Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed

Segmenting Publics

This research synthesis was commissioned by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to examine audience segmentation methods and tools in the area of public engagement. It provides resources for assessing the ways in which segmentation tools might be used to enhance the various activities through which models of public engagement in higher education are implemented. Understanding the opinions, values, and motivations of members of the public is a crucial feature of successful engagement. Segmentation methods can offer potential resources to help understand the complex set of interests and attitudes that the public have towards higher education. Key findings: There exist a number of existing segmentations which address many of the areas of activity found in Universities and HEIs. These include segmentations which inform strategic planning of communications; segmentations which inform the design of collaborative engagement activities by museums, galleries, and libraries; and segmentations that are used to identify under-represented users and consumers. Segmentation is, on its own, only a tool, used in different ways in different contexts. The broader strategic rationale shaping the application and design of segmentation methods is a crucial factor in determining the utility of segmentation tools. Four issues emerged of particular importance: 1. Segmentation exercises are costly and technically complex. Undertaking segmentations therefore requires significant commitment of financial and professional resources by HEIs; the appropriate interpretation, analysis, and application of segmentation exercises also require high levels of professional capacity and expertise 2. Undertaking a segmentation exercise has implications for the internal organisational operations of HEIs, not only for how they engage with external publics and stakeholders 3. Segmentation tools are adopted to inform interventions of various sorts, and superficially to differentiate and sometime discriminate between how groups of people are addressed and engaged. 4. For HEIs, the ethical issues and reputational risks which have been identified in this Research Synthesis as endemic to the application of segmentation methods for public purposes are particularly relevant

Interactive Demand Shifting in the context of Domestic Micro-Generation

The combination of ubiquitous computing and emerging energy technologies is radically changing the home energy landscape. Domestic micro-generation, dominated by solar photovoltaic, is increasing at a rapid pace. This represents an opportunity for creating and altering energy behaviours. However, these transformations generate new challenges that we call the domestic energy gap: domestic electricity consumption and microgeneration are out of sync. Micro-generation is mainly uncontrollable production relying on weather while domestic energy consumption tends to happen mostly during the evening. This thesis focuses on understanding and supporting new domestic practices in the context of domestic solar electricity generation, looking at ‘Demand-Shifting’. Specifically, we look at how can digital tools leverage Demand-Shifting practices in the context of domestic micro-generation? Relying on a mixed-method approach, we provide a qualitative and quantitative answer with the collaboration of 38 participating households in several field studies including two spanning more than eight months. Through a deep investigation of laundry and electric mobility routines in the context of domestic micro-generation, we emphasised a natural engagement into Demand-Shifting which appeared as a complex and time-consuming task for participants which was not visible when we analysed their quantitative data. We revealed this complexity through Participatory Data Analyses, a method we designed to analyse the data in collaboration with the participating householders. This provided us with a comprehensive view of the relationship between domestic micro-generation and daily routines. Finally, we highlight the need for timely and contextual support through the deployment of interventions in-the-wild. Building on discussions of our findings in perspective of the literature, we propose a conceptual framework to support domestic interactive Demand-Shifting

Development of Sustainable Methodologies in Product Design, Manufacturing and Education

