Mark Swilling

Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges

There is emerging agreement that sustainability challenges require new ways of knowledge production and decision-making. One key aspect of sustainability science, therefore, is the involvement of actors from outside academia into the research process in order to integrate the best available knowledge, reconcile values and preferences, as well as create ownership for problems and solution options. Transdisciplinary, community-based, interactive, or participatory research approaches are often suggested as appropriate means to meet both the requirements posed by real-world problems as well as the goals of sustainability science as a transformational scientific field. Dispersed literature on these approaches and a variety of empirical projects applying them make it difficult for interested researchers and practitioners to review and become familiar with key components and design principles of how to do transdisciplinary sustainability research. Starting from a conceptual model of an ideal–typical transdisciplinary research process, this article synthesizes and structures such a set of principles from various strands of the literature and empirical experiences. We then elaborate on them, looking at challenges and some coping strategies as experienced in transdisciplinary sustainability projects in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. The article concludes with future research needed in order to further enhance the practice of transdisciplinary sustainability research.

Sustainability and infrastructure planning in South Africa: a Cape Town case study

This paper highlights the importance of considering ecological sustainability issues in any citys infrastructure plans and investments. It reviews the South African governments current and planned investment in urban infrastructure, both to enhance economic growth and to contribute to poverty reduction, and what this implies for Cape Town. It highlights the lack of attention given to ecological issues and the dangers of assuming that the resources will be available to support it, and that prices for fresh water, fossil fuels and food will not rise. It also points to Cape Towns large ecological footprint (comparable to that of Canada, per person) and its heavy dependence on non-renewable resources, especially oil – which means that every oil price rise transfers money from the Cape Town economy to national and global financial circuits. Housing lower-income groups in conventional housing with no attention to a more compact, less automobile-dependent city form exposes them to high water and energy costs. The paper ends by pointing to the advantages for the city and for lower-income groups of including ecological issues, and outlines the possibilities for doing so.

Reconceptualising urbanism, ecology and networked infrastructures

There is increasing consensus that the existing system of production and consumption is ecologically unsustainable and inequitable. The global economy depends on the use of 60 billion tons of material resources and 500 exajoules of energy annually. It is these flows that are responsible for resource depletion, negative environmental impacts and social injustice in many developing countries where these resources are extracted. However, the bulk of these resources are used, consumed and disposed of as wastes within cities. More specifically, the way urban infrastructures are configured determines how these resource flows are conducted through cities. It follows that these flows could be reconfigured if existing urban infrastructures were retrofitted or new ones designed to ensure the more sustainable use of these resources in cities. The result would be a shift from unsustainable urbanism to a more sustainable urbanism. Inclusive and splintered urbanism are reviewed as dominant forms of unsustainable urbanism as a result of the way urban infrastructures are configured, while green urbanism and slum urbanism are reviewed as possible alternatives. A conception of ‘liveable urbanism’ is proposed as a way of thinking about urban development that restores ecosystems and promotes sufficiency.

Developmental States and Sustainability Transitions: Prospects of a Just Transition in South Africa

Abstract Since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2007/2008 two key trends have made it necessary to reconceptualize the relationship between development and sustainability: the rapid rise of the so-called ‘BRICS’ and the emergence of the green economy discourse and now since 2015 the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. To address this challenge with respect to developing economies in the global South, this paper endeavours to fuse the core conceptual concerns of the developmental state and sustainability transition literatures. It is argued that a just transition would consist of a dual commitment to human well-being (with respect to income, education and health) and sustainability (with respect to decarbonization, resource efficiency and ecosystem restoration). However, to understand these processes we need a better understanding of political dynamics, and for this purpose the notion of a socio-political regime is introduced. A case study of South Africas dual developmental and environmental trajectories is presented, revealing how different it is to the East Asian experience. Although a just transition in South Africa is currently unlikely, the rapid emergence of the renewable energy niche signals what may be possible if political and environmental shocks are experienced by key actors within the socio-political regime.

