Rewriting the Plot: Sustaining allotments in the UK and Japan

In the search for a model form of allotment garden in the late 1980s, capable of absorbing surplus farmland while sustaining the capacity of the land to support agriculture, Japanese experts rejected the UK allotment, which was perceived to be of low status and in decline, in favour of the German Kleingarten. This paper suggests that it may be time to reconsider the UK experience, in the light of subsequent moves to rewrite the image and practice of allotment gardening in the UK within the local sustainable development agenda, and the problems which the Japanese version of the Kleingarten model has encountered in the changed economic circumstances of the 1990s.     

UK allotments and urban food initiatives: (limited?) potential for reducing inequalities

The number of urban food initiatives in many regions of the world, notably Europe and the USA, has burgeoned in recent years, and analyses of the impacts of these activities on people and environments are the focus of an increasing academic literature. The impacts documented include enhanced food security, cohesive neighbourhoods, sustainability, and food justice. Yet, another literature presents opposing analyses and focuses on exclusionary aspects of projects and their enabling of a continued neo-liberal reduction in state welfare provision. As a result, there has been an impasse in debates over the potential of urban food projects to reduce inequalities. This paper proposes that the benchmark of the UK allotment system provides a means to examine these opposing positions. It uses the conceptual frameworks of diverse economies and the capital assets framework to attain clarity in the analysis of the many kinds of food-related activities seen in (peri-)urban areas. Drawing on empirical work in Plymouth, UK, it focuses on the potential of the different food ventures to reduce inequalities, given certain contingent economic and political factors. It also presents evidence that the allotment movement despite its initially radical roots can be seen as largely apolitical in the present day and has no leverage over allocation of land to allotment sites. Even so, evidence is growing that both allotments and the newer forms of urban food activities contribute to meeting national and city-level policy objectives, with the potential to enhance food justice and reduce inequalities.     

Urban agriculture,civil interfaces and moving beyond difference: the experiences of plot holders in Dublin and Belfast

Recent literature suggests that a “shared politics of place” attained through joint activities fosters social integration and provides people with a means to practise co-operation [Baumann, G., 1996. Contesting culture: discourses of identity in multi-ethnic London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Sanjek, R., 1998. The future of us all: race & neighbourhood policies in New York City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Sennett, R., 2012. Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation. UK: Penguin]. Such a “shared politics of place” is most likely to occur in the context of public space conceptualised broadly as “the setting for everyday spatial behaviour of individuals and communities, emphasizing ordinary activities of citizens” [Lownsbrough, H. and Beunderman, J., 2007. Equally spaced? Public space and interaction between diverse communities. London: Demos, p. 8]. Here we explore one element of such public space – urban agriculture sites – with a view to identifying the extent to which a “shared politics of place” can be created and nurtured among the cultivating citizenry. The paper draws on data collected on allotment gardening sites in two urban contexts: Dublin (Ireland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland) over the period 2009–2013. We demonstrate the centrality of allotment cultivation to the generation of solidarity, mutuality and trust among participating citizens. Individuals engaging in allotment gardening in both Dublin and Belfast create and sustain civil interfaces – dismantling barriers, exchanging knowledge, challenging stereotypes, generating empathy and getting on with the business of simply getting on with their lives. The modus operandi of allotment gardening is predicated on a willingness to disregard social and ethno-national categorisations while on site. This is not to deny that such differences exist and persist, but allotments offer a “space of potential” where those differences are, at least for a time, rendered less salient.     

From Environmental Auditing to Integrated Environmental Management: Local Government Experience in the United Kingdom and Japan

Local authority experien ce with state of the environment reporting in the UK is discussed and com pared with the Japanese approach to integrated environmental management. Two case studies are presented, Lancashire County Council and Osaka Prefectural Government, and the progress made by each authority is examined. The paper argues that two very different approaches to local environm ental m anagement have evolved in the UK and Japan. The Japanese approach is essentially technocratic and pre-occupied with pollution control issues. In contrast, the UK approach has evolved out of the town planning tradition with its emphasis on conservation and am enity issues. Local authorities in Japan have greater jurisdictional powers, financial and technical resources to devote to environmental management. This allows them more direct control over the policy-making process. Constraints on local authority financial resources in the UK, and fragmentation of environmental responsibilities between various organizations, have resulted in a form of environm ental management which is based on interorganizational co-operation.     

