Accounting for groundwater in future city visions

City planners, urban innovators and researchers are increasingly working on ‘future city’ initiatives to investigate the physical, social and political aspects of harmonized urban living. Despite this, sustainability principles and the importance of urban groundwater are lacking in future city visions. Using London as a case study, the importance of groundwater for cities is highlighted and a range of future city interventions may impact on groundwater are reviewed. Using data from water resource plans and city planning strategies, changes in the groundwater balance which may occur as a result of city interventions are calculated for two future city scenarios: a ‘strategic’ future informed by organisational policy and an ‘aspirational’ future guided by sustainability principles. For London, under a strategic future, preferential investment in industry-scale technologies such as wastewater treatment and groundwater storage would occur. Acknowledgement that behaviour change offers the potential for a faster rate of transformation than innovation technologies is ignored. The capacity of community-led action and smart-home technologies to deliver sustainable water use under an aspirational future is evident, with a measurable impact on urban groundwater. These methods may be used to inform city interventions that consider the social context in addition to environmental constraints and business drivers.     

Ekistics,ecumenopolis and the wilderness

In this paper, threats to the world's wilderness areas are reviewed. The author argues for a global approach to this encroachment, so that countries struggling against adverse social and economic conditions are not forced to pay the price of mistakes made due to genuine ignorance or the greed of the more advanced nations. A classification of wilderness areas is given, and the threats facing them are outlined. The author then moves on to explain how ekistics, the science of human settlments, can be applied to the problem. In this way, he suggests, man's need to develop and the environment's need for protection can be united. The paper concludes with a plea for a multi-disciplinary approach and, more important, a general awareness that all environmental issues are related.     

Green infrastructure planning: Unveiling meaningful spaces through Foursquare users’ preferences

The design of efficient Green Infrastructure —GI— systems is a key issue to achieve sustainable development city planning goals in the twenty-first century. This study’s main contribution is the identification of potential GI elements to better align the environmental, social and economic perspectives in the GI design by including information about the use, activities, preferences and presence of people. To achieve this, user generated content from Location Based Social Network —LBSN— Foursquare is used as a complementary data source. This involved the construction of an interdisciplinary correlation framework, between the Landscape Ecology principles and the GI elements, that included the classification of Foursquare data into grouping types. The classification considered the potential role of Foursquare venues in the GI network. Valencia City in Spain served as an illustrative case study to test the validity of the proposed method. The results suggest that Foursquare can provide a valuable insight on user perceptions of potential GI elements. Moreover, the findings indicate that user generated content from LBSNs like Foursquare can serve as a complementary tool for analysing the dynamics of urban outdoor spaces to assess GI network, thereby facilitating more effective urban planning and contributing to the social sustainability of the city.     

Explaining public preferences for high voltage pylon designs: An empirical study of perceived fit in a rural landscape

In many countries, electricity transmission networks are being upgraded and developed arising from policies aiming to decarbonise energy systems. However, new power lines are often controversial, due to their perceived negative impacts on rural landscapes. Despite the fact that visual impacts are an important element of public objections, to date, little research has analysed public preferences for alternative pylon designs, as well as investigating the social and psychological factors that might explain such preferences. This paper sought to address this gap, informed by research on public acceptance of renewable energy technologies, using a survey conducted with a representative sample of UK adults (n = 1519). The findings indicate that the ‘T-pylon’ design, winner of a recent competition, was most strongly preferred and the one most perceived to fit with a rural landscape, by comparison to the conventional ‘A frame’ design and a ‘Totem’ design shortlisted in the competition. Linear regression analyses indicated three factors that explained perceived fit, regardless of the designs: lower levels of educational attainment, positive general attitudes towards transmission lines and higher levels of trust in National Grid were associated with positive perceptions of fit of the pylons in a rural landscape. Finally, findings concerning public support for diverse mitigation measures indicated that the use of alternative designs was less supported than burying new powerlines underground and routing pylons away from homes and schools. The implications of these results for more sustainable grid networks are discussed.     

