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Since the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, the Olympic Games have become a vehicle to demonstrate and promote the principles and practices of sustainability. The aim of this paper is to explain and evaluate how the application of sustainable development in the context of the Summer Olympic Games has evolved. Two processes have been influential in this change: first, the institutional expectations of the International Olympic Committee have encouraged greater responsibility towards the creation of legacies by potential host cities through the IOC Charter, the Olympic Agenda 2020, and the Olympic Agenda 2020+5; and second, the context and inventiveness of host cities has created new perspectives on sustainability to secure the event and raise its global profile. This paper will focus on the sustainability benchmarks established in London 2012 and evaluate whether these have been continued or extended in the subsequent editions of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro (2016), Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024). The changing discourses reveal the tensions between the IOC's agendas for the event, the motivations of the host cities and the realities of delivery in changing socio-economic and political circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public library serves as the point of convergence and the vector for information. However, the role of public libraries in promoting and contributing to the SDGs has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the strategic role public libraries can play in promoting SDGs and proffers key strategies for public libraries in promoting sustainable development. It is concluded in the paper that the public library that serves as the knowledge repository of the public owes the duty to ensure the dissemination of relevant information to educate, inform and mobilize the public toward collaborative efforts to save the growing cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing a green supply chain is becoming popular in the context of sustainable development. To address this academic concern, this paper designs a multi-product, multi-echelon green supply chain network (GSCN) from economic and environmental aspects. During the modeling process, the main challenge is to access the accurate probability distributions of uncertain parameters from limited historical data. To overcome this difficulty, this paper develops a distributionally robust design framework for bi-objective GSCN, where the distribution information of uncertain parameter is partially available and characterized by ambiguity sets. For the tractability, this paper discusses robust counterpart reformulation under Wasserstein-distance-based ambiguity sets. Finally, the obtained mixed integer programming model is resolved via commercial optimization software. To validate the proposed optimization framework, we design a meat supply chain network for a Chinese realistic food enterprise. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed distributionally robust model can provide reliable solutions compared with stochastic optimization method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the complex interplay between economic development and environmental sustainability in the context of India's pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It examines the inherent contradictions and trade-offs involved, particularly in agriculture, industrialisation, and infrastructure sectors. The paper highlights how economic growth, essential for improving living standards, often conflicts with environmental objectives. The paper underscores the importance of integrating economic, environmental, and social objectives to achieve a sustainable and inclusive future for India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and probes the plausibility of a framework to explain how business associations position themselves politically as trade-related sustainability obligations get stronger. An analysis of the submissions of EU business associations during a consultation on trade and sustainability indicates that firm-level and organisational characteristics explain well trade associations' political cleavages. The paper can provide new insights to help understand a major development in the EU and beyond. The EU is passing through an unprecedented shift in its approach to trade and sustainability as it is likely to rely on legal sanctions to enforce sustainability commitments in trade agreements. Understanding the position of EU business interests in that process is relevant to project the consequences of such shift. Besides, as sustainability provisions in trade agreements get stronger, associations may play an ever-important role in promoting their members collectively or in shielding them from reputational costs. Understanding their political positioning is thus key to understanding the very politics of trade and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper argues that there are unrealized benefits from a cross-fertilization between research on sustainable tourism and sustainability transitions studies. With the aim to stimulate such cross-fertilization, the paper identifies three contemporary streams in sustainability transitions studies that are particularly relevant for sustainable tourism: deep transitions, transitions in practice, and the geography of transitions. These three streams present complementary perspectives, which can help reach a more nuanced understanding of transition processes in the tourism sector. The paper concludes that while research on sustainable tourism can benefit from theories, concepts, and frameworks from research on sustainability transitions, research on sustainable tourism can support further conceptual developments in sustainability transitions studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While innovation is known to catalyse solutions to global sustainable development challenges, lack of engagement from stakeholders during conceptualisation and development may influence the degree of success of implementation. This paper presents a complete and novel engagement methodology, developed from value led business modelling approaches, for working with multi-sector stakeholders. The methodology can be used to determine barriers and facilitators to clinical practice innovations or translational research, within a country-specific context. The approach has then been applied in the Cambodian prosthetics and orthotics sector to provide a practice-based exemplar application of the framework. This approach seeks to ensure the suitability and sustainability of clinical practice and research programmes being implemented within a complex ecosystem. A theoretical basis, drawn from academic and business innovation sectors, has been consolidated and adapted for practical application to design, direct, and inform initiatives in low resource settings. The methods presented provide a way to both develop and articulate the mission, vision, and goals of any proposed change, and to effectively communicate these with stakeholders in a way that engages the personal and professional values that exist in their ecosystem. It provides a structured process through which meaningful conversations can happen, and a basis for relationship management with key stakeholders; intrinsic to enable a sustained legacy from research and development. The engagement from stakeholders during conceptualisation and throughout development can determine the success, or not, of any implementation and scale of innovation. This paper presents a conceptual stakeholder-led engagement methodology, developed from value led business modelling approaches, for determining barriers and facilitators to translational global healthcare research in a country-specific context, in this case the Cambodian prosthetics and orthotics sector. Subsequent research and development work in this area needs to carefully manage and negotiate influencing factors identified through the application of the described methodology, to ensure