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[Display omitted] This paper proposes an introductory review of the historical evolution of urban stormwater management, as well as of current trends, challenges, and changes of paradigm. It reminds us first that most of the existing urban stormwater infrastructures in developed cities are based on the modern urban sewer systems developed in the second half of the 19th century in Europe. They have been built and for decades managed almost solely by urban sanitation and water specialists, relatively independently of other technical services and, more generally, of other stakeholders in cities. They contributed significantly to public health and fast conveyance of stormwater outside the cities. However, at the turn of the 1970s, it became evident with increasing urbanisation that they also had drawbacks: artificialisation of soils, reduction of aquifer recharge, pollution of surface water and ecological impacts, etc. The paper indicates how new concepts and paradigms thereafter emerged to manage stormwater by means of more sustainable and integrated approaches, aiming to solve the problems engendered by the previous approaches. This integration embraces more and more disciplines and issues, far beyond the traditional field of urban water engineers and specialists. The paper attempts to explain the need for this evolution, making urban stormwater management more much complex, dealing and interacting with ecology, biodiversity, bioinspiration, architecture, landscape and water values, citizens' well-being, history, culture, and socio-economic aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinarity is a demanding paradigm, considered by many in the literature as the way to move forward in terms of science and policy integration. In this paper we present the example of a tailored transdisciplinary (TD) process to tackle a key topic of European policy – the future of agriculture at the regional level. This phased process was followed in seven regions across Europe and involved the co-construction of future visions, engaging both researchers and a range of relevant stakeholders. This paper presents results based on a critical reflection made by researchers and stakeholders in Portugal and Scotland, throughout the participatory process. These results provide insights into the roles and responsibilities of researchers and stakeholders in TD processes. One main conclusion is that accumulated social capital can be essential to initiate and maintain a TD process, and requires a commitment between the research community and the surrounding society. Our analysis demonstrates the challenges of implementing a TD process within the temporal frame/boundaries of a research project and the added value of having transdisciplinarity as part of the long term strategy of a research group, not just one part of a specific project. Not acknowledging this may lead to disappointment and fatigue amongst those connecting with researchers. We also found that researchers position themselves differently in a TD process depending on their soft skills, experience and knowledge about transdisciplinarity; hence we call attention to the need to work more explicitly with these skills in the research environment and to present this concept in an early stage of researcher training, if better transdisciplinarity is to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper proposes transparency and reflexivity as two principles to be incorporated in initiatives wherein data from multiple national contexts are integrated. The necessity of these principles is derived from an ongoing study tasked with identifying and describing national bibliographic databases for research output within the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in Europe. The study is carried out within the context of the COST Action "European Network for Research Evaluation in Social Sciences and Humanities" (ENRESSH). Within ENRESSH, it is emphasised that national bibliographic databases can be instrumental in enhancing the visibility of research within SSH. Hence, one of the aims of ENRESSH is to identify and describe currently existing databases and eventually design a roadmap for a European database that would include data on research output within SSH from different European countries. The study shows that there are considerable challenges in merely acquiring a basic description of the content of databases embedded in different national contexts. To make sense of the content it is necessary to acknowledge the role of context in information systems. Emphasising context, as will be shown, it is possible to elucidate the nature of the encountered challenges as well as to highlight aspects to be incorporated in designs of research information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neighborhood sustainability assessment tools have become widespread since the turn of 21st century and many communities, mainly in the developed world, are utilizing these tools to measure their success in approaching sustainable development goals. In this study, seven tools from Australia, Europe, Japan, and the United States are selected and analyzed with the aim of providing insights into the current situations; highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures; and making recommendations for future improvements. Using a content analysis, the issues of sustainability coverage, pre-requisites, local adaptability, scoring and weighting, participation, reporting, and applicability are discussed in this paper. The results of this study indicate that most of the tools are not doing well regarding the coverage of social, economic, and institutional aspects of sustainability; there are ambiguities and shortcomings in the weighting, scoring, and rating; in most cases, there is no mechanism for local adaptability and participation; and, only those tools which are embedded within the broader planning framework are doing well with regard to applicability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper shows how the term 'scientist' carries complex and contradictory cultural meanings for the staff scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA). The primary responsibilities of ESA scientists focus on the coordination of cooperative space science missions rather than scientific research. Consequently, questions of social membership and belonging are part of the daily work of the staff scientists. The analysis, based on 12 months of ethnographic field research, reveals that staff scientists experience a kind of crisis which focuses directly on their social identities as scientists, fitting neither into the 'pure researcher' or the 'pragmatic technologist' categories. The author argues instead that ESA scientists can best be understood as ambassadors of science, and that the ambiguity about their social identity as 'scientist' is in fact an integral and necessary part of the process of social cooperation.