Building sustainable neighbourhoods in South Africa: learning from the Lynedoch case

Urban development strategies that aim to eradicate poverty will only be successful if these strategies include ecological sustainability criteria relating to sanitation, solid waste removal, energy, building materials and food security.(1) This paper uses the Lynedoch EcoVillage development in Stellenbosch (near Cape Town) to demonstrate that this can result in a balance between growth, equity and sustainability without any one of these criteria being seen as less or more important. In practice, however, judgments need to be made, and original intentions are often thwarted by conditions as they emerge during the course of the development process. Lynedoch EcoVillage is a significant case because it is the first intentional, socially mixed ecologically designed urban development in the South African context. To this extent, the Lynedoch Development is a challenge to both the traditional unsustainable approaches to urban design and infrastructure that have dominated the democratic period in South Africa since 1994, and to the perpetuation of economic apartheid whereby the rich and poor have remained segregated.

Deracialised urbanisation: a critique of the new urban strategies and some policy alternatives from a democratic perspective

ConclusionThis paper has proceeded from the assumption that the choice is not whether the new urban strategies of the state and capital will go ahead or not. The reality is that the state and capital will proceed with their respective strategies regardless of whether or not the mass democratic movement agrees to participate.The paper also argued that the consequences of the new urban strategies could be devastating and could restructure the urban power structure in fundamental ways. However, it was also argued that if the mass democratic movement decided to engage with these new strategies, and if it was armed with an appropriate policy framework, then the benefits for the urban communities could be substantial. In addition, a decisive and strategic intervention could significantly alter the balance of power between the state, capital and the communities. In the absence of this kind of considered intervention, this balance of power will change, but not in favour of the interests represented by the mass democratic movement.

Sustainable Urban Water System Transitions Through Management Reforms in Ghana

Despite decades of water reforms, Ghana’s struggle to achieve sustainable urban water system is deepened by complex interactions of multi-layered political, socio-economic and managerial characteristics, leaving a rationing system of water supply in major cities like Accra. Using a multi-level perspective framework, the paper examines the dynamics of urban water system transition through management reforms. The study showed how external pressure at the landscape level influenced policy direction within urban water regime through the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies, paving way for resistance and grassroots innovation at the niche level. The implementation of such policies in the reform process did little to help achieve the desired sustainable urban water system goals. The paper suggests a blend of public and private financing with support for grassroots to improve urban water system management. However, subsequent urban water policy reforms must be informed by knowledge of social, economic, and political realities rather than imported generic “best policies and practices” that often conflict with local realities.

Determinants of quality of shared sanitation facilities in informal settlements : case study of Kisumu, Kenya

BackgroundShared facilities are not recognised as improved sanitation due to challenges of maintenance as they easily can be avenues for the spread of diseases. Thus there is need to evaluate the quality of shared facilities, especially in informal settlements, where they are commonly used. A shared facility can be equated to a common good whose management depends on the users. If users do not work collectively towards keeping the facility clean, it is likely that the quality may depreciate due to lack of maintenance. This study examined the quality of shared sanitation facilities and used the common pool resource (CPR) management principles to examine the determinants of shared sanitation quality in the informal settlements of Kisumu, Kenya.MethodsUsing a multiple case study design, the study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. In both phases, users of shared sanitation facilities were interviewed, while shared sanitation facilities were inspected. Shared sanitation quality was a score which was the dependent variable in a regression analysis. Interviews during the qualitative stage were aimed at understanding management practices of shared sanitation users. Qualitative data was analysed thematically by following the CPR principles.ResultsShared facilities, most of which were dirty, were shared by an average of eight households, and their quality decreased with an increase in the number of households sharing. The effect of numbers on quality is explained by behaviour reflected in the CPR principles, as it was easier to define boundaries of shared facilities when there were fewer users who cooperated towards improving their shared sanitation facility. Other factors, such as defined management systems, cooperation, collective decision making, and social norms, also played a role in influencing the behaviour of users towards keeping shared facilities clean and functional.ConclusionApart from hardware factors, quality of shared sanitation is largely due to group behaviour of users. The CPR principles form a crucial lens through which the dynamics of shared sanitation facilities in informal settlements can be understood. Development and policy efforts should incorporate group behaviour as they determine the quality of shared sanitation facilities.

