Digital sustainability: basic conditions for sustainable digital artifacts and their ecosystems

The modern age has heralded a shift from the industrial society, in which natural resources are crucial input factors for the economy, towards a knowledge society. To date, sustainability literature has treated knowledge—and in particular digital artifacts—mainly as a means to the end of achieving sustainable development. In this conceptual paper, we argue that digital artifacts themselves ought also to be considered as resources, which also need to be sustainable. While over-consumption is a problem facing natural resources, with sustainable digital artifacts, underproduction, and underuse are the biggest challenges. In our view, the sustainability of digital artifacts improves their potential impact on sustainable development. A theoretical foundation for digital artifacts and their ecosystem allows us to present the relevant research on digital information, knowledge management, digital goods, and innovation literature. Based on these insights, we propose ten basic conditions for sustainable digital artifacts and their ecosystem to ensure that they provide the greatest possible benefit for sustainable development. We then apply those characteristics to four exemplary cases: Linux kernel development, Bitcoin cryptocurrency, the Wikipedia project, and the Linking Open Drug Data repositories. The paper concludes with a research agenda identifying topics for sustainability scholars and information systems academics, as well as practitioners. A number of suggestions for future studies on digital sustainability are also put forward.     

Determination of appropriate service quality attributes for household toilets in rural settlements of India based on user perception

In many developing countries, including India, governments have implemented programs for improvement of environment and health in rural settlements through the provision of a subsidized household toilet with specifications selected and benchmarked from the experts’ perspective with only partial consideration of users’ perception. Provision of household toilets with specifications or service quality as perceived by users is a requirement for the sustainability and sustained use of toilet infrastructure. Users do not judge only the overall quality of a service but also base their judgment on a few attributes which are either perceived to be relatively more important or where there is a wider gap between expectation and perception . This paper presents a review of the service quality attributes of the household toilet as found in the relevant literature and provides a step-by-step approach for identifying appropriate attributes based on users’ perspective. While an initial list of attributes was developed based on literature review, initial selection and modifications of the attributes’ definition and units were carried out as per our judgment. This list was further modified through focus groups discussions and incorporating expert opinions. The final list of attributes is selected based on the stated importance level of attributes as perceived by users. The study finds that the attributes prioritized by the users are different from the experts. While government policies emphasize on the construction of toilet, maintenance of toilet is found an important issue for the users.     

Multiscale Methodological Framework to Derive Criteria and Indicators for Sustainability Evaluation of Peasant Natural Resource Management Systems

Design and implementation of more sustainable natural resource management systems is the current objective of many research institutions, development agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders. But, how to assess whether a system is sustainable? How do we know whether the alternatives designed will increase the sustainability of the system? How to evaluate or assess the sustainability of natural resource management systems?In this paper we present a multiscale methodological framework for sustainability evaluation. The framework is based on a systems approach from which five general attributes of sustainable natural resource management systems are defined based on scale- and discipline-independent properties (productivity, stability, resilience, reliability and adaptability).A general operational strategy to derive ‘site-specific’ criteria and indicators for the attributes at different scales is also presented. This strategy is based on the definition of ‘impact scales’, at which the different stakeholders can or want to design alternatives, as well as the main stakeholders’ objectives and constraints. The application of the multiscale framework is illustrated with a case study in the Purhepecha Region of Michoacán, a peasant mountainous region in the west of Mexico. We used stakeholder consultation to identify the main objectives and constraints as well as to select criteria and indicators. The sets of criteria and indicators suggested for the different scales of analysis of the Purhepecha Region are comprehensive, yet not exhaustive, and represent the main issues related to natural resource management in the region. Further work will be directed towards the quantification of indicators at different scales and their relationships and trade-offs.     

Environmental sustainability practices in South Asian university campuses: an exploratory study on Bangladeshi universities

Environmental sustainability practices in universities can play an important role in helping society form a sustainable future. In this study, the roles that Bangladeshi universities play in terms of sustainability practices on their campuses are scrutinized, as well as the challenges these universities face. The existing research on campus sustainability practices in Asia is reviewed, and a new exploratory study is put forth on environmental sustainability practices in the higher education institutions of a developing country—Bangladesh. The Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework used in Canadian universities was taken as basis for determining potential environmental management indicators. Results show that environmental management practices (i.e., environmental education, research, governance and operations) are present only to a very limited extent in higher education institutions in Bangladesh.     

