Academic literature on the topic 'Sustainable future'

The work is devoted to the analysis of the main principles and approaches to the introduction of the circular economy concept at the state level. The article contains both the theoretical foundations of the introduction of the circular economy, the conceptual apparatus and the analysis of practical cases of the successful introduction of the principles in the global space. In addition, the main problems that may stand in the way of the successful implementation of the circular economy at the state level are outlined. The paper considers the main aspects of the introduction of the concept of circular economy at the state and regional levels. The conceptual apparatus of the circular economy is presented and illustrated, the differences and advantages in comparison with the generally accepted system of the linear economy are noted. Also, the structure of the circular economy at the micro, macro, and meso levels is considered in detail in the work, the key aspects of implementation in the spheres of production, consumption, waste management, and development support are noted. Considerable attention was paid in the study to the tools for the introduction of the circular economy both at the state and regional levels and at the level of other subjects of economic activity. The circular economy toolkit proposed for analysis was considered both in terms of the economic effect of its introduction, and from the point of view of the presence of a certain number of problems for each of the tools. The identified problems on the way to successful application of circular economy tools outlined the vector of further research in this direction with the aim of accelerating the transformation processes of the transition from a linear to a circular form of economy.

En el context social global actual, en el què un nombre considerable de senyals inequívocs indiquen que la
nostra societat està contribuint al col∙lapse del planeta, " és necessari un nou tipus d'enginyer, un enginyer que
sigui plenament conscient del que està succeint a la societat i que tingui les habilitats necessàries per fer front
als aspectes socials de les tecnologies "(De Graaff et al., 2001).

L'educació superior és un instrument essencial per superar els reptes del món actual amb èxit i per formar
ciutadans capaços de construir una societat més justa i oberta (Álvarez, 2000). Per tant, les institucions
d'educació superior tenen la responsabilitat d'educar els futurs titulats amb la finalitat que adquireixin una
visió moral i ètica i assoleixin els coneixements tècnics necessaris per assegurar la qualitat de vida per a les
generacions futures (Corcoran et al, 2002).

Amb l'objectiu d'assegurar que els futurs titulats siguin enginyers sostenibles, tres qüestions fonamentals han
guiat aquesta investigació:
Quines competències en sostenibilitat ha d'adquirir un enginyer a la universitat?
Com poden aquestes competències ser adquirides d'una manera eficient?
Quina estructura educacional és més eficaç per facilitar els processos d'aprenentatge requerits?

La primera pregunta es refereix a "Què?", és a dir, a quines competències relacionades amb la sostenibilitat
(coneixements, habilitats i actituds) ha de tenir un enginyer que es gradua en el segle 21. La segona qüestió es
refereix a "Com?" i es centra en com els processos educatius poden fer possible l'aprenentatge de les
competències en sostenibilitat a través de les estratègies pedagògiques adequades. L'última pregunta es
refereix a "On?" des de la perspectiva de quin pla d'estudis i quina estructura organitzativa són necessaris per
poder aplicar la didàctica més òptima per graduar enginyers amb competències en sostenibilitat.
Aquesta recerca s'ha enfocat des d'una vessant teòrico‐pràctica en què tant les estratègies pedagògiques com
les competències en sostenibilitat s'han estudiat en paral∙lel. Amb aquesta orientació, s'ha dissenyat una eina
d'avaluació que mesura aquests dos aspectes i la seva relació, i que s'ha aplicat a 10 casos d'estudi formats per
cursos de sostenibilitat de 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, en els quals hi han participat, en total, més
de 500 estudiants.

Per completar l'estudi, s'ha analitzat la introducció de la sostenibilitat en els plans d'estudi
de 17 universitats tecnològiques, i s'han entrevistat 45 experts en educació de sostenibilitat en l'enginyeria.
En relació a les preguntes clau, els resultats de la investigació han estat els següents:
En el moment de titular‐se, l'estudiantat d'enginyeria hauria d'haver adquirit les competències següents:
pensament crític, pensament sistèmic, ser capaços de treballar en un entorn transdisciplinari, i tenir valors en
consonància amb el paradigma de la sostenibilitat. D'altra banda, d'acord amb els requisits de l'EEES, també cal
establir un marc comú per definir, descriure i avaluar les competències en sostenibilitat a nivell europeu.

