Search Results (3,025)

This study examines the conceptualization of sustainability in heritage tourism in Saudi Arabia following the introduction of the Saudi Vision 2030 program and the country’s opening to tourism in 2019, both of which aim to diversify the economy and promote cultural heritage. A scoping review methodology based on the Arksey & O’Malley framework has been adopted; data were charted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) charting method based on the PRISMA-ScR reporting protocol. Publications from 2019 to 2025 were systematically collected from the database and manual research, resulting in 25 fully accessible studies that met the inclusion criteria. Data were analyzed thematically, revealing six main areas of investigation, encompassing both sustainability outcomes and cross-cutting implementation enablers: heritage conservation and tourism development, architecture and urban planning, policy and governance, community engagement, marketing and technology, and geoheritage and environmental sustainability. The findings indicate that Saudi research in this field is primarily qualitative, focusing on ecological aspects. The studies reveal limited integration of social and technological dimensions, with significant gaps identified in standardized sustainability indicators, longitudinal monitoring, policy implementation, and digital heritage tools. The originality of this study lies in its comprehensive mapping of Saudi heritage tourism sustainability research, highlighting emerging gaps and future agendas. The results also provide a roadmap for policymakers, managers, and scholars to enhance governance policies, community participation, and technological integration, which can contribute to sustainable tourism development in line with Saudi Vision 2030 goals, thereby fostering international competitiveness while preserving cultural and natural heritage. Full article

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability but one of the least recognized health problems in the world, affecting up to 69 million people annually. The associated lifelong disability in survivors, the loss of economic productivity, and being a risk factor for dementia consume 0.5% of global economic activity. Yet TBI is still largely invisible in national surveillance systems and not well represented in chronic disease frameworks. Consequently, governments are not equipped to provide proportional financing of acute care and long-term care of survivors, nor to build health care systems and resources for improving outcomes of TBI through policy frameworks targeting prevention, treatment, and equitable access. Objective: This commentary aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the global effort to formally recognize TBI as a notifiable and chronic condition, including the justifications for recognition, the formation of an international coalition of stakeholders, and the strategic plan for resolution at WHA79 of the World Health Assembly, one of the first concerted multinational efforts that occurred as a side event during the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) in May 2025. Methods: This commentary integrates information from epidemiological studies, global registries, and testimonies from people with lived experience of TBI. We analyze these data to develop policy needs and corresponding initiatives to address key needs. These include coordinated efforts to advocate change, such as technical briefings, consultations with stakeholders, and storytelling led by survivors, all of which informed and formed a part of the WHA78 side event. Our efforts have garnered wide, multi-sector support. Results: The WHA78 side event showed that ministries of health, neurosurgical, neurological, and rehabilitation societies, academic researchers, WHO representatives, and survivors all unprecedentedly support the recognition of the importance of TBI, facilitating national policies for its prevention and treatment via standardized surveillance. More than 30 non-governmental groups officially supported the campaign. A sponsoring member state made a public commitment to co-sponsor a WHA resolution, which set the stage for ongoing diplomatic progress and engagement across regions. Conclusion: To improve global brain health equity, access to long-term care, and the resilience of health systems, it is important to recognize TBI as a notifiable and chronic condition. A dedicated WHA resolution would make TBI a part of global health governance, making sure that it is counted, tracked, and dealt with as quickly and comprehensively as possible. It is both a technical necessity and a moral duty to help survivors and families and fight for justice in global health systems. Full article

Ice and snow tourism (IST) is a significant global trend, offering Russia opportunities for tourism growth and seasonal diversification. This study investigates the potential of ice and snow art as a distinct subcategory of IST on Lake Baikal. Our research is based on an analysis of academic publications and official policy documents, field surveys conducted in winter 2025, and stakeholder consultations, with the “Olkhon Ice Fest” serving as a case study. The findings indicate a clear shift toward IST, with the number of winter tourists on Olkhon Island increasing by 70% between 2021 and 2024. The festival’s key features—its use of the natural ice landscape, a unique artistic technique, an explicit ecological focus, and strong entrepreneurial initiative—support the development of a conceptual model of IST on Lake Baikal grounded in ecotourism principles. Ensuring the long-term sustainable development of IST in the region requires improved governance, infrastructure, and transport systems, as well as support for green businesses and increased environmental awareness among tourists. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable winter tourism by demonstrating the interconnections among environmental sustainability, socioeconomic benefits, and cultural innovation, thereby situating local IST practices within the broader framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Full article

