It makes clear the ways in which RRI is an extension of ideas already well-developed in CR. I learned a lot reading it. Prof. Michael Davis, Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. (shrink)

This paper is based on the concept of environmental political philosophy and from its perspective, it highlights the weaknesses and contradictions of contemporary, existing democracies. It aims to formulate an outline of the concept of environmental democracy, following the accounts of M. Bookchin, R. Morrison and H. Skolimowski, as well as international environmental law enshrined in United Nations documents and resolutions. It is based on the hypothesis that the preservation of a democratic political system in a situation of a collapsing (...) planetary system (the Anthropocene) requires improving the foundations of democratic theory with the insights of the Earth system sciences, particularly of political ecology and critical environmentalism. Through philosophical analysis, explanation and interpretation, this paper explores an environmental democracy that would, on the one hand, preserve the basic constitutional principles of current democratic constitutional regimes, and, on the other hand, reconcile them with the current state of understanding in the Earth sciences concerning the vulnerability of the planetary system. In a sense, J. Habermas’s understanding of human rights characterizes the concept of environmental democracy as a realistic utopia. The author concludes by drawing up the imperative of sustainability, which he sees as a guiding organizing principle of institutions and public policies for the climatic, demographic and economic regime of the Anthropocene. -------------------------- Received: 16/12/2022. Reviewed: 09/03/2023. Accepted: 30/03/2023. (shrink)

Technology permeates all walks of life. It has emerged as a global facilitator to improve learning and training, alleviating the temporal and spatial limitations of traditional learning systems. It is imperative to identify enablers or inhibitors of technology adoption by employees for sustainable change in education management systems. Using the theoretical lens of organizational support theory, this paper studies effect of institutional support on education management information systems use along with two individual traits of self-efficacy and innovative behavior of (...) academic employees in British higher educational institutions. Data for this cross-sectional study were collected through a questionnaire completed by 591 academic employees of 23 universities from 10 cities in the United Kingdom. Partial Least Square structural equation modeling was used to analyze data with smartPLS 3.2.9 software. Results indicate that institutional support promotes self-efficacy and innovative behavior that help develop positive employee perceptions. The model explains a 52.9% variance in intention to use. Post-hoc mediation analysis shows that innovativeness and self-efficacy mediate between institutional support and employee technology adoption behavior. As opposed to student samples in past studies on educational technology, this study adds to the literature by focusing on academic employees. (shrink)

We focus on alternative innovation pathways for addressing agricultural sustainability challenges in Odisha, India. The first pathway that we term as industrial, is focused on breeding new seed varieties in modern laboratories and test fields, ostensibly for climate resilience. It is driven by public scientific institutions and private corporations. The second pathway that we call agroecological, is grounded in saving and sharing of diverse local varieties, largely by Indigenous (Adivasi) smallholders and their allies in civil society. Using the pathways’ descriptions (...) as bases, we present perspectives of different professional groups who appraise how effectively each pathway addresses a range of sustainability issues. While all participants appraise the agroecological pathway to be clearly better performing for addressing agricultural biodiversity and cultural uses of rice, appraisals for issues of the economy, seed accessibility, stress tolerance, and nutrition diverged from each other. An overall picture in support of one pathway did not emerge. Embracing such ambiguities and uncertainties associated with appraisals, we argue for balancing political support between diverse pathways. Greater support for structurally marginalised agroecological pathways may be crucial to meet sustainability goals. This support can include the restitution of lands and other socio-ecological resources for marginalised pathways as well as guaranteeing autonomy of Adivasi (Indigenous) communities among whom the pathways thrive. (shrink)

The United Nation’s (UN) 3rd Annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on ‘Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) - Transformation Towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies’ was held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 5th and 6th of June, 2018. This STI Forum set out to discuss a suit of the sustainable development goals, namely sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (SDG 6), sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12), and (...) sustainable terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15). It also discussed how to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7) and how to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11). I participated in the panel debate on ‘Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Terrestrial Ecosystems (SDG 15)’ – emphasizing the importance of food systems in the context of SDG 15. My statement is summarized below. The panel debate aimed at helping to identify good practices and policy recommendations, as well as challenges and needs, especially as they relate to international cooperation, innovation and capacity-building, with a view to facilitate the development, scaling up adoption and dissemination of relevant technologies for SDG 15. A food system can be described as a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, institutions, infrastructure, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes. A sustainable food system delivers food and nutrition security for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised. (shrink)

Recent literature demonstrates the contribution of short food supply chains to regional economies and sustainable food systems, and acknowledges their role as drivers for sustainable development. Moreover, different types of SFSC have been supported by urban food policies over the few last years and actors from the food chain became part of new institutional settings for urban food policies. However, evidence from the sustainability impact assessment of these SFSC in urban contexts is limited. Our paper presents an approach (...) for the development of an SIA framework for different SFSC types. In addition, a practical application of the tool in four metropolitan regions is tested. The conceptual development of the SIA framework is based on an in-depth analysis of existing SIA frameworks and methods for assessing the sustainability of agriculture, food chains and food systems and adapted to the specific needs of analysing SFSC in metropolitan regions. The operational value and utility of the framework and the tool were tested with social and natural scientists and local stakeholders. The assessment results demonstrate that SFSC seems to be more sustainable than the baseline in the social dimension, but also feature specific strengths and weaknesses concerning their economic and environmental sustainability. This might give an indication for regional adjusted strategies and food chain innovations that improve the sustainability performance may be required. We found the tool useful for framing the dialogue between food chain actors, consumers and policy, because it makes benefits and trade-offs of the chain types operating in an urban–rural context more visible and communicable. (shrink)

As an economic pillar, major resource consumer, and polluter of cities, the chemical industry determines many cities’ transformation, prosperity, and decay. It is thus a major concern for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In China, which is at the stage of accelerated industrialization that is varied across regions, the chemical industry has gradually retreated from developed cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, in the eastern region, and has become the inevitable choice for industrialization of less-developed (...) cities, such as Xi’an, Chengdu, and Chongqing, in the western region. This study took the perspectives of chemical industrial sectors and their spatial differences to understand the changing patterns of the chemical industry and its dominant cities. It identified chemical industrial cities, examined their spatial-temporal patterns with respect to their industry scale and structure, and accounted for factors influencing the spatial evolution from coastal areas to inland regions. The results show that large CICs were mainly located in coastal port regions with balanced industrial sectors, while small CICs were mainly distributed in inland areas with abundant oil and coal resources and a single dominant industrial sector. The location factors of ports, markets, and technology play important roles in the eastern region, while resource conditions and foreign direct investment promote the chemical industry’s development in the central, western, and northeastern cities. These findings improve the understanding of CICs’ spatial transformation and shed light on the policy-making of chemical industrial development in China and other developing countries. (shrink)

