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The national economic situation, rapidly changing societies, increasing environment pollution amidst global warming around us are some of the most burning topics in day-to-day discussions, news and scholarly discourses. What we see are only the consequences of protracted actions, policies and decisions. The issues associated with these phenomena are highly complex that challenge a direct interpretation of their root causations, indications, results and long-term impacts. For instance, is the issue of managing natural resources for industry & business operations within a country an economic problem? Or is it an ecological one? Or rather a social one? Could it be resolved with theories and techniques of either of these fields? Well, the issue and its redressal requires a combination of all the three disciplines. And yet actions to integrate all of these fields have typically by-passed one or more. The framework that has over the years most commonly explained the convergence of different spheres of disciplinary knowledge has been sustainability. At the same time, its pursuit in practice, the dominant public perception, political agendas and the mainstream media remains elusive. In absence of a critical theory on ‘sustainable societies’, the contemporary development model is misinformed by vague notions of greening, green growth, eco-development, ecotourism, smart cities, etc. largely steered by corporates and vested business groups. The contemporary societies exist and continue to develop without genuine knowledge about sustainability that lies fragmented in its contributing disciplinary streams. This book unfolds the inherent dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes within the current sustainability paradigm to form a rather nuanced and inside view of what constitutes sustainability and how it could be realized with socio-technical, institutional, policy and management solutions. In the process, the research comprehensively reviews about a hundred environmental, social and economic theories to deliberate on the way forward. Considering that sustainability is a politico-economic and socio-cultural challenge, the transitions need to be culturally diverse and inter-generational, requiring infusion of fresh values, messaging and leadership while conserving traditional knowledge, prevailing institutions. The book culminates with a transition architecture bearing policy recommendations for governing without governmentality with plausible regulatory instruments, capacitating mechanisms, planning and voluntary measures that can be implemented in practice. Die nationale wirtschaftliche Situation, sich schnell verändernde Gesellschaften, die zunehmende Umweltverschmutzung inmitten der globalen Erwärmung um uns herum sind einige der brennendsten Themen in täglichen Diskussionen, Nachrichten und wissenschaftlichen Diskursen. Was wir sehen, sind nur die Folgen langwieriger Handlungen, Richtlinien und Entscheidungen. Die mit diesen Phänomenen verbundenen Fragen sind hochkomplex, die eine direkte Interpretation ihrer Ursachen, Indikationen, Ergebnisse und langfristigen Auswirkungen herausfordern. Ist zum Beispiel die Bewirtschaftung natürlicher Ressourcen für Industrie- und Geschäftsbetriebe innerhalb eines Landes ein wirtschaftliches Problem? Oder ist es ein ökologisches? Oder eher ein soziales? Könnte es mit Theorien und Techniken eines dieser Gebiete gelöst werden? Nun, das Problem und seine Abhilfe erfordert eine Kombination aller drei Disziplinen. Und dennoch haben Maßnahmen zur Integration all dieser Felder in der Regel eines oder mehrere umgangen. Der Rahmen, der im Laufe der Jahre am häufigsten die Konvergenz verschiedener Bereiche des disziplinären Wissens erklärt hat, war Nachhaltigkeit. Gleichzeitig bleibt ihre Verfolgung in der Praxis, die vorherrschende öffentliche Wahrnehmung, die politischen Agenden und die Mainstream-Medien schwer fassbar. In Ermangelung einer kritischen Theorie zu „nachhaltigen Gesellschaften“ wird das zeitgenössische Entwicklungsmodell durch vage Vorstellungen von Ökologisierung, grünem Wachstum, Öko-Entwicklung, Ökotourismus, Smart Cities usw., die größtenteils von Unternehmen und Konzernen gesteuert werden, falsch informiert. Die zeitgenössischen Gesellschaften existieren und entwickeln sich weiter, ohne echtes Wissen über Nachhaltigkeit, das in seinen disziplinären Strömungen zersplittert ist. Dieses Buch entfaltet die inhärenten Dilemmata, Widersprüche und Paradoxien innerhalb des aktuellen Nachhaltigkeitsparadigmas, um eine eher nuancierte Innenansicht dessen zu schaffen, was Nachhaltigkeit ausmacht und wie sie mit soziotechnischen, institutionellen, politischen und Managementlösungen realisiert werden könnte. Dabei überprüft die Forschung umfassend etwa hundert Umwelt-, Sozial- und Wirtschaftstheorien, um über das weitere Vorgehen nachzudenken. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass Nachhaltigkeit eine politisch-ökonomische und soziokulturelle Herausforderung ist, müssen die Übergänge kulturell vielfältig und generationenübergreifend sein, was die Einführung neuer Werte, Botschaften und Führung erfordert, während traditionelles Wissen und vorherrschende Institutionen erhalten bleiben. Das Buch gipfelt in einer Übergangsarchitektur mit Politikempfehlungen für ein Regieren ohne Gouvernementalität mit plausiblen Regulierungsinstrumenten, kapazitiven Mechanismen, Planungen und in der Praxis umsetzbaren freiwilligen Maßnahmen.
