List of Presentations
by David Tsetse
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 17 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 17 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: The scientific community to guide the analysis of pollution problems and solution generation adopts disciplinary approaches. This paper examines monodisciplinary where all attention is given to one element or relationship; multidisciplinary approach where disciplines are considered side by side and usually arranged by an intuitive notion of connections, interdisciplinary approach where disciplines are strongly connected, usually by way of a systematic framework and transdisciplinary approach were different elements of disciplines form a discipline. Conceptual schemes, the causal chain approach and systems approach which are offsprings from the different disciplinary approaches relevant for the development of frameworks for pollution management are examined. The paper ends by proposing adaptive management of complex systems, material flow analysis, cognitive switches in evolutionary approaches for problem analysis and opportunity discovery as the building blocks for the development of frameworks for sustainable pollution management in developing countries.
by Juergen Bilger
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 12 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 12 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: In Europe decreasing birthrates (and ageing) and diminishing classical work employmentrates (esp. for the youth)seem to destabilise, even devaluate our future and our offspring(esp. young males).The conventional solutions "growth" appear to be more and more restricted structurally: Childlessness as consequence of womens good education, employment and contraception appears hardly reversible.Joblessness too is structurally driven by innovation, capitalisation and globalisation. Worthless, even ill feel our European children (esp sons), if thus they grow up isolated with psycho-social disturbances, marginalised from work, economics and ploitics and overburdened by debts, financial and environmental crises."Radical losers" (Enzensberger 2006) like they should cause fear (thus change) similarily to that from from other (islamic, poor, over-)populations.Other fears:f.i. of( self) extinction, of (islamic) colonisation, of (economical)pauperisation or loss of (material) power lead to the standard answer: Growth! Nevertheless environmemnt , sustainibility and posterity would profit most from these "natural" trends to schrinking population, work and consumption.
by Gabriele Fitzgerald
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 7 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 7 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: Several initially attractive possible explanations for the engagement of people in more ecological behaviour have been shown as not influencing individual pro-environmental behaviour, unless there is some personal benefit which is obvious and immediate. Although not all pro-environmental behaviours and practices used at work are transferrable to the home or community spheres of employees, it is reasonable to assume that organisations that embrace pro-environmental practices at the core, will have an impact on actual employee practices and behaviours, and consequently on awareness levels about environmental issues. It is argued that the current trend in organisations towards implementing pro-environmental greening behaviours and practices may contribute to a process of 'sustainability evolution'. Understanding the factors and processes which determine employees' pro-environmental behaviour patterns, with regard to the settings and interfaces of work, home and community permits one to grasp the main factors and processes that may influence the interaction of resource and sustainable waste management behaviours, among all life domains.
by Aleksandras Vytautas Rutkauskas, Viktorija Stasytyte and Indre Lapinskaite
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 4 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 4 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: Speaking about the problems of evaluation and management of sustainability usually set of sustainabilities or a structure of universal (from the Lat. universalis) sustainability is chosen, revealing the possibilities to formulate and solve the specific sustainability problems. Mostly the social, economic and ecological sustainability's subsystems are highlighted. And for each of subsystems fostering the universal sustainability the most important objectives are marked out: - For human sustainability is long term maintenance of well being; - For economical sustainability is long-term sufficiently high growth; - For ecology sustainability describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive overtime. The main objective of each and universal sustainability subsystems in a more simplified way could be understood as a subsystem's ability to maintain with the high level of guarantee the certain foundation parameter's level above the critical threshold, while dropping below the threshold the subsystem starts to lose its ability to rebuild itself as a system. However, undoubtedly the main question is rising - what kind of ability the universal sustainability should foster, i.e. the resultant of all sustainability subsystems. Searching for an answer to this question deterministically the idea is coming that this feature conceptually should be understood as preservation of the subsystems' ability to interact. Actually the necessity of such feature is looking by analyzing the environmental sustainability also as other sustainability subsystems. However, for individual subsystems the interaction of their elements or their subsystems is conceptually better known and unfolding for management. In a case of universal sustainability there is a need for perfect formation of the concept of interaction indeed as also preparation of interaction of engineering foundations. The key tasks here are - to understand the content, methods and consequences of the universal sustainability and be able to simulate adequately those processes in order to create the assumptions for the various specialists of subsystems to discuss on the basis of quantitative information. Considerations about the universal sustainability apprehension and fostering are not abundant and one-directional, and even more - practically constructive. Actually in 1999-2005 was published ESI (Environmental Sustainability Index). However, it was rather measurements of environmental state's parameters or estimates, which are more suitable to compare environmental state of different countries. Later, it was substituted with the EPI (Environmental Performance Index), and as the name asserting it pretends to the instrument of sustainability anatomy.