In the context of the agroecological transition, the ability of alternative ways of farming to develop themselves in the long run without being co-opted by mainstream input intensive agriculture is essential. Biodynamic farming (BF), which began a century ago in 1924, was one of the first alternatives to modern agriculture, associated with specific agricultural practices, worldview and human-nature relationships. Over the last 100 years, BF has developed worldwide in a context of growing industrialization, without becoming industrialized itself, and it is (...) still considered today as a radically alternative way of farming. To better understand the resistance of BF, this paper provides an overview of its history, with particular emphasis on its complex relationships with the broader organic agriculture (OA) movement. Three overlapping historical stages are distinguished: (1) _Agronomic consolidation stage_: from Rudolf Steiner’s agricultural courses to the first “Agricultural Experimental Circle”, the creation of the Demeter label and the emergence of OA (first half of 20th century); (2) _Institutionalization stage;_ Initially, BF was coevolving closely with the growing OA movement, but then the differentiation between both progressively increased. Meanwhile the first collaborations with academic research institutes were initiated; (3) _Expansion stage_: With growing commercialization opportunities for biodynamic products, the 21st century corresponds to a stage of economic development for BF and a new wave of geographic expansion in every continent. In the final section of the paper, the implications for sustainability transformations are discussed. Particularly, it is argued that the ability of BF to combine strategies of agronomic consolidation, institutionalization and expansion over time could be the key to its resilience. The complementarities between BF and other alternative ways of farming might play an important role in future evolutions. (shrink)

The prosperous development of online education in the digital age harvested countless consumers. Education for sustainable development is an important proposition for both academic community and practitioner, however, current little studies have shed light on Sustainable Consumption Behavior in online education industry. The Consumer Value Theory and Social Identity Theory as theoretical basis linked with the field of Sustainable Consumption Behavior. This study is to further investigate the role of consumer value and social identity in the relation (...) to Sustainable Consumption Behavior. Putting forward suggestions from this study to online education providers toward sustainable development.MethodData on the impact of personal value on SCBOEI through a survey method with 552 valid students as respondents are collected from higher education institutions in China. A structural equation modeling approach is employed in this study for data analysis.ResultsThe result shows at the level of excellent model fit as indicated by all indicators: X2/DF = 1.053. The results showed that, through social identity, functional value, emotional value, and social value influence the variance of SCBOEI. The finding reveals that both theories can explain the SCBOEI of higher education students by showing that functional, social, and emotional values as well as social identity are powerful predictors of the Sustainable Consumption Behavior. The proposed model highlights the mediating role of social identity between SCBOEI and the three values. The functional, emotional, and social values influence SCBOEI directly and through social identity.ImplicationsThe study significantly contributes to market promotion, college students, education planning, and teaching. Online education market personnel and college students can better understand the significance of sustainable development aspect of online education. Teaching and learning activities help lead students to SCBOEI by shaping their values and identities while paying more attention to quality education, knowledge sharing, and social equality. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Spirit of Settler Colonialism and the City Streets:A Response to Mishuana GoemanErin C. Tarveri want thank dr. goeman for her excellent paper and for introducing us to these extraordinary artists. Their work is beautiful and important, and I am grateful for the opportunity to witness it and think about it and to consider in particular in its relation to its setting in Los Angeles.In what follows, I want (...) to consider that setting—a city, as Dr. Goeman notes, containing some of "the most expensive real estate properties in the United States," commercial areas officially defined by "colonial encompassing property logics," and marked by "noise and [the] reverberation of mass consumerism" ("Caring for Landscapes 57). My interest will be in putting Dr. Goeman's analysis of these works and the Indigenous artist-activists who create them in dialogue with Jane Addams's diagnosis of the problems of early twentieth-century American urban life in her book The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. I will suggest that Dr. Goeman's paper illuminates the limitations of Addams's approach to responding to the alienation of modern urban life—which, while rightly critical of the harms of mass consumer culture and the reduction of city life to economic productivity in conditions of industrialization, does not grapple with its own implication in settler colonialism and dispossession, and therefore cannot care for the land or its inhabitants as these artists invite us to do. I will also invite her to reflect on whether Addams's suggestion that play and recreation are essential components of urban human flourishing is borne out in the work of these artists.Jane Addams, in 1909, discussed the problems of urban life in post-Industrial Revolution Chicago in similar terms to those Dr. Goeman uses to describe the contemporary landscape of Los Angeles. The contemporary city, Addams writes, in forgoing spaces for public play, art, creativity, and non-production, has "entered upon a most difficult and dangerous experiment … at the very moment when the city has become distinctly industrial, [End Page 71] and daily labor is continually more monotonous and subdivided" (4–5). In this context, young people are increasingly alienated and isolated, valued solely for the products of their labor, and desperate for social connection. The playfulness and creativity of youth cannot be entirely stifled, yet without clear public spaces or institutions for outlets, young people become easy targets for capitalists who promise pleasure and self-actualization through consumption—of liquor, of fashion, of music, and so on. Lamenting the impoverished state that the city of mass consumption leaves us in, Addams writes:The spontaneous joy, the clamor for pleasure, the desire of the young people to appear finer and better and altogether more lovely than they really are, the idealization not only of each other but of the whole earth which they regard but as a theater for their noble exploits, the unworldly ambitions, the romantic hopes, the make-believe world in which they live, if properly utilized, what might they not do to make our sordid cities more beautiful, more companionable? And yet at the present moment every city is full of young people who are utterly bewildered and uninstructed in regard to the basic experience which must inevitably come to them, and which has varied, remote and indirect expressions.(15–16)There is, for Addams, a basic human need for play, creativity, and connection—to a community and to the natural world itself—whose unsatisfaction in a city devoted entirely to industry is nothing short of dehumanizing. So basic are these needs that they cry out for fulfillment in the most unexpected moments. She quotes a young man who describes his experience thusly:I never had a chance to go into the country when I was a kid, but I remember one day when I had to deliver a package way out on the west side, that I saw a flock of sheep in Douglas Park. I had never thought that a sheep could be anywhere but in a picture, and when I saw those big white spots on the green grass beginning to move and to turn into sheep, I... (shrink)

Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) have become the new buzzword for researchers, planners, policymakers, and industry experts when it comes to designing, planning, and managing sustainable and efficient cities. It encapsulates the last iteration of the technocratic and ultra-efficient, post-modernist vision of smart cities. However, while more applications branded as UDTs appear around the world, its conceptualization remains ambiguous. Beyond being technically prescriptive about what UDTs are, this article focuses on their aspects of interaction and operationalization in connection (...) to people in cities, and how enhanced by metaverse ideas they can deepen societal divides by offering divergent urban experiences based on different stakeholder preferences. Therefore, firstly this article repositions the term UDTs by comparing existing concrete and located applications that have a focus on interaction and participation, including some that may be closer to the concept of UDT than is commonly assumed. Based on the components found separately in the different studied cases, it is possible to hypothesize about possible future, more advanced realizations of UDTs. This enables us to contrast their positive and negative societal impacts. While the development of new immersive interactive digital worlds can improve planning using collective knowledge for more inclusive and diverse cities, they pose significant risks not only the common ones regarding privacy, transparency, or fairness, but also social fragmentation based on urban digital multiplicities. The potential benefits and challenges of integrating this multiplicity of UDTs into participatory urban governance emphasize the need for human-centric approaches to promote socio-technical frameworks able to mitigate risks as social division. (shrink)

There is a need for all industries, including healthcare, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In anaesthetic practice, this not only requires a reduction in resource use and waste, but also a shift away from inhaled anaesthetic gases and towards alternatives with a lower carbon footprint. As inhalational anaesthesia produces greenhouse gas emissions at the point of use, achieving sustainable anaesthetic practice involves individual practitioner behaviour change. However, changing the practice of healthcare professionals raises potential ethical issues. The (...) purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we discuss what moral duties anaesthetic practitioners have when it comes to practices that impact the environment. We argue that behaviour change among practitioners to align with certain moral responsibilities must be supplemented with an account of institutional duties to support this. In other words, we argue that institutions and those in power have second-order responsibilities to ensure that practitioners can fulfil their first-order responsibilities to practice more sustainably. The second goal of the paper is to consider not just the nature of second-order responsibilities but the content. We assess four different ways that second-order responsibilities might be fulfilled within healthcare systems: removing certain anaesthetic agents, seeking consensus, education and methods from behavioural economics. We argue that, while each of these are a necessary part of the picture, some interventions like nudges have considerable advantages. (shrink)

As part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s revision of Regulation S–K, which lays out reporting requirements for publicly-listed companies, many investors proposed the mandatory disclosure of sustainability information in the form of environmental, social and governance data. However, progress is contingent on collecting evidence regarding which sustainability disclosures are financially material. To inform this issue, we examine materiality standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Firms voluntarily disclosing more SASB-identified sustainability information exhibit greater price informativeness, while the disclosure (...) of non-SASB information does not relate to informativeness. The results are robust to a changes analysis and a difference-in-differences analysis that exploits the staggered release of SASB standards across different industries over time. We also document stronger results for firms with higher exposure to sustainability issues, poorer sustainability ratings, greater institutional and socially responsible investment fund ownership, and coverage from analysts with lower portfolio complexity. (shrink)

This work aims to solve the complex problems of non-linearity, instability, and multiple economic factors in the tax forecast of the ceramic industry to ensure the sustainable development of the ceramic industry. The key influential indicators of the tax forecast are obtained by analyzing the principal components affecting the tax index. In addition, a human-computer interaction system is established based on cognitive psychology theory to improve the user-friendliness of tax analysis. At the same time, the tax data of the (...) ceramic industry in Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province in different years are used for the empirical analysis of the tax prediction of different prediction models, including particle swarm optimization algorithm, and fusion algorithm, and support vector machine. This work comprehensively analyzes the influence of the optimized tax supervision mode on the economic development of the ceramic industry and provides ideas for the development of the ceramic industry in Jingdezhen. The research results demonstrate that the main indicator affecting tax revenue is the added value of the primary and secondary industries. The optimized SVM based on grid search method can provide a comprehensive data base for tax forecasting. The optimization of the computer system based on cognitive psychology improves the model prediction accuracy by 10%, and the absolute error decreases from 6.9 to 1.8%. The tax forecast results indicate that the tax imbalance in Jingdezhen is increasing. Therefore, the government needs to attach great importance to the development of the ceramic industry and strictly implement the tax policy. The tax supervision model can alleviate the problems of low fiscal contribution rate, tax evasion, and management loopholes. In addition, the SVM tax prediction model optimized by grid search method will lay a theoretical foundation for the research and application of taxation in the ceramic industry. (shrink)

Investments by the global finance sector contribute to industrial-scale agriculture along with its harmful environmental impacts, making their actions significant in supporting or opposing sustainable food systems transformation. Previous research has shown that institutional investors identify animal agriculture as an important consideration with respect to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues regarding sustainable food systems. This study aimed to explore ways in which so-called ‘responsible’ investors in Australia consider risks related to animal agriculture, and whether existing ESG metrics (...) are ‘fit-for-purpose’ for assessing issues related to sustainable animal agriculture. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with responsible investors and relevant non-government organisations (NGOs) in Australia. We found that the responsible investment sector lacked mechanisms to recognise the inter-connections between animal agriculture and multiple environmental and social outcomes. Furthermore, we found that investors largely focused on ‘techno’ solutions to the impacts of animal agriculture, such as alternative proteins, through a ‘single issue’ lens. They rarely made connections to other relevant ‘food systems’ issues, such as health. We conclude that holistic approaches are needed to monitor and assess the impacts of animal agriculture in the investment sector and suggest that integrated ‘food systems’ metrics will be necessary to inform these approaches. (shrink)

The implementation of socially sustainable practices in suppliers situated in challenging institutional contexts is examined using institutional theory, both in terms of how institutional pressures affect implementation and what explains the decoupling of practices from the day-to-day reality. A multi-case study approach is employed based on seven apparel industry suppliers in Bangladesh. Cross-case analysis highlights the coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures on suppliers to implement socially sustainable practices. A key pressure identified that has not previously been highlighted in (...) the literature is horizontal collaboration between buyers, which intensifies coercive pressure on suppliers and increases the consequences of non-compliance. The factors that contribute to decoupling are categorized into firm-, supply chain-, and environment-related factors. Further, six propositions are developed on how specific forms of institutional pressure can tackle particular decoupling factors to support implementation. The paper responds to recent calls for greater scrutiny of why and how firms decouple ethical practices and supports the development of the literature specifically on social sustainability, which lags behind that on environmental sustainability and has been largely focused on the Western buyer perspective. The findings have implications for the diffusion of ethical practices into supply chains, especially distant suppliers in very different and challenging institutional contexts. (shrink)