This book contributes to current debates regarding purposive transitions to sustainable cities, providing an accessible but critical exploration of sustainability transitions in urban settings. We have now entered the urban century, which is not without its own challenges, as discussed in the preceding book of this series. Urbanization is accompanied by a myriad of complex and overlapping environmental, social and governance challenges – which increasingly call into question conventional, market-based responses and simple top-down government interventions. Faced with these challenges, urban practitioners and scholars alike are interested in promoting purposive transitions to sustainable cities. The chapters in this volume contribute to the growing body of literature on city-scale transformative change, which seeks to address a lack of consideration for spatial and urban governance dimensions in sustainability transitions studies, and expand on the basis established in the preceding book. Drawing on a range of perspectives and written by leading Australian and international urban researchers, the chapters explore contemporary cases from Australia and locate them within the international context. Australia is on the one hand representative of many OECD countries, while on the other possessing a number of unique attributes that may serve to highlight issues and potentials internationally. Australia is a highly urbanized country and because of the federal political structure and the large distances, the five largest state-capital cities have a relatively high degree of autonomy in governance – even dominating the rest of their respective states and rural hinterlands to a certain extent. This context suggests that Australian cases can provide interesting “test-tube” perspectives on processes relevant to urban sustainability transitions worldwide. This volume presents an extensive overview of theories, concepts, approaches and practical examples informed by sustainability transitions thinking, offering a unique resource for all urban practitioners and scholars who want to understand and transition to sustainable urban futures.
Reading this book will lead to new insights compelling to an international audience into how cities address the sustainability challenges they face. They do this by not repeating old patterns but by searching for new and innovative methods and instruments based on shared principles of a transitions approach. The book describes the quest of cities on two continents to accelerate and stimulate such a transition to sustainability. The aim of the book is twofold: to provide insights into how cities are addressing this challenge conceptually and practically, and to learn from a comparison of governance strategies in Europe and Asia. The book is informed by transition thinking as it was developed in the last decade in Europe and as it is increasingly being applied in Asia. The analytical framework is based on principles of transition management, which draws on insights from complexity science, sociology, and governance theories. Only recently this approach has been adapted to the urban context, and this book is an opportunity to share these experiences with a wider audience. For scholars this work offers a presentation of recent state-of-the-art theoretical developments in transition governance applied to the context of cities. For urban planners, professionals, and practitioners it offers a framework for understanding ongoing developments as well as methods and instruments for dealing with them. The content is potentially appealing to post-graduate and graduate students of environmental management, policy studies, and urban studies programs.
Modern societies face several structural problems such as transport congestion and greenhouse gas emissions due to the widespread use of fossil fuels. To address these important societal problems and achieve sustainability in the broad sense, major transformations are required, but this poses an enormous challenge given the complexity of the processes involved. Such transformations are called 'transitions' or 'system innovations' and involve changes in a variety of elements, including technology, regulation, user practices and markets, cultural meaning and infrastructure. This book considers two main questions: how do system innovations or transitions come about and how can they be influenced by different actors, in particular by governments. The authors identify the theories which can be used to conceptualise the dynamics of system innovations and discuss the weaknesses in these theories. They also look at the lessons which can be learned from historical examples of transitions, and highlight the instruments and policy tools which can be used to stimulate future system innovations towards sustainability. The expert contributors address these questions using insights from a variety of different disciplines including innovation studies, evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology, environmental analysis and governance studies. The book concludes with an extensive summary of the results and practical suggestions for future research. This important new volume offers an interdisciplinary assessment of how and why system innovations occur. It will engage and inform academics and researchers interested in transitions towards sustainability, and will also be highly relevant for policymakers concerned with environmental issues, structural change and radical innovation.
Over the past few decades, there has been a growing concern about the social and environmental risks which have come along with the progress achieved through a variety of mutually intertwined modernization processes. In recent years these concerns are transformed into a widely-shared sense of urgency, partly due to events such as the various pandemics threatening livestock, and increasing awareness of the risks and realities of climate change, and the energy and food crises. This sense of urgency includes an awareness that our entire social system is in need of fundamental transformation. But like the earlier transition between the 1750's and 1890's from a pre-modern to a modern industrial society, this second transition is also a contested one. Sustainable development is only one of many options. This book addresses the issue on how to understand the dynamics and governance of the second transition dynamics in order to ensure sustainable development. It will be necessary reading for students and scholars with an interest in sustainable development and long-term transformative change.
A comparison of how societal actors in different geographical, political and cultural contexts understand agents and drivers of sustainability transformations.
This ground breaking volume raises radical critiques and proposes innovative solutions for social sustainability in the built environment. Urban Social Sustainability provides an in-depth insight into the discourse and argues that every urban intervention has a social sustainability dimension that needs to be taken into consideration, and incorporated into a comprehensive and cohesive ‘urban agenda’ that is built on three principles of recognition, integration, and monitoring. This should be achieved through a dialogical and reflexive process of decision-making. To achieve sustainable communities, social sustainability should form the basis of a constructive dialogue and be interlinked with other areas of sustainable development. This book underlines the urgency of approaching social sustainability as an urban agenda and goes on to make suggestions about its formulation. Urban Social Sustainability consists of original contributions from academics and experts within the field and explores the significance of social sustainability from different perspectives. Areas covered include urban policy, transportation and mobility, urban space and architectural form, housing, urban heritage, neighbourhood development, and urban governance. Drawing on case studies from a number of countries and world regions the book presents a multifaceted and interdisciplinary understanding from social sustainability in urban settings, and provides practitioners and policy makers with innovative recommendations to achieve more socially sustainable urban environment.
This book offers an interdisciplinary discussion of the fundamental issues concerning policies for sustainable transition to renewable energies from the perspectives of sociologists, physicists, engineers, economists, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists and policy analysts. Adopting a combined approach, these are analysed taking both complex systems and social practice theories into consideration to provide deeper insights into the evolution of energy systems. The book then draws a series of important conclusions and makes recommendations for the research community and policy makers involved in the design and implementation of policies for sustainable energy transitions.
This book offers insights into how the Theory of Change framework can be effectively employed in a wide range of social interventions. Presenting its potential to support strategy and strategic thinking, this book offers an entry point to understanding how Theory of Change can be applied beyond the typical domain of aid projects.