Search

Traditional engineering approaches are often inefficient and vulnerable, and cities face increasing challenges due to population growth, consumption rates and persistent inequalities. This paper aims to identify Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for water-sensitive European cities, categorising interventions according to their essential ecological functions for urban resilience. Through analysis of 77 projects in 46 cities, with interventions at three spatial scales, it examined a variety of actions that impact urban water management, addressing key challenges and their environmental impacts at the urban scale. The study concluded the importance of four categories of blue infrastructure and three categories of green infrastructure, highlighting their contribution to flood protection, water quality improvement and stormwater management. In Mediterranean regions facing water scarcity and extreme weather events, NbS represent a paradigm shift towards urban resilience and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market rules, changes in regulations for users and producers, technological innovation and economic development are important factors shaping energy transitions. Therefore, explaining energy transitions requires a multidisciplinary insight to investigate these factors. The study of energy transitions faces an analytical and methodological challenge, particularly in communicating trends shaping the energy systems in developing economies. The existing literature is not consistent in identifying these disciplines nor proposing how they can be combined. In this sense, this paper proposes a new and simple methodological path to assess variables and theories. It conceptualizes energy transitions as a co-evolution of two types of systems: system innovation with its roots in evolutionary, institutional economics, science and technology studies (STS); and energy systems with its roots in neoclassical and evolutionary economics. From how to conduct a systematic literature review, to how best integrate theories and the analytical framework in which key questions can be answered, the paper elevates the role of political science, as policies play a prominent role in shaping energy transitions. This paper responds to those who have pointed out that the political economy of energy transitions is a vastly understudied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing consensus that the modern food system lies at the centre of the great challenges facing humanity and that urgent and profound changes are required in the way that food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed. This review analyses sustainability transitions within agrifood systems, focusing on the role of firms and industries as defined by the Sustainable Transitions Research Network (STRN). This paper conducts the first systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis to assess the current state of research on this theme. The findings reveal a significant increase in publications related to firms and industries associated with agrifood sustainability transitions. Furthermore, the focus of current research is geographically concentrated in the European Union. The review identifies four key themes in the literature, based on the co-occurrence of keywords. These are agriculture, innovation, governance, food systems and agroecology. The review identifies an increasing awareness of the role of farmers in driving sustainability transitions at the farm level. Furthermore, there is an increasing awareness of the interrelated characteristics of the agrifood system, which acknowledges the need for sustainable innovations to occur at multiple stages of the agrifood system. The review also shows that there is growing evidence that innovations can occur through disruptive as well as incremental innovation and highlights the importance of governance influencing transitions. The existing literature raises questions about alternative food networks as sustainable innovations, their potential for significant change in the established food system and the validity of their claims regarding food equity and environmental sustainability. A key theme emerging from the literature is an ecological perspective that identifies the complex biological processes and ecosystems that form an integral part of agricultural production. These findings provide a greater understanding of the current literature landscape of agrifood sustainable transitions relating to firms and industries and lay a foundation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite arguments that learning processes are drivers of sustainability transitions, the dynamics of how learning processes take place in everyday life and influence practices remain unclear. An analytical framework for exploring these dynamics is developed in this article. I argue to build the framework on basis of theoretical concepts that shed light on the role of collectivity, materiality, change and stability in learning processes and practices. Transactional learning theory, the community of practice approach and social practice theory are concepts with complementary explanatory power regarding these aspects. Transactional learning theory serves as a starting point to understand how change can come about in everyday practices. Practice theory provides an understanding of the stability and material embeddedness of practices. The community of practice approach is drawn upon to better understand learning in groups. I illustrate the applicability of the conceptual contribution by an exemplary secondary analysis of empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the EU, policies towards territorial development and the sustainability of agrofood systems are exemplified above all in Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, policies for the promotion of sustainable food systems and networks are mainly driven by municipalities and large cities. In order to understand multi-level configurations of policies to promote Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), this paper strives to identify the challenges that municipal policymakers face in implementing sustainable agro-food policies, from a multilevel governance perspective. To this end, and through in-depth interviews and secondary documentation analysis, the policies implemented in 10 different municipalities of the Madrid Region (Spain) are studied and the challenges these municipalities are facing are analysed from a multi-scale and territorialised perspective. The following research objectives are addressed: (1) description of the type of policies implemented for the promotion of SFS and the narrative frameworks in which they are shaped; (2) identification of challenges of local policies to support SFS especially governance challenges; and (3) proposals for the promotion of sustainable food systems through a multi-level, territorialised governance perspective. The paper identifies three main axes of tension and discoordination--municipal Vs regional powers; agricultural vs. food policies; and rural vs. urban territories--that constrains the sustainability potential of multi-level agro food policies. Finally, we provide a comprehensive, sustainable scheme to assess local agro-food governance throughout a multi-level and multi-actor approach, setting interrelations between the different levels, actors and agencies involved to overcome the lock-ins identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HighlightsIn recent years, change in behaviour towards the environment has gained prominence as a policy tool to influence positive environmental value. Simultaneously, the role played by social identity in promoting pro-environmental action is gaining recognition. Within this work, the intersection between collective group identity and environmental behaviour has received very little attention. Group norms are considered a strong predictor of pro-environmental behaviour, yet the influence of social identity and collective action on environmental action has not been adequately investigated in a multi-ethnic setting. Within this context, this study examines the affective component of social identity influence on pro-environmental action. More succinctly, this study demonstrates how outgroups and in-groups’ relations and broader sociocultural structures, values, interest, and norms impact environmental and sustainability transitions behaviours. Through interviews with participants across the four dominant social groups in South Africa, this study provides compelling evidence that country-wide expressions of social identity and ingroup dynamics shapes the individual behaviour regarding environmental and sustainability concerns and further strengthen the individual’s perspective for social environmental transformation. This study advances the need for a social-identity centred approach to foster pro-environmental and sustainability outcomes.The influence that social contexts and social group memberships have on individual perception and behaviour provide important insights to build an empirical base for an inclusive environmental and sustainable action. We applied the theory of social identity to explore these processes and how normative group values and group interest shape environmental behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude and scale of the challenges ahead require fundamental sustainability transitions towards sustainable societies on an unprecedented level in human history. This paper argues that reflecting on the philosophical underpinnings of sustainability transitions and complementing the human–nature relationship with a more holistic and ecological perspective is necessary for the transition to a sustainable "humble world". Using Taoist philosophy as an enabler, this paper explores the three principles of "interconnectedness and symbiosis", "equality, balance and justice of all things" and "follow the Tzu-Jan and WuWei" to enrich sustainability transition studies and guide the construction for transition trajectories. By exploring the instrumental potential of Taoist-inspired principles in sustainability transitions, this paper provides a pre-paradigm complementary rationale for the "why" behind the "how" of achieving a sustainable future. The paper's conclusions establish common ground for a transdisciplinary dialogue between Taoist philosophy and sustainability science (especially on sustainability transitions), strengthen the rationale for sustainability transitions, reveal transition commonalities compatible with Taoist philosophy, and add depth, richness, and inclusiveness to the cross-cultural knowledge base of sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industria Textila is the property of Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Textile si Pielarie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper theoretically models and empirically assesses the sociotechnical transition process experienced by a group of producers in southern Bahia State (Brazil). Driven by the search for economic sustainability in cocoa production, this group has achieved full sustainability through production chain upgrading, enabling the agroforestry system's (cabruca) continuity in their properties. In order to understand how and why this process happened, our conceptual model advances on the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework, as it is an applied way of analyzing different niche transformations within the same regime, a typical situation in agrifood systems in emerging markets. Our analyses and empirical evidence suggest that interpersonal relationships play a crucial role in this process, particularly developing concepts and strategies, and in establishing operational structures. Rules and structure formalization may replace interpersonal relationships, as observed when the transition goes forward. Our findings evidence knowledge gathering, cooperation among actors, and information and support exchanging as critical factors to trigger the niche transition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In response to pressing global challenges, sustainability transitions research has emerged as an interdisciplinary field focused on fundamental changes, necessitating novel approaches for strategy-making from research and innovation. Foresight practitioners need to extend their well-established methodological toolkit, which can inform subsequent planning processes about managing conflicts and shaping futures, to include the articulation of response options for contributing to the creation of more sustainable future systems. This research aims to contribute to this need by exploring future options characterized by discrepancies. Drawing from the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) literature to understand discrepancies between “desirability” and “probability” of future options as missed opportunities to secure social desirability in the future or as threats to it, this research argues for the collective identification and anticipation of discrepancies to reflect on options for making more responsive strategies. Thus, informed by RRI, a Delphi exercise was modified to engage experts from the German agri-food sector (n = 21) to assess divergent innovation-driven changes in the German agri-food sector that had been collectively anticipated and reflected upon beforehand. The results speak for a reduction of complexity by revealing specific actions necessary to redirect research and innovation processes away from unsustainable paths, as well as identifying determinants of discrepancies to do good or avoid harm.