initiatives (whether research or wider national development work) are sustainable and successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the realm of green restaurants, which seamlessly combine environmentally conscious practices with culinary excellence. It scrutinized 106 reputable hospitality and tourism articles using systematic literature review methods. The analysis, featuring descriptive examination and topic modeling, revealed significant developments in green restaurant research and highlighted their potential to address sustainability challenges. Employing an adapted TCCM framework (Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology), the review suggests new research directions, placing a heightened focus on the "characteristics" aspect to align academic insights with global priorities and industry requirements. This promotes actionable and collaborative strategies for eco-friendly restaurants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With evidence of global climate change and ongoing ecological degradation, there is an urgent need to give more attention to sustainability within VET to ensure that VET does not remain complicit in reproducing the unjust and unsustainable trajectories of current economic and development pathways. At present, the VET literature does not adequately address these issues, hence the need for this special issue. In response, this paper offers a meta-reflective 'landscape view' of the sustainability within the VET 'field of knowledge' as it is emerging. Here, we use landscape review as a multi-dimensional, 'outside-in' view that provides a basis for understanding the broad context and helps to inform actionable next steps. This analysis we believe helps to highlight the key emerging priorities as well as what paths VET is taking on the journey to sustainability. The analysis shows that while some progress has been made in policy and practice related to the 'greening' of VET, much of the current response within VET to the environmental challenge reflects a minimalist reformist approach, characterised by 'bolt-ons' to existing institutional structures and curricula whilst leaving the fundamental beliefs in productivism, industrialisation and growth in place. Yet, as argued by researchers working on green economy, these beliefs are often complicit in co-creation of the environmental crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea defence policy in England has proven contentious in the early twenty-first century, with government willing to defend the coast only where it is considered cost effective and not minded to compensate people for any resulting abandonment of homes. Additional focus is brought to this position by the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect a growing emphasis on climate change effects and other environmental hazards, and the wellbeing of the current generation and those to come. This requires policy makers to seek to balance economic, social and environmental dimensions, and to tackle inequalities; with a central commitment of the goals to "leave no one behind". Subsequent to publication of the SDGs, England was promised a revolution in the government's approach to Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM). This paper seeks to understand the nature of this revolution with particular regard to extant issues around just governance. It finds that policy fails to deal with issues over the local acceptability of proposals for change and the bearing of risk, and instead lies principally in the elevation of the problematic concept of resilience and an accompanying ambivalence towards ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. International agreement that compensation should be paid to those countries suffering the worst effects of climate change, including sea level rise, suggests that adoption of a similar approach to vulnerable homeowners might be the more appropriate revolution and bring policy more into line with the aspirations of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej formulated the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). "Sufficiency" means balancing reasonable moderation in production against the need for protection from sudden internal and external shocks. SEP follows the middle path as a guiding principle for all classes of society and government. Knowledge, thoughtfulness, prudence, and ethical integrity are essential to achieve the middle path. This paper explores the use of SEP as a method of social innovation for enhancing delivery of public services and for localizing the process of sustainable development. Such innovative use of SEP is illustrated by three exploratory case studies of local administrative organisations (LAOs) in Thailand. All three LAOs' case studies have mayors with significant entrepreneurial talent useful in teaching entrepreneurial action to their residents, their staff, and other local leaders. Together, these cases show the potential of SEP as a method of bottom up social action and sustainable development. A brief discussion of the wider need for and use of innovation, including social innovations, and underpinning entrepreneurship, is included prior to the Thai case studies. There is also a short section examining similar types of activities to those observed in the cases in the European context by way of comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aimed to evaluate the impacts of oil palm-cattle integration systems on food security and environmental sustainability. We reviewed more than 100 papers and selected those that reported the advantages of these systems. Oil palm-cattle integration has been implemented in some Southeast Asian countries, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, but it is not widely adopted by oil palm plantations. These systems are mainly driven by policies to enhance food security and reduce environmental impacts. Oil palm-cattle integration can contribute to several Sustainable Development Goals, such as (SDG 1 and 2) no poverty and zero hunger, because it allows for more and diverse food production on the same land, and it increases the income per hectare by up to 15% due to higher oil palm yield (up to 4 t FFB/ha) and lower weed control costs (up to 60%) with rotational grazing. It can also support (SDG 6, 12, 13) responsible production and consumption, clean water and sanitation, and climate action, because it can decrease herbicide use, enhance biodiversity (understory and beneficial species), and improve soil quality. Moreover, it can mitigate the risk of indirect land use change associated with deforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete, a widely used building material, should minimize its environmental impact to align with the construction sector's Sustainable Development Goals. Researchers worldwide are investigating the possibility of e-waste in building materials incorporating various recyclable elements. This paper conducts a thorough review of research on e-waste as a building material. Various E-waste products are used as fine and coarse aggregate replacements in concrete. The study uses a bibliographic approach with the Scopus database to delve into the literature discussing E-waste in construction materials from 2007 to 2022. Data are extracted specifically from Scopus, which identifies 731 papers based on the keyword "Electronic waste used as building materials". The second step involves scientometric analysis, which focuses on patterns within the articles, such as the most prolific countries, sources, frequently used keywords, and reports containing relevant research. Each research phase contains a summary of the results obtained at various stages. Detailed quantitative and qualitative discussions are also conducted to achieve the three primary goals: a summary of quantitative data, a discussion of the existing application, and identifying future research directions. These findings will be useful for subsequent academic studies on transforming e-waste into building materials. The scientometric review provides a path for researchers from various countries to share