The influence of sustainability in product design and manufacturing processes can be considered from two different points of view: the design of sustainable products and the sustainable manufacturing of those products. Of course, a basic assumption for the aforementioned elements to be realized is the appropriate training and education for sustainability of the young designers and engineers. In this research, sustainability has been applied to many fields, including design, manufacturing and education acting as an umbrella which covers all the three elements and has as the main target to promote sustainability. In today’s world, in which a considerable number of contrasting signs reveal that our society is currently contributing to the planet’s collapse, a new kind of engineer is needed, an engineer who is fully aware of what is going on in society and who has the skills to deal with aspects of sustainability. According to the literature review on the state-of-the-art associated to the subject, in the current research were developed tools and methodologies for the promotion of sustainability aspects that are related to product design, manufacturing and education. Product DesignThe research work was based on a framework, which was built according to the direct communication between users and designers. There is a need for a cultural transformation, which can be focused on consumers and promote the needed behavioural change. Moreover there is a need for a cultural transformation on the role of designers and engineers to the product design process, with an aim to address sustainability as well as emerging priorities from societal to environmental challenges. New tools and methodologies were generated, in order to promote sustainability to the users/citizens bringing them inside to the product design process, giving them the opportunity to be a vital part of it. ManufacturingSustainable manufacturing faces new challenges for developing predictive models and optimization techniques in order to produce more products. The first part of the current is related to the drilling process and cutting tool technology. The creation of mathematical models focused on maximization of productivity and cost reduction by identifying crucial parameters and processes influencing manufacturing effectiveness. The second part of the current research is associated to the development of models used by CAD/ CAM that allow a rapid improvement and an efficient design and manufacture.EducationThe third aspect of the research is associated with the education related to sustainability. The engineering students should develop sustainability competences such as critical thinking, systemic thinking, obtaining values consistent with the sustainability paradigm, except of just taking a course on sustainability, focus on the technological role of sustainability. Focus on that the current research was based on sustainable characteristics such as a) remote control freeware applications, b) share of valuable resources, c) distance learning methodology and d) active participation of the students.<br /

Responding to Climate Change: The Economy and Economics - Part of the Problem and Solution

The Climate Change Starter’s Guide provides an introduction and overview for education planners and practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education, including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and economic principles. The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education into school curricula. It has been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans. The guide covers four major thematic areas: 1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes; 2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and ethics; 3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and 4. education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable lifestyles. A selection of key resources in the form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided after each of the thematic sections

The Study of Sapcelog Technologies and Services in Robot-integrated Smart Spaces

研究成果の概要 (和文) : スペースログとは、実空間中に敷設したセンサ群を介して取得した多種多様なデータを常時収集したものである。この研究の成果は,スペースログの計測や保存に必要となる機器を操作可能なフレームワークの構築,スペースログの表示や検索に必要な新たなアプローチの研究,試験のために家や研究室などを用いて具体的なアプリケーションを用いておこなうスペースログの実証実験,提案したフレームワークやアプローチの評価や改善である.研究成果の概要 (英文) : Spacelog is a continuous collection of different kinds of data related to multiple entities via various sensors distributed in a real spatial environment such as a home and a laboratory. Through our research, a general framework has been built to connect heterogeneous devices for spacelog sensing and keeping, new approaches are studied for spacelog representations and retrievals, and concrete prototypes of spacelog applications in testing home and laboratory environments are developed for experiments, evaluations and improvements of the proposed framework and related approaches

Greener pastures of home: an ethnographic study on everyday sustainable practices in Nyanga, Cape Town

Most contemporary urban development in cities of the global South is responding to rapid urbanisation caused by prospects of employment opportunities and improved quality of life. Research in the field of sustainability in cities of the global South mainly focuses on economic and social development goals. However, there is an emerging sense that an appreciation of ordinary, everyday practices at the level of the community is important for developing a nuanced understanding of what sustainability might be in Southern cities. There is agreement on the need to pay attention to social and cultural practices in urban sustainability literature; yet relatively little research in the field engages closely with everyday practices at the level of neighbourhoods or communities. This is particularly true in the global South, and especially in low-income urban neighbourhoods, where developmentalist agendas dominate both academic and policy-related research. My thesis addresses this gap through an exploration of a wide range of everyday practices in a lowincome, peri-urban area, which happen to have sustainable effects. Analysing ethnographic data collected over nine months in the Cape Town township of Nyanga, I find that the desire of urban residents to create spaces of home and belonging drives behaviour that in fact has positive sustainable outcomes, yet is seldom considered in literature on sustainable cities. I argue that paying attention to how ordinary citizens ‘make home', specifically by (i) drawing on memories, (ii) developing livelihoods, and (iii) building social relations can enrich understanding not only of economic and social development but also of the complex ways in which social and environmental sustainability are already intertwined in everyday practice. Facilitating sustainable spaces in cities of the global South, therefore, requires critical engagement with the practices that are already taking place in urban residents' everyday lives