2,970 research outputs found
Second law of thermodynamics and urban green infrastructure – A knowledge synthesis to address spatial planning strategies
Planning strategies driven by the second law of
thermodynamics (SLT) are innovative approaches to
sustainability but they are still in seminal phase. In this
article, a coupled review of SLT within spatial planning
is accomplished looking at the main applications in
urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning. In particular,
a systemic review of UGI planning and thermodynamics
has been carried out to identify all the occurrences to
date in the scientific literature. Secondly, a scoping
review of SLT-related concepts of exergy, entropy and
urban metabolism is presented in order to investigate
the main applications of, and gaps in, urban spatial
planning. Results indicate that UGI and ecosystem
service planning based on SLT is a relatively new field
of research. Moreover, some general indications are
derived for the development of spatial UGI planning
strategies based on SLT. The work then aims to
contribute to the improvement and/or development of
even more solid planning strategies supporting a SLTconscious
green transition of cities
Vision Research Agenda to 2025
The TP Organics Vision Research Agenda was prepared between June 2007 and July 2008 on the basis of wide-ranging discussions with farmers’ organizations, scientists, organic traders and retailers, and EU-wide umbrella organizations representing a variety of commercial, non-commercial and civil interests.
Up to now, research projects and national framework programmes on organic agriculture have addressed immediate technology gaps in organic agriculture and food production.
This Vision has been politically expedient and has given rise to a greater number of producers and professional skills for the task of serving unexpectedly fast growing consumer driven markets. Thus, many organic research projects had a short term perspective only. In contrast to this, our vision takes a long-term perspective on the research needs of organic agriculture and food systems. The three strategic research priorities presented in the vision focus in particular on the inconsistencies between economy, ecology and social cohesion in agriculture and food production and propose research activities and insightful learning concepts for organic and other farming systems
One model to fit all? The pursuit of integrated earth system models in GAIM and AIMES
Images of Earth from space popularized the view of our planet as a single, fragile entity against the vastness and darkness of space. In the 1980s, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) was set up to produce a predictive understanding of this fragile entity as the ‘Earth System.’ In order to do so, the program sought to create a common research framework for the different disciplines involved. It suggested that integrated numerical models could provide such a framework. The paper historicizes the formation of the present ways of thinking about how the components are combined to produce policy-relevant knowledge about the ‘Earth System.’ The empirical basis consists of project documentation, publications and interviews from the Task Force on Global Analysis, Interpretation and Modelling (GAIM) and the project Analysis, Integration and Modelling of the Earth System (AIMES). Within the IGBP GAIM and AIMES fostered the advancement of ‘Earth System’ modeling. The paper divides the development of ‘Earth System’ modeling up into three phases. Research of the first phase mainly concerned the interpretation of model behavior (1984-1997), in the second phase integration and ‘Earth System’ analysis was placed at the center of research efforts (1998-2003). In the third phase AIMES scientists explored the consequences of incorporating humans as a dynamic component in the ‘Earth System’ (2004-). This transition shows that redefining the global environment in increasingly complex terms altered the role of modelers and predictability of the ‘Earth System.
Barry Turner: The under-acknowledged safety pioneer
Barry Turner’s 1978 Man-made Disasters and Charles Perrow’s 1984 Normal Accidents were seminal books but a detailed comparison has yet to be undertaken. Doing so is important to establish content and priority of key ideas underpinning contemporary safety science. Turner’s research found socio-technical and systemic patterns that meant that major organisational disasters could be foreseen and were preventable. Perrow’s macro-structuralist industry focus was on technologically deterministic but unpredictable and unpreventable “system” accidents, particularly rare catastrophes. Andrew Hopkins and Nick Pidgeon respectively suggested that some prominent writers who wrote after Turner may not have been aware of, or did not properly acknowledge, Turner’s work. Using a methodology involving systematic reading and historical, biographical and thematic theory analysis, a detailed review of Turner’s and Perrow’s backgrounds and publications sheds new light on Turner’s priority and accomplishment, highlighting substantial similarities as well as clear differences. Normal Accidents did not cite Turner in 1984 or when republished with major additions in 1999. Turner became better known after a 1997 second edition of Man-made Disasters but under-acknowledgment issues by Perrow and others continued. Ethical citation and potential reasons for under-acknowledgment are discussed together with lessons applicable more broadly. It is concluded that Turner’s foundational importance for safety science should be better recognised
What is Uncertainty and Why Does it Matter?