Determinants of Consumer Behavioral Intention Toward Social Farm Food

The study authors investigate consumer reactivity to social and health concerns, social farm food’s perceived quality, and whether these attitudes can be expected to influence their behavioral intention with regard to these products. Data were collect on a convenience sample (N?=?361) via a questionnaire. Five hypotheses, concerning the relationships between social consciousness, health consciousness, social farm food perceived quality, and consumer behavioral intention, were tested via a structural equation model. The results indicate that both social consciousness and health consciousness have a positive impact on social farm food perceived quality. Consumer behavioral intention is directly influenced only by health consciousness but indirectly by both social and health consciousness, via the attribute of social farm food perceived quality. The findings depict a particular reactivity of potential consumers. The study provides a general outline of questions or studies that might be useful in the future.     

Local democracy implications for coastal zone management—A case study in southern Norway

Stakeholder participation is frequently recommended to ensure that public values are taken into account in the decision-making processes. However, few attempts have been made to analyse the extent to which increasing stakeholder participation actually leads to better representation of the public values. The main aim of this study is to obtain more insights about reasons why the most frequently applied form of stakeholder participation, i.e. the public hearings, may fail in representing the general public views and values when applied at a local level. A case study was conducted on policy formulations and decision-making in the coastal zone on the island Flekkerøy in southern Norway. Local- and regional-public authorities contributed in in-depth interviews and with written documentation to inform about a comprehensive stakeholder participation process that took place in the early 1990s. The main findings include that landowner interests, and not public views and values, were legitimised during the participatory process because of: (1) the landowner's strong local social power among inhabitants, (2) the design of the participatory processes favouring the landowner interests, (3) the personal relations between local landowners and public managers, and (4) the low representation of public views and values due to a problem of scale, i.e. the NIMBY syndrome. Based on our experience, we recommend improving representation of public views by changing the frequently applied participatory processes to also include citizens in addition to interest groups and experts.     

Learning through practice? Learning from the REDD+ demonstration project,Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP) in Indonesia

Despite a growing recognition of the importance of social learning in governing and managing land use, the understanding and practice of learning has received limited attention from researchers. In global environmental programs and projects aimed at supporting sustainable land use in developing countries, learning is often promoted but without explicit learning goals. The focus may be on capacity building and community participation, and on testing policy tools, rather than on collaborative social learning. In this study, we looked behind the rhetoric of learning in the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP), a large demonstration project for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Indonesia. The novelty of such mechanisms, linked to international forest carbon outcomes, means that learning lessons provides a rationale for REDD+ pilot activities. We used a qualitative approach to examine the nature and type of learning that occurred in the KFCP. While the stated project aims were to support policy experimentation and apply learning, the project design was highly technical, and project decision-making did not explicitly encourage joint problem solving. Despite the project’s shortcomings, we identified that learning did occur by the end of the project in ways that were different to the initial goals. Our findings suggest that flexibility and openness in project design and implementation can enable different local actors to define shared learning agendas in ways that are meaningful for them. Designing and implementing environmental projects, and learning goals within them, should attend to the needs and aspirations of those who will have to live with their long-term consequences. Learning should be integrated into international environmental programs and projects at all levels, including for policy and funding bodies, rather than focusing on local capacity building and similar project ‘benefits’. Interviewees’ eagerness to learn suggests that building approaches to social learning into program design has the potential to yield opportunities for learning beyond REDD+ to other forms of policy experimentation and governance innovations.     

Ranking farms with a composite indicator of sustainability

The assessment of sustainability at farm level has been growing in popularity over the last few years. This article contributes to this line of research by building up composite indicators for different facets—social, economic, environmental, and global—of farm sustainability using a methodological approach that combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) and multicriteria decision making (MCDM) methods, and assigns common weights to each individual sustainability indicator. This approach is applied to a database of 163 farms located in the Campos County, a region belonging to the dry lands of the Spanish Northern Plateau, using 12 individual indicators of sustainability. Our findings show that both economic and environmental composite sustainability indicators are positively correlated, but that this is not the case for the social indicator. We also check the influence of a set of variables on farm sustainability using bootstrapping statistical techniques, and showing that increasing farm size, membership in agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ medium and upper agricultural‐specific technical education, all exert a significant positive influence on sustainability. These results provide clues for policy makers that intend to design sustainability‐increasing structural agricultural policies.     

