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.     

基于自然生态单元的中国城乡建设用地空间格局特征分析

基于经济和社会视角的国家尺度城市空间格局研究取得重要进展,而全国城市空间格局的自然生态关联性呈现新的研究需求。由此通过自然生态单元等级划分并与城乡建设用地叠加,揭示了全国城乡建设用地在自然生态单元的空间格局特征及其主要问题:在一级生态功能区中,生态调节区面积最广,主要分布在我国西北、西南和东北等生态脆弱地区,但其内部城乡建设用地占比最小仅为0.69%,产品提供区城乡建设用地的占比为2.74%,人居保障区面积最小且集中分布在我国东部沿海地区,但其城乡建设用地占比最大,高达11.20%;城乡建设用地在自然生态单元的分布差异总体由自然地貌与大河流域特征决定,城镇群区、农产品提供区和土壤保持区占据79.54%的城乡建设用地,位于平原水网、丘陵、喀斯特和丹霞等地貌特征为主的胡焕庸线东南部;城乡建设用地分布格局也表现为东多西少,与我国三大阶梯的地势格局分布较为一致;上述格局关联性体现了人和环境之间的相互依存关系,但近些年来在开发需求膨胀和工程技术进步等人为因素驱动下,城乡建设用地呈现向较高海拔地区的扩张趋势。这为新型城镇化背景下城乡可持续发展和生态安全格局构建提供基础信息,也为辨识中国城市空间组织和演化机理提供技术支撑。     

Urbanization and sustainability: challenges and strategies for sustainable urban development in Bangladesh

Like other developing countries, urbanization in Bangladesh is a growing phenomenon, which is steady in nature but fretfully affects urban sustainability in the wake of lacking in good governance. Despite urban authorities are concerned about this issue, they often fail to address the problems due to the fact of uncontrollable and unpredictable rural to urban migration, and negligence of urban poor’s sustainable living and access to basic services. Virtually the rural poverty problem has been transposed to urban areas, particularly in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Inadequacy of infrastructural services, basic amenities and environmental goods; environmental degradation; traffic jam and accidents; violence and socioeconomic insecurity are the major challenges which are created through rapid urbanization. This paper provides a general understanding of urbanization in Bangladesh and tries to embrace related sustainability issues and challenges hindrance to sustainable urban development in Dhaka city. In addition, it presents a brief case study of water supply in Dhaka city which introduces an issue of ‘system hijack’. The paper concludes providing some strategies that might be helpful to the policy makers in formulating development policies for sustainable urban services.     

浙江省土地利用非农化与城市化的空间关系计量

Land use is an important carrier and intuitive result of urbanization process. Driven by the dual transformation of China’s land system and developed regional economy, the interrelationship between urbanization and land use non agriculturalization in coastal areas and its evolution are uniquely explored. Based on the county land use information of Zhejiang Province in 2005, 2010 and 2015, this paper quantitatively analyzes the differentiation of county comprehensive urbanization, land use non agriculturalization and the conversion source and flow of key county construction land in 2005-2015. Then use the Theil index and the bivariate spatial autocorrelation method to explore the spatial correlation model of urbanization level and land use non agriculturalization in Zhejiang Provinces. (1) The level of urbanization in Zhejiang County is rapidly increasing and gradually achieving spatial balance and forming a group like urbanization situation centered on Hangzhou, Ningbo，Jinhua, Wenzhou and other municipal districts; the focus of construction land changes from the central and northern plains to the southeast coastal plains. However, the increase in the municipal area is still the most obvious. The increase or decrease of land for agricultural conversion is the key reason for the large scale change in construction land in Zhejiang County; (2) The spatial positive correlation between land non agriculturalization and urbanization in Zhejiang Province has increased significantly, and the spatial differentiation situation has been highlighted. It has shown that the high aggregation area has shifted from the middle part to the east coast of Zhejiang and the islands. In general, the high high type is mostly distributed in the northern Zhejiang Plain, while the low low type extends from the coastal to the inland. (3) There is a significant scale effect of comprehensive urbanization and land use non agriculturalization in Zhejiang Province, and the correlation difference increases with spatial scale. This study reveals the spatial correlation between urbanization and land non agriculturalization in the period of urbanization of economically developed provinces. It has important guiding value for promoting the synergy of land use planning and urban planning, and implementing land transfer and trans administrative area replacement according to local conditions.     

