Gregory Trencher

Establishing sustainability science in higher education institutions: towards an integration of academic development, institutionalization, and stakeholder collaborations

The field of sustainability science aims to understand the complex and dynamic interactions between natural and human systems in order to transform and develop these in a sustainable manner. As sustainability problems cut across diverse academic disciplines, ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinarity has become a central idea to the realm of sustainability science. Yet, for addressing complicated, real-world sustainability problems, interdisciplinarity per se does not suffice. Active collaboration with various stakeholders throughout society—transdisciplinarity—must form another critical component of sustainability science. In addition to implementing interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in practice, higher education institutions also need to deal with the challenges of institutionalization. In this article, drawing on the experiences of selected higher education academic programs on sustainability, we discuss academic, institutional, and societal challenges in sustainability science and explore the potential of uniting education, research and societal contributions to form a systematic and integrated response to the sustainability crisis.

The Role of Students in the Co-creation of Transformational Knowledge and Sustainability Experiments: Experiences from Sweden, Japan and the USA

Accompanying realisations that engagement of multiple societal sectors (academia, industry, government, citizenry) and disciplines is required for formulating effective responses to complex sustainability challenges, calls for new forms of knowledge production are increasing in magnitude, both inside and outside the university. In parallel, experiences from the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development have highlighted that collaborations with societal stakeholders and experiential approaches are desirable for effective sustainability education. This article examines activities at three institutions—Lund University, Oberlin College and the University of Tokyo—to identify potential models for integrating students into the co-creation of transformational knowledge and sustainability experiments with faculty and multiple stakeholders. We examine the types of outputs that can ensue differing participation models, whilst also considering their impact on university and stakeholder efforts to advance societal sustainability. We argue that transformational sustainability partnerships integrating students can foster the alignment of the three university missions of education, research and community engagement with place-specific needs and sustainability challenges. Accordingly, efforts to promote experiential forms of sustainability education with societal stakeholders should refrain from focusing uniquely on education and encourage synergistic linking of all university missions. (Less)

Sustainable development policies as indicators and pre-conditions for sustainability efforts at universities: Fact or fiction?

Purpose There is a widely held belief that sustainable development (SD) policies are essential for universities to successfully engage in matters related to sustainability, and are an indicator of the extent to which they are active in this field. This paper aims to examine the evidence which currently exists to support this assumption. It surveys a sample of universities in Brazil, Germany, Greece, Portugal, South Africa and the UK and the USA to ascertain the extent to which universities that are active in the field of sustainable development have formal policies on sustainable development, and whether such policies are a pre-condition for successful sustainability efforts. Design/methodology/approach The study involved 35 universities in seven countries (five universities respectively). A mixed-methods approach has been used, ranging from document analysis, website analysis, questionnaires and interviewing. Findings Although only 60 per cent of the sampled universities had a policy that specifically addressed SD, this cannot be regarded as an indicator that the remaining 40 per cent are not engaged with substantial actions that address SD. Indeed, all of the universities in the sample, regardless of the existence of a SD formal policy, demonstrated engagement with environmental sustainability policies or procedures in some form or another. This research has been limited by the availability and ability to procure information from the sampled universities. Despite this, it is one of the largest research efforts of this kind ever performed. Research limitations/implications This research has been limited by the availability and ability to procure information from the sampled universities. Practical implications The findings provide some valuable insights into the connections between SD policies on the one hand and the practice of sustainable development in higher education institutions on the other. Social implications Universities with SD policies can contribute to models of economic growth consistent with sustainable development. Originality/value The study is the one of the largest research efforts of this kind ever performed.

