Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?

Sustainability assessment methods are primarily aimed at global, national or state scales. However, modelling sustainability at finer spatial scales, such as the region, is essential for understanding and achieving sustainability. Regions are emerging as an essential focus for sustainability researchers, natural resource managers and strategic planners working to develop and implement sustainability goals. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods - ecological footprint, wellbeing assessment, ecosystem health assessment, quality of life and natural resource availability - at the regional scale. Each of these assessment methods are tested using South East Queensland (SEQ) as a case study. It was selected because of its ecological and demographic diversity, its combination of coastal and land management issues, and its urban metropolitan and rural farm and non-farm communities. The applicability of each of these methods to regional assessment was examined using an evaluation criteria matrix, which describes the attributes of an effective method and the characteristics that make these methods useful for regional management and building community capacity to progress sustainability. We found that the methods tested failed to effectively measure progress toward sustainability at the regional scale, demonstrating the need for a new method for assessing regional sustainability.     

Learning and transfer in signaling games

We explore how learning to play strategically in one signaling game promotes strategic play in a related signaling game. Following convergence to a pooling equilibrium, payoffs are changed to only support separating equilibria. More strategic play is observed following the change in payoffs than for inexperienced subjects in control sessions, contrary to the prediction of a fictitious play learning model. Introducing a growing proportion of sophisticated learners, subjects who anticipate responders’ behavior following the change in payoffs, enables the model to capture the positive cross-game learning observed in the data. Research support form the National Science Foundation grant number SBR9809538 is gratefully acknowledged. We have received research support from Jo Ducey, Guillaume Frechette, Steve Lehrer, and Carol Kraker Stockman. We have benefitted from comments of Eric Bettinger, John Ham, Jim Rebeitzer, Bob Slonim and seminar participants at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, the University of Mississippi, the University of Illinois, and Purdue University. The usual caveat applies.     

The role of forecasting in sustainability

A lack of understanding of the waste flow of durable goods complicates decision-making efforts that will increase sustainability. To address this problem, the modeling of the waste flow of durable goods is considered. Televisions are used to illustrate the requirements for forecasting and the magnitude of the associated uncertainty of the waste flow for a durable good that is impacted by technological change and/or unpredictability in field life. This example is timely due to disposal laws affecting cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and the emergence of alternate technology trajectories for televisions. The findings suggest that the reuse of lead-bearing CRT glass is worthwhile, even though flat panel TV technology will eliminate this controversial waste stream. The findings also indicate the implications of forecasting durable waste flows for decisions regarding policy, business models, required infrastructure and supply chain management.     

Envisioning sustainability: Recent progress in the use of participatory backcasting approaches for sustainability research

This paper describes recent progress in the utilization of participatory scenario-based backcasting approaches to sustainability research that blend quantitative and qualitative analyses in order to explore alternative climate change futures, as undertaken in a range of academic, government, and private sector projects in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. These projects reveal that buy-in to policy proposals may be enhanced by participation, but there is a risk of participants being overwhelmed by the complexity of the choices they are being asked to make. Furthermore, tools are grounded in a process, which must itself be the explicit focus of attention in designing successful backcasting projects and combining participatory backcasting techniques with more interactive processes that can enhance our ability to explore highly complex and uncertain, value-laden issues. These approaches can be used to drive action and support decision-making, but for a truly consultative and consensus-oriented process to occur, it is important that a broad sample of the community be engaged in the discussion that are equipped with technical knowledge or understanding of the goals of the process in order to participate in an equitable and effective fashion.     

Learning and stakeholder participation in transition processes towards sustainability: Methodological considerations

Global environmental change problems due to their unstructured characteristics, being marked by great uncertainties and a big number of stakeholders, prove to be too difficult to solve in a traditional way alone. They call for a more proactive approach. One of them advocates systems change driven by technological innovations accompanied by institutional and sociocultural transformations. Transition management is a new policy strategy based on this philosophy. It has recently emerged in the Netherlands and has been adopted by the Dutch government as a relevant framework for shaping its policy towards sustainability. The transition management writings emphasise the importance of ‘learning’ in the process of induced change towards sustainability. Although this can indeed be quite a significant means for inducing change, the literature on transition management is not explicit enough about the methodological organisation of the learning process. Since transition management has become an important approach in the Netherlands, we consider it relevant to deploy some learning insights and experience gained in the Dutch Climate OptiOns for the Long-term (COOL) project to analyse and improve the process of transition management. In particular, we look into the first two steps of transition management, i.e., organising a transition arena and making visions.     