Abstract Globally, environmental crises are at a critical point. Findings from scientific research are crucial to understand these issues and to inform new policies to address them. Yet the rapidity with which society, industry and lifestyles are changing is not matched in dynamism by institutionalised science, where institutional structures slow the rate of adaptation. In this paper, we propose that citizen science can act as a bridge between the ideal and the reality of scientific research, structuring the interface of scientific research with its cultural context. In so doing, citizen science can increase science's ability to address complex ecological problems where data is needed alongside public and policy engagement. As part of a wider movement of informal scientific practices, citizen science can broaden institutionalised science's horizon, foster innovation and create more impact. Drawing on examples of citizen science practice addressing pollution, we specify ways in which citizen science can provide embedded knowledge and foster alternative practices within the sciences. We identify a clash of logics between citizen science and institutional science practice and suggest avenues that could be pursued to improve dialogue between the two. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Hypes can be a significant contributor in the mainstreaming of sustainable products. Former research on hypes has been supplier oriented, and thus little is known of their effect on new market formation. Our paper contributes to this research gap by examining the establishment of the 'meat substitute' category in Finland using press articles, retailer interviews and consumer panel data. We show how the emergence and legitimation of the meat substitute category depended heavily on the hype arising around a single product, called Pulled Oats (PO). This hype was anchored in its association with trendy and socio-culturally relevant values and practices. We further discover that the hype had positive spill-over effects on other novel meat substitute products but not on longstanding vegetarian protein sources such as tofu or tempeh. We discuss the contribution of these findings to the literature on hypes and sustainability transitions, especially regarding socially constructed market boundaries and the fact that the hype on PO lacked a disappointment phase typical of hype cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incontinence is a common health issue that affects hundreds of millions of people across the world. The solution is often to manage the condition with different kinds of single-use continence technologies, such as incontinence pads and other absorbent hygiene products (AHPs). Throughout their life cycle, these fossil-based products form a remarkable yet inadequately addressed ecological burden in society, contributing to global warming and other environmental degradation. The products are a necessity for their users' wellbeing. When looking for sustainability transitions in this field, focus on individual consumer-choice is thus inadequate – and unfair to the users. The industry is already seeking to decrease its carbon footprint. Yet, to tackle the environmental impact of single-use continence products, also societies and health systems at large must start taking continence seriously. Arguing that continence-aware societies are more sustainable societies, we devise in this article a society-wide working definition for holistically sustainable continence care. Involving dimensions of social, ecological and economic sustainability, the concept draws attention to the wide range of technologies, infrastructures and care practices that emerge around populations' continence needs. Holistically sustainable continence care is thus not only about AHPs. However, in this article, we examine holistically sustainable continence care through the case of AHPs. We review what is known about the environmental impact AHPs, discuss the impact of care practices on aggregate material usage, the future of biobased and degradable incontinence pads, as well as questions of waste management and circular economy. The case of AHPs shows how holistically sustainable continence care is a wider question than technological product development. In the end of the article, we envision an ecosystem where technologies, infrastructures and practices of holistically sustainable continence care can flourish, beyond the focus on singular technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local agri-food disruptive innovations are becoming increasingly crucial for the transformation of agri-food regimes towards sustainability. This study incorporates a systemic approach to explore the relevance of various capacities available at the city region level to prepare, initiate, and lead a change in the sustainability trajectory of local agri-food systems. It explores the city of Valdivia, Chile, which has a large movement of sustainable cooperatives and diverse disruptive private and public agri-food initiatives that are challenging the deep free-market economic and social model with an agro-exporting, competitive, and centralist focus. Through the systemic approach of sustainability transition studies, themes of emergence and development of local agri-food transition processes are being developed, and the findings are linked to studies of social movements and the social and solidarity economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During COVID-19, many cities built pop-up infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. We analyse the experiences of Geneva and Lyon through a qualitative approach based on document analysis and interviews with institutional and societal actors. We explore what contributed to the development of pop-up infrastructure during COVID-19, and how these interventions were shaped by and affected policy-making processes and actors' agency. We found that COVID-19 accelerated social and political trends regarding urban mobility. In both cities, authorities used the crisis to push through existing plans. Authorities' commitment and the existence of ready-to-implement plans proved crucial. The implementation processes constituted a breach from usual procedures. In Geneva, this