State — Region — Branch — Enterprise: System Sustainability Framework of the Russian Economy

This paper investigates sustainability factors of the Russian economy as a multi-level, multi-entity and multi-aspect socio-economic system from the system perspective. The economic system sustainability concept is formulated as an ability to maintain preconditions for the development by supporting and effective using of economic system structure. The leading role of the community of economic entities at different levels (including the state as the entity of international relations, regions as the entities of Federation, enterprises as the business entities) in the economic sustainability is demonstrated. The necessity of the economic entity network “extension” by strengthening the sustainability of economic sectors is emphasized. The research into the internal basic system structure of an economic entity and external structure of its immediate surroundings in socio-economic, administrative-and-managerial and market environments using the results of the new economic systems theory contributes the evidence of the similarity of these structures to the conclusion. It is shown that each of the systems includes (together with an entity itself) four systems of different types (object, environment, process and project). The entity’s system environment has the same structure in administrative-and-managerial interlevel interactions. This makes it possible to combine the problem of the entity’s sustainability and the issue of the balanced system structures forming the economic entities’ internal and external environments. The method of calculating the index of such balanced systems is given. Recommendations on the selection of economic policy measures aimed at ensuring system sustainability of the Russian economy in the period of crisis are provided. It is shown that such a policy should be carried out in accordance with the principles of economic entity protection; balanced system of the economic entities’ internal and external environment; economic entities’ corporate solidarity regardless of their level in the management hierarchy.This article is supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant, project No. 14-18-02294

Social-ecological analysis of climate induced changes in biodiversity – outline of a research concept

The interactions of changes in climate and biodiversity with societal actions, structures and processes are a priority topic within the international scientific debate – and thus, a relevant subject matter for BiKF’s work. This paper outlines a concept for transdisciplinary research within BiKF. It focuses on the analysis of social-ecological systems supporting society with biodiversity driven ecosystem services. Such research is considering different issues: defining sustainable societal adaptations to climate induced biodiversity changes; permitting adequate understanding of the social-ecological reproduction of ecosystem functions, including their conservation and restoration; analysing the societal values and socio-economic utilisation of ecosystem services. Gaining knowledge in these areas provides an improved basis for decision-making in biodiversity and resource management

Sustainability and change in the institutionalized commute in Belgium: exploring regional differences

This paper examines regional differences in commute-energy performance in Belgium, and explores their relationships with spatial characteristics such as the distribution of population and housing, the metropolitan influence of the Brussels agglomeration, and the compactness of cities and towns. We also investigate contradictions between Belgian state-wide commute policy and regional differences in average commuting distance and mode choice. Against a background of long-term federal measures that traditionally encourage long-distance commuting in Belgium, we find striking discrepancies between the structure and the development of commuting patterns in the three administrative regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Residents of Brussels show the most sustainable commuting patterns, due to the metropolitan spatial structure. Residents of Wallonia represent the least sustainable commute. Given the rather weak regional economy of Wallonia compared with Flanders, commuters must frequently seek employment far from their residence. Population changes and consequent developments in the housing market seem to exacerbate this competitive disadvantage, since most growth occurs in relatively remote rural areas that are nevertheless within reach of the main employment centres

From buildings to cities: techniques for the multi-scale analysis of urban form and function

The built environment is a significant factor in many urban processes, yet direct measures of built form are seldom used in geographical studies. Representation and analysis of urban form and function could provide new insights and improve the evidence base for research. So far progress has been slow due to limited data availability, computational demands, and a lack of methods to integrate built environment data with aggregate geographical analysis. Spatial data and computational improvements are overcoming some of these problems, but there remains a need for techniques to process and aggregate urban form data. Here we develop a Built Environment Model of urban function and dwelling type classifications for Greater London, based on detailed topographic and address-based data (sourced from Ordnance Survey MasterMap). The multi-scale approach allows the Built Environment Model to be viewed at fine-scales for local planning contexts, and at city-wide scales for aggregate geographical analysis, allowing an improved understanding of urban processes. This flexibility is illustrated in the two examples, that of urban function and residential type analysis, where both local-scale urban clustering and city-wide trends in density and agglomeration are shown. While we demonstrate the multi-scale Built Environment Model to be a viable approach, a number of accuracy issues are identified, including the limitations of 2D data, inaccuracies in commercial function data and problems with temporal attribution. These limitations currently restrict the more advanced applications of the Built Environment Model

Spatial sustainability in cities: organic patterns and sustainable forms

Because the complexity of cities seems to defy description, planners and urban designers have always been forced to work with simplified concepts of the city. Drawn from natural language, these concepts emphasize clear hierarchies, regular geometries and the separation of parts from wholes, all seemingly at variance with the less orderly complexity of most real cities. Such concepts are now dominating the debate about sustainability in cities. Here it is argued that space syntax has now brought to light key underlying structures in the city, which have a direct bearing on sustainability in that they seem to show that the spatial form of the self-organised city, as a foreground network of linked centres at all scales set into a background network of mainly residential space, is already a reflection of the relations between environmental, economic and socio-cultural forces, that is between the three domains of sustainability. Evidence that this is so in all three domains is drawn from recent and new research, and a concept of spatial sustainability is proposed focused on the structure of the primary spatial structure of the city, the street network

“Just” ecopreneurs: re-conceptualising green transitions and entrepreneurship

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Economic, environmental, and social limits of the current capitalist mode of production have led to a rethinking and reconceptualisation of economic processes and models including the role of businesses in sustainable development. While green economies and more specifically green entrepreneurs have been identified as agents of change that can challenge the mainstream and seek to induce environmental, social, and ethical transformation of society, much research has stayed within existing models of thinking predominantly rooted in technocratic approaches (e.g. ecological modernisation and more recently transition studies). This paper seeks to offer an alternative understanding of green entrepreneurship that breaks open these discussions using an environmental justice frame that focuses on the role of extra-economic discourses in shaping the social relations of economic systems. By drawing on an exemplary case study of “just” entrepreneurship from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the paper seeks to start a conversation around the ideas of green entrepreneurship and environmental justice as vehicles to deliver potentially broader system changes and explores both conceptual and practical aspects of green development. As such, it offers (1) evidence of a just green economy that can be realised within existing capitalist structures as well as (2) a different conceptual entry point to understanding green entrepreneurship