Small cities have a unique socio-economic and cultural potential for developing Russian regions, which is manifested in their unique features: com- pactness, historical heritage, the existence of rare industries and the local economy. At the same time, today in Russia the realization of their potential is primarily hindered by the existing system of politi- cal institutions and practices. The purpose of the work is to analyze the economic potential of small cities. The paper explores the potential for (...) the devel- opment of small cities in relation to the Russian context. So, the authors consider the features of small cities and highlight their economic, social and political problems. As illustrated by the successful ones, the potential of small cities in various sectors of the economy (primary, secondary and tertiary) is analyzed. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the studied experi- ence in developing the potential of small cities in various sectors of the economy in the practice of Russian management. As a result, it is concluded that small cities as such can be economically and socially efficient settlements, that is, they can be a completely competitive urbanized unit. However, the tools for the development of such territories should be focused on supporting the promising areas of development, providing an opportunity for independent and responsible development. (shrink)

In the United States of America, the years from 1880 to 1915 were a period of rapid urbanization, combined in some areas with intense industrialization. This paper explores the creation in cities of the new industrial heartland of new institutions of higher learning. The case studies chosen illustrate varying responses to local needs for scientific and technical expertise, and illuminate how new concepts of higher education in the United States helped to shape the emergent connection between science and industry.

Education is widely accepted as important source of future economic growth and is strongly supported by public sources. Most of this support is oriented toward traditional education and industries. However, several studies show importance of creativity education as important feature for innovation and future growth. However, public support of creative industries is relatively new and most of policy measures that have been implemented are still not fully evaluated and understood. There si a strong need to look much more (...) closer on way how public education influence creative industries and what policies could be placed to strengthen positive effects of this education also in the long run. This article represents an output of the research about the creative industries support policy in Slovakia in the field of education activities. It is containing basic literature overview comparing support policies for traditional sectors and the creative industries. We analyzed conceptual documents at the national level and basic strategic documents in the regions and selected cities of the country. We also realized several interviews in different creative economy industries. Generally, creative industries in Slovakia are much less in the centre of public support policy compare to traditional industry sectors. This is also the same in case of education. Despite of wide varietyof support tools used in the world, only few of them are applied in Slovakia. Interestingly, creative industries do not strongly require more creativity in education in schools. We found out the most important support in the field of education should not be related to creativity itself, but more on the complementary skills as ICT or entrepreneurship. We also found very limited role of universities and other public institutions in creative industries success stories. (shrink)

In recent years, the debate about the role of the Public Institutions in the fields of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development has gained momentum. Nevertheless, the ambiguity of the latter concepts makes it difficult both to measure them and to estimate the impact that the different public initiatives may have on them. In this sense, the present research has the aim to design a fuzzy logic-based methodology applied to the evaluation of the above-mentioned processes in relation to the (...) state-aid policies for the European industry. Regarding the study contour, the European Union state aids seems not to have introduced important changes leading to socially responsible results and, therefore, favourable for the sustainable development generated by the European manufacturing industry. (shrink)

In recent years a paradigm has emerged for which urban liveability coincides with the existence of conditions of order, rationality, predictability and safety. If we combine this with the enormous technological progress applied to the management of urban ecosystems and the strongly transitional nature of our age (digital transition, climate change, ecological transition...), we understand why in the last twenty years the concept of “Smart City” has been one of the most successful. But exactly what are we talking about when (...) we talk about Smart City? In reality, the process of smartification does not only concern the urban dimension but, in some way, seems to apply to so many aspects of life. What kind of rationality is hidden in the dynamics of smartification? Are there dark sides of the Smart Cities? Are there alternatives to the Order based on standardization, digital surveillance, massive use of increasingly invasive technologies? These are categories whose application is generally argued with the need to generate “sustainable” ways of life but to what extent are these categories sustainable themselves? Martin Heidegger warned that the fact that “everything works” is exactly the problem and not the solution. Is humanity generating an increasingly _irrational rationality_? The provocation launched by some Authors (above all Richard Sennett) is that there is the possibility of an antagonism to this process, designing cities as something open, never concluded, _dis-organized_. But what exactly does this disorder consist of? Is it a mere utopia or is it really possible to develop concrete categories and urban planning practices consistent with it? (shrink)

For society to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the agri-food industry needs a substantial sustainability transition toward food systems capable of delivering greater volumes of nutritious food, while simultaneously lowering the environmental footprint. This issue of AHV focuses on the big picture—on mechanisms of sustainability transition, from social innovation, to models of finance and institutional systems, and calls for business and agricultural researchers to transform the sector together. Contributors to this issue embrace a transdisciplinary outlook, including scientific, technical, social (...) and political dimensions of agroecology. This issue is a call to action: to encourage the community of social entrepreneurs, ecosystem players and researchers to contribute analytical methods, experiences and scientific insights on emerging social innovations related to food, agriculture and rural–urban transformation. (shrink)

This article provides excerpts and highlights from the insights of twenty global leaders, business executives, and sustainability experts who gathered at the Esalen Institute in California for four days in March 2002 to discuss how to best leverage change toward an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable global economy. The conference topic was sparked by the path-breaking book Natural Capitalism, which outlines an expanded vision of capitalism suitable for the environmental era. The natural capitalism model is qualitatively different from (...) industrial era capitalism in that it counts both humanity and ecosystem services as valid sources of capital in addition to the traditionally recognized sources, financial and manufactured. One early adopter of natural capitalism, CEO of the Atlanta -based carpet tiling company, Interface, shared how increased efficiency and greater employee and customer satisfaction have resulted. Although some of the conference participants forecasted that globalization is likely to bring humanity face-to-face with a planetary-wide environmental, financial, and social crisis, the overall message of this gathering was positive. Through the imaginative implementation of evolutionary and biomimicry design models in the cultural, financial, and economic spheres, novel solutions to global problems already are being discovered, and, if such innovative and solutions-oriented design thinking can spread rapidly enough, humanity may be able to ameliorate-or even obviate-the deleterious effects of globalization. (shrink)

