Management of sustainability transitions through planning in shrinking resource city contexts: an evaluation of Yubari City,Japan

This paper evaluates the planning competences required to enact a managed transition to sustainability at the municipal level for cities facing population, economic and employment decline. Drawing on the ‘shrinking cities’ literature, we argue consolidation of the built environment can become a focal point for sustaining citizen welfare when transitioning cities that are facing decline, especially those previously reliant on resource industries. We evaluate the former coal mining city of Yubari, Japan, which is developing a consolidated urban form with the aim of creating a ‘sustainable’ future city. Findings from interviews and content analysis of Yubari’s planning policy indicate, however, that to translate ‘shrinking’ a city into a managed transition, spatial planning must be accompanied by a wider range of social policy measures and strong cross-sectoral engagement. We also caution that the unique geographical and political context of Yubari mean its model may not be directly replicable in other contexts.     

Picking up speed: public participation and local sustainability plan implementation

Although planning scholars often argue that public participation improves implementation outcomes, this relationship is rarely empirically tested. This study investigates how public engagement, during planning and after plan adoption, impacts on the speed of local government sustainability plan implementation. It includes a correlation analysis of quantized in-depth interviews with sustainability planners in 36 American cities. The study finds that individual characteristics of public engagement, both during planning and after plan adoption, had statistically significant relationships to implementation speed, but in some cases this relationship was negative. The correlations imply that sustainability planners can make strategic choices to improve implementation speed through public participation in plan creation and after plan adoption. Alternatively, planners also make choices during participatory planning that slow implementation, a problematic outcome when the ultimate goal of a planning process is on-the-ground change.     

A riparian wildlife habitat evaluation scheme developed using GIS

Recent Italian laws mandate the consideration of environmental factors in local plans, especially at the provincial level of government. The plan for the province of Cremona in northern Italy illustrates the integration of the environment in provincial-level planning. The Cremona plan was developed through an ecological planning approach that occurred from 1994 to 1998. As part of this process, the planning team designed an environmental sustainability index. This index was integrated with an environmental capability analysis. To improve the quality of the Cremona landscape, the planning team developed an ecological network. This network seeks to weave together the natural areas of the province, especially by connecting provincial parks to regional river parks throughout Lombardy. The experience of the Cremona provincial plan has implications for environmental management elsewhere in Italy, Europe, and abroad.     

Municipalities’ ambitions and practices: At risk of hypocritical sustainability transitions?

In contemporary planning discourse and practice, different planning ideas co-exists. How this affects the transition towards a sustainable development is an important question for both research and practice. The aim of this study is to explore potential conflicts between planning goals caught between growth-led planning and sustainability commitments in a case study of Fredericia, Denmark. The paper discusses the underlying, framing and controlling conditions for transition dynamics. The analysis builds largely on the formulated policies, strategies or national goal achievements towards sustainable futures. These are put in the context of planning and political practices, which are interpreted from a sustainability rationale. Here this study introduces hypocrisy as a theoretical-analytical perspective to dispute actual sustainability practices to respond to continuous ambivalent planning measures. The author concludes that disregarding the inherently different internal logics of growths and sustainability leads to planning paradoxes and impedes sustainable transitions pursued.     

Qualifying irrigation system sustainability by means of stakeholder perceptions and concerns: lessons from the Segarra‐Garrigues Canal,Spain

When planning interventions, water and land resource managers increasingly need to take the opinions of stakeholders into account. In the present study, stakeholders’ concerns in a multifunctional water system are assessed, with a focus on the debate about the sustainability of irrigation projects in stressed and competing water contexts. The selected case study pertains to the Segarra‐Garrigues irrigation canal (Spain), the promotion of which has generated social debate and mobilization, as well as pronouncements from European authorities for ensuring its environmental sustainability. Data was collected through semi‐structured interviews and analysed by means of a new codification system for identifying the affinities and conflicts arising from existing water demands. Results show that sustainability concepts are more present in civil society than in public administration and private services or the rural community. However, social sustainability and environmental sustainability are a priority for most stakeholders, while the economic perspective of sustainable development has been conditioned by the first two. These results can be used by relevant authorities as a first step in customizing their interventions, as they provide a clear initial idea of what stakeholder priorities are in the framework of sustainable development.     