The Role of University Partnerships in Urban Sustainability Experiments: Evidence from Asia

University-driven partnerships and experiments for advancing urban sustainability are flourishing around the world. Responding to drivers such as calls for stakeholder engagement in research, tangible social and economic contributions, and government funding incentives, Asian research universities are also forming cross-sector partnerships and implementing various sociotechnical experiments. In this chapter we examine the role of university partnerships in knowledge co-production and implementation of urban sustainability experiments in industrialized Asian nations. By examining fifteen cases from Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, we highlight common attributes (focus areas, actors, motivations and mechanisms) and then investigate the functions, motivations, barriers and significance of roles assumed by differing societal sectors. A detailed case study of an ambitious project from the University of Tokyo then follows to further illustrate these attributes in context. Key findings are that, overall, university partnerships for urban sustainability in our Asian sample are dominated by technical approaches. Yet the most significant barriers are human aspects such as time restraints, lack of unity, and poor management and leadership, to name several. On key drivers, government funding is playing a major role in enticing partnership formation and influencing particular approaches to urban sustainability. Measures are required to encourage the participation of the social sciences and humanities, and non-technical sustainability experiments. Case study evidence suggests that the ability of partnerships to tackle complex social issues and trigger societal transitions towards sustainability is often constrained by existing research projects and the institutional capacities of universities and their partners.

Stretching “smart”: advancing health and well-being through the smart city agenda

ABSTRACT Contemporary smart cities have largely mirrored the sustainable development agenda by embracing an ecological modernisation approach to urban development. There is a strong focus on stimulating economic activity and environmental protection with little emphasis on social equity and the human experience. The health and well-being agenda has potential to shift the focus of smart cities to centre on social aims. Through the systematic and widespread application of technologies such as wearable health monitors, the creation of open data platforms for health parameters, and the development of virtual communication between patients and health professionals, the smart city can serve as a means to improve the lives of urban residents. In this article, we present a case study of smart health in Kashiwanoha Smart City in Japan. We explore how the pursuit of greater health and well-being has stretched smart city activities beyond technological innovation to directly impact resident lifestyles and become more socially relevant. Smart health strategies examined include a combination of experiments in monitoring and visualisation, education through information provision, and enticement for behavioural change. Findings suggest that smart cities have great potential to be designed and executed to tackle social problems and realise more sustainable, equitable and liveable cities.

Time to return blue skies to Iran.

Between October 2015 and February 2016, Irans Meteorological Organization issued multiple “red status” warnings for the local air quality index. In Tehran, schools, construction sites, and polluting factories were closed, smoke-belching cars were fined or towed away, and vulnerable populations

Transformative capacity and local action for urban sustainability

There is a consensus about the strategic importance of cities and urban areas for achieving a global transformation towards sustainability. While there is mounting interest in the types of qualities that increase the capacity of urban systems to attain deep transformations, empirical evidence about the extent to which existing institutional and material systems exhibit transformative capacity is lacking. This paper thereby seeks to determine the extent to which sustainability initiatives led by local governments and their partners reflect the various components that the literature claims can influence the emergence of transformative capacity as a systemic property of urban settings. Using an evaluative framework consisting of ten components of transformative capacity and associated indicators, the specific objective is to identify patterns in these initiatives regarding the presence of individual components of transformative capacity and their interrelations with other components. The analysis of 400 sustainability initiatives reveals thin evidence of transformative capacity. When detected, evidence of transformative capacity tended to emerge in relation to wider processes of institutional- and social-learning and initiatives that linked outcomes to a city-wide vision of planning and development. However, instances of such initiatives were rare. This widespread lack of evidence for transformative capacity raises concerns that this set of attributes normalised in the literature is in fact rarely found in sustainability action on the ground.

Sustainability and the robust delivery of resources

Sustainability as a concept has multiple disparate perspectives stemming from different related disciplines which either maintain ambiguous interpretations or concentrate on metrics pertaining to single aspects of a system. An ecological information-based approach is a holistic measurement which examines the robustness of flows as an important aspect of sustainability. This paper evaluates this approach by applying it to four economic resource trade flow networks. From the perspective of biomimicry, it appears that these networks can achieve higher levels of efficiency without weakening their robustness to resource delivery.