Local sustainable food systems have captured the popular imagination as a progressive, if not radical, pillar of a sustainable food future. Yet these grassroots innovations are embedded in a dominant food regime that reflects productivist, industrial, and neoliberal policies and institutions. Understanding the relationship between these emerging grassroots efforts and the dominant food regime is of central importance in any transition to a more sustainable food system. In this study, we examine the encounters of direct farm marketers (...) with food safety regulations and other government policies and the role of this interface in shaping the potential of local food in a wider transition to sustainable agri-food systems. This mixed methods research involved interview and survey data with farmers and ranchers in both the USA and Canada and an in-depth case study in the province of Manitoba. We identified four distinct types of interactions between government and farmers: containing, coopting, contesting, and collaborating. The inconsistent enforcement of food safety regulations is found to contain progressive efforts to change food systems. While government support programs for local food were helpful in some regards, they were often considered to be inadequate or inappropriate and thus served to coopt discourse and practice by primarily supporting initiatives that conform to more mainstream approaches. Farmers and other grassroots actors contested these food safety regulations and inadequate government support programs through both individual and collective action. Finally, farmers found ways to collaborate with governments to work towards mutually defined solutions. While containing and coopting reflect technologies of governmentality that reinforce the status quo, both collaborating and contesting reflect opportunities to affect or even transform the dominant regime by engaging in alternative economic activities as part of the ‘politics of possibility’. Developing a better understanding of the nature of these interactions will help grassroots movements to create effective strategies for achieving more sustainable and just food systems. (shrink)

As the efficiency and reach of global fishing has grown, overfishing has unwittingly undermined the industry’s future while at the same time depriving poor people of a dietary staple. Several problems that most concern the critics of globalization come into play: undermining the power of governments to protect their environments and citizens, an economic system that robs the poor and future generations of basic necessities, and market developments that undercut long term economic and environmental stability. I examine how creative institutional (...) measures could avert total collapse of ocean ecosystems despite the complexity of enacting marine ethics in a globalized economy. I look at companies that work with the Marine Stewardship Council’s criteria as well as more creative measures including revamped marketing and changes in how members of the industry work together in order to encourage long term environmental and economic sustainability. (shrink)

The carbon emissions of global healthcare activities make up 4%–5% of total world emissions, with the majority coming from industrialised countries. The solution to healthcare carbon reduction in these countries, ostensibly, would be preventive healthcare, which is less resource intensive than corrective healthcare in itself and, as a double benefit, reduces carbon by preventing diseases which may require higher healthcare carbon to treat. This leads to a paradox: preventive healthcare is designed to give humans longer, healthier lives. But, by extending (...) life spans, the carbon emissions of a person increase both over a lifetime and in the medical industry overall. At the same time, the need for higher carbon end-of-life care does not disappear, particularly in resource intensive countries. This article will first identify sources of healthcare carbon, focusing on the industrialised world, and explain various efforts towards healthcare carbon reduction, which include preventive healthcare. Second, it will develop the ‘paradox of prevention’—that preventive healthcare may save healthcare carbon by proximally reducing the need for medical treatments, but also, paradoxically, result in more healthcare carbon both in an individual’s life and in the medical industry. The third section will offer ethical principles for approaching the paradox of prevention. The conclusion will emphasise the need for institutional approaches to healthcare carbon reduction in the industrialised world, which will relieve some of the tensions of healthcare industry decarbonisation and individual healthcare carbon use. (shrink)

The role of the cultural assets as one of the pillars of sustainable development is undeniably of great significance in the cultural sustainability of cities. Indeed, the way users understand and interpret cultural heritage sites would be highly critical to managing cultural organizations properly. It means by improving users’ perception of these sites, it can expect a fair distribution of comprehensive awareness among generations about the values of cultural assets. Past studies in spatial psychology have demonstrated that environmental (...) properties can positively Influence human emotions. On the other hand, using computational–mathematical methods used to examine spatio-visual properties have rarely been compared to human perceptions. This paper examines the impact of spatio-visual properties on human perception as a clever cultural management strategy to promote cultural sustainability. It is discussed how environmental features in general, and visibility in particular, can shape the way users interpret cultural heritage. Results indicate that not only visibility of users’ paths within cultural heritage sites can be an influential factor for the development of users’ perception, but also the visibility of the entrance of these complexes can change their understanding. This means that decision-makers, architects, and managers of the cultural organizations can apply these findings as cultural management framework by defining predefined paths in these sites in the way that they possess high visibility and visible entrance. Consequently, the distribution of public awareness among generations can be improved to strengthen the role of cultural aspects in sustainable development. (shrink)

Industrial policy is a highly controversial issue. The European Union (EU) justifies its industrial policy on the grounds of common problems across countries, its capacity to coordinate and reduce duplication of efforts, its capacity to control and limit member-state subsidies to industries, and its mandate for foreign trade and competition policy. Technology policy has been relatively successful in certain fields such as telecommunications or traffic control systems. In other fields, such as microelectronics and computers, the results have been mixed. (...) Formulating a coherent industrial policy remains a highly complicated venture because there are a number of conflicts that are difficult to resolve. This article attempts to review the role and the implementation of industrial and innovation policies in the EU. Moreover, it will attempt to examine and analyze the effects of these policies on convergence and cohesion for the European member-states. (shrink)

It is of practical significance to introduce the Internet of Things technology into the financial service industry and find the driving factors and mechanisms of financial innovation to accelerate the promotion of financial innovation. This article starts from the perspective of banks and other supply chain financial institutions, takes mainstream trading products in the commodity trading market as the research object, uses the LA-VAR model, and fully considers the market price fluctuations and liquidity factors of supply chain financial inventory products. (...) It analyzes the theoretical basis of the continuous innovation of rural financial products. On the basis of analyzing the basic characteristics and types of rural financial product innovation, we explore the connotation of sustainable innovation of rural financial products, clarify the evaluation criteria, and lay a theoretical foundation for continuous dynamic evaluation. Based on technical innovation evaluation theoretical models such as Schumpeter’s innovation model, technical specifications-technological track model, and NR relationship model market, we analyze the innovation elements of rural financial products from the external and internal aspects of innovation and discuss the relationship between the factors. The interaction mechanism of rural financial products has established a dynamic mechanism model for the continuous innovation of rural financial products. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation was made on the continuous innovation power of financial service industry products in a certain area. Using a combination of remote surveys and on-site visits, a questionnaire survey was conducted on financial service industry institutions in a certain region’s financial system. Each survey object was required to conduct 120 × 1067 index comparisons and use the data after processing the arithmetic average Matlab carries out the objective processing of programming. The results show that the LA-VAR model with liquidity indicators can measure the liquidity risk well and more comprehensively evaluate the risk of the inventory pledge financing model. According to the index weights determined by AHP, the development of the financial service industry will be promoted in a targeted manner from the internal construction of financial institutions and the optimization of the external innovation environment. (shrink)