Structuring complexity for tailoring research contributions to sustainable development: a framework

Research aiming at generating effective contributions to sustainable development faces particular complexity related challenges. This article proposes an analytical framework disentangling and structuring complexity issues with which research for sustainable development is confronted. Based on theoretical conceptions from fields like policy sciences and transdisciplinary research as well as on an in-depth analysis of the concept of sustainable development, three meta-perspectives on research for sustainable development are introduced and elaborated. The first perspective focuses on notions of sustainable development, sorting out the problem of unclear or ambiguous interpretations of the general sustainability objectives in specific contexts. The second perspective introduces a broad conception of the policy process representing the way societal change towards sustainable development is brought about. It supports identifying those academic and non-academic actors and stakeholders that are relevant for coming up with effective knowledge contributions. The third perspective identifies different forms of knowledge that are needed to tackle sustainability problems as well as the significance of their mutual interrelations. How the framework perspectives support reflecting on the fundamental complexity issues research for sustainable development is confronted with is illustrated using a case example from natural scientific research in the field of land use. We argue that meeting the complexity inherent in the concept of sustainable development requires joint learning in policy processes, working out shared visions being in line with the core objectives of sustainable development and generating knowledge about empirical, normative and pragmatic aspects.     

Towards implementation and achievement of sustainable biofuel development in Africa

Although sustainable bioenergy development in Africa is critically debated, if projects are developed within a credible framework, opportunities for sustainability arguably can arise. This paper presents research on the characteristics of sustainable biofuel projects as provided in the literature and according to expert opinions obtained by way of a survey involving thirty-eight international experts. Participants were selected for their expertise in the fields of environmental, social and economic sustainability relating to biofuels in Africa. The survey results suggest that projects which display a high degree of transparency, incorporate local stakeholder involvement, and ideally include local villagers as partners are more likely to achieve sustainable biofuel production. Experts also indicated that reconciling diverse stakeholder objectives alongside the principles of sustainable development remains an ongoing challenge. A process is recommended for sustainable biofuel development, which attempts to harmonise efficiency, stakeholder interaction and the integration of diverse stakeholder perspectives. To support the process, it is recommended that an advisory/mediating body that acts according to best practice principles would be of great assistance. Such an advisory/mediating body would be conversant with local land, social, economic and environmental conditions, project sustainability and administration, and also advise on biofuel framework educational needs.     

Indigenous African building techniques and the prospects for sustainable housing and environmental development

In this paper, sustainability is examined as one of the objectives of enabling man in a preserved, efficient and enduring world environment. Thus, sustainable housing and environmental development is conceptualized as a building or shelter provided through judicious, selective sourcing, processing and use of building materials to satisfy current shelter needs while ensuring quality environment and adequate resources for the future generations in satisfying theirs. To stimulate orderly academic debate, the paper proposes five major factors of sustainability. They include climatic sustainability factor, ecological sustainability factor, economics and affordability sustainability factor, social sustainability factor and cultural sustainability factor. The sustainability attributes of each factor are highlighted, and the criteria for the selection of building materials to satisfy the attributes are commended.     

Application of fuzzy QFD for enabling sustainability

Contemporary manufacturing organisations recognise sustainability as an important concept for survival. Environmental awareness and recycling regulations have been compelling manufacturers and consumers to evolve sustainable strategies. The modern customers' voices need to be translated with care into technical requirements. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a technique extensively used for this purpose. In order to cope with the vagueness associated with relationships and correlations in QFD, fuzzy numbers have been integrated within a QFD framework and fuzzy QFD has been used in this study. The study is concerned with the application of fuzzy QFD for enabling sustainability in an Indian modular switches manufacturing organisation. The approach is effective in the identification of sustainable competitive bases, sustainable decision domains, sustainable attributes and sustainable enablers for the organisation. The improvement in sustainability has been measured from three perspectives. The results gained as a result of the study indicated that fuzzy QFD could be used as an enabler of sustainability.     