Després d'haver realitzat un curs en sostenibilitat, la majoria de l'estudiantat segueix prioritzant el rol
tecnològic de la sostenibilitat, pel que fa a la tecnologia com la solució als problemes ambientals, sense gairebé
considerar els aspectes socials. Per tant, els cursos sobre sostenibilitat han d'emfatitzar més la part social i
institucional de la sostenibilitat.

Existeix una relació directa entre l'aprenentatge de la transdisciplinarietat i el pensament sistèmic.
L'aprenentatge cognitiu de l'estudiantat augmenta, a mida que s'aplica una pedagogia més orientada a la
comunitat i més constructiva. Així, l'aprenentatge cognitiu de la sostenibilitat també millora a través d'una
l''educació activa, experiencial i multimetodològica. A més a més, en l'aprenentatge de la sostenibilitat, el
paper del professorat és molt important pel que fa a l'aprenentatge implícit de valors, principis i pensament
crític associats a la sostenibilitat

Les universitats tecnològiques actualment implementen l'educació en sostenibilitat a través de quatre
estratègies principals: un curs específic, una especialització en sostenibilitat, un màster en sostenibilitat o en
tecnologies sostenibles, i la integració del desenvolupament sostenible en tots els cursos. No obstant això, la
principal barrera per a la integració de la sostenibilitat en tots els cursos és la manca de comprensió del terme
per part del professorat. L'"enfocament individual" (Peet et al., 2004) ha demostrat ser un bon sistema per
superar aquesta barrera.
Hi ha una necessitat clara de lideratge per part de l'equip de govern de les universitats en el procés de canvi
cap a una educació en sostenibilitat. Aquest lideratge ha de promoure l'enfocament de baix a dalt.
Els processos d'educació en sostenibilitat es reforcen quan aquests no només integren l'educació, sinó també
totes les altres àrees clau d'activitat de la universitat: recerca, gestió i relació amb la societat.
En breu, l'estructura d'aquesta tesi és la següent. El capítol 1 introdueix el plantejament de la recerca. El
capítol 2 revisa l'estat de l'art i la literatura en relació a les competències que els enginyers han de tenir quan
es graduen, A continuació, el capítol 3 descriu les estratègies pedagògiques per al desenvolupament sostenible
i les analitza des d'un punt de vista teòric i metodològic presentant els avantatges i desavantatges de les més
utilitzades en l'ensenyament d'enginyeria El capítol 4 presenta les estructures curriculars que han de catalitzar
el procés d'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat. El capítol 5 desenvolupa el marc conceptual de la recerca, les
propostes metodològiques de la investigació i els casos d'estudi analitzats. El capítol 6 avalua
comparativament les competències en sostenibilitat definides en tres universitats tecnològiques que són líders
europeus en sostenibilitat. El Capítol 7 introdueix el marc metodològic per a l'avaluació de l'aprenentatge
cognitiu en sostenibilitat del estudiantat. Aquesta metodologia s'aplica en el capítol 8 als 10 cursos de
sostenibilitat impartits en 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, que conformen els casos d'estudi d'aquesta
recerca. A partir de les 45 entrevistes realitzades a experts en sostenibilitat provinents de 17 universitats
tecnològiques europees, el capítol 9 estudia les millors pràctiques en pedagogia per a l'aprenentatge de la
sostenibilitat i el capítol 10 examina l'estructura curricular que més facilita l'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat a
les universitats tecnològiques. En el Capítol 11 es comparen els resultats obtinguts en els diferents casos
d'estudi i s'avaluen les propostes plantejades en el capítol 1. Finalment, el capítol 12 planteja les conclusions
de la recerca i algunes recomanacions per a les institucions d'educació superior tecnològiques.
In today's world social context, in which a considerable number of contrasting signs reveal that our society is currently contributing to the planet's collapse, "a new kind of engineer is needed, an engineer who is fully aware of what is going on in society and who has the skills to deal with societal aspects of technologies" (De
Graaff et al., 2001).

Higher education is the essential instrument to overcome the current world challenges and to train citizens able to build a more fair and open society (Alvarez, 2000). Thus higher education institutions have the responsibility to educate graduates who have achieved an ethical moral vision and the necessary technical knowledge to ensure the quality of life for future generations (Corcoran et al, 2002).