This paper investigates how external shocks propagate through fiscal transmission mechanisms in a commodity-dependent economy within a dynamic macroeconomic framework. The study contributes to the literature on macroeconomic fluctuations by examining the interaction between external revenue volatility, fiscal behavior, and institutional features in shaping short-run dynamics and medium-term outcomes. A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model is developed and calibrated to the Ecuadorian economy. The framework explicitly incorporates procyclical fiscal behavior, public capital accumulation, and endogenous spending efficiency, allowing for a structural analysis of fiscal transmission channels under external and productivity shocks. Counterfactual simulations are employed to assess the role of fiscal policy design and institutional constraints. The results show that while productivity shocks remain a key driver of output fluctuations, external revenue shocks significantly influence macroeconomic volatility through fiscal channels. Procyclical fiscal responses amplify fluctuations by reducing public investment and spending efficiency, slowing public capital accumulation and prolonging output contractions. Alternative fiscal configurations mitigate short-run volatility, although their effectiveness depends critically on institutional features governing spending efficiency. Overall, the analysis highlights that macroeconomic dynamics in resource-dependent economies are shaped not only by external shocks, but also by the interaction between fiscal policy design and institutional capacity. Integrating these elements into DSGE models provides a more comprehensive understanding of fiscal transmission mechanisms and macroeconomic volatility. Full article

Background: Port digital transition is central to competitiveness and sustainability, yet existing frameworks devoted to such transition toward smart port are descriptive, technology-centered, or weak on data governance. This study designs and empirically refines a comprehensive and novel ten-step roadmap relative to existing Port/Industry 4.0 models, synthesized from 14 partial frameworks that each cover only subsets of the transition, by considering data governance and consolidating cost, time, and impact in the selection step. Methods: We synthesized recent Industry 4.0 and smart port-related frameworks into a normalized sequence of steps embedded in the so-called roadmap, then examined it in an exploratory case of a technology deployment project in a Canadian port using stakeholder interviews and project documents. Evidence was coded with a step-aligned scheme, and stakeholder feedback and implementation observations assessed whether each step’s outcomes were met. Results: The sequence proved useful yet revealed four recurrent hurdles: limited maturity assessment, uneven stakeholder engagement, ad hoc technology selection and integration, and under-specified data governance. The refined roadmap adds a diagnostic maturity step with target-state setting and gap analysis, a criteria-based selection worksheet, staged deployment with checkpoints, and compact indicators of transformation performance, such as reduced logistics delays, improved energy efficiency, and technology adoption. Conclusions: The work couples theory-grounded synthesis with empirical validation and provides decision support to both ports and public authorities to prioritize investments, align stakeholders, propose successful policies and digitalization supporting programs, and monitor outcomes, while specifying reusable steps and indicators for multi-port testing and standardized metrics. Full article

