Explorations on the University's role in society for sustainable development through a systems transition approach. Case-study of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)

Focusing on the sustainability challenge, a growing number of Universities are redefining their core strategies in order to adapt to the real social needs and expectations of their stakeholders. Beyond integrating sustainability into the University's internal activities (curriculum, research, operations, etc.), the challenge seems to be integrating the University with the sustainable development paths of society. For the last 10 years the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) has tackled this challenge through an overarching strategic plan. The latest strategy, UPC Sustainable Plan 2015 has adopted a different focus, which was designed through a participatory approach, involving many internal and external stakeholders.This work aims to use a conceptual framework based on systems transitions to assess the systems change potential of a University strategy, in this case, the sustainability strategy of UPC. The main objectives of this paper are: to present the sustainability strategy participatory design process and its outcomes at UPC; to analyse the strategy change potential through a new transition/systems renewal method that is proposed; and to compare it with the UPCs previous environmental strategy; The work concludes that the systems transition potential is currently higher with the new strategy and discusses the elements that explain this finding.     

Project feasibility study: the key to successful implementation of sustainable and socially responsible construction management practice

This paper introduces a new approach for conducting project feasibility study by embracing the principles of sustainable development. Construction projects, in particular, infrastructures have major influence on the attainment of sustainable development, thus project sustainability needs to be considered. This becomes a pressing issue particularly in those developing countries or regions, such as China where a huge amount of construction works are currently performed and remain to happen in the future. Previous study has addressed little on the relevance of project feasibility study to project sustainability performance. The importance of incorporating sustainable development principles in conducting project feasibility study is not effectively understood by project stakeholders. This paper addresses major challenges of undertaking project feasibility study in line with sustainable construction practice with reference to the Chinese construction industry. A case study approach is the major research method in this study. The research team collected 87 feasibility study reports from various projects. Attributes are used for measuring project performance, including 18 economic performance attributes, nine social performance attributes, and eight environmental performance attributes. Research results show that economic performance is given the most concern in the current practice of project feasibility study, whilst less attention is given to the social and environmental performance. The study reveals the insufficiency of examining the performance of implementing a construction project from the perspective of sustainable development. The results also suggest the need for shifting the traditional approach of project feasibility study to a new approach that embraces the principles of sustainable development.     

Shaping sustainable technology development in the coatings chain Defining boundaries,environmental problems and main players

To meet the requirements of sustainable technology development, innovation processes should go beyond optimization, retroffitting and redesign based on incremental innovation, to focus particularly on breakthrough innovations. The aim of current research looks forward to building insights in the field of environment, technology and innovation to design and test a methodology for medium-, long-term innovation planning of future technological options towards sustainability in the paint and coatings chain, and to draw conclusions under which conditions this methodology is feasible. This paper describes the conceptual and theoretical framework as well as the integrated chain, the main environmental problems and the main actors in the network under research.     

Emerging design strategies in sustainable production and consumption of textiles and clothing

This study contributes to current knowledge of sustainability in textile and clothing production and consumption. When the textile and clothing industry aims to promote sustainability, the main change factors have been linked to eco-materials and ethical issues in production. At present, however, business models are mainly linked with a large volume of sales and production. Although industrial development has moved toward smaller environmental impact, production as well as consumption has increased to levels where the benefits of technological development are reduced. A change is thus needed to reach a systemic transformation, not only in production but also in consumption. The aim of this paper is to open up the discussion on opportunities for radical change in this industry. The paper presents ways to rethink and redesign business in the textile and clothing field by offering an overview on several design strategies that exist today in niche markets. Furthermore we evaluate how interested consumers are in these design strategies and discuss the opportunities these design approaches offer to sustainable development through new value creation.     

Using campus concerns about sustainability as an educational opportunity: a case study in architectural design

Curtin Environment Awareness Team (CEAT) is a group of volunteers at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia, who work together to promote awareness, activities and information dissemination related to sustainable use of the university campus. In 2003 an attempt was made to integrate a CEAT concern relating to a declining habitat for bird and animal life around a campus lake, with an undergraduate problem-based design project in the School of Architecture. After the students' work was completed, CEAT reviewed the projects and selected three schemes for possible inclusion in the program of capital works for the campus. CEAT members and students were surveyed after the design project was completed. The survey results indicated that CEAT members considered that student involvement enhanced the quality, scope and likely implementation of the project. The student survey results indicated that this project raised their awareness of the complexity of addressing sustainable use of the campus and identified the potential influence of architect designed projects on the natural environment. However, in spite of formal acknowledgement of the value of the project by the Vice Chancellor of the university, there was no indication that the university plans to move from the current ad hoc approach towards sustainability either in the management of the campus or in the core teaching programs.     