In relation to graduating sustainable engineers, three main questions have been developed to guide this research:
1. Which Sustainability (SD) competences must an engineer obtain at university?
2. How can these competences be acquired efficiently?
3. Which education structure is more effective for the required learning processes?
The first main question is a "What" question, and focuses on which competences (knowledge/understanding, skills/abilities and attitudes) an engineer graduating in the 21st century should have in relation to SD.
The second main question is a "How" question and focuses on how can the education processes make this learning achievable through the proper pedagogical strategies. The last main question is a "Where" question and looks
at the perspective of the curriculum and the organizational structure needed to apply the optimal didactics to achieve the goal of graduating sustainable engineers.
The focus of this research requires a theoretical‐practical approach in which both pedagogical strategies and SD competences are studied in parallel.
An assessment tool that measures the two subjects and their relationship is developed and case studies are run in 10 SD courses at 5 European technological universities, where nearly 500 students have participated. Moreover, the different approaches to introduce SD in the
curriculum of 17 technological universities are analysed, and 45 experts on teaching SD to engineering students have been interviewed.

In relation to the key questions, the findings of this research are the following.
When graduating the engineering students should have acquired the following SD competences: critical thinking, systemic thinking, an ability to work in transdisciplinary frameworks, and to have values consistent with the sustainability paradigm. Moreover, following the requirements of the EHEA, a common framework to define, describe and evaluate SD competences at European level is needed.

Most students, after taking a course on SD, highlight the technological role of sustainability in terms of technology as the solution to environmental problems. Therefore SD courses need to place more emphasis on the social/institutional side of sustainability.
There is a direct relationship between transdisciplinary and systemic thinking learning.
Students achieve better cognitive learning as more community‐oriented and constructive‐learning pedagogies are applied. Multi‐methodological experiential active learning education increases cognitive learning of sustainability.
In addition, the role of the teacher is very important for SD learning in terms of implicit learning of sustainability values, principles and critical thinking.

There are four main strategies to increase EESD in universities: a specific SD course, a minor/specialization in SD, a Master on SD or Sustainable Technologies and the embedment of SD in all courses. Nevertheless the main barrier to embedding SD in all courses is the lack of comprehension to SD within the faculty. The
individual approach (Peet et al., 2004) has shown to be successful to overcome this barrier.

There is a need of clear top‐down leadership in the ESD process, which must promote the bottom‐up
approach. Additionally, ESD processes are reinforced when they encompass not only education but also all the key areas of the university: research, management, and society outreach.
This thesis is organised as follows. The introduction in chapter 1 is followed by the state of the art and literature review in competences that engineers should have when graduating in chapter 2. Chapter 3 introduces the pedagogical strategies for SD and develops a theoretical and methodological exploration of
these strategies, which presents the pros & cons and learning outcomes of the most common pedagogical strategies in engineering. Chapter 4 describes the curriculum structures that catalyse the process of sustainable education. Chapter 5 presents the development of the conceptual research framework,
propositions and case studies research methodologies. A comparative SD competence analysis of three European leading SD technological universities is presented in chapter 6. Chapter 7 introduces the methodology framework to evaluate the knowledge on SD acquired by students; this methodology is later
applied in chapter 8 to 10 case studies related to SD courses taught in 5 European technological universities.
From the results of the interviews with 45 experts from 17 European technological universities, chapter 9 analyses the best pedagogical practices for SD learning and chapter 10 analyses the curriculum structure that
most facilitates the introduction of SD learning in technological universities. Chapter 11 compares the different cases analyzed and evaluates the propositions developed in chapter 1. Finally, in chapter 12 conclusions are drawn and recommendations for technological higher education institutions are provided.

Through this thesis the authors explore how Labs can be designed in order to catalyze systemic sustainable change by A) contributing to systemic socio-ecological sustainability, B) providing an adaptive and experimental alternative to forecasting and traditional planning, and C) providing forums for collaboration, collective impact, capacity building, and the emergence of systemic solutions to local and global challenges. Through their research the authors performed a literature/field review, reviewed organizational documents, and analyzed a select set of Lab theories, processes, and cases. Additionally the authors interviewed leading experts in Lab design/facilitation, sustainability, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), systemic change, and transformative action. The synthesis of this research is offered to emerging Lab designers, practitioners, and facilitators interested in moving society toward a sustainable, regenerative, and thriving future.