Because wicked problems are beyond the scope of normal, industrial-age engineering science, sustainability problems will require reform of current engineering science and technology practices. We assert that, while pluralism concerning use of the term sustainability is likely to persist, universities should continue to cultivate research and education programs specifically devoted to sustainable engineering science, an enterprise that is formally demarcated from business-as-usual and systems optimization approaches. Advancing sustainable engineering science requires a shift in orientation away from reductionism and (...) intellectual specialization towards integrative approaches to science, education, and technology that: draw upon an ethical awareness that extends beyond the usual bounds of professional ethics or responsible conduct of research to include macroethics, adopt anticipatory and adaptive approaches to unintended consequences resulting from technological innovation that result in more resilient systems, and cultivate interactional expertise to facilitate cross-disciplinary exchange. Unfortunately, existing education and research training programs are ill-equipped to prepare scientists and engineers to operate effectively in a wicked problems milieu. Therefore, it is essential to create new programs of graduate education that will train scientists and engineers to become sustainable engineering science experts equipped to recognize and grapple with the macro-ethical, adaptive, and cross-disciplinary challenges embedded in their technical research and development programs. Content Type Journal Article Category Articles Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10806-011-9342-2 Authors Thomas Seager, School of Sustainability and The Built Environment, Arizona State University, Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ, USA Evan Selinger, Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Henrietta, NY, USA Arnim Wiek, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ, USA Journal Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Online ISSN 1573-322X Print ISSN 1187-7863. (shrink)

Advocates for structural change in the food system see opportunity in alternative food systems to bolster sustainability and equity. Indeed, any alternative to industrial labor practices is assumed to be better. However, little is known about what types of jobs are building AFS or job quality. Failing to understand job quality in AFS risks building a sustainable but exploitative industry. Using a unique and large data set on job openings in AFS, this paper narrows this gap by providing an (...) assessment of labor demand and job quality for AFS in the United States between 2010 and 2019. Job advertisements are matched to 2018 Standard Occupation Codes to characterize work. Wages are compared to living wage standards and median incomes by occupation and local labor market. Considering living wage tests and local labor market competitiveness together, the potential for high job quality in AFS is mixed. Optimistically, higher prices in occupation that are close to consumers and experiencing significant labor demand, like food service and sales, saw more competitive wages. However, these roles frequently failed to offer living wages. Farm work occupations underperformed compared to local labor markets. In addition, uncompetitive senior-level jobs may indicate low-quality career pathways for leadership roles charting paths forward in AFS. These results suggest more institutional action are necessary to enhance labor quality within these spaces and more broadly across the food system. These results also raise questions about who is able to participate in AFS development and whether barriers to participate may replicate equity blind spots. (shrink)

Although informed consent is a primary mechanism for ensuring the ethical treatment of human participants in research, both federal guidelines and American Psychological Association ethical standards recognize that exceptions to it are reasonable under certain conditions. However, agreement about what constitutes a reasonable exception to informed consent is sometimes lacking. We presented the same protocols to samples of respondents drawn from 4 populations: Institutional review board (IRB) members, managers, employees, and university faculty who were not members of IRBs. Differences in (...) perceptions of IRB members from the other samples with respect to the risks of the protocols without informed consent and on the feasibility of conducting the research in employment organizations are discussed in terms of implications for industrial and organizational psychology research. (shrink)

This article explores how the institutional context, including central and local governments, has co-evolved with business in relation to small cars and sustainability. This issue is very relevant for business and society in view of the environmental implications of the rapidly growing vehicle fleet in China, the economic importance attached to this pillar industry by the government, and citizen interest in owning and driving increasingly larger cars. The interactions between different levels of government, and with business in countries with a (...) large role for the state is a novel area of study in the business-society area and a complex one given the multitude of objectives and interests involved in industry competitiveness, economic development, energy security, and sustainability. The article shows that the central government has adopted policies to further the production and use of small cars, which it perceives as serving environmental, economic, and social goals. Concurrently, however, many local governments imposed restrictions on small cars and have, implicitly or explicitly, favored larger cars. There seems to be a clear linkage to municipal ownership of those domestic automobile companies which, via joint ventures with foreign firms, focused more on larger cars. By adopting a co-evolutionary approach focused on macro-level interactions, the case helps to shed some more light on concrete sustainability challenges, and broader government–business interactions in a highly institutionalized setting, contributing insights on issues that have remained underexposed in business and society research. (shrink)

Sustainable development has been framed as a social issue to which corporations must pay attention because it offers both opportunities and challenges.Although scholars in the environmental strategy field have found that the integration of business and sustainable development can result in competitive advantage, international business scholars argue that it does not increase industrial performance. To integrate these research streams, this paper builds upon the institutional theory attempt to understand strategic options of major multinational corporations (MNCs) that are experiencing (...) sustainable development pressures. This paper also examines the resourcebased view of the firm to understand different patterns of distinctive capabilities that may explain differences in corporate strategies among MNCs experiencing similar institutional pressures. We argue that normative and coercive isomorphism does not occur at the global level because sustainable development is largely a stakeholder-driven issue rather than a broad social issue. However, mimetic isomorphism has explanatorypotential, but since it implies the use of complex and intangible resources, mimetic processes are slow and rare. (shrink)

Data from the Global Environmental Monitoring System indicate that pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and total suspended particulate routinely appear in the lower atmosphere of major cities at concentrations well above health guidelines set by the World Health Organization. As well, cities are major contributors to the build-up of greenhouse gases which now threaten climate change. These findings underscore the detrimental relation that has evolved between urban industrial society and the atmosphere. If this peculiar civilization is to be (...) changed, three principles—equity, sustainability and peaceful development—must guide the reevolution of urban life. The paradigm of commodification needs to be replaced with a model of a commons of life. The article provides a theoretical framework and strategy for reforming global climate policy and urban sustainability planning in a manner consistent with life in the commons. (shrink)

Despite the attention given to China’s rising importance in the international marketplace, I argue that corresponding attention has not been given to the sustainability dimensions—the social and environmental dimensions of this economic development trajectory. Specifically, what type of business strategy can and will best serve the economic, environmental, and social needs of China, and what role, if any, can the private sector play to facilitate the development of such a strategy? In exploring this question, I first examine the evolving relationship (...) between business and sustainable development. I then outline the sustainability challenge within the regional context in the Asia-Pacific region. Finally, I analyze sustainability challenges posed by China’s rise in the global economy and assess the impacts of these challenges on current and future business strategies. (shrink)