by Maik Adomßent
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 3 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 3 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: In view of societal processes of sustainability-related exchange processes, the communicative interplay between individual citizen and society, inseparably linked to intermediary levels of mutual conciliation, is essential. In this regard, science faces the challenge to deliver policy- and action-relevant knowledge for decision making. Thus, the design of communicative interfaces between science, politics and the public is of particular significance, given the fact that a sustainable society without social communication on sustainability seems to be clearly out of reach. This paper is intended to present a retrospective on knowledge-based research within the environmental discourse. It is shown that these approaches do not only allow for deepened analyses and substantial optimization of stored knowledge but, furthermore, also highlight opportunities for various contexts of sustainability-oriented governance. Subsequently, these approaches are critiqued within the context of knowledge communication and analyzed in the light of the contrasting "internal rationalities" of science and politics. In doing so, trends in medialization in both domains are taken as much into account as participative practices for including non-scientific actors in political decision-making. With regard to the individual level of knowledge communication, the ipsative theory of action is considered as a helpful pattern of thought as it adverts to effective selectivity between objective conditions of situational action and its subjective counterpart. These individually-based principles are reflected on key aspects of knowledge communication and analyzed in the light of contrasting "internal rationalities" of science and politics. In doing so, trends for participative practices for including non-scientific actors in political decision-making are taken into account. As a result, various dimensions of a dialogically-reflexive communication are proposed against the backdrop of future societal pathways towards sustainability, reflecting the diversity, dynamics and self-organization – all featuring the liaison between science and politics both organizationally and on an individual basis.
by Dexter Hunt, Rachel Lombardi, Stuart Atkinson, Austin Barber, Matthew Barnes, Chris Boyko, Julie Brown, John Bryson, David Butler, Sylvio Caputo, Maria Caserio, Richard Coles, Raziyeh Farmani, Mark Gaterell, James Hale, Chantal Hayes, Nick Hewitt, Lubo Jankovic, Ian Jefferson, Rob Mackenzie, Fayyaz Memon, Tom Pugh, Chris Rogers, Duncan Whyatt and Carina Weingartner
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: The achievement of a less unsustainable future requires a multi-dimensional approach that addresses a range of 'issues' (i.e. the sustainability indicator spectrum; demographics through to water) within a bounded yet diverse 'space' (i.e. global through to local scale) over 'time' (i.e. current and future generations; their needs and aspirations). Futurescenarios provide challenging, plausible and relevant stories about how the future, typically within 5 to 100 years, could unfold. As neither forecasts nor predictions and unconstrained by the requirement for substantiating how one gets from here to there they allow a range of sustainability issues to be challenged at different scales in future worlds. Urban Futures (UF) research has identified a substantial set (>450) of seemingly disparate scenario visions published within the literature over the period 1997-2011. Whilst it is evident that some comparisons have been undertaken there is little evidence to substantiate converging rather than diverging themes from which an overarching scenario archetypal could be drawn. This is significant shortfall for those who wish to test the principles of sustainability / resilience against a generic scenario set, rather than derive yet more scenarios to add to the list already identified. In fulfilling this research need it has been possible to identify, based upon their scenario narratives, a sub-set of 150 scenarios that can be categorised according to three world types (i.e. Business as usual, Barbarisation and Great Transitions) and six scenarios; two for each world type (i.e. Policy Reform - PR, Market Forces - MF, Breakdown - B, Fortress World - FW, Eco-Communalism - E and New Sustainability Paradigm – NSP respectively) first proposed by the Global Scenarios Group (GSG) in 1997. It is suggested that four of these (MF, PR, NSP and FW) are sufficiently distinct to facilitate active stakeholder engagement and allow sustainability/resilience to be tested over a broad range (e.g. high to low technological efficiency). Moreover this archetypal scenario set is accompanied by a well-established, internally consistent set of narratives that provide a deeper understanding of the key fundamental drivers (e.g. economic, environmental, social, technological, political and organisational) that could bring about realistic world changes through a push or a pull effect. This is testament to the original concept of the GSG scenarios and their development and refinement over a 20 year period.