Reducing carbon emissions through improved household energy efficiency in the UK

A number of schemes to increase household energy efficiency have operated in the UK over the last 5–10 years. This paper evaluates their effectiveness in terms of reducing household energy use, carbon emissions and fuel poverty. It then draws on the quantitative results of these schemes, and published plans for their continuation, to model an extended and expanded Household Energy Efficiency Scenario to 2020, using an integrated economy–energy–environment model of the UK. The results suggest that while such schemes can play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions from households, much more ambitious schemes than those currently implemented will be necessary to offset the underlying growth in these emissions. Finally, the results are compared with the UK government's own estimates, in its Climate Change Programme, of carbon emission reductions from such schemes to 2010. The paper concludes that the government's estimates are somewhat optimistic, and that it will need substantial new policy measures beyond those already announced if its carbon reduction targets in this area are to be met. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种可靠性优化分配方法

研究了复杂系统可靠性优化分配问题，建立了通过改进各级子系统的可靠性从而使总系统的可靠性优化分配的模型，并给出了一种新方法。它吸收了用启发式方法和动态规划法解决这类问题的优点，克服了用上述方法重复繁琐之处。     

PREFERENCES FOR ALLOCATING RIVER RECREATION USE1

Allocating river recreation use to commercial and private sectors on white water rivers has been highly controversial. How this process is implemented may affect not only the availability of recreation opportunities to individual users, but may also negatively impact the user's desire to escape from the pressures and stresses of everyday life. In a study of users of Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon River, an Even-Pool allotment technique was preferred over others by the commercial, private, and rejectee individuals sampled. A lottery technique for rationing private use permits was preferred by private users and rejectees, while commercial users preferred Advance Reservation. No relationship was found between the users' stress release/escape expectations and their preferences for the different allotment and rationing techniques studies. Such results suggest that river managers may have considerable latitude in selecting allocation techniques that do not adversely affect on-site recreation experiences.     

英国资源综合利用政策模式对我国相关政策顶层设计的启示

本文采用政策分析法,对比中英资源综合利用的政策及实施手段,着重剖析英国政策工具及经验,为我国相关政策的硕层设计提出建议。分析指出：英国资源综合利用的政策属于固体废弃物管理的框架,优点为管理部门职责清晰、政策实施的动力明确。本文建议我国资源综合利用政策的顶层设计可以从五个方面借鉴英国模式。第一,我国有必要明确资源综合利用概念中“资源”的内涵;第二,引入抑制型、强制型政策工具,以强化资源综合利用政策的实施;第三,明确企业应遵守的法律、法规、可享受的具体优惠政策;第四,结合我国资源综合利用的水平、现状,制定资源综合利用技术标准,让相关的政策更具有可操作性;第五,规范各行业的综合利用活动并加强执法监督。     

Analysis of the role of waste minimisation clubs in reducing industrial water demand in the UK

As a result of the UK Government's waste policy, which increasingly encourages sustainable development, and the realisation that water in the UK cannot be treated as an unlimited resource, there is growing interest in reducing the demand for water by industry. A series of industrial waste minimisation clubs have been set up within the country. This paper identifies the effectiveness of these clubs in reducing the demand for water. An overview of some of the clubs show how there is a major discrepancy between potential and implemented water savings, whilst a more detailed analysis of three specific examples show how water demand and cost to the company can be reduced, with the project paying for itself within around 1 year. It appears that companies are able to reduce water consumption by approximately 30%. If this level of saving was taken up by the entire industrial sector in England and Wales, water consumption could be reduced by approximately 1500 Ml/day. This reduction would be more significant in regions of lower rainfall, for example East Anglia and Southeast England.     

World modelling goes global

Staff at the Systems Analysis Research Unit of the UK Departments of the Environment and Transport, led by P.C. Roberts, have built a model of the world economic system and its natural resources. In September 1976, the modelling work of SARU was presented to a symposium at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. SARU's work on world modelling has so far received little exposure in the UK. Accordingly, the British National Committee for IIASA arranged for a one-day public presentation of SARU's modelling work at the Royal Society, London, on 3 October 1977.     

