Sustainability and attitudes to locality: the discourse of town and parish councillors

The possible role of parish and town councils (local councils) in the local implementation of sustainable development has been overlooked both in research and in policy-making. This article is based on research into local councillors' attitudes to sustainability and to their own role within a single county. A “discourse of local council legitimation” is identified, in which local councillors see their communities as living organisms, whose interests they represent with the benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking – characteristics which they see as absent at other levels of government. Local councillors essentially see their role as local and relatively short-term – a perspective that will have to be addressed if local councils are to make a significant contribution to sustainability.     

Metabolisms of injustice: municipal solid-waste management and environmental equity in Barcelona's Metropolitan Region

Environmental justice studies that focus on the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) typically examine the unequal distribution of associated health and environmental risks in minority social groups and the political processes that generate these inequalities. With the aim to complement current views on the field, in this work, we explore whether there is an issue of environmental justice in municipal systems' grade of self-sufficiency in treating the MSW that they generate and in their effort to close their material cycles. The methodology used is based on the concept of urban metabolism and is applied to 12 coastal municipalities of Barcelona's Metropolitan Region in Spain. The metabolism of the MSW flows of each system is analysed to examine (i) the system's efficiency to close its MSW cycles, corresponding to an indicator of environmental sustainability, and (ii) the MSW export and import flows, as an indicator of social sustainability. The results demonstrate a positive correlation between socioeconomic status and the externalisation of MSW treatment-related hazards. The proposed indicator proves to be an excellent tool for the evaluation of both the environmental and social performance of a system considering MSW management.     

The Green Village project: a rural community's journey towards sustainability

In the South West of the UK, a growing number of rural and urban communities are exploring various pathways to a more sustainable living. The village of Belstone is among these pioneers of change through its Green Village project. It is a relatively affluent community and it has been a major challenge to engage people that are reticent to change their lifestyle and suspicious of the motives of the initiators. Based on a process of action research, this paper explores the attitudes and perceptions towards sustainability and how they influenced the people's engagement. We demonstrate that the partnership was effective in enabling the villagers engaged in the project to take control over the process. Behaviour changes were reported by the villagers actively engaged with the initiative. The Green Village did not “snowball” to the entire community; however, many of those who chose not to engage associated the word “Green” with traits that they did not identify with.     

The importance of the “not-so-cool” sectors: creative solutions to reconcile environmental and economic sustainability within a floodplain

Creative cities are generally considered as “cool” spaces which attract a particular “creative class” whose ability to innovate and transform – particularly in the media and cultural sectors – offers urban economies a competitive edge. This paper argues that, in the face of dangerous climate change, the creativity of the “not-so-cool” sectors needs to be acknowledged and valued. A case study of Salford in the north-west of England shows how political, technological and economic creativity has secured sustainable regeneration within a floodplain. It is argued that the concept of “creativity” in urban economic discourse needs to be widened to acknowledge the importance of the creativity of planners, civil engineers and builders in securing environmentally sustainable cities. Environmental sustainability, it suggests, not only underpins economic sustainability. Faced with dangerous climate change and society's need to respond, the skills and expertise can in themselves contribute to a city's competitiveness.     

The local nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in American cities: a preliminary exploration

This paper reports on the results of a study of the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in 13 moderate sized US cities with populations between 400,000 and 600,000. Dividing the cities into two groups – those that have been more serious and less serious about adopting and implementing sustainability policies, analysis of a survey of local public officials examines differences in the nonprofit landscape. Analysis shows that the cities that are more serious about sustainability have local public officials who interact more with nonprofit organisations, and are more likely to report the presence of at least one nonprofit group that supports city sustainability policies. Additionally, these reported groups are more likely to be “local”, or homegrown, and to be explicitly dedicated to the environment or sustainability. While far from definitive, the results provide evidence that the nonprofit sector is different in cities with sustainability policies, and suggest that the role of these nonprofit groups in the governance decisions of city leaders warrants more in-depth study.     