empowered actors who usually act from the margins. In Lyon, authorities adopted pop-up infrastructure as a way to reduce costs. Our study clarifies the potential of experimentation in a context of crisis for urban climate governance and highlights the democratic implications of such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been increasing calls for a paradigm shift in urban water management to a water sensitive cities (WSC) approach. Although it is well recognised that development of water sensitive communities is key to sustainable urban water transitions, there is no established definition for the "water sensitive community." This study conducts a systematic review to understand how water sensitive communities are characterised in the literature and applies a complex adaptive systems perspective to the findings. The review identifies 16 attributes that define water sensitive communities, involving elements of participation, collaboration, liveability, shared ownership and responsibility in transition processes, and resilience. We add to this by linking WSC research with complex adaptive systems theory and propose a new definition of the water sensitive community as a complex adaptive system. This presents a realistic framework in which to study the complex interactions and dynamic aspects of a water sensitive community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for a "place-based" approach to sustainability are increasingly common in the field of sustainability transitions and transformations (STT). To critically explore the agendas and politics a call towards place carries, we undertook a corpus-assisted discourse study (CADS) to examine a sample of public and academic texts from 2019 to 2020. Two distinct discourses about place were evident: an environmental discourse framing place as an assemblage of more-than-human constituents and an anthropocentric discourse framing place as a human community. These discourses present vastly different priorities about which species matter, what change entails, and what kind of future we should create. Our findings reflect the emergence of a discourse coalition that advocates for a place-based approach to STT, and we discuss how this viewpoint has continued to emerge since the compilation of our data. Our paper provides an overview of the discursive landscape we encountered, synthesises a central narrative about place-based STT based on what we observed, and provides a critical discussion of the tensions and opportunities that this narrative raises. In doing so, we suggest there remains an opportunity for fruitful dialogue amongst sustainability educators, sustainability practitioners, and researchers to refine what a place-based approach to STT looks like. By demonstrating an application of CADS, we hope to show how digital tools and techniques can be used to research discourses in sustainability. We outline specific opportunities to take this forward, including a broad opportunity to use web-derived corpora to help survey discursive landscapes, and a more specific application to explore discursive dynamics between communities, places, and at different spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors adopting socio-technical frameworks to study energy transitions argue that individual behavioural change and the uptake of social and technological innovations on higher-level scales are both imperative for sustainability transitions to come about. However, the way individuals are embedded in the larger system has remained largely unclear. To better understand individual embedment in energy transitions, this paper enriches sustainability transition research with the insights of memory studies. During energy transitions, social actors that enact these transitions change their identity. A core premise of memory studies is that individual and collective remembering cannot do without each other in the constitution of identity. To illustrate the role of memory in energy transitions, this paper conducts a historical case study of the role of housewives in the energy transition to gas and electricity in the Dutch household. By adopting a narrative approach, the historical narratives across the Monthly Magazine of the Dutch Association for Housewives (NVvH), published between 1913 and 1942, are explored. The results show how the master narrative prescribed the guiding principles of the historical narratives that emerged in the energy discourse. However, as part of the flexible nature of memory, a varied 'menu of stories' came forward that enabled individuals to identify with different historical narratives, incorporating differing energy sources and drawing on the transformative nature of memory by imagining different energy futures. It is concluded that individual agency in energy transitions moves beyond choices of use and consumption. It rests in the individuals' ability to identify with a historical narrative that adheres to the way the individual makes sense of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to pressing global challenges, sustainability transitions research has emerged as an interdisciplinary field focused on fundamental changes, necessitating novel approaches for strategy-making from research and innovation. Foresight practitioners need to extend their well-established methodological toolkit, which can inform subsequent planning processes about managing conflicts and shaping futures, to include the articulation of response options for contributing to the creation of more sustainable future systems. This research aims to contribute to this need by exploring future options characterized by discrepancies. Drawing from the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) literature to understand discrepancies between "desirability" and "probability" of future options as missed opportunities to secure social desirability in the future or as threats to it, this research argues for the collective identification and anticipation of discrepancies to reflect on options for making more responsive strategies. Thus, informed by RRI, a Delphi exercise was modified to engage experts from the German agri-food sector (n = 21) to assess divergent innovation-driven changes in the German agri-food sector that had