Environmental science, sustainability and politics

Research evidence and pleas that humans are undermining their own survival on a robust and unforgiving planet seem to be falling on deaf ears. The drive for economic and military security remains more powerful than the evidence that both of these objectives are being undermined by environmental damage, social disruption, unjust treatment and forced migration. Yet the signs are growing that environmentally and socially sound futures may be vital prerequisites for economic and military stability. So, at the heart of multi-nationalism, sustainable development is beginning to be recognized as a crucial element in reliable international agreements. The consequence of all this is that environmental science has become highly political, and geographers need to recognize and work within an expanding political process. Examples of new forms of governing via sustainability science for sustainable futures are offered in the latter part of the paper, especially at local government level. The antagonistic pressures of established power and economic hegemony are never far away. Indeed, the confirmation of these established patterns of power still pervades the politics of environmental science. But it is possible that these antagonistic political frameworks are beginning to be transcended by the more influential aspects of sustainability partnerships incorporating new arrangements between government, private capital and civil associations. These partnerships will not be easy to create, for they criss-cross boundaries of familiarity and rules of operation. But geographers can play a critical role in helping to shape them and assess the best circumstances for ensuring their success.     

中国旅游业更加可持续的发展:小步伐大策略

近年来,西方研究人员在撰写有关中国旅游的课题时,对可持续发展旅游业给予了特别的关注。"可持续发展旅游业"这一词可理解为为了达到社会文化、自然环境、以及旅游业经济增长这三点之间的和谐关系而努力发展的旅游业。本文回顾了全球各方力量对旅游业的塑造,并指出在创造积极的旅游前景时其可持续发展性所面临的挑战。对如何执行和研究可持续发展所采取的具体措施及对其的深度理解是当前研究的热点。通过五大路径,十种个人行为及四个组织模块建立可持续发展旅游业的主导思想。     

THE GREEN ECONOMY,SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS AND TRANSITION REGIONS: A CASE STUDY OF BOSTON

This article is focused upon exploring the development of the green economy in particular locations, with the aim of identifying why some cities and regions have been successful in engendering green growth. To date we have little idea where the green economy is developing, nor much insight, beyond anecdotal evidence, into why certain cities and regions appear to be more successful than others in this regard. We position our analysis within the context of research on socio‐technical transitions that has theorized the potential shift to a more sustainable economy. We review the literature on sustainability transitions and the development of the multi‐level perspective encompassing niches, regimes and landscapes. However, most research into socio‐technical transitions has not given adequate consideration to the influence of places and spatial scale in these transition processes, and we therefore critique the socio‐technical transitions literature from a geographical perspective. In this article we are interested in four key questions. What role does the enabling and facilitative state play in these cities and regions? What new institutional forms and governance structures are being developed? How do actors in particular cities and regions construct their green vision, and how do they encourage other actors to buy‐in to this vision? How are links across levels and spatial scales developed to connect niches with the regime? We address these through a focus upon the Boston city‐region in the USA, drawing upon both primary and secondary research material. We utilize this case study example to re‐examine and re‐theorize work on sustainability transitions from a spatial perspective.     

Stretching the Limits: Environmental Compensation, Habitat Creation and Sustainable Development

The rationales for ecological and landscape engineering are becoming absorbed within economistic interpretations of sustainable development grounded in maintaining 'environmental capital'. These interpretations incorporate the possibility of compensating for the adverse impacts of development with environmental benefits of equivalent worth, thus maintaining the 'stock'. Habitat creation is an important form of this 'environmental compensation'. This paper explores the conflicts surrounding environmental compensation as sustainable development is translated into policy and practice in the British planning system. The extent to which environment damage can be meaningfully compensated raises difficult questions of environmental values and technical expertise. Analysis at two levels – national planning policy and the negotiation of compensatory habitat creation for a specific development scheme – indicates that the pursuit of environmental compensation through present planning processes can serve to accommodate development interests. Furthermore, claims about the manageability of environmental impacts help legitimize particular patterns of economic growth.     

Urban smartness and sustainability in Europe. An ex ante assessment of environmental,social and cultural domains

The aim of the paper is to define a set of smartness and sustainability indicators applicable to European cities and to assess their outcome in an ex ante perspective with regard to the implementation of Europe 2020 strategy. Following the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact, Response) model, we select a bundle of indicators for three relevant sustainability domains (environmental, social and cultural), which are proper to the smart city definition. Then we define groups of homogeneous cities for each domain by using a two-step cluster analysis. Results show the existence of heterogeneous groups of cities that are likely to become smart in the cultural domain, side by side with groups of more developed urban areas that have acquired a substantial advantage in the environmental and social dimensions.     