崇明越江通道工程投融资与土地储备机制相结合的研究

从土地储备机制与投融资机制设计角度，阐述崇明越江通道工程建设中土地储备机制与投融资机制相结合的意义、原则和可行性及土地储备机制与投融资运作机制方案的设计思路、优缺点和前提条件等，提出土地储备与投融资方案的流程设计，分析、研究工程投资中带来的土地增值收益、土地储备价格、用地类型和土地储备范围等，探讨将上海市土地储备机制与重大工程建设投融资机制相结合，从而使政府将在重大工程投资中带来的土地增值效应纳入工程建设投融资机制，对于上海市城市建设和经济发展有着重要的战略意义和应用价值。     

Multi-period stochastic optimization of a sustainable multi-feedstock second generation bioethanol supply chain − A logistic case study in Midwestern United States

This work proposes a multi-objective optimization model to design a sustainable multi-period second generation biomass-to-bioethanol supply chain under multiple uncertainties. The objective is to simultaneously maximize the economic, environmental, and social performance. The strategic decisions such as land allocation for switchgrass cultivation, biorefinery locations and capacities, and the biomass-to-bioethanol conversion pathway are determined for each planning period which are staggered across the entire planning horizon. The augmented ε–constraint method is used to trade-off among the competing objectives and to obtain feasible solutions that achieve desired levels of sustainability. In order to solve the proposed stochastic optimization model efficiently and effectively, this work proposes a solution approach involving sequential application of a modified Sample Average Approximation method and Benders decomposition. A case study is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model and its impact on land usage and sustainability.     

对农用地价值功能及其价格构成的新思考

文章首先对农用地价值功能进行了分析，认为农用地不仅具有生产价值功能和资产增殖价值功能．还具有生态环境价值功能、社会保障价值功能、社会稳定价值功能及其他价值功能。接着，对农用地价格构成进行了探析．将农用地价格分解为经济收益价格、生态收益价格与社会收益价格三个部分，以往的农用地估价注重的是经济收益价值．而忽视了生态收益价值与社会收益价值。     

Citizen attitude and expectation towards greenspace provision in compact urban milieu

Residents’ views are pertinent in urban-park design and management, yet they are often ignored. Social-empirical studies could enhance socially relevant park design. As a compact city, Hong Kong's limited greenspaces are often too small, surrounded by incompatible activities, and fail to meet user demands and expectations. This study explores the response of citizens living in the crowded urban milieu to inadequate greenspace provision. A questionnaire survey gleaned opinion from residents in representative residential neighbourhoods in old city and new towns. Green sites are appreciated more for pragmatic microclimatic and amenity benefits than social and high-order environmental functions. The principal limitations are deficiency in sports facilities and greenery. Respondents favour more trees, dispersed seating design and large parks. The preferences are mainly related to age, income, education and retirement status. The high-density living milieu may have weakened attitude and perception towards urban nature. The findings could inform public policies and programmes on urban parks. They call for an institutional restructuring to facilitate active public engagement in greenspace planning and management.     

Fluid milk consumption in urban Qingdao,China*

This study relates the social‐demographic characteristics of urban Chinese consumers to their consumption of fluid milk. A Tobit model is estimated drawing on individual consumer survey data collected in urban Qingdao in China in 2005. The major results of this study indicate that fluid milk consumption in urban Qingdao is much higher compared to China's national level. The effect of increased income on milk consumption is positive, as expected. The expansion of modern food retailers also appears to play a positive role by facilitating consumers’ fluid milk consumption and influencing their food shopping patterns. The young and old consume significantly more fluid milk than the middle‐aged. Health consciousness of the elderly and the openness of youth to new foods appear to be fuelling these consumption patterns. If the findings of this study apply to other urban regions in China, then as urbanisation continues so also will the trend of increasing fluid milk consumption in China.     

Nudging NIMBY: Do positive messages regarding the benefits of increased housing density influence resident stated housing development preferences?

