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This review paper aims to analyze the academic perspectives with which the concept of sustainability has been approached in the fields of administration and organizational studies. Methodologically, it consists of a review of 130 documents published in 22 scientific journals recognized by Publindex-Minciencias in the organizational field and related disciplines in Colombia, focusing on the period 2010-2020. As a result, 28 thematic categories and qualitative analyses of the conceptual perspectives that underlie them are presented. It was identified that these concepts are used indiscriminately in the literature and that three thematic approaches coexist: 1) sustainability as a strategy for economic durability, 2) sustainability as a conscious economic developmental perspective and 3) sustainability as a sociocultural and political project of universal transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a Third World vision, the present paper deals with some international methods to evaluate sustainability in Projects and realizations, at architectural and urban scale, in order to, valuate in a comparative way, strengths and weakness, mainly taking into account their possible application in developing countries, and particularly in Cuba. The research started by looking for a method to evaluate sustainability in the University of Informatics Sciences, and it was later on extended with the inclusion of the African experience. The evaluative categories differ from one system to the other, but all of them emphasize the environmental dimension of sustainability. Only two methods coming from developing countries include social dimension and the necessity of an endogenous approach, which is an important current challenge for Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the current environmental problems such as climate change, it is urgent to move towards a new technological and production pattern that allow economic growth and care for the environment to be compatible with each other. Different economic growth models have addressed the relationship between this and technical change, however, they have given little importance to the environment. For this reason, the objective of the current paper is to perform an exploratory and descriptive analysis of the role of technological change as a determinant of economic growth from the Solow (1957) and Kaldor & Mirrlees (1962) models, as well as to raise the need to move towards more sustainable growth models based on a new technological pattern and more efficient forms of production that guarantees a green economy, some principles of Industrial Ecology and the intensive use of renewable energy, sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the actions toward a more sustainable development, a poor understanding of the role of architecture and urban design to achieve this goal is appreciated in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show how it is possible to improve the sustainability in a built environment, by simple and economic transformations, taking as study object the Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI). A qualitative urban diagnosis was carried out in order to define the main performance strategies. The proposals are progressive, based on minimum intervention and maximum impact. Some of them are: rezoning to reduce distances, using alternative transportation means as bicycles and zero energy minibuses, incorporating new services, using renewable sources of energy and creating an ecological park with a wetland for the gray water treatment. This diagnosis allowed to select the more problematic buildings to be transformed based on a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the actions toward a more sustainable development, a poor understanding of the role of architecture and urban design to achieve this goal is appreciated in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show how it is possible to improve the sustainability in a built environment, by simple and economic transformations, taking as study object the Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI). A qualitative urban diagnosis was carried out in order to define the main performance strategies. The proposals are progressive, based on minimum intervention and maximum impact. Some of them are: rezoning to reduce distances, using alternative transportation means as bicycles and zero energy minibuses, incorporating new services, using renewable sources of energy and creating an ecological park with a wetland for the gray water treatment. This diagnosis allowed to select the more problematic buildings to be transformed based on a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico many socioeconomic dynamics are being put in motion within rural communities, the purpose of which is to regain control over natural resources and creating Communal Forestry Companies that support an inclusive and participative type of progress. The object of the present paper is to analyse the case of San Pedro El Alto in Mexico in terms of local endogenous development, Víctor Toledo's (1996) contribution to the study sustainable communities and post-farming appropriation (Barkin y Rosas, 1996; Rosas, 2011). This study proposes a transition from subsistence agriculture to a type of production that would increase quality of life. A participative methodology was used, including semi-structured interviews to key informants and documental information. Data will be showed demonstrating that San Pedro El Alto has achieved a certain degree of development due to the creation of the Communal Forestry Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has integrated the paradigm of sustainability into their work. To achieve this goal, an empirical analysis was performed starting with a characterization of what should be and what actually is in this company, through the review of four basic documents: the Institutional Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development (PEIDES), SENER Annual Report, Sustainability Report 2008 and the Report on Progress of the Ten Principles of the World Agreement 2011. A reflection about the balance between the company's what should be and what actually is was then made based on the Three Pillars of Sustainability framework: environment, economy and society, as well as on general principles of this concept. Finally, some challenges and paths were identified which CFE will have to face and follow in order to move towards a more desirable state in its work as a company that declares sustainability as the backbone of its action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the paths companies use to contribute to get a sustainable development. The CSR researches have proposed different conceptual models to evaluate the companies' performance in this field. This paper presents the results of applying the Corporate Citizenship Model of the Boston College to two different size companies to be able to compare their corporate citizenship advances. The stated hypothesis is that the size of a company does not determinate the adoption of the corporate citizenship philosophy and strategy practices because what matter to succeed is that the directive board is convinced, compromised and communicate it along the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper presents the outcomes obtained from a pioneering line of research which relates two themes of huge relevance in postmodern architectural theory - heritage made up of pre-existing buildings and the integral reuse of these buildings as an act of sustainability. This line of research aims to virtuously integrate those architectural values which must remain in time while providing a new meaning to them. In this way, it contributes to sustainable development from a specialized area, which synthesizes architectural design, construction, economic and social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social responsibility and sustainable development are two issues that have gained prominence as a result of concerns about economic, social and environmental impact of different stakeholders who believe that doing business in an ethical manner contributes to sustainable growth in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the methodology and instruments used to assess the sustainability and social responsibility in organizations in order to propose a survey to evaluate business sustainability of small and medium enterprises in Mexico, because less than a half of them fewer survive in their first ten years of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows a conceptual synthesis of the project proposed for the city of Mérida as as Urban Biosphere Reserve, based on the particular space physical qualitiethat define the significance of the place, as enclaved into the mountains surrounded by unique natural landscapes. This project has its justification in the degradation of the environment that has undergone Mérida as a product of an uncontrolled and disordered urban growth and the outdatedl concepts of the urban planing normative that do not respond in time with the exigencies of the dynamics and contemporary city. This work is based in the sustainable development and the urban ecology, on which the theoretical contributions of architect Ruben Pesci are fundamental since they look for the solution of the problems oriented to the Latin American city. The article concludes with an intention of zoning of the city of Mérida under the criteria established by this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, in Lagunillas, a municipality of Atemajac de Brizuela, south of Jalisco, Mexico, a Sustainable Rural Development project was put into effect via the program Manejo Integral de Microcuencas (Comprehensive Management of Micro-Basins) under the coordination of the Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA). This intervention was based on two premises: 1) institutional attendance and the participation of the local population in the proper management of natural resources, and 2) the development of alternative means to increase production and improve the quality of life but sustaining the basin's functioning as an ecosystemic unity. The following paper presents parts of the results compiled in the authors' PhD theses worked out from February 2004 to January 2007, where they analyze the experience of Lagunillas in order to document the sustainable rural development practices therein implemented, particularly those aspects which have to do with the participative processes of the local inhabitants, the lessons learned, and the pending challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I show the experience obtained in Mexico and Latin America from the application of the Methodological Framework for the Evaluation of Management Systems with Sustainability Indicators between 1999 and 2005. These are diverse efforts to increase and evaluate the sustainability of agro ecosystems under various conditions, with different constraints and results; in some cases, these include the comparison of contrasting systems and, in others, the changes obtained for the same system under alternative ways of management. All the cases are attempts to make operative the concept of sustainability applied to sustainable development, specifically supported over the experience of evaluating agro ecosystems under the conditions of the Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]