The Impact of Local Environmental Advocacy Groups on City Sustainability Policies and Programs

American cities vary considerably in the degree to which they pursue sustainability. What explains this variation? One plausible cause of such differences is that sustainability may be more appealing to high‐income cities than to more economically challenged cities. Yet such strict economic determinism seems simplistic and removes politics from an inherently political process. The hypothesis here is that any such relationship between income and commitment to sustainability is conditioned by a city's level of environmental advocacy. The data utilized in this analysis are derived from two large‐scale data sources. One is a comprehensive inventory of sustainability programs and policies in 50 large American cities. The other is a set of surveys in those same 50 cities. The multivariate model supports the hypothesis. Controlling for income growth and the predisposition of policymakers to be supportive of sustainability (as well as other alternative explanations), a city's commitment to sustainability is strongly linked to the advocacy of environmental and sustainability groups in the policymaking process. The example of Sustainable Seattle is used to illustrate the linkages that would seem to underlie the statistical analysis.     

Innovations in cultural policy and development in Latin America

ABSTRACT

This essay looks at two major tendencies in cultural policy recommendations in Latin America: (1) the economic contribution of arts, heritage and especially the cultural and creative industries; and (2) cultural rights, with a focus on inclusion, access, empowerment, and the integral development/well-being of citizens. The two tendencies, which are part of cultural development policies, are not easily integrated into an all-encompassing policy because they follow different logics and management strategies. Nevertheless, both of these tendencies, which emerged in the heyday of neoliberalism (the 1990s), continue to provide the major justifications for cultural funding, although the current economic crisis has led to budget cuts. After a review of cultural development policies, this essay examines innovative strategies to compensate for scarce funding, including those that seek to bridge both tendencies. The cases examined below correspond to discussions of cultural policies in Latin American forums with hundreds of policy-makers and analysts over the past 20-plus years.

Abbreviations: BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation; CadenAgro: Centro de Apoyo para el Desarrollo de Denominaciones de Origen y Sellos de Calidad de Productos Agroalimentarios; CCI: Cultural and Creative Industries; CEDE: Centro de Estudios de Desarrollo Económico; CMD: Centro de Diseño Metropolitano; CVC: Cultura Viva Comunitaria; ECLAC: Economic Commission for Latin America; ILO: International Labor Organization; IMF: International Monetary Fund; MDG: Millennium Development Goals; MDG-F: Millennium Development Goals Fund; MICA: Mercado de Industrias Creativas de Argentina; MICSUR: Mercado de Industrias Culturales del Sur; MSME: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; SEGIB: Secretaría General Iberoamericana; SELA: Latin American Economic System; UCLG: United Cities and Local Governments; UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; UNDP: United Nations Development Programl; UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; US: United States of America     

From the ground up: cultural heritage practices as tools for empowerment in the Homeless Heritage project

Abstract

The Homeless Heritage project took place across two English cities (Bristol and York) between 2010 and 2014. The project sought to use a range of participatory heritage practices to engage contemporary homeless people in documenting their perspectives on each city. Drawing on data gathered over three and a half years this paper reflects on how collaborative cultural heritage practices can be useful in recording diverse stakeholder perspectives which can become catalysts for social change. It is further argued that two interactive exhibitions that resulted from the Homeless Heritage project contributed to the democratisation of knowledge, aiding negotiation of the complicated politics of contemporary homelessness in valuable ways.     

SOCIETY–NATURE COEVOLUTION: INTERDISCIPLINARY CONCEPT FOR SUSTAINABILITY

A brief historical background to the currently ascending interest in evolutionary and coevolutionary theory is sketched, and the concept of society–nature coevolution is positioned in this broader field. The significance of society–nature coevolutionary pathways for transition to sustainability is highlighted with Schellnhuber's heuristic ‘theater world’ for representing paradigms of sustainable development. Geography's recent re‐engagement in the geographical experiment of keeping society and nature under one conceptual umbrella is exemplified in the works of Hägerstrand and Harvey. This special issue's four contributions to developing society–nature coevolutionary theory are presented. The outlook these articles provide suggests that research into society–nature coevolution should play a key role in identifying physically, biologically and socially accessible pathways to sustainability. In order to keep the future accessible and navigable, we will need enhanced understanding of society–nature coevolution.     

Placing GIS in sustainability education

As public awareness about sustainability grows and as higher education advances sustainability more comprehensively, geographers have an opportunity to take a role in sustainability education. This article examines (1) what constitutes sustainability education, (2) how geographic concepts and Geographic Information System (GIS) are relevant to sustainability education, and (3) how geospatial thinking can be incorporated into the sustainability curriculum using GIS. This research proposes five geospatial inquiries that students can make to explore sustainability issues using GIS, which are spatial distribution, spatial interactions, spatial relationships, spatial comparisons, and temporal relationships. Definition, examples, and uses of these five geospatial inquiries supported by GIS are provided.