Stewardship Volunteering by Older Australians: The Generative Response

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to use Erikson's approach to human development, and specifically generativity, as a framework by which to explore older people's experiences of environmental stewardship activities. Using data from a large qualitative study of environmental volunteers resident in the coastal fringes of Queensland, Australia, the paper provides important, illustrative, empirical support for Erikson's theory of generativity in later life. Findings suggest that older people are much more likely to connect their environmental actions with the longer-term future, and express a need to leave a lasting legacy for future generations. According to respondents, the later years are a time to contribute to the environment as part of a broader cycle of life. The environment is also an important site for intergenerational activities. Whilst the work presented here is only a small, localized study, use of Erikson's theory of human development as a framework helps demonstrate the importance of a generative response in later life.     

Constructing domestic retrofit as a new urban infrastructure: experimentation,equitability and contested priorities

ABSTRACT

British cities and residential suburbs were originally developed under a modernist growth logic: separating home from work, with little concern for energy use. But recent political and social priorities such as climate change and energy security have created an imperative to reduce domestic energy use, with many existing dwellings rendered “obsolete” on account of their poor energy efficiency. This precipitated a need to develop domestic retrofit – the modification of building fabrics and systems to improve their energy efficiency – as an urban infrastructure. The UK Government responded in 2011 with policies such as the “Green Deal”, through which coalitions of actors in cities including local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and private businesses were encouraged to experiment with place-based retrofit. This paper examines the challenges and effects of developing a domestic retrofit infrastructure in a North London borough under particularly challenging policy conditions. We develop a hybrid framework for understanding the process and product of this place-based experimentation and through this we ask two questions: 1. How did both local and national conditions enable and limit the development of this infrastructure? 2. Was the emerging urban infrastructure functional and equitable? In Haringey’s case, a strong local political agenda positioned retrofit as a development opportunity and vehicle for reducing inequality, but national priorities around market-making and technological fixes dominated emerging responses. Whilst Haringey’s efforts in a difficult policy context did result in retrofits and improvements to around a thousand properties, the emerging infrastructure of retrofit services was incomplete, inequitable and temporary.     

Synthesizing habitat connectivity analyses of a globally important human-dominated tiger-conservation landscape

As ecological data and associated analyses become more widely available, synthesizing results for effective communication with stakeholders is essential. In the case of wildlife corridors, managers in human-dominated landscapes need to identify both the locations of corridors and multiple stakeholders for effective oversight. We synthesized five independent studies of tiger (Panthera tigris) connectivity in central India, a global priority landscape for tiger conservation, to quantify agreement on landscape permeability for tiger movement and potential movement pathways. We used the latter analysis to identify connectivity areas on which studies agreed and stakeholders associated with these areas to determine relevant participants in corridor management. Three or more of the five studies’ resistance layers agreed in 63% of the study area. Areas in which all studies agree on resistance were of primarily low (66%, e.g., forest) and high (24%, e.g., urban) resistance. Agreement was lower in intermediate resistance areas (e.g., agriculture). Despite these differences, the studies largely agreed on areas with high levels of potential movement: >40% of high average (top 20%) current-flow pixels were also in the top 20% of current-flow agreement pixels (measured by low variation), indicating consensus connectivity areas (CCAs) as conservation priorities. Roughly 70% of the CCAs fell within village administrative boundaries, and 100% overlapped forest department management boundaries, suggesting that people live and use forests within these priority areas. Over 16% of total CCAs’ area was within 1 km of linear infrastructure (437 road, 170 railway, 179 transmission line, and 339 canal crossings; 105 mines within 1 km of CCAs). In 2019, 78% of forest land diversions for infrastructure and mining in Madhya Pradesh (which comprises most of the study region) took place in districts with CCAs. Acute competition for land in this landscape with globally important wildlife corridors calls for an effective comanagement strategy involving local communities, forest departments, and infrastructure planners.     

Toward livable and healthy urban streets: Roadside vegetation provides ecosystem services where people live and move

Fostering ecosystem services in urban road corridors is an important challenge for urban planning and governance because residents are often exposed to environmental pressures in these ubiquitous open spaces. We here aim at illustrating multiple ecosystem services that may be underpinned by roadside vegetation. Previous work is broadly scattered in papers from the natural and social sciences and biased by a focus both on regulating services (temperature regulation, air filtration, carbon sequestration) and also on trees. We provide a first synthesis that illustrates (i) the multi-functional capacity of green elements in streetscapes to deliver various ecosystem services; (ii) the relevance of planted and wild-grown herbaceous vegetation as well as trees; and (iii) trade-offs between certain ecosystem services as well as risks related to disservices. Trees and herbaceous road vegetation can mitigate adverse environmental conditions in road corridors, which is particularly important in vulnerable neighborhoods that are undersupplied with green spaces. Enhancing the amenity value of streetscapes might also positively influence public health by promoting physical activity. However, significant knowledge gaps exist, e.g. on the contribution of biodiversity to ecosystem services and on the valuation of green street components by different sociocultural groups. Our synthesis illustrates management options that can support planning and governance approaches toward more livable streetscapes by fostering ecosystem services and counteracting disservices.     

