This book introduces readers to the concepts of sustainability and philosophy of slowness for the management of public entities such as cities or regions. While many urban communities face economic challenges that clearly show the limitations of growth and ever-increasing speed, this book explores an alternative, thought-provoking standpoint in five chapters. The first chapter explains the importance and essence of slowness, smallness and sustainability for public organizations, while the second addresses the concept of "slow life" in an emotional society. Chapter three examines the issue of "slow management" and presents arguments for the value of small businesses as the true foundation of the economy. Chapter four rounds out the coverage with a focus on agriculture. Finally, in chapter five, the authors discuss the overall benefits of a "slow and curvy" management style in order to provide happiness, economic and social sustainability.

This volume of 18 chapters is the work of more than 30 authors, many of whom are natives of the Central Asian region or are researchers who have dedicated a large part of their working lives to studying the development dynamics in this vast and fascinating region. The work focuses on the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. But it also traces the attitudes of land users to the land dating from before the late 19th century, when Russian conquest and colonization occurred, and through the upheavals caused by Soviet-style collectivization and sedentarization. The book is rich with new data presented in 68 easy to understand charts/graphs (many in color) and 50 Tables. Information was generated for this book by experts working in-country. It presents for the first time in English a digest of plethora of previously inaccessible Russian reports and scientific literature that will be invaluable for development agencies, including UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Bank as well as to students of this vast and fascinating region who seek up to date and authoritive information."

This book investigates the new urban geographies of "smart" metropolitan regionalism across the Greater Seattle area and examines the relationship between smart growth planning strategies and spaces of work, home, and mobility. The book specifically explores Seattle within the wider space-economy and multi-scaled policy regime of the Puget Sound region as a whole, 'jumping up' from questions of city politics to concerns with what the book interprets as the "intercurrence" of city-regional "ordering." These theoretical terms capture the state-progressive effort to promote smarter forms of regional development but also the societal/institutional tensions and outright contradictions that such urban development invariably entails, particularly around problems of social equity. Key organizing themes in the text include: the historical path-dependencies of uneven economic and social development, particularly between Tacoma-Pierce County and Seattle-King County; current patterns of high-wage, medium-wage, and low-wage jobs; the emerging spatial and social structure of recent residential changes, especially with respect to class and race composition; and, finally, transit trends and new urban spaces associated with policy efforts to mitigate highway congestion and car-dependency. Greater Seattle, then, is mapped as a key US urban region inscribed spatially by the uneven search for a more sustainable order. Historically-sensitive, theoretically-informed and empirically topical, this book is of interest to scholars and students at all levels in regional planning, urban geography, political science, sustainability studies, urban sociology and public policy.

Alongside other factors, cultural values and identities help to explain different regulatory frameworks for genetically modified organisms. This book uses insights from environmental history and sociology to illuminate the cultural politics of regulation in the US and the EU, with particular attention to public opinion and anti-GMO activism.

Case studies explore the Million Trees initiative in Los Angeles; the relationship of cap-and-trade policy, public health, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice in Southern California; Urbanization, vulnerability and environmental justice in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Sao Paulo, and in Antofagasta, Greater Concepcion and Valparaiso in Chile; Sociospatial patterns of vulnerability in the American southwest; and Urban flood control and land use planning in Greater Taipei, Taiwan ROC.

Technological innovation combined with scientific research has always constituted a driving force of transformation in our societies. At the same time, it is no longer simply possible to transfer technologies from the North to the South; it is also essential to consider technical innovations that are adapted to the social, environmental, cultural and economic conditions of receiving countries, and which can be appropriated by their potential users and as such prove to be real technologies for fostering development.

The first International Scientific Conference on the topic organized by the UNESCO Chair Technologies for Development at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in 2010 focused on its four priority sectors: Technologies for Sustainable Development of Habitat and Cities, ICTs for the Environment, Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Technologies for the Production of Sustainable Energy.

This volume reflects the main outcomes of the conference and provides some significant orientation and success criteria for the effective implementation and use of innovative technologies, their aims, their particular applications in the context of developing countries, their accessibility for users, and their appropriation by producers and stakeholders in the field of development both in the North and South, thus ensuring their sustainability. This kind of scientific cooperation also highlights the added values for northern researchers in sharing their knowledge and know-how, leading to a real win-win partnership.

