World

In this last paper in a series of four, we will enquire into key developments affecting economic growth in the near future, consider potential restructuring effects that current and future economic events could cause and survey suggestions from literature for long-term sustainability of growth trends. Discussing climate change, COVID-19 economic recovery, automation, and future growth with a view to global development, we explore where growth may take economies, and how we may foster growth in a rapidly changing international economic landscape. Full article

Systems thinking competence is one of the key sustainability competences to make the future more sustainable by focusing on individuals’ capability to analyse sustainability problems across different sectors and scales. The other competencies to foster systems thinking are futures thinking competence, values and critical thinking competence, action-oriented competence, and collaboration competence. In this study, we examined Finnish people’s systems thinking competence and its connections to sustainable transformation. The survey data collected from Finns (n = 2006) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analysis. The study showed that the sustainability component loaded reliably into principal components. In particular, the Cronbach’s alpha (0.91) and Spearman–Brown (0.90) were high for systems thinking competence. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that Finns’ values, critical thinking, and individual action-oriented competence predict their systems thinking competence. The results indicate that Finns’ ideas of climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation arise from their individual values and opinions that actions are implemented in an ethically just way. Full article

The pursuit of wealth has been a basic occupation of humans; as it turns out, wealth increases life expectancy. Analyzing global data, we show that money, probably connected with medical care, increase life expectancy. However, the base of real wealth is access to the Water–Energy–Food nexus, and the access to this also increases life expectancy. The first objective of this study was to compare the present values of wealth with antiquity, and we showed that about 1.4 billion people live in the present under the average lower wages of antiquity. As a case study, we analyze the construction of the Hadrianic aqueduct. We present a detailed description of the construction and the used methods, and we identify the total requirement of labor–time. Then, we investigate the wages of various occupations in the first century AD. The second objective of this study was the estimation of the total cost of daily wages for the construction of the project and the effect of the aqueduct on Athenians’ quality of life. Finally, we show that, today, about two billion people live with less available water than Athenians had with the Hadrianic aqueduct in the second century A.D. Full article

In this paper, we explore the idea of social innovation as both a conceptual and practical means of delivering positive social, economic and environmental outcomes in marginal rural areas. Definitions are critically appraised, and the dual contemporary origins of the term social innovation (in management sciences and critical social science) are explored. There has been much conceptual confusion, in particular about the extent to which civil society agency is central or desirable in social innovation. Social innovation can be seen to be closely connected to a range of theories that inform both innovation and rural development, but it lacks a singular theoretical “home”. Social innovation can also have a dark side, which merits scrutiny. Three case studies illustrate social innovation processes and outcomes in different parts of Europe. Where committed actors, local enabling agency and overarching policies align, the outcomes of social innovations can be considerable. If rarely transformational, social innovation has shown itself capable of delivering positive socioeconomic and environmental outcomes in more bounded spatial settings. It seems questionable whether social innovation will survive as an organising and capacity-building concept alongside more established principles, such as community-led local development, which, although not exactly social innovation, is very similar and already firmly embedded in policy guidance or whether it will be replaced by new equally fuzzy ideas, such as the smart village approach. Full article

This study applies consistent fuzzy preference relations (CFPR) to evaluate the influential criteria of revitalization strategies (RS) for the hospitality industry in the post-pandemic (COVID-19) era in Taiwan. A real case applies CFPR in order to analyze the relationship between governmental implementation and industrial expectations in Taiwan. The results indicate that “market revitalization”, such as the Taiwanese government’s implementation of various stimulus vouchers and coupons to encourage market consumption and revitalize the overall economy, is considered the most essential/important criteria for RS. This study strengthens the government sector by evaluating the heterogeneity of revitalization strategies best used to formulate the actions to pilot industries as a global contribution to fight the COVID-19 pandemic within a global crisis. Full article

The objective of the paper is to examine whether female participation in the labor force (FPLF) is influenced by a country’s participation in international markets through foreign direct investment (FDI)—a proxy for globalization. We obtained a panel dataset from the World Development Indicators database for 99 countries from 2001 to 2018, and used the system generalized method of moments (system GMM) to estimate a dynamic panel model with appropriate specification tests. The results show that FDI encourages FPLF to some extent, but the positive effects are more robust for low- and middle-income countries than high-income countries. We also found that results are sensitive to extreme outlier observations in the explanatory factor FDI. These results have important policy implications for low- and middle-income countries; they recommend a focus on sectors that generate higher FDI, as these sectors stand to yield the greatest benefits with regards to female labor force participation. Full article