江苏沿海滩涂地区农户经济行为研究

江苏海岸带是中国最重要的海岸带湿地之一。滩涂资源的可持续利用成为当前研究的焦点。农户是滩涂开发的微观经济活动的主体和相对独立的生产单位。农户的经济行为对滩涂开发和利用产生直接和重要的影响。以江苏省盐城市的射阳县、大丰市为例，选择3个典型村庄进行入户访谈式调查．在对220个农户进行了入户随机抽样调查的基础上，利用区域经济动力学原理Logisti模型和Cobb-Douglas生产函数。建立了农户经济行为对环境影响的数量经济模型。研究表明，滩涂区农户经济行为对滩涂环境压力的大小及类型具有直接影响。土地经营规模、土地利用类型、生产投入、投资意向、农户受教育水平等是产生影响的主要因素。找出滩涂资源利用中存在的问题和主要的环境压力在于：农户经济生产方式单一，产业结构不合理；农户教育水平较低，环境意识差；滩涂利用经济效率低．环境压力大；农户抗市场风险能力差。并提出了相应的对策和建议。     

杭州湾南岸滨海平原土地利用/覆被空间格局变化分析

杭州湾南岸滨海平原位于沪、杭、甬经济金三角的中心地带,是我国沿海经济最发达的地区之一。研究其土地利用/覆被空间格局变化对合理利用土地资源,促进沿海地区的可持续发展具有重要意义。利用1987年和2000年2个时期的TM影像,分析了杭州湾南岸滨海平原土地利用/覆被数量及空间格局变化特征。结果表明,杭州湾南岸滨海平原建设用地、水体和养殖用地呈现明显的增长趋势,水田、旱地、滩地、林地和盐田呈减少趋势。受自然和人类活动的共同影响,土地利用/覆被类型斑块平均面积由0.245 km2降至0.173 km2,斑块密度则由4.081个/km2提高到5.781个/km2,斑块数量增加了42%。由于斑块的破碎化,大部分土地利用/覆被类型的边界密度、形态指数、分维数和斑块密度都有不同程度的增加。城市化和非农化的发展使得建设用地格局指数变化表现出一定的特殊性。     

Global Major Progress and Trends in the Implementation of Agenda 21

This paper summarizes, from a global perspective, the major progress in the implementation of the Agenda 21 since the UN Conference on Environment and Development. The results show that global economy has achieved a substantial growth, and positive progress has been made in poverty eradication, urbanization, and conservation and intensive use of natural resources. However, relevant international conventions and commitments have not yet been completely fulfilled. The paper further analyzes the current major challenges and future trends of global sustainable development. It is argued that there are three major challenges:1) fatal global environmental issues posing an increasing threat to human survival; 2) more and more severe global competition for developing spaces; and 3) issues highlighting global people’s livelihood. There are four trends of global sustainable development:1) sustainable development will further turn from concept into global action; 2) green will be the main trend of global development; 3) emerging developing countries will become the main driving force of global sustainable development; and 4) international relations in the field of sustainable development will turn to competitive co-operation.     

Strategic Environmental Assessment： A New Tool for Ecological Urbanization of Coastal Cities in China

Recently, there has been growing concerns about environmental issues related to urbanization in China. The intense natural resources utilization and increasing population has brought great pressure, especially in coastal areas, consequently affecting the sustainable development of coastal cities. In 2002, Environmental Impact Assessment Act （EIA Act） was enacted in China. Environmental impact assessment targeted at planning, one level of strategic environmental assessment （SEA）, thus became a legislative requirement. This paper considers SEA to be one of the important approaches not only to control coastal pollution, but also to conserve coastal ecosystems and finally to achieve sustainable development during urbanization, thus it will be a set an example for other areas of China. The experience of SEA in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China, illustrates the potentials of SEA. This paper first briefly introduces the concept and potentials of SEA, then compares two SEA cases and a project EIA case in Xiamen, and finally identifies the key characteristics of SEA.     

How environmentally focused is the German sustainability strategy? A critical discussion of the indicators used to measure sustainable development in Germany

There are hardly any critical discussions of sustainable development indicator sets designed for use at the national level. This article aims at rectifying this omission in critical academic research by contributing to the discourse on environmental sustainability with an assessment of the indicator set used for the measurement of sustainable development in Germany. It will evaluate to what extent the sustainable development concept is reflected in the structure of the strategy and analyse in how far fundamental environmental issues are covered by the indicator set. The discussion will show that the environmental dimension of the sustainability concept is not sufficiently integrated in the German National Sustainable Development Strategy. Although the strategy??s indicator set contains a range of environmental indicators, gaps in the German indicator set become apparent when contrasted with important issues of sustainability. It will be concluded that the environmental dimension of the sustainable development concept is not the recurrent theme in either the strategy or the indicator set.     