Towards sustainability management systems in three Swedish local authorities

This paper explores the development towards sustainability management systems (SMSs) in three Swedish local authorities. Many local authorities have extensive experience in using standardised Environmental Management Systems (EMSs). Recently EMSs have extended their reach by widening the scope of the systems including other dimensions of sustainable development. Case studies have been performed in three of the most EMS-experienced local authorities in Sweden. These authorities have extended their EMSs into a sustainability management approach in different ways. This paper discusses the development, possible contributions, and constraints with this development. Expanding EMSs into SMSs can be seen as a learning process in which a larger systems perspective leads to increased awareness that the management system becomes limited by only managing environmental issues. Expanding the EMSs into SMSs may lead to a more complete view of the organisation's total impact on nature and society, and issues that need to be managed.     

Integrating waste,manufacturing and industrial symbiosis: an analysis of recycling,remanufacturing and waste treatment firms in Texas

The continually increasing volume of the waste stream has led to numerous calls for strategies to close the loop on material use through industrial symbiosis strategies which direct used material and products (wastes) back to production processes. By use of a survey of recycling, remanufacturing and waste treatment firms in Texas, this paper asks if these firms can operate as a bridge between production and consumption/waste to efficiently increase the flow of used materials and products back to production processes at the local level. The results suggest that while most materials and used products are collected locally, only some can be re(consumed) locally. Moreover, the firms face negative perceptions about their activities from industry and the public at large that likely slow both the rate of entry of new firms into these markets and the expansion possibilities of existing firms. In addition, the types of conventions that characterize the interactions of more successful firms are not well developed in this sector(s). It is unlikely that recycling, remanufacturing and waste treatment firms can become central players in the production, consumption and waste cycle loop until society develops production design, marketing and consumption philosophies that include recycling and remanufacturing at a fundamental level.     

Increasing land pressure in East Africa: The changing role of cassava and consequences for sustainability of farming systems

Increasing land pressure during the past three to four decades has transformed farming systems in the mid-altitude zone of East Africa. Traditional millet-, cotton-, sugarcane- and/or banana-based farming systems with an important fallow and/or grazing component have evolved into continuously cultivated cassava or cassava/maize-based systems. Within three to four decades, cassava cultivation increased from 1–11 to 16–55% of cropped fields in our six study sites. Declining soil fertility, and not labour or food shortage, was apparently the primary trigger for this transformation. The land use changes have increased nutrient offtakes and reduced nutrient recycling rates. Cassava and maize now account for 50–90% of nutrient removal. Whereas single-season fallows were the most important source of nutrient recycling on cropped fields in the past, currently cassava litterfall and maize stover contribute roughly 70% of nutrient recycling, with 50–70% of N, P and K recycled in cassava litterfall. This may explain why many farmers reason that cassava ‘rests’ the soil. With increasing land use pressure farmers progressively use cassava as an ‘imitation fallow’ throughout their farm. Farmers increasingly target cassava to poor fertility fields characterized by low pH and available P. High cassava intensities are nonetheless maintained on more fertile fields, probably to guarantee regeneration of soil fertility on all fields. Once cassava is targeted to poor fertility soils, farmers have run out of low-input management options and need to intensify management to maintain system productivity. As cassava is now used by more farmers and on a larger acreage than fallowing in the studied farming systems, cassava cropping could perhaps serve as an excellent entry point to strengthen system sustainability.     

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。     

Blurred Borderlands: Sustainability and the Urban/Nature Divide at the Frick Environmental Center

ABSTRACT

Sustainable development is rhetorically framed as exhibiting natural processes, reflected both symbolically and materially. Taking the Frick Environmental Center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a rhetorical artifact, I argue that spaces where sustainable human-made structures and human-cultivated landscapes meet, reflect blurred borderlands of a culturally constructed urban/nature divide. Considering the Frick Environmental Center as an experiential landscape, my mixed methodology of textual analysis and rhetorical field work identifies how naturalized framing of sustainability bridges the urban/nature divide, inviting restoration, preservation, and construction efforts that are more environmentally engaged.