new ideas and information while encouraging research collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability requirements of the planet in recent years have made it necessary for everyone to reflect on new lifestyles. For this purpose, the United Nations has established an agenda for change organised into 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that claim to be achieved by 2030. The demands of this sustainable development are organised into three main dimensions: social, environmental, and economical. To achieve these goals, the educational system is fundamental. This new context demands new areas of study centred on the educational sphere; for example, in a holistic Health Physical Education (HPE), there are precedents in the literature that show a relationship of the characteristics to enhance sustainable development. Based on these references, it is suggested that the characteristics of holistic HPE could contribute to the three dimensions of sustainability and the SDGs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to deepen through a series of reflections and comments on the elements that compose a holistic HPE to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet. The paper begins with a justification of the delimitation of the problem it seeks to solve through this research area. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the specific SDG targets related to holistic HPE and the sustainability competencies to be developed. The epistemological foundations that a holistic HPE contribution could have on the three dimensions of sustainable development, are also added. Finally, the document closes with orientations for future research and teaching methodology proposals and teaching approaches that would fit within the holistic HPE for sustainable development. The contributions made in this document will allow researchers to find a baseline from which to begin to conduct research that confirms the virtues of holistic HPE in contributing to a more sustainable world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions require that sustainable innovations develop and scale-up. Two promising approaches contribute to this purpose. Design thinking (DT) focuses on the creative development of sustainable innovations to achieve desirable, feasible and viable products. Strategic niche management (SNM) addresses how sustainable innovations should be deployed to the market. At first sight, these concepts seem to pursue a complementary mission, yet, academic literature has not explicitly addressed their complementary nature. Therefore, this paper addresses this gap by reviewing, proposing and empirically exploring the merits of SNM and how these can be used in DT through a workshop to increase successful market implementation of sustainable innovations. The study finds that SNM potentially helps the DT design process to (1) change market preconditions for the design, (2) create a protected niche for development, (3) establish a (long term) commercial viability, and (4) create an innovation development plan through definition of a set of testable propositions. The paper concludes that the inclusion of SNM into DT substantially increases the preparedness of an innovation team for a successful market implementation of sustainable innovations and coins the term 'Design to Market Thinking' for the integrated use of SNM in DT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the collaboration between the Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Odisha (India), and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim (Norway), initiated in 2017. The main objective of the collaboration was to facilitate students through educators to bridge the gap between higher education and the practical skills needed for assessing and advancing sustainable development in local communities. This paper presents the contribution of nine women interns within the framework of partnership among the universities, government, and social enterprises in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It analyses the role of women interns in activities and experiences in Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), in motivating women farmers to join FPOs to benefit in terms of increasing productivity, value addition for better products, and improving market opportunities. The concluding observations section provides three sets of learnings each for the role of women interns and implications for higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the bibliography on GIs keeps increasing, there is skepticism regarding the impact and effectiveness of GI policy. This paper deals with four categories of products in the fruit and vegetable sector of the PDOs and PGIs of the EU. It examines their relationship with tradition and innovation and assesses their economic, social, and environmental impact using a mixed quantitative and qualitative method. The findings of this study suggest that PDOs/PGIs are anchored to the notion of tradition and exhibit an innovative character. Regarding sustainability, a spectrum of successful/moderately successful/'failed' products exist for each sustainability dimension [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization induced growth of secondary cities presents several issues and challenges for sustainable development. Yet, secondary cities continue to receive less attention from scholars, city planners and policymakers in Africa. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of secondary cities is critical for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11. This paper examines the emerging spatial and temporal evolution of two secondary cities in Northern Ghana. The paper utilizes raster data (1990–2019) and applied landscape metrics to analyze spatial development in Wa and Bolgatanga municipalities along three concentric rings. The results show significant increase in built areas over the study period. Urban development in the two cities is becoming more or less fragmented, dispersed and contiguous. Inadequate spatial planning, weakly regulated development and uncoordinated land markets account for the fragmentated spatial forms. The two cities exhibit a monocentric form that fluctuates, is dynamic, and discontinuous. The paper reflects on the implications of the findings and suggests the need for a planned extension of secondary cities in Africa to generate efficient urban forms, curtail sprawl and protect the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper adds to the theoretical exploration of inter-organisational pro-environmental knowledge transfer in small and medium sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs). It does so by focusing on the role of trust, a concept which has received only scant attention in this context. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research, we argue that the willingness of SMTE managers to engage in the transference of pro-environmental tacit knowledge is based on their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, coupled with the perceived trustworthiness of both the message and social actors involved. It remains a challenge for SMTE managers to receive, absorb and respond to appropriate pro-environmental knowledge, based on organisational needs. The paper makes an important contribution to the work on pro-environmental knowledge transfer in tourism by proposing a model of four key antecedents of trust in the knowledge transfer process – self- efficacy, social norms, credibility of knowledge source and social capital between actors. We identify a future research agenda including the need to assess the weighted impact of each antecedent of trust; establish the influence of tourism networks on trust formation and development; and explore if peer perception intervenes in tacit knowledge transfer between pro-active and reactive SMTE managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability in university curricula remains important for equipping graduates from all disciplines with capabilities to respond to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges in their