Greenery is one of the most influential factors in reducing the outdoor air temperature and enhancing the microclimate in hot areas. Previous studies focused on studying Urban Heat Islands (UHI) on a specific level; this research investigates the impact of greenery on different levels and three types of UHI, pedestrian, canopy, and boundary, to provide a holistic image of greenery impact on the atmosphere. Further, whereas vegetation impact has been addressed in previous studies, no valuable study has been found that investigates the impact of vegetation within the local climate conditions of the UAE. In this research, different types of greenery will be investigated to find their impact on outdoor microclimate parameters and the UHI within the hot climate conditions of the UAE. The case study of this research is a boulevard located in Dubai; the International Media Protection Zone’s main boulevard was selected to simulate different scenarios based on vegetation type and Leaf Area Density (LAD) using ENVI-met. The results showed that 12 m trees and the cylindrical tree are the most effective vegetation in reducing the air temperature; the variation between these scenarios and the existing case reaches 0.70 °C and 0.66 °C, respectively. The 10 m trees also have an influencing impact on reducing the air temperature by 0.50 °C. The same vegetation types showed a positive performance in absorbing shortwave radiation. The reduction in the reflected wave compared to the reference case was 36.07 W/m² and 31.45 W/m² for the 12 m and 10 m trees, respectively. Furthermore, the reduction in air temperature of a proposed scenario can reach 2.41 °C, 1.12 °C, and 1.08 °C for the investigated UHI levels. The results of this study will provide a canyon greenery prototype, with optimized performance in hot, humid climate areas. Full article

In contrast to the way economic history is often presented, our aim is to provide a concise coverage of economic growth in the UK in four short essays that are written for a general audience of non-economists. In this first essay, we explore the drastic change Britain underwent in the mid-18th century, as agriculture and traditional production methods began to mechanise, increasing productivity to exceed the limits of the land and human strength. For the first time, people witnessed increases in the standard of living within a generation as national wealth soared. It ended centuries of subsistence living in which growth was negligible. As the 19th century dawned, Britain welcomed the steam era, an ignition of modernity, transforming travel, trade and production. We shed light on the wider repercussions of Britain’s economic dominance, highlighting the consequences of rapid urbanisation and assessing the implications of the era of Imperial strength. Full article

Each practical action in rural areas should be based on a comprehensive, new, and innovative theoretical paradigm. For nearly three decades, the global economic system has embraced rural entrepreneurship as a “productive” and innovative strategy in rural development in many countries, including both underdeveloped and developed countries. At present, we have large companies, which due to government development interventions, are replaced with small- and medium-sized businesses under inflexible and extreme entrepreneurialism. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to shed light on the prevailing entrepreneurship practice and discourse, criticize them, and finally introduce a new paradigm known as “paradigm of rural prosperity” (PRP). In this work, Aram Ziai’s theory of skeptical post-development was used, along with Campbell Jones and André Spicer’s critical theory of entrepreneurship and Rosenqvist’s theory of the conceptualization of rurality and rural environment called “hermeneutical realism”. The present paper attempts to base the paradigm of rural prosperity on three pillars of analysis and explanation: (a) rural embodiment, (b) neoliberalism, and (c) concept of sustainability. Although some case studies in Iran have been used as empirical evidence, this paper argues that the paradigm of rural prosperity is universal in nature and can be used in any geographical and cultural context to provide new rural development. Full article

Documents are tools of communication which are changing rapidly in nature and quantity. Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, digital formats have become ubiquitous. However, documents and documentation have a long pre-digital history. In seeking to survey document types and features, two major online journal databases from the Web of Science database were analysed over a 30-year period to 2020. Documents were classified into types and the (arbitrary) features of format, dimension, production, administration and distribution. Such tabulation of journal documents has not been undertaken previously. As the sampled journals covered a range of fields, the types and features of documentation in selected specialised areas were included. Digitalisation of documentation, especially of rare documents, has accelerated in recent times, contributing to the retention of knowledge and its rapid dissemination, despite the accompanying disadvantages of the digital age, with its largely unregulated social media. Classifying and describing the diversity of existing documents is a major task and we have initiated this process by analysing two scientific databases. Full article