A discourse-analytical perspective on sustainability assessment: interpreting sustainable development in practice

Sustainable development is a ubiquitously used concept in public decision-making: it refers to an ideal vision of global society where human development and environmental quality go hand in hand. Logically, any decision-supporting process aiming at facilitating and steering society toward a sustainable future then seems desirable. Assessing the sustainability of policy decisions is, however, influenced by what sustainable development is believed to entail, as different discourses coexist under the umbrella of the sustainable development meta-discourse. This paper proposes a typology of sustainable development discourses, and, subsequently, applies a discourse-analytical lens on two practical cases of sustainability assessment in different institutional and geographical contexts (in Belgium and in Benin). The results indicate that sustainability assessments tend to be influenced mainly by the consensual ‘sustainable development as integration’ discourse, while also providing a forum for dialogue between different discourses. The results shed light on context-specific discursive and institutional dynamics for the development and application of sustainability assessment. Acknowledging these dynamics as well as sustainable development’s inherent interpretational limits can lead to an improved use of sustainable development as a decision-guiding strategy.     

Using critical systems thinking to foster an integrated approach to sustainability: a proposal for development practitioners

Throughout the development sector, there is increasing recognition of links between the environment and aspects of development such as poverty alleviation, health, income generation, and agriculture. While furnished with a diverse range of perspectives and approaches, development practice is in need of ways to better conceptualize the interactions between the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability so that opportunities for simultaneous improvement in human and ecological well-being can be identified more readily. Critical systems thinking is proposed as a way for development practitioners to conceptualize and act toward the integration of these economic, social, and environmental dimensions and, in so doing, support communities to nurture both human and ecosystem well-being. Four desirable attributes of a critical systems thinking approach to development are identified based on development literature, critical systems literature, and the author’s research into sustainability in semi-rural communities in Vietnam. The four attributes are ‘a systems thinking approach;’ ‘an ethical base to action and choices;’ ‘critical reflection permeates processes;’ and ‘appreciation of diverse views and application of diverse approaches.’ These attributes are described and then offered as the basis for further discussion of the ways in which simultaneous improvement of human well-being and ecosystem health can become an integral part of development practice.     

A Graph Theory approach to measure the performance of sustainability enablers in a manufacturing organization

In a manufacturing organization, the term sustainability deals with the impact of production process and products on the environment and society, laying emphasis on preservation of scarce resources. In this article, the study concentrates on developing a Graph Theory model to measure the performance and inter-relationship between the sustainability enablers in an organization, thereby to quantitatively measure the extent to which ‘sustainable manufacturing’ practices are being followed in the organization. The objective of this study was to identify a set of sustainability enablers and attributes that impact a manufacturing organization. Digraphs were developed for the whole system and sub-systems depicting the inter-relationships and dependencies between various enablers and attributes to interpret the performance of the sustainability enablers in the case organization. Using the best case and worst case values, the level of sustainable manufacturing practices of the organization was found by Comprehensive Assessment Index. Based on the best case values, the relative significance of individual sustainability enablers are found and compared with worst case situations. The impacts of individual enablers on the overall sustainability level of the organization were also studied.     

A New Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development

A critical review of the multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development reveals a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development and its complexities. A critical review shows that the definitions of sustainable development are vague; there is a lack of operative definitions and disagreement over what should be sustained; the concept is unclear in terms of emotional commitment; and it “remains a confused topic”, “fraught with contradictions”. This article aims to theoretically synthesize the interdisciplinary literature on sustainable development, and then identify the results by broad categories. Therefore, this article uses conceptual analysis, which reviews multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development, which recognizes patterns and similarities within the literature, then it synthesizes the patterns to different categories and independent concepts, where each concept has distinctive meanings and represents close ideas on sustainability. The analytical process elaborates seven concepts that together assemble the theoretical framework of ‘sustainable development’ and each concept represents distinctive meanings of the theoretical framework.     