been collectively anticipated and reflected upon beforehand. The results speak for a reduction of complexity by revealing specific actions necessary to redirect research and innovation processes away from unsustainable paths, as well as identifying determinants of discrepancies to do good or avoid harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net zero transition requires concurrent and rapid decarbonisation in five major consumption‐production systems—transport, housing, industry, food and power. These systems differ in their public visibility and institutional makeup, as well as in their technologies. Transition politics needs dexterity to facilitate transformation of these multiple systems. Yet, there remain big contrasts in the rate of change of different systems. These are shown by the variation in the fulfilment of the 2020 system targets which were set in the 2009 UK Low Carbon Transition Plan. Comparison of the transition pathways of renewable electricity production and home insulation indicates that current UK net zero transition politics is poorly suited to the transformation of household energy use. A more proactive state and wider public participation are needed for a more effective place‐based approach. Environmental activism and populist backlash have focused attention on everyday transformative change. A new type of transition politics which engages with multiple systems is needed to rise to this urgent climate challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the role of cities and regions is increasingly acknowledged for climate action and discussed in the literature on sustainability transitions, the specific condition of peripheral regions has received less attention. This article develops a bibliometric review to shed light and discuss how the (multi-dimensional) notion of periphery has been conceived and implicitly declinate in different literature streams studying low-carbon sustainability transitions at the sub-national level. While the studies explicitly addressing the issues of peripherality are still scarce, the article identifies four critical dimensions that contribute to frame structural bottlenecks and opportunities: socio-spatial unevenness, asset fragility, network positionality and agency and the multi-scalar embeddedness of transition policies. At the interface of urban and regional studies and sustainability transitions' research, these dimensions open up new research challenges and trading zones ahead for peripheral regions on navigating troubled waters of sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, governments across Europe set the goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Through its high share of energy use and carbon emissions, the building sector is seen as central in this endeavor. While European Union (EU) and national regulation and incentive schemes provide an important context, how green building is realized often plays out at subnational spatial scales, including how green buildings are designed and embedded in existing regional and local (infra)structures. More localized scales can be especially important when considering the sustainability of buildings in operation. In contrast to the design and construction phases of green buildings, very little attention has been paid to post-occupancy studies and the practices of building users in enabling or constraining sustainability transitions. These actors are, however, crucial in reducing carbon emissions as a fabric-only or technologically-focused approach will be insufficient. This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the role of building users and the impact of green buildings once in operation through the frame of lived sustainabilities. It focuses on changes shaped by interdependences between discourses on green buildings including expectations, framings and understandings, activities as associated with living and working in buildings, as well as materialities of green buildings. Furthermore, we present a research agenda that highlights how wider everyday practices are affected by the entangled spatial dimensions of sustainability transitions which define different contexts and bring to the fore the role and importance of spatial scales in terms of the impact green buildings might have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities face major challenges when it comes to sustainability and mobility. Transport's contribution to climate change is well-established, and people need to move in the most sustainable way to reach the 2030 emissions targets set by the Paris Agreement. One possible pathway towards more sustainable mobility practices is electromobility. The electrification of micro-mobility is happening rapidly, and one of the most popular is the e-bike. For years, electric bikes were relegated to niche status, but they are now experiencing explosive growth in sales in many countries. In this article, we draw on an experiment with new users of e-bikes to study the integration of e-bikes into existing mobility practices and to explore their sustainability potential. Through the lens of domestication theory, we zoom in on the relations that formed between users, technology, and environments in the course of the experiment. Our analysis highlights how emotional and sensory experiences play crucial roles in the adaption of new mobility technologies. Based on our findings, we argue that to reach the sustainability potential of e-bikes, a set of support mechanisms must be developed according to a holistic and relational understanding of mobility that also takes emotions and sensory experiences into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybeans are ubiquitous in the global food system. As a major forest risk commodity, they are also at the heart of efforts to untangle the dynamics of land use change and associated impacts resulting from distant drivers. However, land system science has so far largely ignored the historically and socially embedded nature of these entanglements. This results in snapshot-like representations relying on neoclassical approaches to production and consumption. Here, we trace the evolution of the global soybean complex (GSC) since the late nineteenth century. We analyze how in the context