Teaching sustainability as a contested concept: capitalizing on variation in engineering educators' conceptions of environmental,social and economic sustainability

This study documents variation in engineering academics conceptions of sustainability. We investigated how a group of Australian engineering academics described environmental, social and economic sustainability, and identified a broad range of actions that participating academics associated with achieving sustainability. The study suggested marked variation in the actions that participating academics viewed as coherent with sustainable engineering practice, and therefore, potentially marked variations in the sustainability actions academics might advocate to their undergraduate students. Rather than framing this variation as problematic for teaching and learning sustainable engineering, we suggest that such variation in conception of sustainability, and explicit contestation of this variation in the engineering classroom, offers opportunities to enrich undergraduate sustainability learning and teaching. We develop this argument by using some generic environmental, economic, and social theoretical frameworks to characterize the differences according to the values and assumptions that may underpin the observed variation. Validated frameworks are useful to move beyond discussions based on ‘opinion’, because they provide a framework for critical reflection by engineering students and academics about the values and assumptions that inform engineering practice generally and sustainable engineering practice, particularly.     

Environmental supply chain management in tourism: The case of large tour operators

Extensive tourism developments and signals of the negative effects on destinations have put sustainability at the core of the business agenda. However, the fragmented structure of the tourism sector remains a key challenge for achieving consensus and developing coherent sustainable tourism strategies. Although supply chain strategies seem logically suitable for the interconnected nature of the tourism industry, there is limited discussion in tourism research about their adoption. In order to advance the knowledge of how sustainable tourism can become more of common practice, this article explores the adoption of environmental supply chain management (ESCM) by eight large tour operators. The results of the investigations show that in the absence of regulatory pressures and cost saving benefits, the adoption of ESCM is triggered by public pressures and its implementation is limited by organizational factors and strategic myopia.     

Developing capabilities and competence for sustainable business management as innovation: a research agenda

This paper frames the response by business to the challenge of sustainable development in terms of innovation. It addresses how the shift in business focus from competitiveness to sustainability impacts the capabilities and competence for innovation. A review of the literature suggests that innovation for sustainability requires the active involvement of a broader and more diverse network of actors, including those with more local knowledge of the implications of innovations than is the case with more conventional forms of innovation. The paper also identifies a systematic failure to address the need for inventiveness as a cornerstone of innovation. The paper puts forward elements of an applied research agenda to support the development of a better understanding of the capabilities that foster the competence by business to innovate in ways that are more sustainable.     

Transitioning to sustainable production – part II: evaluation of sustainable machining technologies

This paper presents a case-study that highlights the importance of sustainable machining technologies in achieving sustainable development objectives. A technology evaluation was undertaken to understand the likely impacts of the use of technology on sustainability performance measures. The evaluation is more than an experimental method for supporting the design of technology and an instrument for supporting decision-making. It is also a tool for supporting technology policy and for encouraging its adoption and application in industry. More specifically, a sustainability evaluation of cryogenic and high pressure jet-assisted machining in comparison to conventional machining is examined. Sustainability performance measures refer to environmental impact, energy consumption, safety, personal health, waste management, and cost. The case-study refers to the machining of high-temperature Ni-alloy (Inconel 718). It is shown that tooling costs represent the major contribution to the overall production cost, which contradicts previous analyses, and that sustainable machining alternatives offer a cost-effective route to improving economic, environmental, and social performance in comparison to conventional machining.     

Environmental decision making in multi-stakeholder contexts: applicability of life cycle thinking in development planning and implementation

According to the targets set for sustainability, integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs is one of the main goals for development projects. A major challenge in the development field is cross-sectoral integrated planning and achieving multi-stakeholder consensus for collaborative joint projects, especially when sustainability is a goal. This increases the complexity of the multi-stakeholder interaction in decision making and requires enhanced mechanisms for stakeholder participation, coordination, and commitment beyond narrow self-interest. A critical aspect in the decision making process is to enable stakeholders to not only interpret and make decisions based on expert judgments, but also to appropriately involve the relevant parties in the research and decision making process. Therefore, scientific analyses in multi-stakeholder contexts have to be more transparent, participatory, and stakeholder-based in order to provide useful information to assist responsible decision making.This paper presents an outline of a stakeholder-based life cycle assessment approach that can be used to support sustainable decision making in multi-stakeholder contexts. The framework is discussed and compared to other common methods used to support environmental decision making in development projects. We argue that the fundamental concept of life cycle thinking can be effectively used to incorporate stakeholders in the research and decision making process, which can lead to more comprehensive, yet achievable assessments in collaboration with stakeholders. Life cycle thinking is not just a way to examine environmental impacts of activities, but also a way to comprehend and visualize a broader set of upstream and downstream consequences of decisions in development planning and implementation. A life cycle framework including the mapping of stakeholder involvement at each activity in upstream and downstream stages would give stakeholders a holistic view that they otherwise may not have.     

