Discovering sustainability: A transition approach towards sustainable development

Abstract The concepts of transition and transition management offer a fruitful context for cooperation and debate among scientists, policy makers, and corporate actors. Transition management and transition approach in general provide an integrative approach to analyze and formulate an unconventional pathway towards sustainability. Transitions’ approach is not to achieve fixed goals, but to gradually work towards common ambitions through innovation, integration, and co-evolution. A transition to sustainability is an open-ended societal process of fundamental change in structure, culture and practices that comply with the sustainability values. In this paper we address not only what is a transitions’ approach, but also what transition management can offer to policy makers who position sustainability at the core of the development. Process-oriented tenets of transition management as well as propositions in face of global and local challenges to sustainability are analyzed

Greening the state for a sustainable political economy

The intensifying global ecological crisis is, by any measure, among the defining political economy issues of our epoch. Questions concerning the state have recently returned to prominence in the field of environmental politics, offering a productive meeting point for research addressing environmental politics and that addressing the political economy of state transformation. The papers in this section all approach the question of the state and its relationship to ecological crisis from a political-economic perspective, foregrounding its relationship to the broader political-economic model in which it is situated. This short article introduces the four contributions to the special section and situates them amidst the broader contemporary research literature

Counter-propagating radiative shock experiments on the Orion laser and the formation of radiative precursors

We present results from new experiments to study the dynamics of radiative shocks, reverse shocks and radiative precursors. Laser ablation of a solid piston by the Orion high-power laser at AWE Aldermaston UK was used to drive radiative shocks into a gas cell initially pressurised between $0.1$ and $1.0 \ bar with different noble gases. Shocks propagated at {80 \pm 10 \ km/s} and experienced strong radiative cooling resulting in post-shock compressions of { \times 25 \pm 2}. A combination of X-ray backlighting, optical self-emission streak imaging and interferometry (multi-frame and streak imaging) were used to simultaneously study both the shock front and the radiative precursor. These experiments present a new configuration to produce counter-propagating radiative shocks, allowing for the study of reverse shocks and providing a unique platform for numerical validation. In addition, the radiative shocks were able to expand freely into a large gas volume without being confined by the walls of the gas cell. This allows for 3-D effects of the shocks to be studied which, in principle, could lead to a more direct comparison to astrophysical phenomena. By maintaining a constant mass density between different gas fills the shocks evolved with similar hydrodynamics but the radiative precursor was found to extend significantly further in higher atomic number gases (\sim$$4$ times further in xenon than neon). Finally, 1-D and 2-D radiative-hydrodynamic simulations are presented showing good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: HEDLA 2016 conference proceeding

Carbon regulation and pathways for institutional transition in market-led housing systems : a case study of English housebuilders and zero carbon housing policy

In this paper, we argue that current research on carbon regulation neglects the complex interactions of institutional norms and market behaviour that characterise responses to regulatory change. We draw on empirical research undertaken with English housebuilders and housing market stakeholders to examine how transitional pathways towards a low-carbon housing future might be advanced and consider the implications of such for carbon regulation and low-carbon economies. Our core proposition is that carbon regulation research can no longer ignore the impact of institutionally constituted market behaviour in shaping pathways and transitions towards low-carbon futures

Developing Objective Metrics for Unit Staffing (DOMUS) study

OBJECTIVE: Safe midwifery staffing levels on delivery suites is a priority area for any maternity service. Escalation policies are tools that provide an operational response to emergency pressures. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using a scoring system to contemporaneously assess the required staffing level based on demand and use this to determine delivery suite escalation level and utilise the information generated regarding clinical activity (Demand) and staffing levels (Capacity) to generate unit-specific calculation for the actual number of midwifery staff required. SETTING: A maternity unit of a university-affiliated tertiary referral hospital. DESIGN: Over a 12-month period, specifically designed scoring sheets were completed by delivery suite shift co-ordinators four times a day (04:00, 10:00, 16:00 and 22:00). Based on the dependency score (Demand) and the number of midwifery staff available (Capacity), an escalation level was determined for each shift. The 80th centile of the demand was used to determine optimal capacity. RESULTS: A total of 1160 scoring sheets were completed. Average staff number throughout the year on any shift was 7 (range 3–11). Average dependency score was 7 (range 1–14). The 80th centile for demand was calculated to be 11. CONCLUSIONS: This study stresses the importance and usefulness of a simple tool that can be used to determine the level of escalation on delivery suite based on an objective scoring system and can also be used to determine the appropriate staffing on delivery suite

In search of green political economy: steering markets, innovation and the case of the zero carbon homes agenda in England

Advocates of a democratic ‘Green state’ challenge Hayekian free-market environmentalist proposals for a minimal state and the emphasis of ecological modernisation discourses on technological innovation as the primary route towards ecological sustainability. However, these more strongly pro-market traditions raise important questions and provide useful insights concerning the challenges of translating the political ideology of ‘ecologism’ into practical proposals for democratic governance. Hayekian thought raises vital questions concerning the capacity of political processes to address complex challenges of coordinating the formulation and delivery of the sustainability objectives of ecologism. Scholarship on ecological modernisation and the ‘new regulation’ offer important insights into how shifting interrelationships between the state and private sector in the policy process might enable this challenge to be more effectively addressed. These areas for further developing proposals for a Green state are illustrated here through a case study of the zero carbon homes policy agenda in England

Why a clearer ‘green industrial policy’ matters for India: Reconciling growth, climate change and inequality

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. To ensure a healthy growth of the economy particularly in the manufacturing sector, the Indian Government is more than ever focussed on promoting the use of sustainable and affordable energy resources. Recent initiatives such as the Solar Cities Development Programme are a good example. However, in order for these initiatives to gain legitimacy as part of a new ‘green industrial policy’, the Indian Government needs to do more, especially by bringing on board strategies for combating poverty within the gamut of this emerging ‘green industrial policy’ as well as to re-think India’s position on global conventions on climate change

The Influence of Scale Preferences on the Design of a Water Innovation: A Case in Dutch River Management

The debate on scale use in river management focuses primarily on the (lack of) fit between the bio-geophysical and institutional systems. However, in this article we focus on the ‘subjective’ aspect of scale preferences in water governance. We apply an adapted version of the Integrated Scale Hierarchy for Rivers to determine the degree of fit between the scale preferences of the actors involved in a Dutch case study and the scale requirements of the innovative river management concept. This allows us to understand which riverine processes and characteristics are regarded as important by the different actors and to identify mismatches in scale perspectives as they manifest themselves in water management practice. We discover that inflexibility in scale use on the part of the involved actors places bounds on the design and quality of interventions and demonstrate that a more flexible use of scales in the design phase of a river management intervention has the potential to lead to more effective solutions

Assessing the Dutch energy transition policy: how does it deal with dilemmas of managing transitions?

ABSTRACT In the Netherlands, the national government is committed towards altering the systems of energy, transport and agriculture in the name of sustainable development. A process of deliberation and change was started\xe2\x80\x94aimed at achieving \xe2\x80\x98transitions\xe2\x80\x99\xe2\x80\x94using a model of transition management. This paper examines how the new arrangements of governance for energy transition deal with six problems of steering: ambivalence about goals, uncertainty about cause\xe2\x80\x93effect relations, distributed power of control, political myopia, determination of short-term steps for long-term change and the danger of lock-in to new systems. The Dutch experience shows that transition management is applied in ways different from the original model (established players play a too great role) but it appears a useful model of reflexive governance, combining advantages of incremental politics with those of planning. It helps to orientate innovation policy and sectoral policies to sustainable development goals and to exploit business interests in system innovations in a prudent manner