future professional roles. Situating sustainability learning within disciplinary contexts is needed for learners to apply sustainability theory to their future professions. Furthermore, developing capabilities is important to enable graduates to act in differing professional contexts. In response to these needs, this paper contextualises safety as part of sustainability in undergraduate engineering studies by exploring the complementarity between professional capabilities for safety in engineering and key capabilities found in sustainability education literature. The paper draws on findings from interviews with 41 pipeline engineers undertaken to build an understanding of differing views on engineering capabilities necessary for safety decision making. The results show synergies between safety and sustainability capabilities in the context of engineering practice and the opportunities to contextualise safety within sustainability in engineering education. From a safety perspective, given the expanding sustainable development agenda, there is an opportunity to increase education for public safety in engineering curricula within the scope of sustainability education and to shift learning from competencies to capabilities-based outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the living environment through household efforts remains a challenge for many developing countries. Little attention has been given to the role of Internet use in previous studies. Based on the Attitude Behavior Context (A-B-C) theory, this paper builds a theoretical framework where Internet use affects residents' adoption of living environment improvement practices (LEIPs). Using large-scale household survey data from China, this paper adopts the recursive bivariate probit model to overcome the endogeneity biases and investigate the treatment effects of Internet use on residents' adoption of integrated flushing toilets (IFT) and centralized disposal of domestic waste (CDDW). The results indicate that Internet use increases the likelihood of adopting IFT and CDDW by 24.5% and 19.0% respectively for Internet users. Besides, the counterfactual results show that the possibility of adopting IFT and CDDW will increase by 28.8% and 26.4% respectively if they use the Internet. Moreover, residents who are female, the CPC members, having more years of education and higher household income are more likely to adopt LEIPs. Additionally, the results show evidence of regional heterogeneity. Overall, the impact of Internet use on LEIPs adoption is larger for residents in less-developed and urban areas. The findings suggest that policies embedded with expanding Internet access shall help to promote the sustainable improvement of residents' living environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how geography's disciplinary ways of thinking can equip teachers "to organize deep geographical learning" about sustainable development in their students. These ways of thinking are based on the subject's core concepts, and the ones selected for discussion in this paper are environment, interconnection and place. The paper argues, first, that knowledge of the ways that geographers think of the interrelationships between the biophysical environment and humans will give students a deep understanding of environmental sustainability. Second, knowledge of the ways that geographers think about interconnections will enable them to understand the links between environmental, economic and social sustainability, the effects of interconnections between countries on their environmental sustainability, and how to investigate causes. Third, knowledge of the ways that geographers think about place will enable them to understand how ideas about sustainable development vary across space, and how actions for sustainable development are place-based. Applying geography's conceptual ways of thinking will contribute to both student understanding of sustainable development and geography as a discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines India's environmental policies and budget allocations from 2016–2024, revealing a focus on infrastructure that may overshadow environmental conservation. Significant discrepancies between policy rhetoric and budgetary commitments suggest that there is a need for realignment. Advocating an 'environment-centric' approach, the study calls for increased budgetary commitments to environmental protection, a strategic shift away from fossil fuels, and stringent regulatory oversight, all essential to ensure sustainable development in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To limit global warming to within 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the incorporation of environmental considerations into the design of products – also known as ecodesign, has been identified as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Decisions in the design stage often have the most impact in affecting attributes of a product such as the product's environmental sustainability. Although the impacts and benefits are obvious, the development of environmentally sustainable products is often avoided due to a lack of trained designers. Different tools have thus been developed to address this deficiency. In this paper, we review ecodesign tools developed to aid designers in product design. Through a systematic literature review, 141 articles were assessed and grouped into design generation, assessment, and selection. The goal of the review is to identify existing ecodesign tools in the literature, find out how these tools help designers to lower the environmental impact of their designs, and the limitations of existing tools. Finally, we propose an ecodesign system comprising 10 modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-first-century population growth is raising the need for more land space in urban areas and this has led to the construction of high-rise buildings, reducing horizontal urban development and making construction of residential high-rise buildings (RHB) a necessity in major cities around the world. In this regard, urban density and high-rise construction are key factors when determining a city's sustainability and the liveability of urban areas. Sustainability indicators were identified in previous research and quantification has proven to be a useful tool for RHB design. This paper provides an overview of the various sustainability factors applied to RHB design. The paper also compiles information on the sustainability strategy, description of RHB issues and how this type of building can affect urban design. Some strategies may improve the natural environment such as incorporating green spaces, combining living, working and leisure activities, providing facilities for children and the elderly such as playgrounds and reasonably natural settings, ease of access to public transport, road networks and shopping facilities and so forth. The research is based on a descriptive approach and it analyses previous studies. The findings show that the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development (SD) should be considered to implement sustainability in RHBs. Previous literature reviews on RHBs considered social aspects in less detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combination of business-to-business car sharing and electric cars—shared electric cars (SECs)—has the potential to significantly reduce emissions from local travels during work time in organisations. In this paper, we analyse the uptake of SECs in two communities of mobile workers in Norway based on a combination of community of practice and affordances theories. The term community-based affordance is coined to describe how new mobility technologies are enacted and made sense of in the community, leading to transformations in work and mobility practices. Five community-based affordances are located for the SEC-system as follows: replacements of private cars, customised use of vehicles, rapid reimbursement, co-riding to meetings and commuting mode reconfigurations. Together, these affordances indicate how an SEC- system can contribute to the