PFI项目履约监管机制的研究

提高资源利用率，是实现城市可持续发展的关键。PFI模式有效解决了政府投资的低效率问题，提高了公用基础设施的投资效益，为改善国家基础设施面貌，推动城市化进程做出了贡献。然而PFI项目中作为公共利益代表的政府与追求私人利益最大化的私人投资者在某些方面是有冲突的。政府应该通过提高管理手段和行政能力对PFI项目实施科学化管理，可以通过在特许权合同中引入违约罚分机制、履约报告制度、期中评估与期末评估制度、特殊情况下政府介入机制和强化标准的制定等方法，提高投资人的履约质量。     

南京城市基础设施现代化建设进程与对策

提出南京城市基础设施现代化的六大指标体系，即道路交通快捷化、公用设施优质化、邮电通讯信息化、住宅设施舒适化、排水防洪标准化、城市环境生态化并提出相应的临界值。选择其中十项具有典型意义的指标，建立灰色系统预测模型，预测南京城市基础设现代化建设进程可分三个阶段：1999－2013年为基本实现城市基础设施现代化阶段；2014－2020年为城市基础设施现代化建设中级阶段；2021－2030年为城市基础设施现代化建设高级阶段。实现现代化建设目标应从增强城市经济实力、提升中心城市功能、优化城市基础设施结构、调整城市空间形态结构、拓宽融资渠道、构建市场主导型的融资结构、加强城市生态环境建设、实现城市可持续发展等方面采取对策。     

Sustainable water management for green infrastructure

正The water is the most important component in the ecosystems responsible for energy flow and mass transport.The water also plays an important role for human existence.However,the constructed infrastructures such as roads,buildings,railways,drainage systems,etc.give negative impacts to the ecosystem such as deteriorating the water quality and     

沈阳市农村环境基础设施运营与管理对策探讨

分析了沈阳市农村环境基础设施运营管理存在的问题,提出了解决对策。     

A preliminary assessment of socio-ecological metabolism for three neighborhoods within a rust belt urban ecosystem

Rust belt cities of the northeastern United States are plagued by flat or declining economies and the accompanying social fallout from lack of employment. Advocates of green fuels, green infrastructure and green jobs have proposed these nature-based technologies as means to revitalize the economies of cities. Before making public and private investment a baseline analysis of the relative magnitude of existing energy production and energy respiration at the neighborhood scale is useful in order to understand what the potential for green infrastructure might be. Because the urban canopy and other green infrastructure can enhance urban socio-ecological metabolism, we measured the flows of natural energy produced (P) by the urban forest versus the industrial or fossil energy currently consumed or respired (R) in three economically and demographically distinct neighborhoods of a typical rust-belt city, Syracuse, NY. Our objectives were to (1) understand the potential for green energy to replace fossil fuels in general, (2) assess the degree to which different socio-demographic communities are receiving the ecosystem benefits of existing urban “green” infrastructure (i.e. forest primary production), and (3) identify where local (in-city) biotic energy resources could be enhanced or fossil fuel consumption altered to improve overall urban socio-ecological metabolism. We found that (1) the fossil energy consumed in all three neighborhoods was 200-700 times higher than the biotic “green” energy produced; (2) that to produce this much energy from willow biomass grown in the region would require at least between 0.3 and 0.7 ha of bio-energy production per person depending on affluence, density of living, transportation mix and home fuel mix; (3) that although the more affluent neighborhood used, per residence and per person, almost twice as much energy as that of the downtown more densely settled and poorer neighborhood, its R:P ratio was still the lowest due to the high primary productivity of its neighborhood tree canopy. As a first assessment our findings identify several opportunities for enhancement of the socio-ecological metabolism of these neighborhoods, and the city at large, through conversion of heating units in poorer neighborhoods away from expensive electricity, and toward tree planting, solar installations, and per capita energy use reductions.     

Co-design of experimental nature-based solutions for decentralized dry-weather runoff treatment retrofitted in a densely urbanized area in Central America

The quality of water in many urban rivers in Latin America is increasingly degrading due to wastewater and runoff discharges from urban sprawl. Due to deficits in sanitary drainage systems, greywater is discharged to the stormwater drainage network generating a continuous dry-weather runoff that reaches rivers without treatment. One of the main challenges in the region is to achieve sustainable management of urban runoff for the recovery of rivers ecosystem integrity. However, retrofitting conventional centralized wastewater drainage networks into the existing urban grid represents important social, economic and technical challenges. This paper presents an alternative adaptive methodology for the design of Nature-based Solutions for decentralized urban runoff treatment. Through this study, technical solutions commonly used for stormwater management were adapted for dry-weather runoff treatment and co-designed for the particular conditions of a representative study area, considering space availability as the main constraining factor for retrofitting in urban areas. The application of a co-design process in a dense neighbourhood of the Great Metropolitan area of Costa Rica brought to light valuable insights about conditions that could be hindering the implementation of NBS infrastructures in Latin America.