The rise and fall of the nature conservation movement in Japan in relation to some cultural values

The Japanese are traditionally regarded as nature-loving people, living in “harmony” with nature. However, this assumption is difficult to accept when observing the environmental problems in Japan. How can one explain the incongruities? Has the Japanese people's attitude toward nature changed as Japan has modernized? Is the concept of the nature-loving Japanese merely a myth? Is there another reason to explain this contradiction? This study shows political and economic origins of the paradox. The origin of the Japanese traditional idea of nature is fear and reverence of nature based on a primitive religion that developed in a rural subsistence living situation. Aesthetic and spiritual values of nature for cultural, educational, and intellectual entertainment were developed by the ruling class in the seventh century. Japan's first nature conservation movement, imported from the West, developed among the intellectual community and was advocated and promoted by the elite in the Meiji period (1868–1911). However, because deep commitment was lacking, the movement was abused by the military government before World War II. In the early 1970s the nature conservation movement seemed to be on the ascendancy, mainly because it was combined with the antipollution movement claiming the basic rights of survival. The Japanese nature conservation movement is still in the embryonic stage; in the future, the blending of some traditional resource management with the scientific philosophy of nature conservation may help promote the new wave of nature conservation in Japan.     

Socio-economic Impacts: Are They Still the Poor Relations in UK Environmental Statements?

This paper discusses the treatment of social and economic impacts within UK environmental impact assessment (EIA). Socio-economic effects have an uncertain status in EIA, guidance on their assessment is limited and their treatment is often partial and of poor quality. This has led some commentators to view socio-economic impacts as the 'poor relations' in EIA. The paper presents the results of a recent review of the socio-economic component of UK environmental statements (ESs), which provides information on the extent, scope, balance and quality of socio-economic impact treatment. The review reveals that, although most ESs include some information on socio-economic issues, coverage tends to be narrowly focused on a small number of--primarily beneficial economic--impact types. Quantification of socio-economic impacts is also rarely attempted. The review findings are compared with those of similar studies undertaken in the mid-1990s, and the paper concludes with some recommendations for EIA practitioners relating to the treatment of socio-economic impacts.     

Value from shredder waste: Ongoing limitations in the UK

Shredder residue is the residue from the shredding of end-of-life vehicles and white goods, after removal of the main metals. Approximately 850,000 tonnes of shredder waste is produced in the UK each year, and historically sent to landfill. Due to European legislation such as the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive and the Landfill Directive there is pressure to minimise this waste through recycling and recovery.In this paper, primary data are presented showing that 40% of materials are potentially recoverable in the coarser fraction of UK automotive shredder residue (>30 mm). Barriers to such recycling are discussed in the context of several recent drivers, including this waste's possible reclassification as hazardous.The lack of full and timely implementation of the ELV Directive in the UK has made it an ineffective driver, and it is now unlikely that its 2006 recycling targets will be met as intended.     

An economic modelling approach to the design and delivery of sustainable waste minimisation clubs: Prospects in the new policy framework

Since the early 1990s, waste minimisation clubs have been important sources of information for industry in the UK on clean technology and sustainable waste management practice. Despite this contribution, concern has grown about the declining number of clubs, their performance and the likelihood that they will continue to play a key role in national policy.This paper examines the evidence available and provides estimates of how the numbers varied in England since the first clubs were formed. The results presented indicate that, after initial expansion, numbers went into decline. The paper then explores, using economic theory, why this pattern should have developed and suggests it to be a function of how clubs were designed and managed. The results of the analysis are used to propose alterations in how future clubs could be designed so that they continue to contribute effectively to the development of sustainable waste management in UK industry. These lessons are of value to policy in both the UK and other countries considering the development of this important tool of waste strategy. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions for future research.     

Policy And Practice The Focus of Local Agenda 21 in the United Kingdom

The paper examines whether environmental issues are taking precedence over socio-economic issues in the UK LA 21 process. A categorization to separate issues which can be considered socio-economic from those which are environmental has been developed and a questionnaire sent to all UK local planning authorities. Results demonstrate that local authorities are indeed giving more emphasis to environmental issues, which is at odds with previous studies and with the concept of sustainability.The research has indicated that the cause may be a tendency to place LA 21 within the remit of environment departments and, whether this is the explanation or not, it implies that a re-emphasis of effort may be required on behalf of the local authorities.     