This study proposes a systematic framework for establishing ethical guidelines for GeoAI (Geospatial Artificial Intelligence), which integrates AI with spatial data science, GIS, and remote sensing. While general AI ethics have advanced through the OECD, UNESCO, and the EU AI Act, ethical standards tailored to GeoAI remain underdeveloped. Geospatial information exhibits unique characteristics, spatiality, contextuality, and spatial autocorrelation—and consequently entails distinct risks such as geo-privacy, spatial fairness and bias, data provenance and quality, and misuse prevention related to mapping and surveillance. Following PRISMA 2020, a systematic review of 32 recent international policy documents and peer-reviewed articles was conducted; through content analysis with intercoder reliability verification (Krippendorff’s α ≥ 0.76), GeoAI ethical principles were extracted and normalized. The analysis identified twelve ethical axes—Geo-privacy, Data Provenance and Quality, Spatial Fairness and Bias, Transparency, Accountability and Auditability, Safety (Security and Robustness), Human Oversight and Human-in-the-Loop, Public Benefit and Sustainability, Participation and Stakeholder Engagement, Lifecycle Governance, Misuse Prevention, and Inclusion and Accessibility—each accompanied by an operational guideline. These axes together form a practical framework that integrates universal AI ethics principles with spatially specific risks inherent in GeoAI and specifies actionable assessment points across the GeoAI lifecycle. The framework is intended for direct use as checklists and governance artifacts (e.g., model/data cards) and as procurement and audit criteria in academic, policy, and administrative settings. Full article

Aggressive corporate tax avoidance represents a significant fiscal and governance challenge in developing economies, where public revenues are critical for sustainable development and enforcement capacity is often uneven. This study examines whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance constrains corporate tax avoidance and whether this relationship is conditioned by national institutional quality. Using a multi-country panel of 2464 publicly listed non-financial firms from 14 developing economies over the period 2015–2023, the analysis employs fixed-effects estimation, dynamic System GMM, and instrumental-variable (2SLS) techniques to address unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity concerns. The results indicate that stronger ESG performance is associated with significantly lower levels of tax avoidance; however, this effect is highly contingent on institutional quality. ESG exerts a substantive disciplining role primarily in governance-strong environments characterized by effective regulation and credible enforcement. Heterogeneity analyses further reveal that the ESG–tax avoidance relationship is driven mainly by the governance and environmental pillars, is more pronounced among large firms, varies across regions, and strengthens over time as ESG frameworks mature. In contrast, the social ESG dimension and smaller firms exhibit weaker or insignificant effects, consistent with symbolic compliance in low-enforcement settings. By integrating stakeholder, legitimacy, agency, and institutional theories, this study advances a context-sensitive understanding of ESG effectiveness and helps reconcile mixed findings in the existing literature. The findings offer policy-relevant insights for regulators and tax authorities seeking to strengthen fiscal discipline and development financing in developing economies. Full article

Global water management faces a critical challenge: whilst scholarly consensus recognises that multiple, interacting drivers fundamentally shape water availability and management capacity, operational governance frameworks fail to systematically incorporate this understanding. This disconnect is particularly acute in public good contexts where incomplete knowledge, diverse stakeholder values, and statutory planning mandates create distinct challenges. Using Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin as a pilot case, this research develops and demonstrates a rapid, policy-relevant heuristic for identifying, prioritising, and incorporating drivers of change in complex socio-ecological water systems. Through structured participatory deliberation with 70 experts spanning research, policy, industry, and community sectors across three sequential workshops and 15 semi-structured interviews, we systematically identified key drivers across environmental, governance, economic, social, and legacy dimensions. A risk and sensitivity assessment framework enabled prioritisation based on impact, vulnerability, and urgency. Climate change, drought, water quality events, and cumulative impacts emerged as the highest-priority future drivers, with climate change acting as a threat multiplier, whilst governance drivers show declining relative significance. Using these methodological innovations, we synthesise the I-PLAN heuristic: five interdependent dimensions (Integrative Knowledge, Prioritisation for Management, Linkages between Drivers, Adaptive Agendas, and Normative Collaboration) that provide water planners with a transferable, operational tool for driver identification and bridging to planning and management in data-sparse contexts. Full article