Measuring the immeasurable — A survey of sustainability indices

Sustainability indices for countries provide a one-dimensional metric to valuate country-specific information on the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental, and social conditions. At the policy level, they suggest an unambiguous yardstick against which a country's development can be measured and even a cross-country comparison can be performed. This article reviews the explanatory power of various sustainability indices applied in policy practice. We show that these indices fail to fulfill fundamental scientific requirements making them rather useless if not misleading with respect to policy advice.     

Measuring farm sustainability and explaining differences in sustainable efficiency

A major objective of European agricultural policy is to have a sustainable and efficient farming sector that is applying environmentally-friendly production methods. Policy makers aim to combine a strong economic performance and a sustainable use of natural resources. Therefore, it is important to measure and to assess farm sustainability. For a large dataset of Flemish dairy farms, a valuation method that is based on the concept of opportunity costs is used to calculate and analyze differences among the sample farms with respect to the creation of “sustainable value”. But more important than measuring the creation of sustainable value is to analyze differences in sustainable efficiency. Therefore, sustainable efficiency measures are calculated and differences in sustainable efficiency are explained. Using panel data, an effect model captures the determinants of sustainable efficiency of the studied farms. The empirical model shows that, in general, larger farms have a higher sustainable efficiency. Also farmer's age and dependency on support payments proved to be determining characteristics for observed differences in sustainable efficiency.     

学习型城市的创建模式及其实践

在世界经济日趋全球化、信息化、知识化、网络化的今天,以区位空间结构、生产要素禀赋为基础的传统区域发展模式越来越难以适应时代要求,而以学习、创新和网络为基础的学习型区域——一种新型的区域发展模式则日显强大的竞争力。目前,国内外许多城市或区域提出了建设“学习型城市”、“学习型社会”的目标,但各地对如何创建学习型城市还不太明确,依据不同的理论出现了不同的创建模式。本文试图对学习型城市创建模式做一初步探讨,并进一步阐述如何创建学习型城市。     

学习型城市建设的影响因素及策略研究

学习型城市的建设是提升城市竞争力重要途经，城市内知识存量、城市内各主体学习能力与学习动力与平台等因素是影响学习型城市建设的关键影响，应在城市内建立学习网络与伙伴关系，建立知识库，强化知识培训体系与建立终身学习机制，为城市内主体相互学习提供交流平台，促进学习型城市的建设与发展。     

Uncertainty and sustainability in the management of rangelands

We analyze a dynamic and stochastic ecological-economic model of grazing management in semi-arid rangelands. The ecosystem is driven by stochastic precipitation. A risk averse farmer chooses a grazing management strategy under uncertainty such as to maximize expected utility from farming income. Grazing management strategies are rules about which share of the rangeland is given rest depending on the actual rainfall in that year. In a first step we determine a myopic farmer's optimal grazing management strategy and show that a risk averse farmer chooses a strategy such as to obtain insurance from the ecosystem: the optimal strategy reduces income variability, but yields less mean income than possible. In a second step we analyze the long-run ecological and economic impact of different strategies. We conclude that a myopic farmer, if he is sufficiently risk averse, will choose a sustainable grazing management strategy, even if he does not take into account long-term ecological and economic benefits of conservative strategies.     

高校推进学习型党组织建设的若干思考

高校学习型党组织建设是知识经济时代发展的必然要求,是高等教育自身改革与发展的需要,是提升广大党员领导干部理论素养的需要,是教育理念与教育方法创新的需要。高校必须树立终身学习的理念,保持自身发展目标与党组织建设目标的一致性;必须深化教育教学改革,建立符合师生特点和需要的学习机制。     

Exploring sustainability transitions in the electricity sector with socio-technical pathways

This paper analyses sustainability transitions in the electricity system, using recent theories on socio-technical pathways. The paper describes three possible transition pathways and indicates the implications for (grid) infrastructures. The ‘transformation pathway’ is characterised by a further hybridization of the infrastructure; in the ‘reconfiguration pathway’, internationalisation and scale increase in renewable generation lead to the emergence of a ‘Supergrid’. The ‘de-alignment and re-alignment pathway’ is dominated by distributed generation and a focus on more local infrastructures. We suggest that this pathway, which involves a major restructuring of the electricity system, is less likely than the other two. The de-alignment and re-alignment pathway is therefore more dependent on external developments and/or strong policy interventions. All pathways, however, require major investments in infrastructure and innovative technologies.     