Exploring the effects of population growth on future land use change in the Las Vegas Wash watershed: an integrated approach of geospatial modeling and analytics

The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing areas in the southwestern United States. The rapid urbanization has presented many environmental challenges. For instance, as population growth and urbanization continue, the supply of sufficient clean water will become a concern. In addition, the area is also experiencing the longest drought in history, and the volume of water storage in Lake Mead, the main fresh water supply for the entire region, has been reduced greatly. The water quality in the main stem of the Las Vegas Wash (LVW) and Lake Mead may also be significantly affected. In order to develop effective sustainable management plans, the very first step is to predict the plausible future urbanization and land use patterns. This paper presents an approach to predict the future land use pattern at the LVW watershed using a Markov cellular automata model. The multi-criteria evaluation was used to couple population density as a variable depicting the driving force of urbanization in the model. Moreover, landscape metrics were used to analyze land use changes in order to better understand the dynamics of urban development in the LVW watershed. The predicted future land use maps for the years 2030 and 2050 show substantial urban development in the area, much of which are located in areas sensitive to source water protections. The results of the analysis provide valuable information for local planners and policy makers, assisting their efforts in constructing alternative sustainable urban development schemes and environmental management strategies.     

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.     

长三角地区可持续发展测度与演化分析

长三角地区作为我国人口最为密集、经济最为发达、综合竞争力最强的城市化区域，同时也面临着产业结构趋同、人口老龄化、资源环境脆弱性凸显等问题。以长三角地区为研究对象，建立可持续发展评价的指标体系，引入可持续发展指数和系统协调指数对长三角地区城市可持续发展进行测度，通过细分城市发展模式并利用演化树模型分析不同发展模式的可持续发展演化进程。研究认为：长三角地区城市可持续发展总体水平接近，城市之间系统内部协调性差距较大，子系统中经济与社会发展格局较为一致，而与环境状况趋异；以人均收入、城市化率和三产结构可以将长三角地区城市聚类为4种具有不同现状特点和发展轨迹的城市发展模式，归属不同发展模式的城市可持续发展的演化轨迹不同，以苏锡常地区为代表的发展模式可持续发展变化最为剧烈，发展与协调并重是关键；苏中、浙中地区等经济发展的边缘地带，寻求适合的经济发展路径是其首要任务     

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM): a review of progress in Portuguese implementation

Coastal areas are the focus of intensive urbanisation and tourism and are subject to changing physical processes causing significant natural environment modifications. It is in this context that the European Commission (EC) developed the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Recommendation and invited coastal Member States to produce national implementation strategies. Its general aim of sustainable coastal development was based on policy integration in cooperation with all stakeholders in an informed and participatory context. Portugal responded to the EC request by creating, approving, and adopting the national ICZM strategy. This paper focuses on Portuguese experiences putting the ICZM recommendation into practice and begins with a brief overview of community guidelines, national legislation, and implementation. Subsequently, governance mechanisms are discussed and best practice identified. From an assessment of Portuguese ICZM progress and lessons learned, conclusions and recommendations for improved effectiveness included: strengthening governance; improving sustainable decision-making processes supported by technical and scientific knowledge; and securing financial sustainability.     

开发区土地利用的可持续性评价及实践研究——以芜湖经济技术开发区为例

目前国内土地资源可持续利用的研究主要集中在城市和县域尺度，关于开发区这一特殊经济区域的相关研究还较少。开发区是我国当前经济的重要增长点，所具有的良好示范和带动作用可促进其腹地甚至其他地区的可持续发展，因此评价和监测开发区土地可持续发展的状态和程度具有重要意义。以芜湖经济技术开发区为例，从土地开发利用状况、社会影响和环境质量三方面构建了开发区土地可持续利用的综合评价指标体系，运用模糊数学的方法对芜湖经济技术开发区土地利用的可持续性进行了综合评价，评价结果为该区土地利用的可持续性对中度可持续的隶属度0.539最大，根据最大隶属度原则，该区土地利用的可持续性为中度可持续。     

面向可持续发展的海岸带综合管理研究

本文以可持续发展为目标，从海岸带综合管理问题入手，进一步分析了海岸带系统的可持续性，阐述了海岸带综合管理的方法论，提出了海岸带综合管理的内涵、原则、任务与技术方法。     