development of sustainable mobility practices in enterprises with many mobile workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is one of the significant development paradigms of the present world because of increasing concerns about environmental deterioration. Sustainability depends on the interaction among various social, economic and environmental factors. Thus, the role of people, resources and technologies become vital. Although people, resources and technologies play an essential role in ensuring sustainability, sustainability is impossible without proper policy intervention. Accordingly, institutions become an integral component of sustainability. Humanity has developed common sustainable goals, yet the way to achieve them remains a critical question for policymakers and a major component of political discourse. In this context, this paper revisits the sustainability components of the economic philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school subject home economics (HE) provides education on food, meals, and sustainability. Drawing on observations and interviews with eight Swedish HE teachers during 2018, this paper conceptualizes HE as an ambiguous perceived space between the conceived space of state-controlled learning goals and the lived space of a traditional Swedish, feminine, middle-class home. The subject's focus on cooking and housework lowered its status and marginalized it from the rest of the school. It seemed in constant threat of neglect and dissipation, which together with the chaotic nature of student cooking gave rise to a need for order and control. This extended to norms surrounding food, cooking, and eating that blurred the line between knowledge content and value judgments. Based on these findings, I suggest that HE is permeated not only by the social, ecological, and economic sustainability perspectives of the syllabus but also a fourth – cultural sustainability – which is not explicitly defined but rather underpins the subject in the form of a hidden curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability has increasingly become a goal for urban policy and planning, and for local and regional developmental strategies. Neighbourhoods are a common spatial scale for studying social sustainability and there is a growing focus on social sustainability in urban neighbourhoods for both researchers and policymakers. This paper is based on a qualitative case study of a neighbourhood defined by the municipality as at-risk of negative social development in a municipality in northern Sweden. The aim is to describe the perceived threats and promoters for social sustainable development in a neighbourhood defined as at-risk, and to analyse these in relation to a perspective of spatial scale. The study is based on data from interviews with municipal representatives, local professionals and residents, representing different experiences and perspectives in the neighbourhood. Four themes illustrating threats to socially sustainable development were identified: crime, unrest and unsafety; segregation and social exclusion; reputation and stigmatisation; and low involvement in municipal processes. The promoters for socially sustainable development identified in the respondents' stories reflect four themes: strong community spirit; safety and low criminality; lively civic society and well-functioning public services. Our results show that neighbourhood social sustainability cannot be studied or acted upon without being put in a context of spatial scale and an understanding that processes occurring at a particular scale only can be adequately understood when considered in relation to other scales, i.e. the development in the neighbourhood can only be understood in relation to the development in the city and at national level. There is also a need for an awareness of how different aspects of socially sustainable development relate to each other, by strengthening or counteracting each other. Key policy highlights There are no "magic bullet solutions" to ensure social sustainable development at the local level. Rather, actions and interventions must embrace complexity. The risk for counteracting processes must be acknowledged in any actions to promote social sustainability. Social sustainability processes occurring at a particular scale can only be adequately understood and addressed when considered in relation to other scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly understood that museum collections play a significant role in the transmission of culture. However, their actual potential to support various forms of learning as the principal mechanism of cultural transmission, as well as to promote social cohesion and inter-cultural understanding, could be extended in a sustainable way: namely, through a symbiotic relationship between museums and the formal education system. There is, notably, a long tradition of object-based learning in archaeological studies and other academic disciplines: one that we adopt as a solid model in proposing a sustainable collections management concept. In this article, we have shown how cultural sustainability cuts across all three pillars of sustainable development. As a sustainable solution, a collections management strategy based on adaptive reuse in educational contexts offers cultural ecosystem services that are transferable from ecological to economic domains. Clearly, multiple benefits can be reaped from the diversification of heritage collections' uses, including aesthetic, educational and scientific. These can lead to more ecosystem services offered from a single object or source: for example, instead of musealised objects remaining in storage and thus inaccessible to researchers or students who might otherwise benefit from them, they can now be used for purposes of education and research. This sort of model also confers significant cultural, social and environmental benefits, not least because it allows for more diversified cultural transmission of heritage and reduces the need to continually grow collections. Our conceptualisation of a circular-economy based model represents only an initial step towards a more comprehensive exploration of sustainable collections management. The applicability of the model, with re-use occurring outside of the museological system and storage facilities shared between different public institutions within the cultural and educational sectors, does present a number of challenges. Examining different attitudes and policies related to the disposal of collections among and within diverse countries, one can expect to find a wide range of circumstances and constraints when it comes to the question of the inter-sectorial sharing of cultural property. Further research would need to provide insight into specific national legislation, professional attitudes and traditions around disposal if it wishes to substantively address options for the smooth flow of objects between museums, universities and schools. The need to take into account all the nuances between legislation and professional behaviour should also be applied in relation to the role of storage within a circular model of collections management. In some contexts, as already stated, museums possess an abundance of study objects or other non-collection material, which is kept in storage facilities without clear museological purpose, while in many others the percentage of inventoried museum objects amid the overall number of objects owned by a given institution is quite high. Both previously mentioned scenarios, involving large or small number of objects that lack a clear museological purpose, can potentially offer useful testing grounds for the concept of circular collections management, though each would surely reveal different set of challenges. Meanwhile, museums in different countries have been accumulating experiences in managing shared and centralised storage facilities, which can illuminate future pathways towards the more sustainable use and re-use of tangible cultural resources. There is also a promising approach to heritage conservation impact assessment that measures the