The authors gathered within this book include representatives from academic and research institutions and other organizations from diverse countries and offer a significant synergy of competences, approaches and disciplines. "

This book highlights a number of social sustainability issues at different stages of the supply chain, and demonstrates how these issues can be addressed by adopting social sustainability practices in the manufacturing supply chain. In the wake of emerging social issues in developing countries, research on social sustainability has gained importance for academics and practitioners alike. The three distinguishable social sustainability dimensions in manufacturing that emerge as a result of this research provide insights for supply chain managers and practitioners who might otherwise be unaware of what constitutes social sustainability. A better understanding allows supply chain managers to address these issues more appropriately to increase their supply chain competitiveness in the market. The book presents a social sustainability scale that can be used by practitioners to measure supply chain social sustainability to benchmark their supply chains globally. The research also helps academicians to gain an understanding of the social issues related to the manufacturing supply chain, while the social measures developed serve as reference material for policy-makers and sustainability experts in emerging economies.

This edited volume presents the proceedings of the AMAA 2015 conference, Berlin, Germany. The topical focus of the 2015 conference lies on smart systems for green and automated driving. The automobile of the future has to respond to two major trends, the electrification of the drivetrain, and the automation of the transportation system. These trends will not only lead to greener and safer driving but re-define the concept of the car completely, particularly if they interact with each other in a synergetic way as for autonomous parking and charging, self-driving shuttles or mobile robots. Key functionalities like environment perception are enabled by electronic components and systems, sensors and actuators, communication nodes, cognitive systems and smart systems integration. The book will be a valuable read for research experts and professionals in the automotive industry but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

The first text to take a truly inter-disciplinary approach to critically examining the impacts of tourism on marine environments and coastal regions, focusing on the negative environmental impacts but also looking at the social and economic context of marine tourism and coastal zone management. The book sets tourism against the background of the crisis facing our oceans due to climate change and the effects of global warming. Tourism adds another layer of challenges for our marine environment, and its rapid growth globally means that these challenges have grown dramatically in recent years. We have seen a number of trends in the relationship between tourism and our oceans which pose a threat to the future of the marine environment and coastal communities. The Impact of Tourism on the Marine Environment looks at these trends in detail and tackles issues such as: * A critical evaluation of the cruise sector in terms of its impacts on the marine environment and the coastal destinations visited by cruise ships. * Marine wildlife watching and whether it is the enemy of conservation or its ally * The overall impact of tourism on waste, litter and plastics in the oceans. * The two-way relationship between climate change and global warming and marine environments and coastal tourist destinations * The effects of leisure activities such as diving and sea angling on the marine environment including coral reefs * The consumption of marine resources to meet tourist demand for seafood and souvenirs that deplete ocean resources * Natural and man-made disasters which have their origins in the oceans but have an impact on coastal tourist destinations * The challenges involved in the planning and management of tourism in marine environments and the impacts of the construction of new resorts and tourism infrastructure. * The debate over whether there is a need for regulation to control the impacts of tourism on our oceans or whether industry self-regulation is the best approach to take The book includes nearly forty mini-case studies from around the world which illustrate issues raised in the text. There are also two important 'opinion pieces' from Professor Harold Goodwin and Professor Michael Hall. A must-have text for students, researchers and practitioners looking at issues of sustainable tourism, tourism planning, environmental management, geography, marine conservation and corporate social responsibility. Part of the Responsible Tourism Series edited by Harold Goodwin, Director of Responsible Tourism, Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University and John Swarbrooke, Associate Dean-International, Plymouth Global, Plymouth University, UK Professor John Swarbrooke is Associate Dean - International, at the University of Plymouth, UK.