Drivers of agricultural sustainability in developing countries: a review

Agricultural development has been an effective instrument for poverty alleviation and economic development in developing countries over the latter half of the twentieth century, and over 80 % of rural people globally still depend on agriculture for their living. However, issues such as water availability, land degradation and an increasing dependence on chemical fertilisers and pesticides continue to be on-going threats to sustainable agricultural development. These threats are being driven by the pressing need to ensure food security in the face of rapidly growing and urbanising populations. Developing countries will therefore continue to need improved methods for planning sustainable agricultural development. This paper presents a review of agricultural sustainability assessment in developing countries. The review highlights some of the key weaknesses that persist in sustainability assessment and the need to consider not only indicators of sustainability but also the drivers that influence indicator behaviour. We argue that without a good understanding of the drivers of sustainability and their systemic relationships to indicators, sustainability assessments run the risk of focusing on symptoms without addressing underlying causes of adverse indicator trends. Drivers of agricultural sustainability in developing countries encompass a range of demographic, natural, socio-economic, political, institutional and management factors. Understanding these and their relationships to sustainability indicators is needed in order to develop agricultural development policy that supports sustainability. The paper presents a conceptual framework for guiding systemic agricultural sustainability assessment and agricultural development planning in developing countries that includes both sustainability indicators and drives, and considers the broad relationships between them.     

Learning for Sustainability Among Faith-Based Organizations in Kenya

The complex and unpredictable contexts in which environmental and development work take place require an adaptable, learning approach. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) play a significant role in sustainability work around the world, and provide a unique setting in which to study learning. This paper explores individual learning for sustainability within two FBOs engaged in sustainability work in Kenya. Learning outcomes covered a broad range of areas, including the sustainability framework, environment/conservation, skills, community work, interpersonal engagement, and personal and faith development. These outcomes were acquired through embodied experience and activity, facilitation by the workplace, interpersonal interaction, personal reflection, and Bible study and worship. Grounded categories were compared to learning domains and processes described by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. The findings indicate that for learning in the sustainability field, instrumental learning and embodied learning processes are particularly important, and consequently they require greater attention in the theory when applied in this field.     

Engaging communities in municipal sustainability planning: the use of communication strategies and social networks in Alberta

In this paper we examine and compare communication processes aimed at building social networks and increasing citizen engagement in two communities participating in a municipal sustainability planning (MSP) pilot programme in Alberta, Canada, initiated by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA). Data were gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews and documentary review. In soliciting citizen engagement, each community utilised a variety of communication methods, based on available resources and on-going evaluation of community responses. In both cases, citizens developed a shared vision of a preferred future for their community, aided by a reconfiguration of their internal and external social networks. In addition to drawing upon and strengthening bonding relationships within the community, bridging relationships with external actors and agencies promoted knowledge mobilisation that aided in planning and transitioning towards sustainability. Both communities faced challenges as well, which the authors discuss in relation to the sustainability of MSP planning.     

GIS-based urban sustainability assessment: The case of Dammam city, Saudi Arabia

This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings.     

Environmental planning,ecosystem science,and ecosystem approaches for integrating environment and development

Currently popular concepts such as sustainable development and sustainability seek the integration of environment and development planning. However, there is little evidence that this integration is occurring in either mainstream development planning or environmental planning. This is a function of the history, philosophies, and evolved roles of both. A brief review of the experience and results of mainstream planning, environmental planning, and ecosystem science suggests there is much in past scientific and professional practice that is relevant to the goal of integrated planning for environment and development, but still such commonly recommended reforms as systems and multidisciplinary approaches, institutional integration, and participatory, goal-oriented processes are rarely achieved. “Ecosystem approaches,” as developed and applied in ecology, human ecology, environmental planning, anthropology, psychology, and other disciplines, may provide a more transdisciplinary route to successful integration of environment and development. Experience with ecosystem approaches is reviewed, their advantages and disadvantages are discussed, and they are compared to traditional urban and regional planning, environmental planning, and ecosystem science approaches. Ultimately a synthesis of desirable characteristics for a framework to integrate environment and development planning is presented as a guide for future work and a criterion for evaluating existing programs.     