For decades, combating climate change has been a global challenge, which requires jointly coordinated efforts by numerous, international actors. However, it has been shown time and again that agreeing on globally binding agreements without a global government proves difficult. To this end, this paper examines the possibility of a tolerance premium. This means a transfer payment in exchange for accepting and complying with the associated agreement. The provider of this tolerance premium determines the conditions of its payment to set desired incentives. Thus, collective decision making can also be self-enforced without a higher authority. This scenario is studied analytically based on Dixit’s conflict model. The study shows that the optimal tolerance premium depends only on the value of the prize to the transferee and that this can result in a stalling of the conflict. The implications of this model shed light on the design of global climate agreements that are self-enforcing without the need for a global government. For this purpose, the upfront payment of funds and their reimbursement as a tolerance premium serve as an incentive to comply with collectively agreed rules in climate policy. Full article

The National School Feeding Program (PNAE for its acronym in Portuguese) is one of the largest food policies in the world, partially covering the daily needs of 44 billion students per year. In 2009, Law No. 11,947 established that at least 30% of the total financial transfer of PNAE was used in the purchase of foodstuff directly from family farming in the left-wing government of Lula. In practice, the rules allow public policy managers to choose between bidding or public call, provision by large agribusiness companies or by family farmers, and this is practiced in idiosyncratic ways by 5568 Brazilian municipalities. Each municipality organizes its own system. Therefore, the aim of this article is to analyze how the evolution of Law No. 11,947 promotes expansive learning in the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (NSFP-PNAE), located in the Western Amazon. As a theoretical framework, the Cultural–Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and the Theory of Expansive Learning (TEL) were used. Qualitative research in an abductive reasoning was carried out, using a single and incorporated case study as its strategy. The study included 21 interviews, later analyzed by Content Analysis. The main contribution is the advance in solutions for societal needs, in terms of continuous collective collaboration, creating expansive learning, transformative or not, in both sides of productive systems and consumption, integrating family farmers and students by a healthy nutrition and feeding in the same system since 2009. Full article

This article relates a transdisciplinary (participatory and interdisciplinary) research experiment conducted in the Territorial Living Lab for Ecological Transition (Burgundy Franche-Comté Region) that has led to constituting transdisciplinary epistemic communities. This research focuses on nine villages in this French region that have been selected to experiment with new designs for sustainable territorial development. It is part of an experimental scheme called “Villages of the Future” led by the Regional Council. These villages are less-than-2000-inhabitant municipalities, located in rural areas that are not under urban influence. The starting point is that development models based mainly on consumerism and the accumulation of wealth have shown their limits in a context of social and ecological transition. The implementation of these disciplinary epistemic communities leads to three main results: the passage from the villages’ storytelling to concrete projects, the enlargement of the local sphere of action and finally the impacts in terms of training this community’s stakeholders. Full article

While food innovation is heavily influenced by the myriad of policies, regulations and other environmental factors within a country, globalization means that food innovation is also a matter of international competitiveness. This benchmarking exercise uses 24 variables to compare the different innovation environments across ten countries: Canada, the US, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from publicly available sources only to measure each variable and ultimately provide a ranking. Qualitative data was evaluated using thematic coding to establish baseline practices and then compare each country to the baseline. Quantitative data was evaluated by constructing an average to which each country was compared. Countries whose data showed they met the average were awarded two points, and those who performed above or below average were either awarded an additional point or saw a point deducted. A final ranking was established from the scores across all four pillars, and the ranking was weighted to account for lacking data. The final weighted ranking saw the UK rank first, followed by the US, Germany, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, France and finally, Italy in tenth place. Full article