of external developments soybeans have been channeled into different provisioning systems. This has occurred in a series of socio-ecological fixes, facilitated by socio-technological innovations and public sector interventions, motivated by different impediments to capital accumulation. Today, several emerging socio-technological practices promise to transform the GSC towards sustainability. We argue that the contemporary GSC inherits defining properties from the past, particularly the postwar strategy of using industrial animal farming to add value to surplus grains and oilseeds. The expanding GSC is therefore not merely a result of increasing demand, but rather the outcome of different provisioning systems' continued dependence on soybeans. Future transitions will depend on public interventions and the influence of vested interest in current socio-metabolic patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows that visions of the future can be used as a predictor of cooperation and division between actors in their efforts to shape the institutional environment, specifically policy in socio‐technical systems. Accordingly, the paper suggests a new method to analyze visions: a virtual solution space in which visions can be grouped according to their similarity. The similarity of visions is calculated based on cluster analysis. Empirically, the paper focuses on the networks between industry associations in the heating transition in the German building sector. It shows that actors whose visions of future socio‐technical system developments overlap are more likely to cooperate with each other. It also suggests that the fragmentation of the residential heating system in Germany is reflected in a fragmented actor network. Furthermore, the authors show that shared technological interests can outweigh similar visions. These fragmented technological interests hinder meaningful cooperation. This is potentially one reason why a powerful low‐carbon heating coalition in Germany that could facilitate an accelerated deployment of low‐carbon heat systems by driving policy change has not emerged to date. The paper contributes to a better understanding of how niche actors in sustainability transitions use their agency and specifically strategize to bring about institutional change. In this respect, the authors discuss how differing levels of system‐fragmentation influence transition dynamics in general and institutional change dynamics in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution considers ways to discuss sustainability in relation to aesthetic value. Three possible conceptual approaches are briefly presented – aesthetic sustainability, the aesthetics of sustainability, and sustainable aesthetics. I propose that the comparative discussion about the approaches could support dealing with aesthetic values in sustainability deliberation through developing aesthetic competence. Such practice could, in turn, support evaluative, descriptive, and speculative engagement with diverse sustainability agendas. Yet, the fruitfulness of the proposed conceptual approaches remains arguable in terms of sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, environmental crises are at a critical point. Findings from scientific research are crucial to understand these issues and to inform new policies to address them. Yet the rapidity with which society, industry and lifestyles are changing is not matched in dynamism by institutionalised science, where institutional structures slow the rate of adaptation.In this paper, we propose that citizen science can act as a bridge between the ideal and the reality of scientific research, structuring the interface of scientific research with its cultural context. In so doing, citizen science can increase science's ability to address complex ecological problems where data is needed alongside public and policy engagement. As part of a wider movement of informal scientific practices, citizen science can broaden institutionalised science's horizon, foster innovation and create more impact.Drawing on examples of citizen science practice addressing pollution, we specify ways in which citizen science can provide embedded knowledge and foster alternative practices within the sciences.We identify a clash of logics between citizen science and institutional science practice and suggest avenues that could be pursued to improve dialogue between the two. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the EU, policies towards territorial development and the sustainability of agro-food systems are exemplified above all in Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, policies for the promotion of sustainable food systems and networks are mainly driven by municipalities and large cities. In order to understand multi-level configurations of policies to promote Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), this paper strives to identify the challenges that municipal policymakers face in implementing sustainable agro-food policies, from a multi-level governance perspective. To this end, and through in-depth interviews and secondary documentation analysis, the policies implemented in 10 different municipalities of the Madrid Region (Spain) are studied and the challenges these municipalities are facing are analysed from a multi-scale and territorialised perspective. The following research objectives are addressed: (1) description of the type of policies implemented for the promotion of SFS and the narrative frameworks in which they are shaped; (2) identification of challenges of local policies to support SFS especially governance challenges; and (3) proposals for the promotion of sustainable food systems through a multi-level, territorialised governance perspective. The paper identifies three main axes of tension and discoordination—municipal Vs regional powers; agricultural vs. food policies; and rural vs. urban territories—that constrains the sustainability potential of multi-level agro food policies. Finally, we provide a comprehensive, sustainable scheme to assess local agro-food governance throughout a multi-level and multi-actor approach, setting interrelations between the different levels, actors and agencies involved to overcome the lock-ins identified.