With the end of the cold war, issues of environment and economic development are assuming greater international salience. By the 1970s, environmental degradation was becoming pervasive, with growing global effects. Increasingly, global and emergent globalized problems are forcing environmental interdependence on the world. Transboundary threats cannot be addressed unilaterally by any single country or group of countries. The global environmental agenda is reviving the North-South debate and rejuvenating the Third World coalition in international fora. The encouragement of environmentally sustainable (...) forms of industrialization in the South requires expanded and improved international cooperation. However, the North’s greater resources and greater responsibility in causing global environmental degradation require its continuing involvement in the search for solutions, including ones applicable to newly industrializing countries. In June 1992, the largest intergovernmental conference ever held was convened in Rio de Janeiro to address these issues: the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or the Earth Summit). It produced a consensus action plan of about 700 pages: Agenda 21. Agenda 21 presents massive challenges for international cooperation as well as for national and private actors and scientific and technical institutions. It reflects a complex configuration of demands for institutional arrangements that support environmentally sustainable technical and socioeconomic change. One of the most consistent of the Agenda 21 themes, and one of the most intractable issues, concerns “access to technology.” This can be as straightforward as diagnosing and improving the efficiency of a production process in a small manufacturing firm, or as complex as engineering a technological revolution in which production and consumption take place with virtually no material or energy loss to the environment. The selection of entry points for action is a critical strategic problem as well as an important operational issue. In this paper I identify and describe new initiatives intended to improve the environmental performance of industry in the South, and find that they largely aim to promote incremental industrial innovation through international technology transfer and diffusion. This strategy raises many questions about how to promote effective technology transfer and diffusion. (shrink)

How do markets principally contribute to society, and do they all contribute in the same ways? The logic of common and private goods provides much-needed clarity in grappling with the constitution and contribution of markets. The root challenge of the market is that impersonal private exchange cannot directly promote any common goods, so it appears only capable of promoting the flourishing of society “by accident,” as it were. As responses, the “spontaneous” approach regards both markets and politics as unintended orders (...) of private ends, while a “instituted” model subordinates thin exchange to the thick communal goals of sustaining politics, and the “civil” economy claims that market exchange is itself a form of fraternal solidarity around common goods. All three rival models capture some exchange contexts, but none works for all markets. I advocate a meta stance of “market pluralism,” acknowledging that different markets’ moral architectures could match any of the three models, in line with empirical findings that different industries and market systems vary significantly in their modes of coordination, human relations, and major objectives. (shrink)

A vexing modern conundrum is to be solved. The use of oil, gas, and coal is extremely short-lived as a historical phenomenon: a mere blink of an eye at a little more than 1% of total urban history of 10,000 years to-date. Yet current urban civilization is almost entirely based on it. And the fossil-fuel economy poses not only a massive security risk, it also lies at the root of the vast majority of urban sustainability problems. Fresh water depletion, air (...) pollution, widespread human fatalities can be directly traced to the excessive use of these dirty energy sources. Climate change, predominantly triggered by fossil-fuel combustion, only deepens the very questions the impending petroleum peak raises about the survivability of the global urban system. The fossil disease is a complex global pandemic. To many, conquering this pandemic is an extraordinary challenge of technology: of reengineering the manner in which urban civilization is powered, advancing a future envisioned in numerous studies since the 1970s. Yet foremost, this is a cultural, psychological, and political challenge. The global economy is systematically identified with its underlying fossil supply frameworks—it is a fossil economy. It is marked by an incendiary illusion: the celebration of abundance promised as achievable by all, driving virtually all aspects of contemporary culture. Yet it is also marred with enormous pockets of deprivation, and deep cracks of disbelief, criticism, and dissent. Reinforcing this challenge is the psychoeconomical transaction cost of change, the sheer inertia of an infernal development system, however short-lived it inevitably is. Despite all lip service paid to ‘energy savings’ and ‘environmentally sustainable development’ in urban policy documents and brochures across the globe, dominant political and financial interests demand that as much fossil fuel as possible is used, and as quickly as possible, to secure the highest possible profits for the most powerful, and in the shortest period of time. Hence many national governments and international bodies find it so difficult to place fossil-fuel replacement on the global agenda. It is easier to avoid this topic and talk about buffering, mitigating what are little else than subsidiary, flow-on effects and collateral outcomes of an unsolved energy conundrum: air, water and soil pollution, public health problems, deforestation or fresh water depletion. Rarely, if ever, is petroleum abuse clearly noted as a root cause. A historical revolution is in progress: the move from fossil fuels, nuclear power, and other forms of unsustainable energy use generation to a renewable and sustainable power base for urban communities, cities, towns, and villages. Many examples of positive initiatives encourage, and are testimony to the ability of cities and towns to perform as communities, and evolve into settings of greater independence from fossil and nuclear power sources. They carry the promise of greater energy autonomy based on renewable energy, of recapturing regional productivity, advancing local resources, and enabling new industries and employment opportunities. (shrink)

An energy efficiency scenario (Joint Institute for a Sustainable Energy and Environmental Future) demonstrates that an energy future built on the use of cost-effective, high-efficiency technologies is clearly within the grasp of South Korea and would justify a nuclear power moratorium with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions. This is a promising result, especially because applications of other sustainable energy options, such as renewables, decentralized technologies, material recycling/reuse, ecologically based land use planning, forest conservation, sustainable agriculture, and (...) redirection of economic development toward an environment-friendly industrial base, are not included in the analysis. Here lies one of the most fundamental policy choices of the newcentury: Will we build a sustainable energy and environmental future, or will we send forward the burdens and risks of a policy regime that is unwilling to value the future beyond the satisfaction of short-term interests and convenience? It is a critical time for South Korean policy making. (shrink)

Because it promises to benefit business and society simultaneously, strategic philanthropy might be characterized as a “happy marriage” of corporate social responsibility behavior and corporate financial performance. However, as evidence so far has been mostly anecdotal, it is important to understand to what extent empirics support the actual practice as well as value of a strategic approach, which creates both business and social impacts through corporate philanthropic activities. Utilizing data from the years 2006 to 2009 for a sample of the (...) Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which monitors the world’s most sustainable companies, the authors test a model of strategic philanthropy in which the dependent variable is evidence that a firm does or does not measure business and social impacts simultaneously. From the DJSI data, the authors find a proposed measure of overall corporate social performance to be the most important explanatory factor for engagement in strategic philanthropy. Moreover, this measure of CSP has a mediating effect on the relations between certain independent variables and strategic philanthropy. Other important findings provide support for the influence of the institutional factors industry and region on the likelihood that companies are practicing strategic philanthropy, but little effect of the business characteristics company size and profitability on that likelihood. (shrink)