The circular economy (CE) is about a system-level change towards sustainability, and it aims at keeping products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, covering both technical and biological cycles. This study aimed at exploring, discovering, describing, and synthesizing the characteristics of CE development in the construction sector in Japan based on the perspectives of sectoral organizations and focusing on the following themes: (1) sustainable production; (2) sustainable consumption; (3) creation and maintenance of value in a CE; (4) CE innovations; (5) CE of material and energy use; (6) technological, economic, and social barriers to CE; (7) CE guidance; and (8) specific CE aspects in the construction sector. This study applied a qualitative research approach, including a questionnaire survey as the specific method. This study addressed a gap in the research and helps to improve understanding of the CE development priorities based on the perspectives of organizations operating in or related to the construction sector in Japan. The findings indicate that the priority CE development focus areas in the construction sector in Japan encompass, for example, the use of sustainable and renewable raw materials; consumer awareness; and the design, use, and manufacturing of sustainable, recyclable, reusable, and repairable products, components, and materials. The barriers to CE that need to be overcome encompass, for example, the lack of general knowledge about circular economy opportunities and of seeing the “big picture” as well as issues related to economic benefits and the development of CE and sustainability-oriented products, components, and materials. Particularly important CE aspects in the construction sector include the maintenance of existing buildings; sustainability and the long-life cycles of products, components, and materials; CE-oriented product design; and sustainability criteria and cooperation between parties covering the whole life cycle of construction. Full article

In July 2019, Eastbourne Borough Council declared a climate emergency and committed to making Eastbourne carbon neutral by 2030. In order to achieve this, citizens together with Council created a unique model of council-citizen collaborative climate governance, the Eastbourne Eco Action Network (EAN). EAN’s main strategy has been the setting up of targeted working groups, each bringing together Councillors, engaged citizens and providers, and each tackling a specific area of climate action through a combination of infrastructure, institutional and behavioural changes. As an environmental anthropologist living in Eastbourne, I was involved in this process right from the beginning, having had my own ‘ecophany’—the realisation that the climate emergency required urgent action—in February 2019. Two years and one pandemic later, in this paper I reflect on the overall experiences and challenges of EAN’s and Eastbourne Borough Council’s work towards town-wide carbon neutrality to date, discussing possible factors (structural and other) determining varying successes and failures. At the same time, this paper provides an auto-ethnographic account of what ‘engaged anthropology’ means in practice, mapping out the real contributions anthropologists can and should make in local climate action, but also reflecting on challenges encountered along the way. Full article

Since urban children’s populations have been rapidly increasing, there is a growing interest in promoting child-friendly cities and communities. UNICEF has accordingly developed a framework for action to build child-friendly cities and communities. This framework outlines the steps to build a governance system committed to realizing the rights of children and translated implementation processes in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Particularly, UNICEF produced a guidebook that outlines building blocks to developing child-friendly cities and communities. This guidebook provides good practices and consolidates common challenges and lessons learned to guide the city governments and relevant stakeholders. Likewise, Cambodia developed a national child-friendly community framework aimed to further improve conducive environments for children where their rights are recognized and supported. Following these international and national trends on child-friendly urban development, many organizations and relevant stakeholders in Cambodia have come together to build urban communities focused on children. Similarly, the Smile Village community in Phnom Penh city was developed. Although its main vision is to build a residential community for underprivileged families to achieve social and financial mobility, various facilities and programs were developed for children. This study explores this community on its child-friendly dimensions and examines whether this urban community is child-friendly based on the national child-friendly community development’s core dimensions. Full article

In continental countries, building materials are often moved over long distances from factories to building sites. This is especially important when quality and performance certification systems are required for the building materials’ acquisition. In this scenario, the transportation phase tends to have a great contribution to building materials’ environmental impacts. Taking into consideration that countries such as China, India, and Brazil, i.e., continental countries, are expecting the largest future housing demand, the issue of transportation will have a crucial role in environmental impacts. Through a Brazilian case study, the present work investigates the potential environmental impacts of structural masonry made of concrete and ceramic blocks certified by the Brazilian Quality Program. A cradle-to-site Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is carried out while considering a country-level approach using data from the literature and Ecoinvent. The results show that ceramic blocks are preferable for most states and scenarios. Human Health and Ecosystem Quality are the two categories most affected by transportation, and they can reach more than 96% and 99%, respectively. The efficiency of the building material transportation system plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A shift in building components from concrete to ceramic blocks has the potential to mitigate between 154 and 229 Mt CO2-eq between 2020 and 2050. The methodological approach used in this work can be applied to other building materials and other countries, especially those of continental dimensions that are expected to have a significant future housing demand. Full article