The world is facing dramatic challenges related to environmental sustainability at an accelerating pace. In this context, the field of economic geography (EG) has been playing an important role in understanding both the socioeconomic and technological dimensions of these challenges, as it deals with a variety of complementary notions and perspectives. Departing from this lens, our aim is to explore a conceptual framework that can help us to understand environmental changes relating to multi-dimensional territorial development, notably in economic contexts where inequality is high, and stratification based on hierarchies regulate social and economic life. Based on the territory concept, we propose the original notion of a hierarchical regional innovation system (HRIS) that emphasises the pervasive role of hierarchies (powers) in regional innovation systems and illustrate its value with evidence and case studies from extant literature on sustainability transitions. The HRIS can help us understand and promote development paths considering the contribution of inclusive eco-innovations (another original conceptual amalgam). Through some empirical cases from other studies in low-carbon transitions, we show the application of the HRIS (and inclusive eco-innovation) framework. In conclusion, we provide incentives to explore new regional innovation systems, alongside the HRIS, adapted to different regions worldwide and centred on the inclusiveness of people and places.

Addressing the pressing need for urban sustainability, we propose an innovative framework for quantifying and rewarding pro-environmental behaviors among urban residents. The methodology integrates three key dimensions: individual engagement, community values, and environmental impact. Individual effort is measured using the metabolic equivalent of task rates, which capture the energy expenditure for pro-environmental actions. Community values are prioritized by allocating weights based on their local importance, established by stakeholder engagement. A comprehensive literature review is used to evaluate the specific ecological benefits of each activity, ensuring that their contributions to sustainability are measured. Focusing on Gdańsk, Poland, as a case study, a diverse set of pro-environmental actions with local importance was carefully selected and evaluated. Stakeholder input enabled objective ranking and weighting, ensuring that actions were significant and impactful. This systematic approach determines rewards, aligning them with individual effort, community goals, and environmental benefits, demonstrating the framework’s adaptability to various urban settings. The findings suggest that the framework may be effectively used in future endeavors to encourage meaningful, long-term pro-environmental behaviors. It provides a scalable solution to urban sustainability issues through tailored incentive strategies. Finally, by balancing individual efforts and environmental benefits, this study establishes a blueprint for policies that foster a globally active and environmentally mindful community.

Although sustainable tourism research is a rich and diverse field, it still suffers from a few important shortcomings. Negligible attention has been given to various possible pathways to sustainable tourism (as opposed to sustainable tourism as a 'goalpost') and there is an insufficient understanding of how the interconnections and interdependencies within tourism as a complex system shape the pursuit of sustainability. What is therefore needed is a sharper focus on the actual processes that must unfold for a transition to sustainable tourism to take place, and a better conceptualisation of the tourism industry as a multi-actor and multi-dimensional socio-technical system. We argue here that the sustainability transitions agenda, which has developed over the last two decades at the interface of innovation studies, evolutionary economics, studies of technology and science, and various other fields, offers a promising way forward for the desired pathway towards sustainable tourism to be comprehensively understood and more effectively followed. In order to set the scene for the individual contributions to this collection, we elaborate on this argument by highlighting the key strengths of the sustainability transitions agenda and identifying their potential to help tourism scholars move the work on sustainable tourism in new, unprecedented, and imperative directions. Our overarching aim is to lay the foundations for bridging the gap between (sustainable) tourism research and the sustainability transitions literature to move this combined agenda forward. [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]