wellbeing that heritage brings to people. Further research in this direction might open the possibility to evaluate ecosystem services made available by the adaptive re-use of collections, both in qualitative and quantitative ways. Unlike collections, individual artefacts do not have to be dissembled, nor 'die' before they serve a great many purposes. The proposed conceptual model outlined in this paper is based on the fundamental idea that material culture can be more significantly exploited as a resource in cultural transmission through both museological and educational contexts; but it can also potentially reduce energy consumption and investments related to the collections growth, thus addressing problems of both economic and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the crucial role that multinational enterprises (MNEs) can play in advancing sustainability, progress toward meeting the United Nations' Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030 has been slow. MNEs are partly responsible, and even though they recognize that they are part of a larger social, economic and ecological ecosystem, and that sustainability can enhance their long-term growth and viability, they have been slow to embrace it. The sustainability and MNE literature initially focused on the sustainability priorities found in developed market multinational enterprises (or DMNEs). Increasingly, "home-grown" (or indigenous) multinationals from emerging market regions have garnered more attention but research on sustainability in the emerging market context is still lagging, despite the fact that emerging markets – and its businesses – have potentially much to gain from embracing sustainability. This paper examines the sustainability discourse in South Africa and identifies the sustainability priorities of its largest indigenous firms. The sustainability reports of South Africa's largest public firms in 2019 were analyzed using Centering Resonance Analysis (CRA). Results indicate that South African MNEs focus on business and societal aspects of sustainability, more so than on environmental protection initiatives. This finding likely reflects: 1) South Africa's context and its sustainability priorities, 2) a diverse sectoral sample, 3) geographic dispersion of South African MNE subsidiaries (presence in other emerging, developed or developing markets with different sustainability priorities by market profile), or 4) a combination of these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) can, on the one hand, increase access and quality in higher education, but on the other hand it is raising concerns among universities and researchers about its economic sustainability. This is mainly because, unlike traditional online learning, in OER-based approaches learners do not have to pay to access learning resources, however the institution incurs costs for the production, maintenance and dissemination of OER. In this context, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has urgently called for more research on OER sustainability models in its 2019 OER recommendation. To contribute to a better understanding of this issue, this paper used the triangulation method to investigate the potential OER sustainability models that are currently implemented by universities, along with their challenges and possible developments. Through a comprehensive literature review and a 2-round Delphi method with thirty OER experts, ten OER sustainability models have been identified and analysed, where public and internal funding are the most established ones. The findings of this study could support organisations in developing their own OER sustainability strategy, facilitating OER adoption worldwide and therefore contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online food delivery has transformed the last-mile of food and grocery delivery, with unnoticed yet often significant impacts upon the transport and logistics network. This new model of food delivery is not just increasing congestion in urban centers though, it is also changing the contours and qualities of those doing delivery—namely through gig economy work. This new system of food consumption and provision is rapidly gaining traction, but assessments around its current and future sustainability tend to hold separate the notions of social, environmental and economic sustainability—with few to date working to understand how these can interact, influence and be in conflict with one another. This paper seeks to work with this broader understanding of sustainability, whilst also foregrounding the perspectives of gig economy couriers who are often marginalized in such assessments of the online food delivery system. We make use of systems thinking and Campbell's conflict model of sustainability to do this. In assessing the online food delivery in this way, we seek to not only provide a counternarrative to some of these previous assessments, but to also challenge those proposing the use of gig economy couriers as an environmentally sustainable logistics intervention in other areas of last-mile logistics to consider how this might impact the broader sustainability of their system, now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing need for infrastructure development, governments have invested heavily in constructing large infrastructure projects in the form of megaprojects. However, implementing such projects requires lots of resources, and they have formidable environmental, social and financial impacts. Despite facing several sustainability issues, megaprojects proliferate. There is a lack of holistic examination of key sustainability issues and influence factors in the existing literature on megaprojects. This paper, therefore, aims to systematically answer: "what" are the key sustainability issues in megaproject management and "how" can these issues be tackled (influence factors), using 87 peer-reviewed articles obtained from three databases. Moreover, the paper proposes an integrated conceptual model by linking the issues and incorporating the influence factors. Finally, the paper presents some future research areas. This study's findings may be of significant value to the practitioners and policy-makers in incorporating sustainability dimensions in the management of megaprojects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the main practices that shape sustainable port development in the context of Korean ports and generalize a typology of port–stakeholder decision framework for sustainable port development. First, the main practices of sustainable port development were examined through a comprehensive literature review and a holistic conceptual framework underpinned by sustainable development and stakeholder management theories. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with 67 port managers in Korea. Lastly, FAHP was performed based on inputs from 18 port managers to analyze the priorities of the proposed sustainable port development practices. It was found that all proposed practices should be used for evaluating sustainable port development. It was also indicated that Optimized Operation Planning is the most important factor while Internal Environment Management is the least important factor perceived by Korean port managers. A typology of port–stakeholder framework for sustainable development was also generalized to assist port managers in making phased investment decisions. This research contributes to theory building by empirically identifying and validating the sustainable port development practices considering all three aspects of sustainability. It has also generalized a typology of port–stakeholder framework for sustainable development which can be used as a guideline for sustainable development decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short essay aims at introducing the International Review of Sociology monographic issue, devoted to the notion of sustainability. The topic is incredibly relevant in the contemporary scientific and political debate, in a time when environmental issues are overlapping the worldwide spread of demand for justice and equality. Within