En el context social global actual, en el què un nombre considerable de senyals inequívocs indiquen que lanostra societat està contribuint al col∙lapse del planeta, " és necessari un nou tipus d'enginyer, un enginyer quesigui plenament conscient del que està succeint a la societat i que tingui les habilitats necessàries per fer frontals aspectes socials de les tecnologies "(De Graaff et al., 2001).L'educació superior és un instrument essencial per superar els reptes del món actual amb èxit i per formarciutadans capaços de construir una societat més justa i oberta (Álvarez, 2000). Per tant, les institucionsd'educació superior tenen la responsabilitat d'educar els futurs titulats amb la finalitat que adquireixin unavisió moral i ètica i assoleixin els coneixements tècnics necessaris per assegurar la qualitat de vida per a lesgeneracions futures (Corcoran et al, 2002).Amb l'objectiu d'assegurar que els futurs titulats siguin enginyers sostenibles, tres qüestions fonamentals hanguiat aquesta investigació:Quines competències en sostenibilitat ha d'adquirir un enginyer a la universitat?Com poden aquestes competències ser adquirides d'una manera eficient?Quina estructura educacional és més eficaç per facilitar els processos d'aprenentatge requerits?La primera pregunta es refereix a "Què?", és a dir, a quines competències relacionades amb la sostenibilitat(coneixements, habilitats i actituds) ha de tenir un enginyer que es gradua en el segle 21. La segona qüestió esrefereix a "Com?" i es centra en com els processos educatius poden fer possible l'aprenentatge de lescompetències en sostenibilitat a través de les estratègies pedagògiques adequades. L'última pregunta esrefereix a "On?" des de la perspectiva de quin pla d'estudis i quina estructura organitzativa són necessaris perpoder aplicar la didàctica més òptima per graduar enginyers amb competències en sostenibilitat.Aquesta recerca s'ha enfocat des d'una vessant teòrico‐pràctica en què tant les estratègies pedagògiques comles competències en sostenibilitat s'han estudiat en paral∙lel. Amb aquesta orientació, s'ha dissenyat una einad'avaluació que mesura aquests dos aspectes i la seva relació, i que s'ha aplicat a 10 casos d'estudi formats percursos de sostenibilitat de 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, en els quals hi han participat, en total, mésde 500 estudiants. Per completar l'estudi, s'ha analitzat la introducció de la sostenibilitat en els plans d'estudide 17 universitats tecnològiques, i s'han entrevistat 45 experts en educació de sostenibilitat en l'enginyeria.En relació a les preguntes clau, els resultats de la investigació han estat els següents:En el moment de titular‐se, l'estudiantat d'enginyeria hauria d'haver adquirit les competències següents:pensament crític, pensament sistèmic, ser capaços de treballar en un entorn transdisciplinari, i tenir valors enconsonància amb el paradigma de la sostenibilitat. D'altra banda, d'acord amb els requisits de l'EEES, també calestablir un marc comú per definir, descriure i avaluar les competències en sostenibilitat a nivell europeu.Després d'haver realitzat un curs en sostenibilitat, la majoria de l'estudiantat segueix prioritzant el roltecnològic de la sostenibilitat, pel que fa a la tecnologia com la solució als problemes ambientals, sense gairebéconsiderar els aspectes socials. Per tant, els cursos sobre sostenibilitat han d'emfatitzar més la part social iinstitucional de la sostenibilitat.Existeix una relació directa entre l'aprenentatge de la transdisciplinarietat i el pensament sistèmic.L'aprenentatge cognitiu de l'estudiantat augmenta, a mida que s'aplica una pedagogia més orientada a lacomunitat i més constructiva. Així, l'aprenentatge cognitiu de la sostenibilitat també millora a través d'unal''educació activa, experiencial i multimetodològica. A més a més, en l'aprenentatge de la sostenibilitat, elpaper del professorat és molt important pel que fa a l'aprenentatge implícit de valors, principis i pensamentcrític associats a la sostenibilitatLes universitats tecnològiques actualment implementen l'educació en sostenibilitat a través de quatreestratègies principals: un curs específic, una especialització en sostenibilitat, un màster en sostenibilitat o entecnologies sostenibles, i la integració del desenvolupament sostenible en tots els cursos. No obstant això, laprincipal barrera per a la integració de la sostenibilitat en tots els cursos és la manca de comprensió del termeper part del professorat. L'"enfocament individual" (Peet et al., 2004) ha demostrat ser un bon sistema persuperar aquesta barrera.Hi ha una necessitat clara de lideratge per part de l'equip de govern de les universitats en el procés de canvicap a una educació en sostenibilitat. Aquest lideratge ha de promoure l'enfocament de baix a dalt. Els processos d'educació en sostenibilitat es reforcen quan aquests no només integren l'educació, sinó tambétotes les altres àrees clau d'activitat de la universitat: recerca, gestió i relació amb la societat.En breu, l'estructura d'aquesta tesi és la següent. El capítol 1 introdueix el plantejament de la recerca. Elcapítol 2 revisa l'estat de l'art i la literatura en relació a les competències que els enginyers han de tenir quanes graduen, A continuació, el capítol 3 descriu les estratègies pedagògiques per al desenvolupament sosteniblei les analitza des d'un punt de vista teòric i metodològic presentant els avantatges i desavantatges de les mésutilitzades en l'ensenyament d'enginyeria El capítol 4 presenta les estructures curriculars que han de catalitzarel procés d'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat. El capítol 5 desenvolupa el marc conceptual de la recerca, lespropostes metodològiques de la investigació i els casos d'estudi analitzats. El capítol 6 avaluacomparativament les competències en sostenibilitat definides en tres universitats tecnològiques que són líderseuropeus en sostenibilitat. El Capítol 7 introdueix el marc metodològic per a l'avaluació de l'aprenentatgecognitiu en sostenibilitat del estudiantat. Aquesta metodologia s'aplica en el capítol 8 als 10 cursos desostenibilitat impartits en 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, que conformen els casos d'estudi d'aquestarecerca. A partir de les 45 entrevistes realitzades a experts en sostenibilitat provinents de 17 universitatstecnològiques europees, el capítol 9 estudia les millors pràctiques en pedagogia per a l'aprenentatge de lasostenibilitat i el capítol 10 examina l'estructura curricular que més facilita l'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat ales universitats tecnològiques. En el Capítol 11 es comparen els resultats obtinguts en els diferents casosd'estudi i s'avaluen les propostes plantejades en el capítol 1. Finalment, el capítol 12 planteja les conclusionsde la recerca i algunes recomanacions per a les institucions d'educació superior tecnològiques.