Learning for change: an educational contribution to sustainability science

Transition to sustainability is a search for ways to improve the social capacity to guide interactions between nature and society toward a more sustainable future and, thus, a process of social learning in its broadest sense. Accordingly, it is not only learning that is at issue but education and educational science, of which the latter is about exploring the preconditions of and opportunities for learning and education—whether individual or social, in formal or informal settings. Analyzing how educational science deals with the challenge of sustainability leads to two complementary approaches: the ‘outside-in’ approach sees the idea of sustainability influencing educational practice and the way the relationship of learning and teaching is reviewed, theoretically as well as within the social context. In an ‘inside-out’ approach, an overview is given of how educational science can contribute to the field of sustainability science. An examination of the literature on education and sustainability shows that, while sustainability features prominently in one form or another across all sectors, only little work can be found dealing with the contributions of educational science within sustainability science. However, as sustainability is a concept that not only influences educational practices but also invites disciplinary contributions to foster inter- and transdisciplinary research within the sustainability discourse, the question remains as to how and to what extent educational science in particular can contribute to sustainability science in terms of an ‘inside-out’ approach. In this paper, we reconstruct the emergence of education for sustainable development as a distinctive field of educational science and introduce and discuss three areas of sustainability research and throw into relief the unique contribution that educational science can make to individual action and behavior change, to organizational change and social learning, and, finally, to inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.     

State-of-the-art sustainability analysis methodologies for efficient decision support in green production operations

Over the last three decades, new concepts, strategies, frameworks and systems have been developed to tackle the sustainable development issue. This paper reviews the challenges, perspectives and recent advances in support of sustainable production operations decision-making. The aim of this review is to provide a holistic understanding of advanced scientific analysis methodologies for the evaluation of sustainability, to provide efficient decision support. Over 100 publications have been analysed, and a characterisation of state-of-the-art sustainability analysis methodologies has been produced, which includes life cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), along with their applications to three key areas of production operations: sustainable design, sustainable manufacture and sustainable supply chain management. Distribution of existing work is discussed and future research directions are elicited from the literature. The paper finds three trends in supporting sustainable production operations decisions: (a) sustainability analysis has moved to whole life cycle assessment from single-stage assessment, (b) sustainability analysis has shifted away from single criterion to MCDA and (c) sustainability analysis has evolved from stand-alone approaches to integrated systematic methodologies. The paper concludes that integrated sustainability analysis can provide more efficient and effective support to complex decision-making in sustainable production operations.     

Are neoliberalist behaviours reflective of bullying? New perspectives on influences on sustainability and global citizenship

The global sustainability crisis facing humanity is a cultural crisis with neoliberal culture, the primary driver. The necessity for global change away from neoliberal systems is well established with cultural systems pursued through sustainability seen as the most viable options to alleviate this global crisis. Whilst the goals of neoliberalism and sustainability are systemic and universal, those implementing them work at a specific level with individuals, groups and/or collectives. The literature fails, however, to provide specific examples of why, on a practical level, social change agents often struggle to implement sustainability goals. One of the primary reasons for these struggles can be found in an examination of human behaviour, for instance personality types, group dynamics and/or interpersonal or group communication skills (or lack thereof). This exploratory paper will investigate the existence of a nexus between neoliberalist and adult bullying behaviours to initiate discussion on the barriers this combination may have on social change for sustainability and global citizenship. This examination is warranted as the propensity in the neoliberalist system to support the use of bullying behaviours by its advocates is a complex, nuanced and underresearched topic. There are implications here for policy development, social and urban planning, education and governance for sustainability and global citizenship.     

Divergence in stakeholder perception of sustainable remediation

The modern society is increasingly demanding sustainable practices in engineering fields. In the specific case of engineering practices for restoring contaminated land, there is an ongoing sustainable remediation movement which has rapidly drawn attention from both the industry and governments. It is well recognized that decision making in contaminated land remediation depends on the interaction of a variety of stakeholders. However, there is still no consensus as for how various stakeholders perceive sustainable practices in remediation, and how stakeholders interact in decision making that may lead to sustainable practices. The present study proposes a hypothetical model depicting the mediating effect of stakeholder perception in decision making. Using empirical experiences, questionnaire survey, and qualitative interview results, the present study found that there is divergent perception by various stakeholders regarding how sustainable behavior is adopted and how it is affected by stakeholder influence. The divergent view was attributed to varying organizational objectives, information access, and self-perception. Moreover, it found that incorporating sustainability into real engineering practice is transdisciplinary and requires transdisciplinary processes that can help various stakeholders to reach consensus.     