Uncertainty defines our times. Whether it is in relation to climate change, disease outbreaks, financial volatility, natural disasters or political settlements, every media headline seems to assert that things are uncertain, and increasingly so. Uncertainty, where we do not know the probabilities of either likelihoods or outcomes, is different to risk, the implications of which are explored in this paper through five different ways of thinking about uncertainty, derived from highly diverse literatures encompassing
societal, political, cultural, practice and individual perspectives.
The paper continues by examining how these perspectives relate to four domains: finance and banking;
critical infrastructures; disease outbreaks and climate change; natural hazards and disasters. Reflecting
on these experiences, the paper argues that embracing uncertainty raises some fundamental
challenges. It means questioning simple, linear perspectives on modernity and progress. It means
rethinking expertise and including diverse knowledges in deliberations about the future. It means
understanding how uncertainties emerge in social, political and economic contexts, and how
uncertainties affect different people, depending on class, gender, race, age and other dimensions of
social difference. And, if uncertainty is not reducible to probabilistic risk, it means a radically different
approach to governance; one that rejects control-oriented, technocratic approaches in favour of more
tentative, adaptive, hopeful and caring responses.
The paper concludes by asking whether we can learn from those who live with and from uncertainty –
including pastoralists in marginal settings – as part of a wider conversation about embracing
uncertainties to meet the challenges of our turbulent world
Evaluation of the main achievements of cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions (from 1989-1993 programme period to the present)
Against a background of inconclusive evidence of the results of EU Cohesion policy since 1989, the aim of this study has been to evaluate the main achievements of EU Cohesion policy programmes and projects and their effectiveness and utility over the longer term in 15 selected regions of the EU15. Specifically, the main objectives of the study were twofold: (i) to examine the achievements of all programmes co-financed by the ERDF and, where applicable, the Cohesion Fund, which have been implemented in the 15 selected regions from 1989 to 2012 (regional programmes and national programmes implemented in the regions); and (ii) to assess the relevance of programmes and the effectiveness and utility of programme achievement
Capacity Factors for Urban Sustainability Transformations – The Eco-capital Suwon in South Korea
South Korean cities have experienced remarkable economic growth starting from the 1980s, characterised by energy-dependent models coupled with a rapid, dense urbanisation process. This growth model has incrementally induced carbon-intensive urban structures that have consequently produced socio-environmental degradation and severe challenges to sustainability. A range of efforts to solve such challenges has not succeeded in breaking strong path-dependencies on existing unsustainable structures, and this concern has raised the necessity to develop a new urban approach towards sustainability.
Given that concern, a growing body of literature has endeavoured to understand the processes of ‘sustainability transformations’, and shares an underlying assumption that such change co-evolves with societal agency that collectively creates networks, within which decisions and strategies are developed, negotiated, and implemented. This recognition has raised the essential question about which factors are required for the agency to initiate and perform such transformations in the process of urban development. Against this background, this research aims to examine factors that critically influence the emergence of urban transformation processes by exploring interrelations that appear between them. In particular, the research focuses on the critical role of governance characteristics to influence the emergence of transformation factors.