The first text to take a truly inter-disciplinary approach to critically examining the impacts of tourism on marine environments and coastal regions, focusing on the negative environmental impacts but also looking at the social and economic context of marine tourism and coastal zone management. The book sets tourism against the background of the crisis facing our oceans due to climate change and the effects of global warming. Tourism adds another layer of challenges for our marine environment, and its rapid growth globally means that these challenges have grown dramatically in recent years. We have seen a number of trends in the relationship between tourism and our oceans which pose a threat to the future of the marine environment and coastal communities. The Impact of Tourism on the Marine Environment looks at these trends in detail and tackles issues such as: * A critical evaluation of the cruise sector in terms of its impacts on the marine environment and the coastal destinations visited by cruise ships. * Marine wildlife watching and whether it is the enemy of conservation or its ally * The overall impact of tourism on waste, litter and plastics in the oceans. * The two-way relationship between climate change and global warming and marine environments and coastal tourist destinations * The effects of leisure activities such as diving and sea angling on the marine environment including coral reefs * The consumption of marine resources to meet tourist demand for seafood and souvenirs that deplete ocean resources * Natural and man-made disasters which have their origins in the oceans but have an impact on coastal tourist destinations * The challenges involved in the planning and management of tourism in marine environments and the impacts of the construction of new resorts and tourism infrastructure. * The debate over whether there is a need for regulation to control the impacts of tourism on our oceans or whether industry self-regulation is the best approach to take The book includes nearly forty mini-case studies from around the world which illustrate issues raised in the text. There are also two important 'opinion pieces' from Professor Harold Goodwin and Professor Michael Hall. A must-have text for students, researchers and practitioners looking at issues of sustainable tourism, tourism planning, environmental management, geography, marine conservation and corporate social responsibility. Part of the Responsible Tourism Series edited by Harold Goodwin, Director of Responsible Tourism, Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University and John Swarbrooke, Associate Dean-International, Plymouth Global, Plymouth University, UK Professor John Swarbrooke is Associate Dean - International, at the University of Plymouth, UK.

The international community has come together to pursue certain fundamental, common goals over the coming period to 2030 to make progress toward ending poverty and hunger, improving social and economic well-being, preserving the environment and combating climate change, and maintaining peace. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been agreed to by states, which have in turn adopted national targets and action plans. This volume studies the governance and implementation of these goals in Southeast Asia, in particular the difficulties in the shift from the international to the national, the multi-level challenges of implementation, and the involvement of stakeholders, civil society, and citizens in the process. Contributors to this volume are scholars from across Southeast Asia who research these issues in developing (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar), middle-income (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), and developed countries (Brunei, Singapore) in the region. The perspectives on governance and the SDGs emerge from the fields of political science, international relations, geography, economics, law, health, and the natural sciences.

This book explains the development paths taken by the wind power sector in Denmark, Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. It explores how wind power has been promoted, and critically reviews public policies to support it. It analyses the economic and environmental implications of its integration into the electricity supply industry, whilst considering issues of planning and social acceptance, and exploring why wind power has been contested.

This book charts the path toward high performance sustainable buildings and the smart dwellings of the future. The volume clearly explains the principles and practices of high performance design, the uses of building information modelling (BIM), and the materials and methods of smart construction. Power Systems, Architecture, Material Science, Civil Engineering and Information Systems are all given consideration, as interdisciplinary endeavours are at the heart of this green building revolution.

Access to reliable and affordable energy, water, and services is an important determinant of the prosperity of cities along with effective mission sustainment at military installations. The idea for this book was conceived at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) in June 2012 in Hella, Iceland. The workshop was attended by 50 scientists, engineers, and policymakers representing 15 different nations and multiple fields of expertise, reflecting the global and interdisciplinary nature of climate change and sustainability research. The focus of the workshop was on ways in which military installations and small cities can integrate energy, water, and infrastructure sustainability strategies into city and installation management plans that account for climate change uncertainties. The organization of the book reflects major topic sessions and discussions during the workshop.

Fifty years after the famous essay "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960) by the Nobel laureate Ronald Coase, Law and Economics seems to have become the lingua franca of American jurisprudence, and although its influence on European jurisprudence is only moderate by comparison, it has also gained popularity in Europe. A highly influential publication of a different nature was the Brundtland Report (1987), which extended the concept of sustainability from forestry to the whole of the economy and society. According to this report, development is sustainable when it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
A key requirement of sustainable development is justice to future generations. It is still a matter of fact that the law as well as the theories of justice are generally restricted to the resolution of conflicts between contemporaries and between people living in the same country. This in turn raises a number of questions: what is the philosophical justification for intergenerational justice? What bearing does sustainability have on the efficiency principle? How do we put a policy of sustainability into practice, and what is the role of the law in doing so?
The present volume is devoted to these questions. In Part One, "Law and Economics," the role of economic analysis and efficiency in law is examined more closely. Part Two, "Law and Sustainability," engages with the themes of sustainable development and justice to future generations. Finally, Part Three, "Law, Economics and Sustainability," addresses the interrelationships between the different aspects.