中国城市化与能源强度关系的交互动态响应分析

基于1990-2009年的统计数据,建立城市化率和能源强度间的向量自回归模型,运用协整分析、脉冲响应函数和动态方差分解法,从不同视角对两组变量的交互动态响应关系进行分析和预测,旨在揭示我国城市化水平与能源利用效率的内在联系、互动机制与发展趋势。分析结果表明:尽管在短期内呈现波动态势,我国城市化水平与能源强度之间存在长期均衡关系;两组变量的动态脉冲响应为负,体现出城市化率和能源强度之间的反向变动走势;与城市化相比,能源强度的脉冲曲线波动剧烈,说明单纯依靠能源系统内部来改善能源效率缺乏可持续性;方差分解时序值显示,能源强度对城市化变动因素的累计贡献较低,而城市化水平对能源强度变动的影响显著且增长迅速,说明能源强度的降低并不是城市化率提高的主要动力,反之城市化水平的提高对能源强度的下降具有较强的促进作用。由此可见,通过城市的优化开发与系统建设,能够有效促进能源的可持续利用,实现能源消费与经济增长间的均衡发展。     

基于景观格局的盐城海岸带土地利用时空变化分析

在GIS和RS技术支持下,以行政区划为评价单元,通过土地利用转移矩阵、景观格局指数对盐城海岸带土地利用变化的主要方式、景观格局特征及时空分异规律进行定量分析。结果表明:2000~2010年,盐城海岸带土地利用类型以耕地、建设用地和水域为主,其中耕地是盐城海岸带的优势类型,虽然近年来呈逐渐下降的趋势,但仍是区域景观基质类型,均占总面积的78%以上;海岸带景观水平趋于破碎化,区域景观格局更加复杂化、分散化和多样化;研究区北部景观水平特征指数较中部、南部为高。自然地理条件、经济发展水平及不同土地利用方式所带来的利益差异是导致盐城海岸带景观格局变化的关键驱动因素。     

Toward systemic campus sustainability: gauging dimensions of sustainable development via a motivational and perception-based approach

Universities have long borne an influential role in sustainability. Nonetheless, the affinity toward eclectic and piecemeal practices has been addressed as oxymoron to the essence of sustainable development, and the need to hone campus members’ buy-in is credited to be cardinal for systemic transformation. Major attributes for systemic campus sustainability are identified, incorporated, and proposed via a conceptual model. Those attributes are key sustainable development areas as well as perception and motivation on the topics that must be taken into consideration by universities to be able to adhere to a more pragmatic and inclusive sustainable development. Thus, the central intent of the authors is to offer a mechanism which may facilitate as well as elevate systemic campus sustainability. An extensive review of the literature in the area of sustainability, perception, and motivation is conducted, which includes articles, journals, conference proceedings, university reports, books, and materials from websites. By extracting and integrating crucial constituents of sustainable development from various studies, this paper contributes to the existing literature on sustainable development providing an input to the implementation of systemic campus sustainability.     

可持续发展理论的内涵认知——纪念联合国里约环发大会20周年

2012年是巴西里约联合国环境与发展大会20周年,回顾20年来世界各国发展所走过的路程,总结可持续发展战略的成功与不足,是制定未来世界健康发展路线图的历史要求。人们对可持续发展理论的内涵认知,经过了从生存到发展,再从发展到可持续发展的漫长过程。可持续发展被视作是一个自然—社会—经济复杂系统中的行为矢量,该矢量将导致国家或地区的发展朝向日趋合理、更为和谐的方向进化。可持续发展特别强调"整体的"、"内生的"和"综合的"内涵认知。可持续发展理论的"外部响应",是处理好"人与自然"之间的关系,这是可持续能力的"硬支撑";可持续发展战略的"内部响应",是处理好"人与人"之间的关系,这是可持续能力的"软支撑"。只有"当人类向自然的索取能够被人类向自然的回馈相平衡",只有"当人类对于当代的努力能够同对后代的贡献相平衡",只有"当人类为本区域发展的思考能够同时考虑到其它区域乃至全球利益时",可持续发展的实现才具备了坚实的基础。可持续发展揭示了"发展、协调、持续"的系统本质;可持续发展反映了"动力、质量、公平"的有机统一;可持续发展创建了"和谐、稳定、安全"的人文环境;可持续发展体现了"速度、数量、质量"的绿色运行。中国在未来不到10年的时间内,要全面实现小康社会的战略目标,达到经济更加发展、民主更加健全、科教更加发达、文化更加繁荣、生态更加良好、社会更加进步、精神更加富足,全民的生活质量更加提升,这就必然要求实现全面发展、协调发展、可持续发展,充分体现以人为本,促进人的自身完善,努力走出一条生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路。论文提出了中国可持续发展战略的七大主题:始终保持经济的理性增长;全力提高经济增长的质量;满足"以人为本"的基本生存需求;调控人口的数量增长、提高人口素质;维持、扩大和保护自然的资源基础与生态容量;集中关注科技进步对于发展瓶颈的突破;始终调控环境与发展的平衡。     

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.