by Martha Harnly, Joe Lauren, Daniel Smith, Svetlana Smorodinsky and Sumi Hoshiko
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: With climate change, heat waves (HWs) are predicted to increase, particularly in areas where HWs have historically occurred. A multitude of studies have demonstrated that human mortality increases during HWs. California has suffered a number of HWs. The "Great" California HW of July 2006 was unprecedented in duration and occurred statewide, lasting ten days in much of the state and longer in some areas. We calculated the ratio of deaths during the heat wave period (July 15 – Aug 1, 2006) to deaths on non-heat wave days in the same summer. We calculated these rates by California's sixteen building climate zones. These zones were outlined in 1982 based on climate, elevation, and estimated energy consumption. HW mortality ratios were higher: i) in the northern coastal zone (a 19% excess of mortality) compared to other coastal zones ofCalifornia (-0.1 to 6% excess); and ii) in the southern and northern zones of the Central Valley (a 11 to 12% excess) compared to the central zone of the Central Valley (a 2% excess). We examined available meteorological, census, and other data, and discuss whether these differences may be related to zonal differences in HW intensity or duration, air conditioning use, building insulation requirements, or other factors such as occupation. Notably, the northern and southern zones of the Central Valley are farming areas. In contrast, the central zone of the Central Valley includes the state capitol, where a higher percentage of workers are office workers. Identifying resilient (low health impact) and vulnerable (high health impacts) zones, and factors that may mitigate the health impact, may ultimately inform climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.
by Gerhard Frank
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: Any comprehensive knowledge system of a certain complexity grounds in specific assumptions that give an answer to the fundamental questions of human being. These assumptions that usually stand at the beginning of any organized reasoning, have long reaching and mighty effects since they form the underlying matrix of any doing that follows. Often these conceptual prerequisites are forgotten thus turning into hidden but nevertheless powerful mental forces that then rule and organize human behavior and reasoning from the unconscious. It is this unconscious level of human behavior that poses a specific challenge to the societal transition process towards a sustainable life-style. Three interrelated sets of mental assumptions can be identified in this respect that play a decisive role for the human mindset. These hidden factors of human action can be referred to as the ontological cause, the epistemological cause, and the operational cause of human behavior and decision making. Any culture provides its members with an ontological worldview thus directing the mindset of its people into a specific direction. The ontological conception of the western scientific mind strongly influences the way modern people try to overcome the challenge of their unsustainable life-style. Similarly modern knowledge is grounded in a specific epistemology that, mostly unknowingly guides the industrial mind. The epistemological bedrock of knowing has a lasting effect on human perception and communication; it controls the way modern people deal with their problems. The operational cause eventually turns modern life into a rat race. It subjects the societal metabolism to a linear concept of logic that profoundly runs afoul the cyclic structure of nature. Ontological, epistemological and operational attractors form a cohesive, cognitive base-matrix whose reorganization has to be perceived as the Gordon Knot of sustainability. The paper is identical with the prolog of the current book project of the author with the working title: The Change Science. Turning the human mindset towards a sustainable life-style. It investigates the logical and practical consequences that have to be drawn from the previous scientific work of G.Frank[1],[2] in terms of a humanity under threat of self-imposed affliction. [1] Frank, Gerhard. Erlebniswissenschaft. Über die Kunst Menschen zu begeistern. LIT, 2011. [2] Frank, Gerhard. The Experience Science. A new discipline on the rise. LIT, in print.
by Gerhard Frank
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: The author is a natural scientist and philosopher who has been successfully involved in the global experience industry for more than 25 years. During this period of time he has developed a coherent, interdisciplinary body of knowledge that appears to be of essential interest as related to the transition towards a sustainable society: the Experience Science[1],[2]. Important scientific inputs come from underlying disciplines like cybernetics, system theory, psychology, and cognitive science. One of the key findings of the Experience Science is the innate structure of human experiencing. Any human experience includes 5 different experiential domains that influence and regulate each other. These five domains are: the emotional domain (feeling); the mental imagery domain (mental narrating); the sensorimotor domain (acting & perceiving); the rational domain (rational reasoning); the communicational domain (conversing). In the light of the Experience Science the dilemma of the current transition process towards a sustainable society becomes clearly visible. Any relevant (academic and / or technological) attempt reduces the existing problems to more or less exclusively the rational domain. Although ever evolving rational knowledge indeed is an indispensable prerequisite for a sustainable future this is utterly reductionist. Societal change towards a sustainable life-style can only happen if the whole experiential system gets a chance to reorganize itself. This among others leads to the following logical consequence. Any rational knowledge is embedded in a both emotional and narrative knowledge system that underlies and frames human reasoning. As long as human learning restricts itself to an exclusively rational attempt the underlying emotional and narrative program remains untouched. The learner hence continues orienting his / her attention into the direction determined by the underlying emotional and narrative paradigm. The paper outlines the experiential determinants of change and analyzes their specific, constitutive interrelations. From this a holistic choreography of change learning is derived that pays tribute to the intrinsic transition principles represented by the human learner. [1] Frank, Gerhard. Erlebniswissenschaft. Über die Kunst Menschen zu begeistern. LIT, 2011. [2] Frank, Gerhard. The Experience Science. A new discipline on the rise. LIT, in print.