In contemporary societies there is a continuous process of creation and destruction of ethics. Shared norms are fuzzy, as actors tend to share core principles but interpret them differently. In this paper we analyse three cases of ethical dispute in the agri-food sector by employing the distinction between matters of fact and matters of concern proposed by Bruno Latour. We further suggest that ethics in the agri-food industry should be considered in relation to collective goals such as sustainability and social (...) justice. To expand the role of ethics it is necessary to broaden the view on who is responsible and how for the manifold challenges faced in food production, distribution and consumption. We contend that reflections on the relationship between ethics and sustainability must go beyond an anthropocentric approach and also consider the welfare of non-human nature. Our study suggests that the boundary between politics and ethics is fluid and governing institutions have a role to play in ethicisation of food systems along with industry and civil society. Any resolution of matters of concern is neither innocent, nor impartial. Ethical responses to food system challenges are rather to be established through dialogue and alignment of ethical practices. (shrink)

The study uncovers the drama of Stei Baita (Romania), a former uranium mine, which experienced during the communism period, an intensive industrialization. This shaped the territorial pattern, cultural, economic and social relationships, with a tremendous impact on the quality of the environment which was sacrificed against a rapid of a so-called economic growth. Stei Baita is a classic example of legacy mine land and the authors aim is to capture and assess all important aspects of sustainable development within this (...) study-case of disadvantaged community living in a radon prone area. More specifically, authors introduce their responses to several questions: (1) What do we know about social, economic and environmental capital of the selected settlement?; (2) Is the legacy of a uranium mine the platform of debate for negotiating for sustainable development?; and (3) What is the role of ethics in the current context of Stei Baita? Within the framework of analysis, equity, seen as part of ethics, is valued both as the premise of the debate and mandatory requirement for human development that should target sustainability. Authors have not discussed truths, but positions on identified problems by investigating community members’ perceptions. Thus, peculiarities of this community are dealt within a thematic context (e.g., resources and environment, individual development, social system). Finally, ethics is valued as social construct built by negotiating interpretations of morally desirable situations and behaviors accepted in a particular society at a certain historical moment. This view is consistent with ethical relativism which denies the existence of a unique moral truth and which sets the understanding of Stei Baita context on the path of the “new ethics”. The “new ethics” depicts the world in nuances, allowing society to surpass obstacles to the progress of understanding. (shrink)

The unprecedented economic growth in recent decades has cultivated the exploitation of natural resources and over-consumption, leading to ecological deterioration and sustainability. The ever-increasing consumption in developing countries is creating a significant environmental strain. Thus, the industry and consumers’ environmental issues and their harmful effects on human health have led to concerns among researchers, scientists, academic communities, and policymakers. The present work examines the impact of different consumption value factors on sustainable consumption behavior concerning consumer choice in Pakistan and (...) China. A cross-sectional study is conducted, and data are collected through a primary source questionnaire. A sample of 431 respondents is chosen from different cities in Pakistan, and a sample of 342 respondents is selected from China. Estimation techniques like descriptive statistics, frequency distribution, multicollinearity, R square, independent sample t-test, the coefficient of correlation, and regression analysis are used for the data analysis. The comparative results show that knowledge values and emotional values significantly influence the choice behavior of respondents toward environmentally friendly products both in Pakistan and China. In contrast, social values and conditional values show insignificant influence. Furthermore, functional values are significant in Pakistan while insignificant in the context of China, and environmental values are significant in China although insignificant in Pakistan with regard to sustainable consumption behavior. (shrink)

BackgroundThe complexities of the workplace environment in the downstream oil and gas industry contain several safety-risk factors. In particular, instituting stringent safety standards and management procedures are considered insufficient to address workplace safety risks. Most accident cases attribute to unsafe actions and human behaviors on the job, which raises serious concerns for safety professionals from physical to psychological particularly when the world is facing a life-threatening Pandemic situation, i.e., COVID-19. It is imperative to re-examine the safety management of facilities and (...) employees’ well-being in the downstream oil and gas production sector to establish a sustainable governance system. Understanding the inherent factors better that contribute to safety behavior management could significantly improve workplace safety features.ObjectiveThis study investigates employees’ safety behavior management model for the downstream oil and gas industry to consolidate the safety, health and wellbeing of employees in times of COVID-19.MethodsNominal Group Technique was first employed to screen primary behavioral factors from 10 workplace health and safety experts from Malaysia’s downstream oil and gas industry. Consequently, 18 significant factors were identified for further inquiry. Next, the interpretive structural modeling technique was used to ascertain the complex interrelationships between these factors and proposed a Safety Behavioral Management Model for cleaner production.ResultsThis model shows that management commitment, employee knowledge and training, leadership, and regulations contribute significantly to several latent factors. Our findings support the Social Cognitive Theory, where employees, their environment, and their behaviors are related reciprocally.ConclusionIt is postulated that identifying safety factors and utilizing the proposed model guides various stakeholder groups in this industry, including practitioners and policymakers, for achieving long-term sustainability. (shrink)

This study examines the direct impact of three dimensions of the institutional environment on managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the direct influence of the latter on the environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms. We contend that when the institutional environment is perceived by owner–managers as supportive of sound natural environment management practices, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward natural environment issues and concerns. Such owner–manager attitudes are likely to lead to a positive and (...) proactive orientation of their firms toward environmental sustainability. The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms located in three Philippine cities. First, the study develops and tests the measurement models to examine the validity of the constructs representing the firm’s institutional environment, managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the ESO of firms. Second, the study develops and tests the structural models examining the institutional environment–managerial attitudes–ESO linkages. Multi-sample invariance structural model analysis shows the mediating role of managerial attitudes in the institutional environment–ESO nexus. The findings show that ESO is a construct comprising three dimensions: knowledge of environmental issues, sustainable practices and commitment toward environmental sustainability. The cognitive, regulatory and normative elements of the institutional environment are strongly linked to positive managerial attitudes toward environmental sustainability, which in turn, positively influences the firm’s overall ESO. Managerial attitudes play a mediating role in the institutional environment–ESO linkages. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the research findings are discussed. (shrink)

Electronic waste (E-waste) illustrates discarded appliances that utilize electricity for their functioning. It is one of the fastest growing waste streams across the globe. A study on the generation and management of E-waste was conducted in the city of Pune, India, involving four different stakeholders, namely, the information technology (IT) sector, banking sector, educational institutes, and households. All these stakeholders are listed by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forest as major contributors to the problem of E-waste in the country. (...) Semistructured interviews were carried out at 4 IT companies, 10 banks, 16 educational institutes, and 50 households. Results show that the generation of E-waste with respect to computer waste is highest at the IT sector, followed by the banking sector. Apart from a few exceptions, rudimentary management practices were prevalent among the stakeholders. There is a lack of awareness on concerns related to E-waste. Establishing sustainable E-waste management practices, formulation and implementation of appropriate policy initiatives, transparency in the system, and educating people on their responsibility toward global E-waste problem are essential in order to address the emerging concern of E-waste in India. (shrink)