In today's world social context, in which a considerable number of contrasting signs reveal that our society is currently contributing to the planet's collapse, "a new kind of engineer is needed, an engineer who is fully aware of what is going on in society and who has the skills to deal with societal aspects of technologies" (DeGraaff et al., 2001).Higher education is the essential instrument to overcome the current world challenges and to train citizens able to build a more fair and open society (Alvarez, 2000). Thus higher education institutions have the responsibility to educate graduates who have achieved an ethical moral vision and the necessary technical knowledge to ensure the quality of life for future generations (Corcoran et al, 2002).In relation to graduating sustainable engineers, three main questions have been developed to guide this research:1. Which Sustainability (SD) competences must an engineer obtain at university?2. How can these competences be acquired efficiently?3. Which education structure is more effective for the required learning processes?The first main question is a "What" question, and focuses on which competences (knowledge/understanding, skills/abilities and attitudes) an engineer graduating in the 21st century should have in relation to SD. The second main question is a "How" question and focuses on how can the education processes make this learning achievable through the proper pedagogical strategies. The last main question is a "Where" question and looksat the perspective of the curriculum and the organizational structure needed to apply the optimal didactics to achieve the goal of graduating sustainable engineers.The focus of this research requires a theoretical‐practical approach in which both pedagogical strategies and SD competences are studied in parallel. An assessment tool that measures the two subjects and their relationship is developed and case studies are run in 10 SD courses at 5 European technological universities, where nearly 500 students have participated. Moreover, the different approaches to introduce SD in thecurriculum of 17 technological universities are analysed, and 45 experts on teaching SD to engineering students have been interviewed.In relation to the key questions, the findings of this research are the following.When graduating the engineering students should have acquired the following SD competences: critical thinking, systemic thinking, an ability to work in transdisciplinary frameworks, and to have values consistent with the sustainability paradigm. Moreover, following the requirements of the EHEA, a common framework to define, describe and evaluate SD competences at European level is needed.Most students, after taking a course on SD, highlight the technological role of sustainability in terms of technology as the solution to environmental problems. Therefore SD courses need to place more emphasis on the social/institutional side of sustainability.There is a direct relationship between transdisciplinary and systemic thinking learning.Students achieve better cognitive learning as more community‐oriented and constructive‐learning pedagogies are applied. Multi‐methodological experiential active learning education increases cognitive learning of sustainability. In addition, the role of the teacher is very important for SD learning in terms of implicit learning of sustainability values, principles and critical thinking.There are four main strategies to increase EESD in universities: a specific SD course, a minor/specialization in SD, a Master on SD or Sustainable Technologies and the embedment of SD in all courses. Nevertheless the main barrier to embedding SD in all courses is the lack of comprehension to SD within the faculty. Theindividual approach (Peet et al., 2004) has shown to be successful to overcome this barrier.There is a need of clear top‐down leadership in the ESD process, which must promote the bottom‐upapproach. Additionally, ESD processes are reinforced when they encompass not only education but also all the key areas of the university: research, management, and society outreach.This thesis is organised as follows. The introduction in chapter 1 is followed by the state of the art and literature review in competences that engineers should have when graduating in chapter 2. Chapter 3 introduces the pedagogical strategies for SD and develops a theoretical and methodological exploration ofthese strategies, which presents the pros & cons and learning outcomes of the most common pedagogical strategies in engineering. Chapter 4 describes the curriculum structures that catalyse the process of sustainable education. Chapter 5 presents the development of the conceptual research framework,propositions and case studies research methodologies. A comparative SD competence analysis of three European leading SD technological universities is presented in chapter 6. Chapter 7 introduces the methodology framework to evaluate the knowledge on SD acquired by students; this methodology is laterapplied in chapter 8 to 10 case studies related to SD courses taught in 5 European technological universities.From the results of the interviews with 45 experts from 17 European technological universities, chapter 9 analyses the best pedagogical practices for SD learning and chapter 10 analyses the curriculum structure thatmost facilitates the introduction of SD learning in technological universities. Chapter 11 compares the different cases analyzed and evaluates the propositions developed in chapter 1. Finally, in chapter 12 conclusions are drawn and recommendations for technological higher education institutions are provided.