Do positive messages regarding the benefits of increased housing density influence resident stated housing development preferences? We employ an experimental research design to test the efficacy of positive messages regarding increased housing density to reduce observed NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). Using a survey-based experiment, we compared four messages: a notification of the public benefits; the private benefits; a social comparison drawing on expert knowledge of housing preferences; and a control stating recent trends in the municipality. Our sample of 202 residents of a mid-sized Canadian city indicates that messages regarding the public benefits of increased density reduced NIMBYism by four times the control message. We find some evidence in favor of the efficacy of the social comparison treatment as well. We discuss these findings with reference to the literature on smart city growth, and the policy implications that emerge.     

森林认证社会福利效应的分析——基于一般均衡分析的视角

本研究首先回顾了局部均衡下对森林认证的社会福利效应的分析,其次基于一般均衡分析的视角,用新古典模型,在充分考虑森林认证的环境效益情况下,分析了森林认证的社会福利效应,指出只要出自由贸易社会收益大于自给自足情况下的社会收益,自由贸易给消费者的效用也就会增大,进口国家要考虑认证林产品的环境收益,需要给予林产品进口实施进口关税或价格扶持,以鼓励更多资源向认证林产品部门集聚。     

The Social Value of Seascapes in the Jurien Bay Marine Park: An Assessment of Positive and Negative Preferences for Change

The Jurien Bay Marine Park, Australia, is known for its pristine seascapes, including views of the ocean and of the coastline. To aid the management of the various seascapes, this paper estimates aspects of the social value of these seascapes through the use of a contingent valuation study. Positive and negative preferences for change were accommodated within the survey design and model estimation. A single‐function extended spike model was employed to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for protection of the seascapes, and was later constrained to a restricted version of a spike model. The restricted model identified that a proportion of the population had a positive preference for change within the seascapes, but a larger proportion had a negative preference, resulting in a positive net WTP to maintain seascapes in their current condition. Seascapes with coastal views were determined as having the highest social value; however, the value of the ocean seascapes followed closely behind. The positive welfare estimate for natural seascapes provides a reason for their preservation.     

Policy making in London's transport planning

This article discusses several new traffic/environmental schemes proposed for London, and moves by feminist, consumer/worker and community groups to challenge conventional planning procedures. Continuous bus lanes, free or low public transport fares and pedestrianized areas are emphasized over private motoring, to result in lower traffic noise, congestion and accidents. The power of the UK's road lobby, the limitations of traditional professional planners and a lack of open debate are offered as explanations for the resistance of London's planners to enacting such schemes. The author concludes that central government policy of minimizing public transport subsidy and providing roads instead for private transport has led to hostility to more popular plans.     

Farmer participation in agri-environmental schemes: Regionalisation and the role of bridging social capital

European agri-environmental schemes are being criticised for reinforcing rather than negating an opposition between agricultural production and environmental production, and for assuming instead of securing a public willingness to pay for agri-environmental change. This paper explores if a regionalisation of agri-environmental governance may contribute to overcome these criticisms. The paper empirically explores three regionalised agri-environmental schemes from Flanders, Belgium, with the use of 40 qualitative interviews with farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Building on the Bourdieusian theory of capital and the conceptual distinction between bonding and bridging social capital, the paper analyses whether and why the regionalised arrangements incited farmers to integrate environmental production in their farm management to meet other regional stakeholders’ demands for agri-environmental change. In doing so, the paper particularly focuses on the role of bridging social capital in fostering farmer participation in agri-environmental governance, which is a topic that—despite a growing scholarly recognition of the importance of social capital in mediating farmers’ environmental behaviour—has to date received scant conceptual and empirical attention. The paper reveals that farmers principally participated in the regionalised agri-environmental schemes to enhance the long-term viability of their agricultural businesses by building up more cooperative and appreciative, bridging social ties with other regional stakeholders. Notably, such participation is only likely to be substantive and lead to long-term, pro-environmental behaviour change of farmers, if farmers actually succeed in building up bridging social capital by receiving other regional stakeholders’ appreciation for their agri-environmental work. The paper ends with discussing the implications of these findings for the future design and implementation of socially and ecologically robust agri-environmental schemes.