this framework, as a first step I try to list the numerous meanings of the notion 'sustainability' and highlight how the physical-biological scope necessarily intersects the social and political aspects of this notion. The second step consists of highlighting how sustainability is also related to innovation, both technological and social. Finally, I focus the other object of this issue: the role of welfare systems in achieving and defending environmental and social sustainability. This section of the work will include the presentation of the other papers, which focus either on theoretical studies on welfare systems or in case studies, which focus on welfare sustainable policies in the domains of health, migration and generational equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the extent of degradation and pattern of land use land cover change (LULCC) in the Mount Bamboutos landscape in Western Cameroon, using Landsat satellite images of 1980, 2000 and 2018. The researchers surveyed 261 household farmers to understand the different agricultural activities in the landscape. Grassland, sparse primary forest and sparse secondary forest decreased by a magnitude of 818%, 101% and 53%, respectively, from 1980 to 2018. Farmland, tea plantation, eucalyptus plantation and built-up areas increased by 16,799.8 ha (69%), 1009.6 ha (84%), 3757 ha (94%) and 3385.5 ha (97%), respectively, from 1980 to 2018. Agriculture, settlement and grazing land expansion are the key drivers of the LULCC. A conceptual model to increase inclusive stakeholder participation and sustainability in local land use planning is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing school teachers goes beyond equipping them with instrumental knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, and experiences of how this can be enacted in practice. They must be prepared to understand and encompass compelling social issues of justice, equity, and sustainability. To do this they need to understand pressing environmental issues as a forerunner to incorporate sustainability into their teaching. This paper uses survey data from a sample of 136 Australian pre-service teachers to gauge their knowledge and beliefs about sustainability, as well as their level of concern and their inclination to teach about it. The results show sound levels of knowledge of the biophysical environment, knowledge about the consequences of unsustainable practices and the effects of energy use and its contribution as one cause of climate change. Some also hold misconceptions about the causes of climate change. Most prospective teachers are ready to take action to protect earth systems through personal actions, and teaching and advocating within their school community, and less likely to undertake political activities beyond the school. Results from this sample are used to set out a challenge to use the concept of powerful knowledge in tandem with everyday knowledge to improve sustainability instruction in teachers' preparation programs to capitalise on their potential to contribute to Education for Sustainable Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2030 Agenda and its SDGs call for cross-sectoral collaboration and societal transformation. Translating these indivisible goals to the local level is an important undertaking for municipalities given their wide range of responsibilities. This paper explores SDG localization in a Swedish municipal organization, providing analyses on management practice, having an integrated approach to sustainability. Based on document studies and interviews, it reflects experiences from an early phase of SDG localization. Having an integrated approach to SDG localization was shown to be dependent on aspects such as structure, leadership and coordination, yet simultaneously flexibility, organizational learning as well as time and timing. Such an integrated approach also comes with the challenge of operationalizing the SDGs into management systems, budgets and motivating employees across organizational silos and levels. The paper concludes that the SDG framework presents an opportunity for municipalities to understand and review their organizations through a broad systems perspective on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese farming culture mostly starts from the angles of geography, history, sociology and folklore. However, there are relatively few systematic studies on farming culture from the perspective of landscape science, and the research direction mainly focuses on the concept, type, characteristics, function, and operation mode of farming culture. Under the background of the concept of agricultural ecology, it is necessary to improve the effect of the landscape design of agricultural theme parks. With the support of ecological concepts, this paper analyses the background requirements, public needs, design principles, design objectives, design essentials, and design elements of the agricultural theme park design based on the sustainable development and agricultural economic concepts. Moreover, this paper combines case studies to analyse the landscape design of agricultural theme park. From the design effect, it can be seen that the design method proposed in this paper has a certain effect, which can provide a reference for the subsequent landscape design of agricultural theme park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the reliability and scientificity of the path of agriculture sustainable development, guided by the concept of circular economy, this paper combines data mining technology to construct a path analysis system of agricultural sustainable development and establishes a one-dimensional discrete dynamic model of the interaction between the stock of renewable resources and the output. Moreover, this paper discusses the impact of resource-based industries' output on the sustainable use of resources and establishes a two-dimensional discrete dynamic control model for resource stock and resource development speed. In addition, this paper mainly studies the relationship between resource stock and output when the speed of resource development is managed and controlled, and builds a system structure model based on the actual needs of agricultural development. Finally, this paper designs an experiment to analyse the performance of the system model constructed in this paper. The research results show that the system constructed in this paper has a certain guiding effect on the sustainable development of agriculture, and it can be applied to practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last century, cultural heritage in Nigeria has experienced advanced neglect and continual degradation. This debacle created a trend whereby heritage resources have been wholly or partially replaced by new structures. The few heritage remnants in the locale will disappear if schemes to ameliorate, conserve and adaptive reuse are lacking. This research seeks a paradigm shift that balances the debacle and creates a sustainable physical development and cultural identity. This study is an empirical analysis of Old Oyo town in Nigeria and how it might be transformed into a living heritage rather than a deteriorating locale. This paper utilises the case study approach by presenting examples of the regeneration of the historic city in Fez, Morocco and the Kano ancient area in Nigeria. The findings show culture-led urban regeneration as a viable strategy for place making and sustainable development. It has the potential to drive the needed heritage development in Old Oyo while contributing to its environmental, economic and social sustainability. In addition, the project's archeo-tourism potential is essential for socio-cultural sustainability and the revival of indigenous urban solutions and practices. Recommendations for the Old Oyo are crucial to developing the other heritage sites in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address societal, economic and environmental sustainability issues. The efficiency of SDGs monitoring could be improved by essential variables (EVs), which can help to better deal with massive