Sustainability Science for Meeting Africa’s Challenges: Setting the Stage

Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is experiencing striking antitheses. Despite the long-term efforts to alleviate poverty, poverty still remains endemic in several of its regions (UNDP 2014). Currently, SSA contains a large fraction of the world’s poor and while poverty rates have declined drastically over time, it may take a substantial amount of time before chronic and multi-dimensional poverty is eradicated (World Bank 2016; UNDP 2014). This is particularly troubling as Africa is in fact blessed with abundant natural resources that could potentially assist its development. In reality, however, these resources are not always evenly distributed among segments of society or can have tremendous negative environmental impacts if mismanaged. For example, while large tracts of land are allocated across Africa for large-scale agricultural production to spur economic development (Schoneveld 2014), the continent registers some of the highest levels of under-nutrition and food insecurity globally (EIU 2015). At the same time some agricultural practices in SSA have been blamed for causing extensive land use change and environmental degradation (Reynolds et al. 2015). While, growth in the agricultural sector is challenged by an uncertain policy environment, poor infrastructural development and increasing post-harvest losses, among others (OECD/FAO 2016), enhancing the actual sustainability of the agricultural sector is a much more difficult puzzle to solve. Mining is another example of how the rich natural resource base of the continent does not always translate into positive sustainability outcomes. For example while mining has catalyzed economic development in some areas (UNECA 2011, 2013), it has often been detrimental to the natural environment (Edwards et al. 2013) and local communities (Hilson 2009). Several scholars have pointed that the paradigm of building development (let alone a sustainable development) based on resource extraction could, in fact, be misleading as attested by the signs of possible resource curse in some SSA countries (Badeeb et al. 2017). At the same time SSA host some pristine and highly biodiverse ecosystems, including eight of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots (Mittermeier et al. 2011). While the extent of protected areas has been increasing in SSA in the past decades (UNEP-WCMC 2016), protected and nonprotected areas are facing significant pressure as they cater for multiple human needs ranging from fuelwood to wild food and medicinal plants (Tranquilli et al. 2014; Brashares et al. 2011; UNEP 2010; Beresford et al. 2013; Laurance et al. 2012). In fact most African countries have little progress in meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets ratified during the 10th Conference of the Parties of the & Alexandros Gasparatos gasparatos@ir3s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Estimating the cost and payment for sanitation in the informal settlements of Kisumu, Kenya : a cross sectional study

Lack of sanitation facilities is a common occurrence in informal settlements that are common in most developing countries. One challenge with sanitation provision in these settlements is the cost and financing of sanitation. This study aimed at estimating the cost of sanitation, and investigating the social and economic dynamics within Kisumu’s informal settlements that hinder provision and uptake of sanitation facilities. Primary data was collected from residents of the settlements, and using logistic and hedonic regression analysis, we identify characteristics of residents with sanitation facilities, and estimate the cost of sanitation as revealed in rental prices. Our study finds that sanitation constitutes approximately 54% of the rent paid in the settlements; and dynamics such as landlords and tenants preferences, and sharing of sanitation facilities influence provision and payment for sanitation. This study contributes to general development by estimating the cost of sanitation, and further identifies barriers and opportunities for improvement including the interplay between landlords and tenants. Provision of sanitation in informal settlements is intertwined in social and economic dynamics, and development approaches should target both landlords and tenants, while also engaging various stakeholders to work together to identify affordable and appropriate sanitation technologies.