In order to explore the factors in practice, a case study is conducted through document analysis and in-depth interviews. The real-world case selected in this research is the Eco-capital Suwon in South Korea, a pioneering model of sustainability-oriented urban development that employs a set of transformative experiments across action domains. Additionally, this case is critical in that its wider context—in which a more state government-led, centralised practice is dominant—would generate abundant dynamics of interactions across administrative scale levels. In order to scrutinise the factors that are employed not only in the Eco-capital in general but more specifically in its different projects, the research selects three projects as the sub-cases based on the different governance characteristics, as well as action domains. The three selected projects cover the domains of (rain) water management, green transportation, and renewable (solar) energy, which display multiple, unique forms of participation of (inter)national/urban/neighbourhood-scale agency from the public and private sector, academia and research institutes, civil society, and Suwon’s individual citizens and residents. The research has derived the primary findings: 1) ‘Inclusive governance’ encompasses collaborative actor networks and partnerships; and 2) Intermediaries working across different domains and scale levels condition the emergence and characteristics of agency-related factors for urban transformations.
The research makes a set of contributions not only to theoretical discussions on urban transformation, but also to policy and practice in urban governance and planning. First, the selected case and its analytical design help to display: 1) a less explored phenomenon where cross-scalar interactions are often constrained by wider political systems (‘why cross-scalar interactions could not occur’); and 2) a clearer understanding of the geographical unit that is advantageous for the emergence of multi-system transformations (where multi-system transformations could occur). Second, the empirical findings shed light on discussions surrounding urban transformation by verifying arguments about the significance of governance characteristics. In addition, the case analysis suggests shifting from domain-specific transformations to domain-transecting, co-evolutionary transformations, such as a water-energy nexus approach. By extension, the research provides a set of policy recommendations to accelerate urban transformations. Finally, the research suggests options for future comparative studies on how ‘place’ conditions reconfiguration dynamics in urban development.:Acknowledgements
Declaration of authorship
Executive summary
Table of contents
List of tables
List of figures
Abbreviations
Notes on the presentation of findings
1. Introduction
2. Capacity factors for urban sustainability transformation
2.1 Cities for sustainability
2.2 Urban sustainability transformations
2.3 Agency-related capacity factors for urban transformations
2.4 Raising questions
3. Methodology
3.1 Research design
3.2 Research methods
4. Case study of the Eco-capital Suwon
4.1 Suwon city: main characteristics
4.2 The Eco-capital Suwon for urban transformations
5. Agency and governance characteristics
5.1 Inclusive governance at the centre of transformations
5.2 Transformative leadership arising from diverse sectors
5.3 Communities of ‘practice’ beyond a network
5.4 Conclusions
6. Knowledge and social learning through interaction
6.1 New knowledge on systemic dynamics and its application to
governance structures and institutions
6.2 (Co-)production of knowledge and transitional goals for the urban future
6.3 Social learning that leads to change
6.4 Conclusions
7. Community-based innovation and enabling environment for its acceleration
7.1 Neighbourhood-scale activities by communities of practice
7.2 Supportive regulatory framework and inclusive planning
for community-based activities
7.3 Conclusions
8. Multi-dimensional processes of systems change
8.1 Diverse levels of agency with different contributions
8.2 Trans-scale and cross-scale dynamics
8.3 Conclusions
9. Conclusions
Appendix 1 Summary of interviewees
Appendix 2 South Korea’s local government system (as of 2018)
Appendix 3 Overview of participatory programmes of Suwon
Appendix 4 Studies on urban transformative capacity
Reference
Local and regional desertification indicators in a global perspective: Seminar proceedings
This volume contains the proceedings of the International Seminar on Local and Regional
Desertification Indicators in a Global Perspective held in Beijing, China, in May 2005.
Aim of the seminar was to provide a precious opportunity to exchange information and experiences
about the identification and use of desertification B&I among representatives of UNCCD Annexes,
while contributing to strengthen linkages among them and exploring possible synergies.
The seminar was organised in the framework of the AIDCCD project (Active Exchange of
Experiences on Indicators and Development of Perspective in the Context of UNCCD), aiming at
developing and co-ordinating exchange of experience across the world among institutions involved in
the implementation of the UNCCD regional Annexes
Challenges, consultations and concepts : preparing for the cohesion policy debate
This paper discusses preparing for the cohesion policy debate, in particular the challenges, the consulations and the concepts. It was presented at the 30th meeting of the European Regional Policy Research Consortium (EoRPA) in October 2009
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