Special Issue "Adaptation or Extinction"

Guest Editor
Dr. Bruce E. Tonn
Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6038, USA
Website: http://www.esd.ornl.gov/people/tonn/index.shtml
E-Mail: tonnbe@ornl.gov
Phone: +1 865 574 4041
Fax: +1 865 576 8646
Interests: energy policy; environmental policy; sustainability; foresight; futures analysis; decision making under uncertainty; technology assessment; energy program evaluation

Associate Editor
Dr. Donald G. MacGregor
President and Senior Scientist, MacGregor Bates, Inc., 1010 Villard Avenue, Cottage Grove, OR  97424, USA
E-Mail: donald@macgregorbates.com
Phone: +1 541 942 5727
Fax: +1 541 942 8041

Associate Editor
Ms. Dorian Stiefel
Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, McClung Tower, Room 1001, Knoxville, TN 37996-0410, USA
E-Mail: dstiefel@utk.edu
Phone: +1 703 593 5755
Fax: +1 865 974 7037

Dear Colleagues,

Change is inevitable. To be a sustainable system is to adapt. In other words, adaptation is the mechanism or process by which a system maintains sustainability. Failure to adapt threatens system viability. This special issue of Sustainability addresses this question: On balance, are the world’s most important systems adapting to become more sustainable or are the risks of their extinction increasing over time? This special issue will publish papers that describe specific adaptation successes and failures, and syntheses of trends which may describe whether important systems are heading toward successful adaptation or extinction. Systems under study could range from human civilizations to ecosystems. Papers that address the intersection between human systems adaptations and ecosystems adaptations are encouraged, as are papers that discuss limitations and barriers to adaptation, and characteristics of social/economic and environmental systems that facilitate sustainable adaptation. It is a goal of this special issue to publish papers that explore these issues through multiple perspectives (e.g., social/cultural/political versus genetic/species adaptation, individual versus group adaptation). Papers that explore and describe adaptation and extinction through modeling exercises and simulation in virtual environments are encouraged. This special issue will not publish papers that only provide technical descriptions of models, algorithms, data analysis methods, and/or virtual environments or merely describe enhancements thereof.

Dr. Bruce E. Tonn
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 500 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• adaptation
• extinction
• sustainable system(s)
• system viability
• modeling and simulation
• risks of extinction

Title: Reverting the Extinction of Place-making and Socio-cultural gravity in Aberdeen City Centre: Exploring the Instruments for Urban Transformation through a Collaborative Approach
Authors: Quazi M. M. Zaman ¹, Richard Laing ¹, David Gray ², Amar Nayak ² and Bing Xu ^2
1 Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
² School of Business Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Abstract: Historically, Aberdeen city centre was the epicentre and the gravity of the peripheral city and shire. Changing economic and production process has transformed the landscape of the entire city eroded the socio-cultural system of the city, overpowering the transportation over pedestrian-friendly place-making and a removing the footfall that is a history. This paper, explores through a collaborative approach to reveal the underlying urban conditions that reshaped the city centre and the methods that would revert the city back to a sustainable eco-system and a hub for socio-economic transaction venue. Keywords: Aberdeen, place-making, environment, socio-culture, eco-system