Citizenship and sustainability in dependent island communities: the case of the Huon Valley region in southern Tasmania

In Western democracies, rising levels of political alienation have prompted concerned political authorities to improve the quality of citizenship by such means as civic education. As well, the several international conventions underpinning the sustainable development discourse mandate participation to empower people in their own development. Active citizenship and the participation fundamental to it can be problematic for island communities with a history of economic and political dependence, since there exist a number of structural and agentic barriers to its practice and to the exercise of ecological responsibility through participation. Both the barriers to and the prospects for ecological sustainability are elaborated in this study of aspects of community, participation, citizenship and ecological literacy among the communities of the Huon Valley region of southern Tasmania.     

Planning process influences on sustainability in Ohio township plans

This study examines planning process influences on plan sustainability scores for 46 township plans in Central Ohio, in the Midwestern Region of the United States. Townships face many similar development challenges as exurban communities along with cultures and economies which straddle urban and rural perspectives. The empirical analysis shows that participation breadth is positively related to sustainability scores, while the use of the sustainability concept in the planning process is negatively related to sustainability scores. Based on the findings, we suggest that communities preparing a comprehensive plan should encourage participation by a variety of groups in the planning process. Future research should examine the manner in which the sustainability concept is incorporated into the planning process to better assess its influence.     

Waste: Striving for a more sustainable future

Governments everywhere are recognising environmental sustainability as a major driver of technological and economic development—with innovative direction being found at the interface of our efforts to become more socially and environmentally sustainable. Rural communities, faced with the pressures of unprecedented change, have an opportunity to embrace the principles of sustainable development, to create a new future at the leading edge of global change—but they need help. They need both knowledge and skills to enable them to self-evaluate and strategically plan, and they need a highly motivated, creative, and coherent community to carry it through. Small Towns: Big Picture is a community development process designed to foster creative, energetic, and collaborative action by five small rural communities in central Victoria—focusing on the development of social, environmental, and economic sustainability indicators. The project bought together artists, researchers and local communities to produce a coherent and shared understanding of the sustainability issues and opportunities. This paper presents Small Towns: Big Picture, focusing specifically on the social dimension and the development of a Community Cohesion indicator through an arts-led community engagement process.     

Saint Lucia's experience with formulating a national sustainable development strategy

In response to domestic development challenges and calls from the international community for countries to develop and begin the implementation of national sustainable development strategies by 2005, the Government of Saint Lucia initiated a project named Integrated Planning for Sustainable National Development in 2002. Under this initiative, it was intended to articulate a vision for the country's development and use this as the basis for identifying a set of development imperatives through a process that will superimpose identified national development goals and targets on the international sustainable development agenda to arrive at a national strategy and plan for sustainable development. The plan also called for institutional and structural adjustments to move the country away from current sectoral‐based development planning to an environment of dialogue, cooperation and collaboration among development partners in the articulation of development policies, plans and projects. The initiative did not evolve as planned mainly due to inadequate political and financial support and the inability of key institutions to see the bigger picture this initiative tried to paint for the nation.     

Citizenship and sustainability in dependent island communities: the case of the Huon Valley region in southern Tasmania

In Western democracies, rising levels of political alienation have prompted concerned political authorities to improve the quality of citizenship by such means as civic education. As well, the several international conventions underpinning the sustainable development discourse mandate participation to empower people in their own development. Active citizenship and the participation fundamental to it can be problematic for island communities with a history of economic and political dependence, since there exist a number of structural and agentic barriers to its practice and to the exercise of ecological responsibility through participation. Both the barriers to and the prospects for ecological sustainability are elaborated in this study of aspects of community, participation, citizenship and ecological literacy among the communities of the Huon Valley region of southern Tasmania.     

Social sustainability and the art of engagement—the small towns: big picture experience

Governments everywhere are recognising environmental sustainability as a major driver of technological and economic development—with innovative direction being found at the interface of our efforts to become more socially and environmentally sustainable. Rural communities, faced with the pressures of unprecedented change, have an opportunity to embrace the principles of sustainable development, to create a new future at the leading edge of global change—but they need help. They need both knowledge and skills to enable them to self-evaluate and strategically plan, and they need a highly motivated, creative, and coherent community to carry it through. Small Towns: Big Picture is a community development process designed to foster creative, energetic, and collaborative action by five small rural communities in central Victoria—focusing on the development of social, environmental, and economic sustainability indicators. The project bought together artists, researchers and local communities to produce a coherent and shared understanding of the sustainability issues and opportunities. This paper presents Small Towns: Big Picture, focusing specifically on the social dimension and the development of a Community Cohesion indicator through an arts-led community engagement process.     