Using the concept of yield to assess the sustainability of different tourist types

Sustainability assessments have become important tools for decision makers. This research assesses the sustainability of different types of tourists in New Zealand by using the concept of yield and by developing yield indicators in the areas of financial, public sector and sustainable yield. The concept and indicators have been developed in cooperation with the New Zealand tourism sector and therefore provide a sector-driven approach to implement a sustainability assessment. The analysis shows that there are numerous ‘trade-offs’ between indicators when attempting to define the ‘ideal visitor type’. Coach tourists, for example, are the largest spenders and generate the greatest Value Added in tourism on a per-day basis, but they contribute less to the financial sustainability of tourism when the costs of capital are accounted for. Coach tourists are highly concentrated in a few key destinations and at the same time produce substantial amounts of CO₂ emissions due to their air travel component. In contrast, backpacker and camping tourists provide greater financial yield and are more dispersed, but they are also the greatest user of publicly provided tourist attractions and therefore come at a higher cost to government than other tourist types. Camping tourists are also contributing considerably to CO₂ emissions. The yield analysis proposed in this paper could be a valuable tool for complex policy decision making and identifying strategies that lead to high-yield tourism.     

学习型营销团队建设研究

20世纪90年代以来,经济全球化席卷全世界.新型营销组织的建设对营销有着极其重要的意义.本文在分析营销团队的特点和学习型组织模型的基础上,提出学习型营销团队的金字塔模型,并对其构成要素进行分析,最后提出学习型营销团队的建设途径,以期丰富营销团队的建设理论,对企业营销实践有所启示.     

A theoretical model for assessing the sustainability Of ecosystem services

The Value of the World＇s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital by Costanza in 1997 is generally regarded as a monumem for the research of valuing ecosystem services. However, the classification of ecosystem services, the method of various services summation and the purpose for static global value had be confronted by many criticisms. Based on the summary of these criticisms, suggestions, related function assessment and further study direction, the sustainability of ecosystem Services is presented. The two basic indicators in ecology, productivity and biodiversity, respectively charactering the ability of producing and self-organizing, not only represent the internal function of ecosystem, but also are proportioned to its external function of supporting and providing for human life. On presenting the general.form of ecosystem services assessment, this paper improves the mathematical formula by giving a function adjusting coefficient composea of productivity and biodiversity. Theoretically, the integration of the two indicators reflects the changes of ecosystem services at spatial and temporal scales, can physically assess the sustainability of ecosystem services, and build a firm scientific fundament of value assessment for ecosystem services. Objectively, its application should be strictly tested in next step.     

环境知识学习、绿色创新行为与环境绩效

基于长三角地区367家制造企业有效样本,分析环境知识学习、绿色创新行为与环境绩效三者之间的内在关联。结果表明,环境知识学习对绿色创新行为和环境绩效均具有正向影响;绿色创新行为对环境绩效具有正向影响;绿色创新行为在环境知识利用性学习与环境绩效间发挥完全中介效应,而在环境知识探索性学习与环境绩效关系间发挥部分中介效应。结论揭示了环境知识学习与环境绩效之间的内在作用机制,拓展了组织学习与环境管理等领域的理论空间,对企业实施绿色发展战略具有启示意义。     

论计算机在课堂教学中的应用

尽管传统的课堂教学具有丰富的遗产和宝贵的教学经验,但传统教学的局限性和不足亦十分突出.传统课堂教学的主要缺陷是信息功能弱,个别化教学能力差,这些缺陷是由传统教学的传递结构所决定的,不是改变教法所能克服的.为了解决传统教学所面临的难题,为了能大幅度提高教学效率,我们要建构现代教学模式.计算机以其巨大的处理能力和多功能上在教育领域中得到广泛的应用,将传统教学方式和现代教学媒体有机联系起来.相辅相承,形成一种以计算机为主的多媒体教学组合,从而提高课堂效率和学生学习的热情.     

关于思想政治教育课堂教学有效性的几点思考

思想政治教育课堂教学有效性是高校思想政治教育的创新核心。在此基础上,针对课堂教学的受教育者所面临的社会现实和其所具有的主体性、自主性、创造性及其对精神文化的需求等角度进行了深入的分析,从“文化大餐”的角度看到了当今受教育者对教育者的严峻挑战,从而为教育者进行思想政治教育的创新给予一定的启示。     

Environmental regulations and the problem of sustainability: Moving beyond “market failure”

The standard metaphor of market failure is an impediment to the crafting of environmental policy that can escape policy lock in. Sustainability requires a policy process that can avoid this lock in. Sustainability concerns the creation of dynamic human processes that can respond to—indeed anticipate—unanticipated feedback from biological processes.     

An exercise in composite indicators construction: Assessing the sustainability of Italian regions

This paper presents a piece of research aimed at evaluating the relative sustainability of the Italian Regions. After selecting a core set of indicators, for which we referred to the EU Sustainable Development Strategy, we built a composite index and checked for its robustness. As a result we got ‘many numbers’, that is, a range of possible rankings for Italian Regions.