This book has been written on the basis of the research done between 2008 and 2010 as part of the European Commission funded FREIGHTVISION project. The "FREIGHTVISION - Freight Transport 2050 Foresight" project was funded by the Directorate General MOVE to design a long term vision for European freight transport in 2050 and to identify actions and research to progress appropriate freight transport measures in Europe. The project was carried out as a foresight process encompassing four conferences in which the project team identified and developed with the aid of more than 100 experts an action plan for securing long term freight transport in Europe. The book provides insights into the freight transport visions and Backcasts identified for 2035 and 2050, issues which need to be addressed and measures which were assessed to be part of future paths to assure an economical, environmental, and social freight transport system.

This book analyses the deep interaction between the world s environmental crises, energy production, conversion and use, and global regulation policies.

Bringing together experts from a wide range of scientific fields, it offers the reader a broad scope of knowledge on such topics as: climate change and exhaustion of resources the relationship between basic science and the development of sustainable energy technologies the relationship between global and local environmental policiesthe possible competition between foodstuff production and that of agro-fuels urban adaptation negotiations at the international level financial rules

This book invites the reader to consider the multidisciplinary aspects of these urgent energy/environmental issues.

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Rising sea levels and altered weather patterns are expected to significantly alter coastal and inland environments for humans, infrastructure and ecosystems. Potential land-use changes and population increases, coupled with uncertain predictions for sea level rise and storm frequency/intensity represent a significant planning challenge. While efforts to mitigate climate change continue, plans must be made to adapt to the risks that climate change poses to humans, infrastructure, and ecosystems alike. This book addresses integrated environmental assessment and management as part of the nexus of climate change adaptation. Risk analysis has emerged as a useful approach to guide assessment, communication and management of security risks. However, with respect to climate change, an integrated, multi-criteria, multi-hazard, risk-informed decision framework is desirable for evaluating adaptation strategies. The papers in Part 1 summarize societal and political needs for climate change adaptation. Part 2 includes papers summarizing the state of the art in climate change adaptation. Three further parts cover: the process of change in coastal regions, in inland regions, and, finally, the potential challenges to homeland security for national governments. Each of these parts reviews achievements, identifies gaps in current knowledge, and suggests research priorities.

Bio-Based Materials and Wastes for Energy Generation and Resource Management is the fifth and final volume in the series, Advanced Zero Waste Tools: Present and Emerging Waste Management Practices. It addresses processes and practices for utilizing bio-based materials and wastes to support efforts to promote a more sustainable society and provide readers with a better understanding of the major mechanisms required to achieve zero waste in different fields. This book covers numerous mechanisms supported by scientific evidence and case studies, as well as in-depth flowcharts and process diagrams to allow for readers to adopt these processes. Summarizing present and emerging zero waste tools on the scale of both experimental and theoretical models, Advanced Zero Waste Tools is the first step toward understanding the state-of-the-art practices in making the zero waste goal a reality. In addition to environmental and engineering principles, it also covers economic, toxicologic, and regulatory issues, making it an important resource for researchers, engineers, and policymakers working toward environmental sustainability.

This contributed volume combines conceptual and strategic research articles dealing with the "why" and "to what end" of sustainable operations in humanitarian logistics, as well as operational research contributions regarding the "how" from the United Nations as well as from researchers and organizations from different countries (Germany, Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Jordan). The target audience primarily comprises research experts, decision makers and practitioners in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

In this book is summarized those management principles that should be valid in areas where forests continuously are used for production, where biodiversity aspects are important as well as economy and productivity, and where demands on soil status and water quality are set. Especially the very long-term aspects are emphasized, and it is shown how system model thinking is used to reach the goals. Biogeochemical aspects are put forward as they are very important in areas on poor bedrock with acid soils. Forest vitality and stress on trees are treated, as well as the importance of wildlife and their effects of browsing. The balance between social and recreational demands from the society and the economical needs of the landowner is of great concern. Experiences from a special area in South Sweden are presented.

Most academics and certainly most sustainability managers agree that research on the "business case" for sustainability has been very inconclusive. In fact many have simply decided that the business case for sustainability is elusive. This book goes further than ever before in trying to be more specific about the economic rationale for corporate sustainability, by approaching this issue on an industry-specific level. To do this, empirical evidence was gathered from managers in nine industries, along with their stakeholders, during an extensive and ambitious research project. The book gives a detailed and representative insight of the business case in the nine sectors but also a unique cross-industry perspective on this issue.