The world faces sustainability challenges directly attributable to human behaviour, and expected to irreparably degrade the socio-ecological system. Cartography (mapping) is a diverse planning and communicating discipline used for strategic development of global and local solutions to these challenges. Its flexible yet robust technology can generate common understanding of issues and inspire successful solutions. This thesis studied community mapping, specifically how community mapping practitioners (CMPs) can use community mapping tools (CMTs) more effectively for Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD). Data of current SSD strengths of six CMTs was collected using the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and 13 interviews with practitioners. Thirty-six Key Elements (KEs) of guidance for CMPs to use CMTs were developed. A Compass Model was designed to interlink the KEs, in eight interrelated categories, with the ABCD Strategic Planning Process (ABCD). The results suggest that CMPs using CMTs combined with an SSD approach have the potential to create effective solutions towards sustainability.

The tourism industry has continuously grown in the last fifty years, promoted economic growth and created jobs (UNWTO, 2017). Nevertheless, this industry is impacting and greatly stressing natural environments and societies inciting a transformation towards a more sustainable form of tourism practices (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). The United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (UNWTO, 2016). The purpose of the declaration was to position the tourism industry as a tool to address the Universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UNWTO, 2016). A backcasting participatory approach was used to explore the roles of the SDGs in creating future sustainable tourism destinations, using Swedish Lapland as a reference. The study uses backcasting as a method together with a literature review and semi-structured interviews to key stakeholders. The study concludes that SDGs are good parameters to describe current scenarios in order to develop desired ones. It also finds that sustainable future tourism destinations are highly connected with environment and society as part of the core experience, resecting traditions and culture. In order to achieve sustainable future destinations legislation, better practices and alternative methods of transportation need to be implemented alongside creating an experience that is based on responsibility towards nature and societies.

In response to a growing popular concern for 'sustainability', Green Computing has emerged as a new `sustainability' discourse in which researchers explore solutions to reduce the environmental impact of computing technologies themselves, as well as solutions to reduce the environmental impact of other activities and behaviours through the development of new technologies. Despite good intentions and enthusiasm for the cause, there is little evidence of Green Computing having had significant or long-term impacts, and indeed, as one potential indicator, even combined with all of the efforts of many other disciplines, the exponential curve of growth in carbon emissions continues unabated. This dissertation aims to understand the reasons why Green Computing may have had a limited impact to date, and explore alternative approaches to `sustainability' that may enable greater impact by computing. To begin, key assumptions underpinning Green Computing discourse are exposed in order to contextualise it within the broader debate surrounding an agenda for 'sustainability' - the term itself, while gaining significant traction in popular culture, is deeply contested. It is shown that the discursive characteristics of Green Computing, along with its specific appropriation of the term `sustainability', reinforce a set of values that ultimately undermine its solutions and limit its impact. An alternative discourse is proposed that avoids reinforcement of problematic values, and a radically different conception of 'sustainability', and the role that computing may play in contributing to a 'sustainable' future, is proposed in a new discourse, namely Cyber-Sustainability. To illustrate the difference in solutions that might emerge from Cyber-Sustainability, an initial set of propositional solutions are presented in the form of patterns, which are offered here as an invitation for others to join in the further elaboration of these patterns towards a comprehensive pattern language.