Putting the ‘E’ into LSPs: Representing the Environment within Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in the UK

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study with residents living in six deprived neighbourhoods in the UK and the front-line workers and local policymakers responsible for the renewal of these areas. The study was an attempt to raise awareness of local environmental concerns in the context of a national and local policy agenda, which has, until recently, largely overlooked the impacts of degraded environments on the lives and activities of the people who live in them. A key aim for the study was to raise people's concerns with local decision-makers and examine how far these might be addressed through the existing financial, administrative and legislative arrangements for neighbourhood renewal in the UK, namely Local Strategic Partnerships. The research was designed to provide practical lessons and policy recommendations for others wishing to raise the profile of environmental justice in the context of neighbourhood level regeneration projects, in both the UK and elsewhere in the ‘developed’ world.     

Development and Implementation of Strategic Frameworks for Air Quality Management in the UK and the European Community

The UK and the EC have recognized that the application of national and EC policies alone may not be cost effective in improving air quality in some areas, especially in traffic-congested urban centres and along major road transport corridors. Consequently both have introduced new strategic frameworksfor air quality management.This paper outlines and compares the UK National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS) and the EC approach, set out in the Air Quality Framework and Daughter Directives. Both frameworks shift responsibility for reviewing, assessing and managing air quality on to local authorities. The UK considers the NAQS will provide the principal means of carrying out its commitments under the new EC framework.Local authorities in the UK have begun the review and assessment phase of the NAQS. This paper examines the support that central government has had to provide to local authorities to ensure the NAQS will be effective. It offers insights into what other Member States are likely to face when implementing their interpretation of the EC air quality management framework. The paper highlights that many UK local authorities lacked even basic air quality management capabilities when the NAQS was being formulated. Consequently the UK Government has had to expand the national pollution monitoring networks (this was achieved primarily by affiliating the growing number of local authority funded sites), commission new detailed urban emissions inventories, and develop and validate a suite of air quality dispersion models. Training events in air quality assessment techniques have had to be offered and many detailed guidance notes issued to ensure an appropriate and consistent interpretation of the NAQS. Some government initiatives to support the implementation of the NAQS suffered delays which initially caused some unnecessary uncertainties and inconsistencies amongst local authorities conducting their review and assessment of air quality. This points to the importance of the Governmentensuring that the support for the management phase of the NAQS will be in place in time. This includes providing additional pollution-control powers and reformulating transport and planning policies in order to integrate air quality management more fully.     

Progress with implementing local air-quality management in rural areas of England

Air quality in the UK, although vastly improved from the smogs of the 1950s, now faces a new set of challenges from a variety of sources and pollutants. Poor air quality has long been associated with urban areas, but it is becoming clear that many rural locations also have locations likely to exceed the UK Air Quality Strategy-objectives: This paper will examine the extent to which rural authorities have been engaged in the local air-quality management (LAQM) process, a new regime by which air quality control is being accomplished in the UK. Results are presented from a questionnaire survey of environmental health officers of 100 rural authorities undertaken in January 1999. The paper investigates both the technical aspects of the LAQM process as well as the management approaches. The current progress of rural authorities, and some of the problems they face, are discussed particularly in comparison with urban areas. It is concluded that some rural authorities with air pollution problems stemming either from within or outwith their borough, may face significant challenges from the LAQM review and assessment process, particularly where air pollution responsibilities have only relatively recently been addressed. Rural authorities seem to be embracing these new responsibilities enthusiastically, but it is almost inevitable that they will be trailing behind urban authorities who have several decades of experience and joint working to draw upon.     

Product charges: An instrument for increased recycling in the UK

This article draws attention to a policy which has largely been ignored by the UK government. In certain instances, taxation may be used to correct defects caused by environmental pollution, through the price mechanism. Frequently, social costs are not included in the price goods with the result that distortion occurs in the optimum allocation of resources. Taxes can be used to adjust prices automatically and efficiently, thereby correcting the misallocation. The paper first introduces this concept theoretically, as it applies to waste disposal and recyling, and then considers how this theory might in practice apply to the UK.     

Beyond the social construction of nature: rethinking political economies of the environment

This paper seeks to make three contributions to the study of organic food in contemporary society. The first section examines the changing socio-political position of organics in the UK, taking a brief look at supply-chain and consumption relations. The second section of the paper addresses the realities of the organic sector as a mechanism for delivering rural development outcomes. This is conducted through the presentation of case study evidence from the dairy sector in Wales, looking at on-farm and supply-chain related economic impacts. The final section of the paper uses the agroecology model as a prism to examine the evolution of the organic movement in the UK and to highlight the variant and distinctive nature of UK organics. This is seen as placing limits on the capacity of the organic sector to act as a generator of rural development impacts. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley &; Sons, Ltd.