Environmental, cultural, economic and socio-community sustainability: a framework for sustainable tourism in resort destinations

This paper utilizes an inclusive community based sustainability framework with a focus on a resort destination in providing a potential model for more inclusive long-range destination planning and implementation. Four diverse, but interrelated areas of sustainable tourism were specified in this framework for a more comprehensive process including ecological, cultural, economic and socio-community sustainability. In addition a strategic community driven structure, which provides direction, information and practices, serves the purpose of integrating and implementing the framework. The unique tourism destination, Noosa in Australia is used as an example of embracing sustainable tourism as a community and as part of a larger focus on the four key components of sustainability. By viewing sustainable community attributes as assets, all of which are important to manage, enhance and/or conserve, it is expected that the resort community will continue to attract visitors to feel connected and committed to experiencing its lifestyle, sense-of-community and natural features while also contributing to community sustainable stewardship and a strong tourism economy. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. Dr. Richins is Chair of the Graduate Program within the School of Travel Industry Management at University of Hawaii. He holds a Ph.D. from James Cook University in Australia and a B.S. and M.S. from University of Oregon. Previously he held leadership positions for over 15 years in Australian and New Zealand including Waikato University, University of Newcastle and University of the Sunshine Coast. He was also Chair of the Resort Management program at Sierra Nevada College in Nevada.     

Moving towards urban sustainability in Kenya: a framework for integration of environmental,economic, social and governance dimensions

Global urban development is increasingly becoming an aspect of focus as nations fight sustainability challenges. A review of the current literature on urban sustainability suggests that research on development of cities, in both developed and developing countries, is growing fast, with an emphasis on sustainable development. However, very little of this research contains an integrated framework to systematically identify and examine the various dimensions of urban sustainability and to measure and evaluate them appropriately. Cities are more than the sum of their sectors, and are complex and interdependent systems on whose dynamics the quality of life of millions of human beings and a good part of the economy depend. Environmental, economic, social and governance problems can create formidable barriers to urban sustainability. Governance remains a critically important dimension of urban sustainability, especially when discussing urbanization in developing countries, given rapid population movements and imbalances in socio-economic development. Understanding how cities function is fundamental to resolving these imbalances. The aim of this paper is to provide a review and analysis of the concept of urban sustainability and to propose the development of a holistic framework through integration of environmental, economic, social, and governance dimensions of sustainability. Such a review would make it possible to understand the complex dynamics of the four dimensions and to assess the progress and challenges in moving towards urban sustainability, taking the case of Nairobi, Kenya, as an example. The paper argues that, for urban sustainability in developing countries, more emphasis should be placed on the governance dimension, because this is where the biggest challenge exists, with increasing needs for immediate management of rapid urbanization.     

Computing sustainable manufacturing index with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

The growing industrial interest in adopting sustainability programmes has ushered in studies regarding sustainability indicators which have continually flourished in current literature. However, limited attention is given to the development of priority ranking, which is an important input for any adopting firm. This paper presents a hybrid multi-criteria approach in determining priority areas in sustainable manufacturing (SM). Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to address uncertainty in hierarchical decision-making, this paper determines SM priority strategies and eventually identifies even lower level strategies. The computed sustainable manufacturing index is presented at both the organizational and operational levels for a real case study of an industrial plastic manufacturing firm. This work provides a detailed and transparent hierarchical decision-making approach based on SM framework, the use of which could be valuable to practicing managers across industries in their pursuit of greater sustainability.     

Creating a “values” chain for sustainable development in developing nations: where Maslow meets Porter

This paper serves to establish an appropriate framework for prioritizing policy related to sustainable development by combining elements of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory with Porter’s value chain theory. An appropriate balance of social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability is defined so that policy makers may be provided some direction in regard to appropriate and socially just resource priorities. The model that forms the basis for this framework is then tested through hierarchal regression analysis using data from 45 developing countries. Using these results, the values chain framework has been refined to consider that self-actualization and sustainable development are one and the same and that the satisfaction of society’s physiological needs through the prioritization of policies related to environmental sustainability is the principle motivator for moving on to the attainment of higher-order needs such as increased levels of sustainable development.