Inspired by the question of the Club of Rome as to Design could help to translate the ubiquitous knowledge on sustainability into daily practise and Peter Senge's belief on mental models as a limiting factor to implementation of systemic insight (Senge 2006), we explored working with mental models as a sustainable design tool. We propose a definition for design uses. At the 7th Sustainable Summer School we collected general unsustainable mental models and "designed" sustainable ones. These mental models were tested as a part of the briefing to student projects and evaluated by the students. Analysing an existing product portfolio, we tested the ability of mental models to aid the creation of strategic design advice. We argue that mental models in the form of associative thinking and cognitive metaphors have been part of designing all along and overlap in nature with design methodologies to such an extent that they are sublimely suited to be used as a design tool. We summarize our prototyping exercises with the proposal of a design process using mental models to root sustainability in design practise and thinking beyond present-day eco-design (Liedtke et al 2013, Luttropp and Lagerstedt 2006, Pigosso and McAloone 2015).

Thesis advisor: Andrew Jorgenson
In 2015, the United Nations implemented the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover a wide range of social, economic and environmental issues. While there is a virtual international consensus regarding the importance of these goals, and reconsidering the ecological costs of human development, there are disagreements on the best approaches to actually achieving sustainability. Mainstream perspectives argue that the most feasible and effective path to sustainable development is to decouple economic growth from its environmental impacts, largely through the advancement and implementation of green technologies. In this framework, economic growth is seen as synonymous with development and a necessary prerequisite for improving human wellbeing. On the other hand, many scholars are critical of this approach to sustainable development and argue that economic growth is not only antithetical to achieving environmental sustainability, it also has limited appeal for improving social and economic wellbeing in developed countries. With this in mind, in this dissertation I examine alternative pathways to sustainable development that move beyond the growth-consensus. Previous studies argue that a working time reduction potentially represents a multi-dividend sustainability policy that could improve social, economic and environmental outcomes. Similarly, previous research also indicates that inequality is negatively associated with human wellbeing and can lead to increased environmental pressures. Across three empirical chapters, I investigate the effects of working hours and inequality, and their interaction, on measures of environmental and human wellbeing across US states over time. In the first chapter, I assess the relationship between average working hours and CO2 emissions from 2007 to 2013. This chapter is the first examination of this relationship at the US state level and finds that longer working hours are associated with increased emissions over time. The second empirical chapter takes this research one step further and examines how inequality shapes the relationship between working hours and emissions from 2005 to 2015. The results of these analyses again find that longer working hours are associated with increased emissions but that the relationship becomes more intense at higher levels of inequality. The third empirical chapter investigates the claim that a working time reduction could be a multi-dividend sustainability policy by examining the relationship between work hours and life expectancy from 2005 to 2015. I also examine how inequality shapes this relationship as well. Results indicate that longer working hours are associated with decreases in life expectancy, and that this effect is larger at higher levels of inequality. In all, these studies provide more evidence that reducing working hours could potentially be an effective sustainability policy that could contribute to achieving multiple sustainable development goals. Further, they show that inequality is an important factor shaping socio-environmental relationships and population health relationships
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Sociology

This article examines the way of formation of the sustainable development concept, as well as the experience of foreign countries in creating national strategies for sustainable development. Russian model in this issue is analyzed and weak points that need to be improved are highlighted.

Water is our most valuable natural resource, and is used to support the demands of industry, agriculture, hydroelectric power generation, and municipalities. Water also sustains Montana’s booming recreation and tourism economy and maintains the diverse freshwater ecosystems that provide natural goods and services and promote human well-being. As our population continues to grow, and the collective demand for water increases, it is imperative that we carefully assess how our water is used, as well as how changes in water distribution, management, and governance are likely to influence its availability in the future. This is especially important in the context of a changing climate.