An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: assessment of the current campus environmental management practices

Universities can nowadays be regarded as ‘small cities’ due to their large size, population, and the various complex activities taking place in campuses, which have some serious direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The environmental pollution and degradation caused by universities in form of energy and material consumption via activities and operations in teaching and research, provision of support services and in residential areas could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and technical measures. Although many environmental protection measures can be seen at some universities, but a more systematic and sustainable approach to reducing the negative impacts of those activities and making the campuses more sustainable, is generally lacking. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework of a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability that could remedy the limitations of the current environmental management practices in universities and ensures more sustainability through the integration of three strategies, namely: university Environmental Management System (EMS); public participation and social responsibility; and promoting sustainability in teaching and research.     

Product development and responsible consumption: designing alternatives for sustainable lifestyles

This paper presents insights from a research project that examines the notion of ‘responsible consumption’, its relationship to consumer preferences and expectations, and its implications for product design and development. The paper discusses the issue of sustainable consumption in relation to product development and summarizes initial findings from a study conducted among people who consider themselves responsible consumers. Notably, four different profiles of ‘simplifiers’ are described. The study shows that people who took part in the research adopt more sustainable lifestyles not only because of an ecological consciousness, but also because of perceived personal factors or benefits. The study also reveals that participants have both a close and distant relationship to objects and that they prefer products that allow them to be engaged in the activity of “doing”. Product development strategies informed by these insights are explored. The paper suggests that product designers can support and encourage those already active or interested in orienting their consumption habits towards more sustainable solutions by envisioning appropriate ecologically and socially responsible product alternatives.     

能值分析理论在耕地可持续利用评价中的应用研究——以南京市为例

评价指标体系是耕地可持续利用评价研究的难点,正确选择评价理论与方法,构建科学、合理的评价指标体系,为正确认识耕地利用的可持续性及制定相应政策提供理论与实践依据。文章引入能值理论,在传统评价方法基础上对耕地利用中物流、能流等以太阳能值为统一衡量标准,建立新的指标体系,并对南京市1995~2004年的耕地利用进行评价。结果表明,研究时段内南京市耕地利用是向可持续方向发展的,且其可持续利用经历了两个阶段:①1995~1998年可持续性下降阶段,综合系数从1995年的1逐渐下降到1998年的0.9570;②1998~2004年可持续性上升阶段,综合系数逐年上升到2004年的1.1123。与传统评价方法相比,引入能值理论后的评价结果更能全面、客观地反映耕地利用的可持续状况。     

可持续交通

全球存在有广泛的认知 ,目前的交通趋势是不可持续的。很多学者总结认为 ,我们需要在交通系统的技术、设计、运行和财政上进行根本性的变革。本文探讨了可持续发展的定义 ,以及交通造成的环境影响、能源消费和公平问题 ,并结合国内外文献从 :(1)交通技术 ;(2 )交通供应 ;(3)交通需求 ;(4)交通方式四个方面提出发展可持续交通的基本理念 ,并给出相关的国外的成功实践 ,以期对我国建设生态城市和生态交通提供可借鉴的信息。     

Eco-design implemented through a product-based environmental management system

Lucent Technologies (Lucent) has undergone considerable change in business strategy with the outsourcing of manufacturing activities. In order to control the significant environmental aspects of hardware products, Lucent's wireless business unit, Mobility Solutions, determined it would concentrate on the design of products: focusing on eco-design enables product sustainability to be improved, with each product generation providing a ‘start of pipe’ (front end) solution with attendant efficiencies.Mobility Solutions pioneered a product-based environmental management system (PBEMS) to formally address the impacts of wireless hardware products on the environment throughout the entire product lifecycle, regardless of where products are developed. This management system looks beyond the environmental impacts of manufacturing to include conceptual design, development, use by the customer, and final product disposal.The success of this approach can be attributed to the integration of eco-design with traditional hardware product realization processes. Through the PBEMS, business and environmental processes are simultaneously utilized to manage significant product aspects and to incorporate sustainability principles during product design. Many innovative eco-design tools are applied during the product realization process to identify areas for improvement of future products, and to verify that each generation of existing products is more sustainable than its predecessor. These eco-design tools include eco-roadmapping, design for environment guidelines and checklists, and lifecycle assessments.The Mobility Solutions PBEMS conforms to the requirements of the ISO 14001 international standard and has achieved third-party certification. By implementing environmentally responsible characteristics through eco-design programs, employees, customers, and the world community benefit from a consistent approach to the environmental management of wireless hardware products. Mobility Solutions continues to reap the value of sustainable product design that is both good for the environment and makes sound business sense.     