Is the concept of sustainability strongly founded on solid scientific bases? And can this elusive concept be introduced in the economic framework and embodied in people's behavior as well as public and private institutions' decision making? This book presents a view of sustainability that starts from the acknowledgment of physical conditions and limits that humans can no longer neglect. It also includes some epistemological foundations of the concept of sustainability and historical backgrounds. The view is optimistic to the extent that economics, the compass of our industrial society, is open to inputs and suggestions coming from outside orthodox schemes. Transdisciplinary science is one key element of such a change, and this book is a transdisciplinary project.In the field of the criticism to GDP as an omni-comprehensive instrument, the book also describes the methodology of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), proposed by H. Daly and John Cobb in 1989. They proposed some revisions to the System of National Accounts and GDP in order to add information for policy makers towards sustainability.Starting with consumption, some adjustments are proposed to allow for inequality of income distribution, environmental problems (such as pollution costs, long term environmental damage, depletion of non-renewable resources) and social issues (such as commuting costs, urbanization costs, public expenditure for health and education). Computations for different nations have shown that ISEW increases together with increasing GDP up to a point, beyond which it stagnates or even decreases, due to the environmental and social pressure of economic growth. The ISEW is a feasible calculation and some experiments at the local level in Italy are presented. Advances in integrating different sustainability indicators (both economic-based and physical-based) are also presented as well as their use under a sustainability viewpoint.

Livestock's Longer Shadow is one the most important books of its kind since Ruth Harrison's Animal Machines (1964). Most people have little idea how eating animal-based foods harm animals, our health and our planet. We want to believe the animals we eat do not suffer pain, injury, live good lives and eating them is a trade-off for the care we afford them. We accept the illnesses we suffer are simply a consequence of getting old. We want to believe our food choices do not cause rainforest and ocean deforestation. We are told farmers are the guardians of the countryside, yet our landscape is over-cultured and biologically dysfunctional, and our environment polluted by livestock farming. Livestock's Longer Shadow, cuts through the noise for anyone wanting to know how we really treat animals, our health and our planet through the ways we farm and consume animals, through a UK lens. Tim Bailey is an Environmental Scientist and one of the UK's leading and most prominent regulatory farm pollution experts. He brings together all aspects of the UK's animal-based farming and food system, from farm to fork, documents its devastation and provides us with a kinder, more compassionate, sustainable and healthier way forward. In sounding the alarm on the paradigms of animal-based food production, the author uses his own first-hand experience of the impacts of livestock farming from a career regulating the industry spanning over 30-years.

International voices fill the pages of Water and Sustainability in Arid Regions, forming an original scientific exploration of current water research and management issues.

In arid regions, agriculture that is ill-adapted to the environment, accelerated urbanization, poverty, and increasing pollution challenge access to and uses of water. Understanding these issues requires incorporating findings from both the physical and social sciences at different temporal and spatial scales.

The chapters in this book were written by hydrologists, remote sensing specialists, ecologists, historians, economists, political scientists, architects, archaeologists, and other experts who live in and study arid lands. The authors present updates, overviews, and analyses of water challenges these areas have faced and are striving to address, from salinization in the fabled Taklimakan Desert in China to land degradation in the northern Mediterranean to groundwater over-exploitation in the southwestern United States.

The book also examines desertification, remote sensing, qanat systems, architecture, arsenic contamination, and other case studies from Iran, the Maghreb region, Argentina and Chile, and Mexico. From this conceptual mosaic of comparative perspectives and research methods emerges a strong assumption: an interdisciplinary approach that combines physical and social sciences is the first step toward globally and comprehensively addressing water and sustainability."This book is a valuable and welcome contribution to the discussion of water and sustainable development. Through the collection of chapters, the book clearly illustrates the contemporary diversity of approaches to water scarcity and presents pertinent and new research findings that readers generally do not find compiled together. The result is a highly relevant, accessible, and timely resource that is unique in its international and interdisciplinary content. This is a must-read for anyone working on environmental and sustainability issues in arid lands."Andre Mariotti, University Pierre et Marie Curie, and INSU - CNRS (National Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy-National Center for Scientific Research/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), France "Anyone who reads this book will find himself or herself contemplating the need to rethink how we approach the issue of water and sustainability in arid lands. Drawing on the expertise of both physical and social scientists, the chapters taken as a whole present global, historic, and current perspectives on water scarcity in a multi-layered way that rarely has been done before." Miguel Solanes, Madrid Water Institute, Spain"