by Alexander Lautensach
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: In the the present global environmental crisis people who contribute most to its causes are not the people who reap most of the resulting harms. The former tend to be well educated and hold positions of power or at least high levels of personal consumption. This points to a failure of education systems and institutions that cannot be ignored in the light of their potential to help and their responsibility to do so. In spite of numerous efforts to render education more conducive to sustainability, the problems are still widespread and time is running short. Extending on previous work, this paper presents the priorities for a curriculum that focuses on sustainability as foremost imperative. To make the case for the important role of education, a survey of determinant factors is presented that contribute to the counterproductive behaviour causing the crisis. The connection to education involves key ideological content of the hidden curricuum. I argue that through this connection education at all levels has contributed to environmental injustice by omission and commission, referring to education in Canada as a case in point. Major ideological culprits include Cornucopianism and anthropocentrism. As those failings involve mostly affective learning outcomes in implicit form, they can only be addressed by a transdisciplinary curriculum that emphasises and explicates values, beliefs, and attitudes toward sustainable living and the restoration of damaged systems. The goal is to prevent the reproduction of counterproductive ideologies by educational means and to help learners around the world to actively change their lives.
by Sabina Lautensach and Alexander Lautensach
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: It seems intuitively clear that not all human endeavours warrant equal concern over the extent of their sustainability. This raises the question about what criteria might best serve for their prioritisation. We refute on empirical and theoretical grounds the counterclaim that sustainability should be of no concern regardless of the circumstances. We propose that human security can serve as a source of criteria that are both widely shared and can be assessed in a reasonably objective manner. Following the respective classifications established in the literature, we compile and compare four forms of sustainability (environmental, economic, social, and cultural) in their relationships with the four pillars of human security (environmental, economic, sociopolitical, and health-related). Our findings, based on probable cause and effect relationships, suggest that the criteria of human security allow for a reliable discrimination between relatively trivial incidences of unsustainable behavior and those that warrant widely shared serious concern. They also confirm that certain sources of human insecurity, such as poverty or violent conflict, tend to perpetuate unsustainable behavior, a useful consideration for the design of development initiatives. Considering that human security enjoys wide and increasing political support among the international community, it is to be hoped that by publicizing the close correlation between human security and sustainability greater attention will be paid to the latter and to its careful definition.
by Victor Martinez
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: For the past 60 years or more, industrial design's true main goal has being helping increase the sales, "make the economy grow". The ideals of beauty and functionality, the improvement of life quality and other high propose statements have being set aside to pursue an evermore accelerated rate of sales, planned and perceived obsolescence are the key in gross market products, we have linked our progress to the sale of physical objects. These last together with the exponential population growth and the greed for infinitely increasing profits has taken mankind to one of its most dangerous periods in history, for the first time our species is under threat by our own activity and it's impact in our context. Almost all man creations, especially since the industrial revolution the gross market products have being thought linearly; phrases like "one size fits all" and "cradle to grave" perfectly represent the reductionist thought of 20th century production and service activities. It's until relatively recently that concerns for natural systems and the clear impact of human activity has taken further steps into widely applying complexity principles into the diverse kind problem solving and therefore into a systems thinking point of view. This paper intends to show our experiences in complexity approach in teaching industrial design; the eighth semester design studio of our Industrial Design program aims to formulate a complex problem or situation that includes social, economical, and environmental issues. The usual student response is to think only in object terms, as they have been told during their studies, to create new goods in order to keep the consumer society working and growing. Through debates and videos, sustainability, ecological footprint and life cycle of products are analysed; considering at large human consumption and nature depletion helps the student to see beyond the object and start questioning the deepest roots of our consumer society and what "growing" really means. Systems theory principles and ecosystems are incorporated in order to understand natural cycles and non-linear dynamics. It is at this point that discussions surpass the realm of objects and products. Concepts like services and systems start to emerge as the next target for designers. The object is thus considered as only a small part of a complex network of people, economics, politics, markets, function, semiotics, production processes, natural capital, etc. The outcome of this approach has been projects of high value where proposals range from strategies, services and systems. The paper intends only to show the last four years of experiences in changing the focus from the classic problem solving method in an Industrial Design workshop into a systemic solution point of view incorporating the complexity behaviour of our everyday living.