城市可持续性发展的不同分析方法对比研究

城市可持续性发展的分析方法有很多种。方法不同,结论也可能不同。文章旨在通过实例研究不同分析方法之间的差别,提出一种城市可持续性发展分析中能够应用的综合评价框架。并以成都市的发展为实例,重点比较分析2种方法,即熵值法和趋势分析方法。分析结果表明熵值法和趋势分析法在分析结果上有很大的区别。如前者侧重于经济发展,因而得出成都市的发展趋势是强可持续的;后者强调经济、能耗、及福利之间的相互关系,得出的结论是成都市的发展属于是能耗型发展,即社会福利和经济增长的同时,能耗也在增加。因而在分析判断城市是否可持续发展时,有必要采取不同类型的方法综合判定城市的可持续发展程度。并在制定政策以确保城市的可持续性发展时,综合考虑环境、经济、社会等各个方面的影响,并进行合理的调整,使之相互协调,共同发展。     

University research for sustainable development: definition and characteristics explored

University research is pivotal for sustainable development, but to succeed, new ways of conducting research are needed. Only recently has the field of “sustainability and higher education” (SHE) started to deal with the issue. In this paper we define “university research for sustainable development” comprehensively as “all research conducted within the institutional context of a university that contributes to sustainable development”, and propose a set of twenty two preliminary characteristics of this concept. We provide foundational information in particular for various university stakeholders, and those of higher education in general, considering the (re)orientation of research towards sustainable development and offer a beginning of dialogue on the subject, within SHE.     

Regional sustainability contrasts in Brazil as indicated by the Compass of Sustainability – CompasSus

The current need for assessing sustainable processes and states is a driving assumption for this article, having as objective to present preliminary results of a new assessment approach, the Compass of Sustainability (CompasSus), applied to administrative regions of Brazil. Its methodological approach is based on a combination of existing assessment methodologies, such as the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint. CompasSus is elaborated under the perspective of rather complementary operational concepts of sustainable development, namely weak and strong sustainability, which are often seen as competing ones. In spite of the advances on the perspective of sustainable development perceived in international agreements for conservation of nature, as well as in the implementation of national policies aiming at sustainability, there still exists an operational ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Thus, its fuzzy theoretical consolidation for clear definition of objectives and lines of action still leads to different assumptions for diverse stakeholders and authors. Looking at the Brazilian case, conservation strategies are needed to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest against a predatory business – as-usual frontier expansion. As for addressing trade-offs between environmental conservation and regional development demands the CompasSus introduces a combined hemispheric assessment of sustainability. In 2006, the state in which the sustainability index had the best performance was DF (Distrito Federal). This, the seat of the capital city, presents an economy based on the public and the service sectors, both very little carbon and energy intensive. Furthermore, the high income per capita, and good social indicators associated with the small relevance of the agrarian sector grants it the best sustainability index, which is determined by performances in two components representing strong and weak sustainability. In the other extreme is São Paulo (SP) where a high population density and major impacts on waterways have implied a worse performance in weak sustainability index, whereas the high consumption of energy together with high carbon emissions have also determined a low performance in strong sustainability index.     

基于蓝水可持续指数的黄淮海流域水资源可持续性评价

为了评估人类超采地下水以及侵占河流生态需水给水资源可持续性带来的风险,将黄淮海流域作为研究区,在利用非稳态Budyko模型以及水量平衡公式的基础上,结合生态需水核算结果及各产业用水数据,选取蓝水可持续性指数BlWSI,基于蓝水消耗量（CBWU）、不可再生地下水抽取量（NRGW_A）以及地表过度取水量（SW_OA）对流域开展水资源可持续性评价。结果表明:表征蓝水资源可持续性的BlWSI指标在黄淮海流域存在明显的时空差异性。其中,黄河流域的水资源可持续性程度最低,海河流域次之,淮河流域可持续性程度最高。1960—2000年,黄淮海流域的水资源可持续性呈现不同程度的增加趋势。研究对提升黄淮海流域的可持续水资源管理具有一定的参考意义。