This commentary discusses the growing connections between sustainable tourism research and the sustainability transitions literature. The common ground between sustainability transitions and sustainable tourism starts from the problem definition of unsustainability in tourism and the consequent need for system change. Research into sustainable tourism engages with several areas discussed in the recent sustainability transitions research agenda. These include: understanding radical innovation for sustainability that involves (socio-technical) system level change; the politics and power struggles in transitions processes; organisational and industrial aspects of sustainability transitions; the geography of transitions; and ethical/just transitions. The papers in this special issue also show that evolutionary economic geography (EEG) views on sustainability transitions in tourism are in line with the concepts of innovation and change in the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP). This should enable a fruitful interaction between the two fields of sustinability transitions and sustainable touism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the end of WW2, the Margaret River region (MRR) was a popular domestic destination based on cave explorations. A series of incremental innovations between the 1950s and 1990s reconfigured the destination into a thriving international tourism destination that offers diverse experiences based on wine, surf, and nature. Nonetheless, contemporary external and internal forces are stimulating another shift – one towards sustainability. Apart from the global pro-sustainability agenda, this sustainability transition in tourism is mainly driven by two emerging niches: eco-accreditation and grassroots organisations. This paper adopts the multilevel perspective (MLP) – a commonly adopted framework in the sustainability transitions research field – and combines it with a typology of tourism innovation to examine the evolution of the MRR as a tourist destination. The paper addresses the ongoing sustainability transition in the MRR and discusses both top-down and bottom-up initiatives that stimulate it. In order to provide a holistic view of this transition, the paper also pays attention to the first transition in the destination (i.e. from caves to wine, surf, and nature), and examines its influence on the ongoing sustainability transition. As such, this paper aims to help bridge the gap between tourism geography and the interdisciplinary field of sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is rich research on tourism destination evolution, the literature on how normative social and environmental goals (as opposed to contingent events or economic imperatives) drive the evolution of tourism towards more sustainable forms remains under-developed. As a result, the overall understanding of how sustainability in tourism is pursued on the ground and what context-specific factors shape these processes is still insufficient. To address this lacuna, the paper draws upon the sustainability transitions (ST) agenda that focuses on the ground level processes of transitions and conceptualises sustainability transitions as multi-actor, multi-dimensional, evolutionary, disruptive and contested processes. As such, the paper offers a constructive response to Niewiadomski and Brouder's (2022) call for bridging the gap between the research on tourism evolution and the sustainability transitions agenda. More specifically, the paper adopts selected concepts of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) (which have long proved helpful in research on both tourism evolution and sustainability transitions) to address how sustainability in tourism is mindfully pursued in the Outer Hebrides (Scotland, UK) and what geographical and historical factors shape this transition. The analysis draws from 17 semi-structured interviews (conducted in 2020-2021 with tourism businesses and various organisations involved in tourism in the Outer Hebrides) and documentary analysis. Two main groups of place- and path-dependent factors that shape the ongoing transition to sustainable tourism in the Outer Hebrides are identified: 1) institutional and social fragmentation, and 2) infrastructural deficiencies and challenges. The paper finds that the transition to sustainability in tourism in the Outer Hebrides is fragmented and intermittent. Although numerous promising changes are taking place, the transition suffers from a lack of systemic and systematic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitions to low-carbon energy are central to sustainability transitions, with electricity being a pressing current concern both in South Africa and globally. Economic, social, institutional, and political factors often make transitioning to renewable electricity particularly complex. In this article, we examine electricity transitions in tourism from a global South context, combining evolutionary economic geography (EEG) concepts with the multi-level perspective (MLP). Our findings point to strong exogenous lock-in factors working against an electricity transition in South African tourism. A historic dependence on coal, along with complex place-based factors lock the country into a carbon-intensive electricity path at the national electricity infrastructure level. In turn, these complexities adversely affect an electricity transition in the tourism sector. However, energy policy change along with innovation by tourism actors is emergent stimuli for creating low-carbon electricity paths. More specifically, recent climate change mitigation policies, the increasing unreliability of grid electricity, and legislative reforms are significant factors encouraging the renewal of the electricity system. At the same time, it is becoming more cost-effective for businesses, including tourism establishments, to install renewables. The South African case contributes to the emerging body of literature on sustainability transitions in tourism. It does this by showing that to achieve a just energy transition, proper appraisal of path-dependent structural challenges is needed to understand the nature and levels of change required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]