by Eng-Cheong Khoo and Siew-Teng Ong
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: The effectiveness of using sugarcane bagasses and modified rice hull as a low cost material for the removal of dyes from both single and binary dye solutions was investigated. Surface morphology analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Batch and column studies were performed under various experimental conditions. Batch studies revealed that the removal of the studied dyes was both pH and concentration dependent. Maximum sorption capacities calculated from the Langmuir model were in the range of 14.68 - 67.11 mg g-1 in single dye solutions. In column studies, results revealed that breakthrough was influent concentration, flow rate and bed height dependent. The breakthrough curves exhibited the typical S shape of packed bed system.
by Rengin Ozturk and Arzu Cahantimur
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 2 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: In the context of this paper, the ways of use of wooden building material in traditional and contemporary Turkish architecture is compared. This comparative analysis is made in terms of ecological, economic and socio-cultural sustainability. The concept of sustainability is envisioned as closely bounded up with the ways of achieving sustainable urban development of the country. In this context, on one hand, the physical and spatial features of traditional wooden buildings - both monumental buildings and examples of civil architecture - are evaluated in terms of sustainability indicators. On the other hand, concerning the same indicators, another evaluation is made for the contemporary examples of wooden architecture. The traditional examples for the comparison are chosen from valuable heritage sites in Turkey, whereas the contemporary ones are chosen from big cities where it is possible to use modern building techniques. The comparative analysis of these two types of buildings, made up of the same building material but having different structural systems and building techniques, enables us to set out the principles of sustainable architecture from past to present and also from tradition to contemporary. It is thought that, the results of this comparative study could light the way for achieving sustainable urban development of settlements with different urban or rural scales in especially developing countries, like Turkey.
by Javier Sanfélix, Fabrice Mathieux, Cristina de la Rúa and Kirana Chomkhamsri
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 1 November 2011
Show Abstract
Section I: General and Related Topics
Published online: 1 November 2011
Show Abstract
Abstract: Context The European Commission (EC) recognised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as "the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impacts of products". It also identified "the need to improve data availability and quality worldwide by internationally cooperating on LCA data and methods". The life cycle approach is also part of the 2011 Communication on "A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy". To support these life cycle based EU policies, the EC has started the "European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPCLA)"[1]services (e.g. consulting or research services), tools (e.g. LCA tools, ecodesign tools), databases (e.g. LCI databases) and the corresponding developers and providers. in 2005. This Platform is implemented and coordinated by the EC Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Environment and Sustainability, in close collaboration with DG Environment. The Platform works on the basis of coherent and quality-assured life cycle data, methods, and studies. The LCA Resource Directory is one of the deliverables of the Platform. This application has been running since 2006 and it contains lists of Novelty The LCA Resource Directory has recently been further developed so that it can contain and organize LCA case studies and metadata on these studies. The new LCA Resource Directory will be launched during the Fall 2011. Methods The new functionalities of the LCA Resource Directory allow users (LCA expert and non-expert) to browse a database of LCA studies. Thanks to the searching tool, a user can sort the information available as metadata and identify relevant LCA studies according to his/her interests. Many of the fields of the template used to characterize LCA studies are based on the ISO 1404x series. Some fields of the template are mandatory (e.g. functional unit and system boundary) in order to assure that the information showed in the application fulfills most of the requirements of the ISO 14044 for reports to be disclosed to the public. Other fields of the template include: "Intended application(s)", "LCIA impact categories" and "Compliance". The LCA study has to be uploaded on the Directory. Moreover, a final verification step is performed by the web application administrator to ensure quality and consistency. The application is open worldwide (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/directory.vm). Any research group, company, university, etc. is now able, after registration, to upload studies and give metadata on them using a template. DG JRC will be in charge of the maintenance of the application and will populate the Directory with the first set of studies during the Fall 2011. An open call to relevant research groups and institutions will be send in order to populate the Directory with registered users and studies. Conclusions With these new capabilities of the Resource Directory, the EPLCA makes progress in its aim of promoting life cycle thinking when making available to all kind of LCA practitioners a good quality database of LCA studies, together with a searching tool. [1] http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/