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric and science mapping analysis of research on co-creation and co-production in public administration, based on 819 publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). The analysis of scientific production in this field shows sparse early contributions before 2005, followed by steady growth after 2010 and accelerated expansion from 2016 onward, driven primarily by European and United States research communities. In terms of scholarly influence, the results identify a stable core of highly productive and influential authors, institutions, and countries, with strong concentration in Northern and Western Europe and Anglo-Saxon contexts. To address the intellectual structure of the field, science mapping identifies four dominant thematic clusters: (1) co-production and value creation, (2) participation and public engagement, (3) governance and policy, and (4) knowledge development, lessons learned, and evaluative insights. Examining thematic and keyword evolution over time, the findings indicate a shift from early conceptual and normative discussions toward more applied and implementation-oriented research, with increasing attention to barriers, challenges, and enabling conditions in recent years. Overall, the findings show that research on co-creation and co-production has evolved from conceptual fragmentation toward greater thematic consolidation and analytical maturity, while persistent implementation challenges remain. By systematically mapping these developments, the study provides a structured overview that supports future conceptual integration and informs both research agendas and practice-oriented discussions on co-creation and co-production in public administration. Full article

Heat waves have emerged as an escalating climate threat, triggering cascading disruptions across food, energy, and water systems, thereby undermining resilience and sustainability. However, reviews addressing heat wave impacts on the food–energy–water (FEW) nexus remain scarce, resulting in a fragmented understanding of cross-system interactions and limiting the ability to assess cascading risks under extreme heat. This critical issue is examined through bibliometric analysis, scoping review, and policy analysis. A total of 103 publications from 2015 to 2024 were retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus, and 63 policy documents from the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, and India were collected for policy analysis. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify the most influential articles, journals, countries, and research themes in this field. The scoping review indicates that agricultural losses are most frequently reported (32), followed by multiple impacts (19) and cross-sectoral disruptions (18). The use of spatial datasets and high-frequency temporal data remains limited, and community-scale studies and cross-regional comparisons are uncommon. Mechanism synthesis reveals key pathways, including direct system-specific stress on food production, water availability, and energy supply; indirect pressures arising from rising demand and constrained supply across interconnected systems; cascading disruptions mediated by infrastructure and system dependencies; and maladaptation risks associated with uncoordinated sectoral responses. Policy analysis reveals that most countries adopt sector-based adaptation approaches with limited across-system integration, and insufficient data and monitoring infrastructures. Overall, this study proposes an integrated analytical framework for understanding heat wave impacts on the FEW nexus, identifies critical research and governance gaps, and provides conceptual and practical guidance for advancing future research and strengthening coordinated adaptation across food, energy, and water sectors. Full article

In this article, the authors address the Serbian media narrative about the EU’s communication on lithium mining in Serbia. In an effort to answer the question of how this narrative can influence the positioning of the EU on Serbia as a candidate country for EU membership, the authors have made a research based on a quantitative–qualitative analysis of media coverage, drawing on a sample of 192 articles (N = 192) published by four Serbian online news portals (RTS, N1, B92, and Blic). The analysis leads to two main conclusions: (1) It indicates an inversion in the general approach to foreign policy orientation across the analyzed media platforms. The customary discourses on Serbia’s foreign policy trajectory temporarily diverged from established patterns—specifically, the fervently pro-Western orientation characteristic of anti-government platforms and the ostensibly West-sceptical orientation typical of pro-government media. This reinforces the argument that the primary structuring line of media discourse in Serbia lies in the division between pro-regime and anti-regime orientations. (2) Media repositioning has exerted a pronounced negative effect on pro-European segments of the Serbian public, reactivating the thesis of “stabilocracy”, conceptualized as the dynamic relationship between authoritarian regimes in the Balkans and their external supporters. According to the authors, the EU’s inability to anticipate the drastic negative shift in public sentiment toward it—particularly among those segments of Serbian society that had been most supportive—or, alternatively, its decision to continue pursuing its own economic interests despite such awareness, underscores the profound flaws in the political communication it employed in this case. Full article