国家生态环境保护规划发展历程及展望

伴随着生态环境保护和生态文明建设工作不断发展,中国的生态环境规划经过近45年的探索发展,规划理念与时俱进,规划层级不断提升,规划体系不断优化,规划技术方法不断探索实践,生态环境规划的发展对促进生态文明建设工作、系统谋划环境污染治理,改善生态环境质量发挥了重要作用,但还存在着五年综合规划统领作用未有效发挥、规划实施管理较为薄弱、规划技术支撑不足等问题。在生态文明建设进入到以降碳为重点战略方向、推动减污降碳协同增效、促进经济社会发展全面绿色转型、实现生态环境质量改善由量变到质变、美丽中国建设起步开局的关键时期,生态环境规划要健全规划体系、强化规划空间属性、建立全过程实施管理体系,提升规划编制实施管理水平,进一步发挥规划的基础性、统领性、战略性和创新性作用,促进美丽中国建设目标早日实现。     

From place to emplacement: the scalar politics of sustainability

ABSTRACT

Sustainability has emerged as a central concept for discussing the current state of the human-environment system and planning for its future. To delve into the depths of sustainability means to talk about ecology, economy, and equity as fundamentally interconnected. However, each continues to be colonised by normative epistemologies of ecological sciences, neoclassical economics, and development, suggesting that with enough science and development, a more equitable sustainability is achievable. In our analysis, place emerges as an alternative epistemology through which to analyze sustainability. Place exists at multiple spatial and temporal scales, understood through direct observation of boundaries, processes and patterns, phenomenologically through individual experience, and as a complex hybrid: always emerging through interactions among individuals and institutions. Despite the ubiquity of place in the socio-ecological literature, the complexity of place in relation to sustainability is under-theorised, and in as much as sustainability happens or does not happen in real places rather than in policies and models, a place-based sustainability framework is necessary to move forward. To address this gap, we developed the emplacement framework, consisting of four domains: displacement, misplacement, replacement, and emplacement. Each domain is dynamic, constructing place as praxis, and reframing sustainability as a site of collective inquiry and choices. Our goal is to facilitate the active and on-going practices of place-based research and engagement among scholars, activists, and other community members by providing a structure for transdisciplinary dialogue and the application of transdisciplinary research to enable better decision-making.     

Sustainable Development: A Transdisciplinary Overview of the Literature

The literature on sustainable development has burgeoned. Over the past decade, concern about sustainability has been raised within such a wide range of social and natural science discourses that a comprehensive overview of this work is hard to find. Literature reviews that are available typically have a disciplinary focus-such as ecological economics or environmental science-or they have an applied social science/ policy emphasis. This paper bridges the multiple discourses by arraying them as interlocked parts of a grand puzzle. Ten fields of discourse are identified and conceptually mapped. The review is critical, yet constructive. It outlines a political ecology of sustainable development by articulating four key challenges concerning: (1) holism and co-evolution; (2) social justice and equity; (3) empowerment and community building; and (4) sustainable production and reproduction.     

Global sustainability: Toward definition

Sustainability is increasingly viewed as a desired goal of development and environmental management. This term has been used in numerous disciplines and in a variety of contexts, ranging from the concept of maximum sustainable yield in forestry and fisheries management to the vision of a sustainable society with a steady-state economy. The meaning of the term is strongly dependent on the context in which it is applied and on whether its use is based on a social, economic, or ecological perspective, Sustainability may be defined broadly or narrowly, but a useful definition must specify explicitly the context as well as the temporal and spatial scales being considered. Although societies differ in their conceptualizations of sustainability, indefinite human survival on a global scale requires certain basic support systems, which can be maintained only with a healthy environment and a stable human population. A clearer understanding of global sustainability and the development of appropriate indicators of the status of basic support systems would provide a useful framework for policy making.