data, interdisciplinary knowledge and workloads. However, in practice, effectively combining EVs with SDGs monitoring remains challenging. In this paper, we proposed a refining method of essential SDGs variables (ESDGVs) to land degradation. Firstly, we selected northwest China as our experimental region and extracted a group of variables related to land degradation from SDG indicators based on the DPSIR framework. Next, we identify the essential ones using a combined qualitative and quantitative methods with the criteria of feasibility, spatialization, and relevance which considered the issues of data acquisition, monitoring scale, and closeness to the land degradation. Finally, we analysed the monitoring role of ESDGVs. Results show that, compared to conventional observations, ESDGVs facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of regional SDGs with reduced efforts. And both climate and human activities have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on land degradation processes. In the future, we hope to have more mature data sets and consider adding more SDG indicators for ESDGVs' refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some 35 years after the United Nations published its Brundtland report [Brundtland Commission. (1987). Our common future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Geneva, UN-Dokument A/42/427. Retrieved December 24, 2022, from ] on the many threats our planet is under due to over- and underdevelopment, we are still struggling with how to make our world sustainable. Today we have the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) to guide us, but they have been largely criticized just like their predecessors. The debate in Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) mainly concerns to which extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) may contribute to the SDGs. This editorial offers a historic overview of the different development goals that the UN has offered and eight papers that offer a view into the discussion of the challenges facing the SDGs, but also examples of experimental strategies on how ICTs can be used in realizing, or undermining, these goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equipping future change agents with the competencies to lead the societal transformation towards sustainability requires competent and committed teachers who effectively implement Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across the education system. In a comparative case study, this paper investigates how individual ESD courses in teacher education programs at Leuphana University (Germany) and Arizona State University (USA) support the development of ESD-specific professional action competence for teachers. Applying a mixed-method approach, the specific focus is on the links between supporting or hindering factors that affect pre-service teachers' actual achievement of intended learning outcomes. The findings indicate that both courses increased students' competence—yet, to varying degrees. The 4Cs (personal, professional, social, and structural connections) were revealed as the most significant factors affecting students' learning and should be considered when designing course offerings in Teacher Education for Sustainable Development (TESD) with the goal to develop students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature on social innovation highlights its conceptual ambiguity and fragmentation. According to this context, this paper explores how social innovation can contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Using a case study approach, we apply a mixed research methodology comprising a content analysis followed by multiple correspondence analysis. We examine 209 social innovation projects financed by the Portugal Social Innovation program in three dimensions: empowerment, content, and process. The social innovation projects addressed showed that social innovation projects can have varied objectives, be developed in different intervention areas, and empower different vulnerable groups of beneficiaries. The findings put in evidence the interaction between social innovation and SDGs, therefore social innovation supports the three sustainability dimensions: economy, society, and environment. In this sense, it is possible to conclude that SDGs constitute a framework that positions social innovation, bringing clarity and structure to the field. This identification and classification can promote the creation of a market of supply and demand of social innovations, strengthening the social innovation ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These time-based travel models, Gilbert and Woodcock argue, aim to reduce urban dispersion by concentrating activities within the time-frames in contrast to automobile travel which disperses activity through travel speed. This is the second special issue arising from the 10th State of Australasian Cities Conference (SOAC) hosted by a consortium of Melbourne-based universities: RMIT University, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Swinburne University of Technology. Kent's paper offers an important point of departure for travel research, such that familial travel has been often overlooked as a key multi-occupant trip component of overall travel demand, despite most travel surveys being conducted at the household scale. [Extracted from the article]

This study aims to review the scientific papers on Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) published between 2008 and 2020 and reveal changes in the area. This systematic review was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, a systematic review of papers on ECEfS was conducted according to the specified criteria, and all identified studies were evaluated descriptively. In the second stage, interventional research was evaluated, and their results were reviewed. It was seen that qualitative research methods were mostly preferred in the reviewed studies and most of them were conducted with children. It was determined that the most frequently discussed pillar is environmental. Moreover, the number of interventional research studies is limited. The research findings, it is thought that there is a need for future studies that use interventional, experimental and action research methods, holistically addressing pillars of sustainability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a blueprint to address urgent global challenges, with a clear role for social workers. This paper explores a Sustainable Development Goal's focused student placement at the Australian Association of Social Workers, with RMIT University. Students reviewed the AASW's policy actions and their contribution to the SDGs, including recommendations for future work. The review identified advocacy in key areas, and the need for action on several issues, including climate action. Students learned about social work policy, practice, and sustainability. The placement itself provides a model for other organisations to align their actions to the SDGs. IMPLICATIONS There is a need for greater social work engagement with the United Nations' SDGs to address urgent social and environmental challenges. Field education placements can provide an important opportunity for students to learn about sustainability, social work policy practice, and the SDGs. The placement model proposed in the article is suitable for any organisation that seeks to review their actions and better align their work to the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reforms in China began in the late 1970s. In the last four decades, the country has witnessed phenomenal economic growth, making it a world economic power. But environmental and social costs have not been sufficiently mitigated. This appears to be changing. China seeks continued economic growth, reduced environmental degradation and assured social well-being for all. The paper attempts to survey China's efforts in the last two decades to combat environmental degradation while ensuring the momentum of economic and social development, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]