It is imperative to continuously monitor public awareness, attitudes, and environmental actions to adjust policy to promote and support transition processes given the ongoing phenomenon of climate change. Insights into poorly investigated domains, such as rural areas, are particularly valuable in this context. Responding to this challenge, we aimed to diagnose the efforts in which individuals engage for the benefit of their local communities in rural areas of a selected region of Poland (Małopolskie Voivodeship) in the context of climate change and the energy transition. The study concerns a specific region, one with the most intensive deployment of climate and energy policy in Poland. It is also highly diversified in terms of the environment and population, from the densely urbanised Kraków Metropolitan Area to scattered rural areas where institutional resources are scarce. This diversity affects how local populations engage in climate and energy efforts. The study involves a literature review and an original 2024 survey among 300 people from five rural districts of Małopolskie Voivodeship selected to reflect the region’s diversity. The CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing) survey sample was built with chain referral. The in-depth analyses were performed in IBM SPSS, v.25. We employed statistical analyses, including one-way ANOVA to assess between-group variance, χ2 tests, Sidak tests, and Fisher’s tests. The results show that most respondents recognised an association between energy and climate, but the awareness is fragmented and varied. These conclusions call for amplifying environmental awareness, particularly regarding energy transition. We have also confirmed a significant spatial diversification of environmental attitudes and practices among the public regarding the energy transition. It has been confirmed by all indicators, from the state of the environment to the perceived agency to the structure of home heating systems. Additionally, the importance of local governments in pro-climate activities was indicated. This is particularly important in the context of the ‘Anti-smog resolution for Małopolska’, which has been in force in the Małopolska Province since 2019 and plays a leading role in climate policy in the region. What is particularly important is that the vast majority of respondents from all districts declared their support for these changes, for which local governments are responsible. Full article

Electric buses can help cities address environmental concerns, such as air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to a cleaner city. The transition process from conventional fuel buses to electric buses is a growing concern for stakeholders, as industries and governments struggle to nurture the initial phase maturity of electric buses in the marketplace. This research examines the current state and development of electrification in public transport within a city, as well as the challenges and barriers encountered in adopting electric buses for electrification. Present research connects to the experience of cities that have already electrified their urban bus fleets. It relates to the role of charging technologies in cost and the implementation of battery and grid infrastructure in developing countries. It briefly presents the context of the Bus Rapid Transit System use and the electrification of public transport in Ahmedabad. Furthermore, policy recommendations for electric vehicle purchases are outlined based on service levels for sustainable transportation. Full article

With the acceleration of urbanization and the continuous rise in private car ownership, urban traffic congestion has become a critical issue constraining sustainable development. As an important extension of carbon reduction policies, the personal carbon trading mechanism provides a new approach to regulate travel behavior through economic incentives. This study constructs a game model incorporating stakeholders from both government and private car owners, explores their decision-making behaviors under the personal carbon trading mechanism, and conducts simulation analysis of evolutionary paths using MATLAB 2019a. The findings reveal that choosing public transportation results from interactive strategic interactions between government and private car owners. Proactive implementation of personal carbon trading policies by the government can accelerate private car owners’ adoption of public transportation strategies. Reducing government implementation costs of personal carbon trading (PCT), increasing carbon trading costs for private cars (through higher carbon prices or lower allowances), and improving public transit comfort are key factors in achieving equilibrium between government and private car owners’ strategies. Carbon trading costs exhibit differentiated impacts on the convergence speed of both parties’ states. This research aims to provide decision-making references for governments in formulating and implementing personal carbon trading systems, as well as motivating private car owners to adopt green and environmentally friendly travel behaviors. Full article

With globalization rising, much scholarship has presented “a race to the bottom” regarding standards posing serious environmental concerns. This paper considers the debate of globalization leading to a “race to the bottom” or, contrastingly, a “race to the top.” With the growth of information technology and communication, the paper explores existing frameworks to advance green computing in the globalized context. Given a notable void in policy-driven frameworks in the current green computing literature, the paper proposes a comprehensive five-component policy framework to advance green computing, relying on norms and mandates for success. The framework includes the following: 1. Public policy involvement to drive private corporate sustainability. 2. Investment in green technology via government intervention. 3. Industrywide organizations promoting sustainable computing. 4. Proper disposal of computing equipment. 5. Comprehensive industry standards. Ultimately, this framework passionately advocates for the advancement of green computing and encourages further empirical research and evaluation of its respective elements. Full article