Search Results (238)

Continuous technological, ecological, and digital transformations reshape urban mobility systems. While sustainable mobility has become a dominant keyword, there are many different approaches and policies to help achieve lasting and properly functioning change. This study applies a comprehensive qualitative policy analysis to influential and leading sustainable mobility approaches (i.a. Mobility Justice, Avoid–Shift–Improve, spatial models like the 15-Minute City and Superblocks, governance frameworks such as SUMPs, and tools ranging from economic incentives to service architectures like MaaS and others). Each was assessed across structural barriers, psychological resistance, governance constraints, and affective dimensions. The results show that, although these approaches provide clear normative direction, measurable impacts, and scalable applicability, their implementation is often undermined by fragmentation, Policy Layering, limited intermodality, weak Future-Readiness, and insufficient participatory engagement. Particularly, the lack of sequencing and pacing mechanisms leads to policy silos and societal resistance. The analysis highlights that the main challenge is not the absence of solutions but the absence of a unifying paradigm. To address this gap, the paper introduces CalmMobility, a conceptual framework that integrates existing strengths while emphasizing comprehensiveness, pacing–sequencing–inclusion, and Future-Readiness. CalmMobility offers adaptive and co-created pathways for mobility transitions, grounded in education, open innovation, and a calm, deliberate approach. Rather than being driven by hasty or disruptive change, it seeks to align technological and spatial innovations with societal expectations, building trust, legitimacy, and long-term resilience of sustainable mobility. Full article

The concept of green cities promotes efficient utilisation of resources, with urban rooftop farms (URFs) being a key initiative involving a series of actions and decisions between stakeholders and the state. The new public governance discourse (NPGD) emphasises this interplay between the state, the market, and civil society to strengthen collaboration and network-driven social innovation and requires a comprehensive understanding of human/stakeholder behaviour. In this study, we explore the connection between organisational rational choice in URF policy development and social innovation. Through a review of the existing literature on URF policies and a case study of Dhaka, Bangladesh, we investigate the development of a comprehensive policy via participation and collaboration, considering the popularity of URFs and the absence of governing mechanisms in Dhaka. The results suggest that, despite the rising popularity of URFs in Dhaka, existing policies and strategies lack clarity. The review findings suggest that a participatory and co-productive approach is optimal for URF policy formulation. This would require active engagement from community members, local governments, and non-governmental organisations and gaining an enhanced understanding of stakeholder dynamics by testing stakeholder salience and co-production theories for successful URF governance. Full article

The Work-Unit Compound (WUC) is a common neighborhood type that became prevalent during China’s socialist era, typically offering communal spaces that serve as vital spatial carriers for communal life. Following the shift in public housing provision from the work-unit (state-owned enterprise) through the social welfare system to a market-oriented system, the decline of work-unit systems and the privatization of housing led to the distribution of responsibility for communal spaces in WUC neighborhoods becoming more intricate. Issues related to these spaces, such as underutilization and poor management, were exacerbated as the built environment deteriorated. By the 2010s, these challenges had become central targets of various participatory regeneration initiatives. However, current discourse on participatory regeneration predominantly focuses on social outcomes, paying limited attention to post-regeneration governance modes. In response, this study develops a framework to examine the continuity and heterogeneity of communal space governance during and after regeneration projects in WUC neighborhoods. It offers a nuanced investigation of context-specific facilitating mechanisms, with the goal of supporting more effective and sustainable communal space governance in the future. Using a case study approach, the research draws on in-depth interviews that were systematically analyzed. The findings indicate that daily communal space governance in the sampled projects continues to rely on internal problem-solving methods inherited from the work-unit system (e.g., the collective sense of honor and a persistent reliance on state actors). Additionally, governance is driven by economic initiatives repurposing underutilized spaces—for instance, vegetable cultivation in enclosed areas is employed for self-sufficiency (Case A), and small-scale business that benefits the neighborhood is performed (Case B). This study also identifies a blend of formal and informal institutional arrangements linked to participatory regeneration, including the coproduction of space management between residents and grassroots government (Case A), and the government-funded purchase of community services (Case B). Moreover, extra-local networks—such as gaining mutual support from Community Garden Networks (Case A) and Community Economic Cooperatives (Case B)—play a significant role. In conclusion, this study highlights the role of facilitating mechanisms associated with participatory regeneration in shaping daily communal space governance and explores the potential of participatory strategies within contemporary neighborhood governance, particularly under recent Chinese policies targeting dilapidated urban neighborhoods. Practically, this study offers recommendations for planners and practitioners regarding incorporating facilitating mechanisms into participatory regeneration to enhance community engagement in communal space governance, especially in other post-socialist cities experiencing similar challenges. Full article

This study explores how artificial intelligence utilization in digital government, through AI-enabled service automation and AI-based decision support, contributes to digital government transformation, emphasizing the mediating roles of stakeholder trust and stakeholder participation. Grounded in stakeholder theory and public value theory, the research aims to understand the relational mechanisms that connect technological innovation to institutional change. A quantitative research design was employed using survey data collected from 412 stakeholders, including citizens, civil society members, public employees, and private actors, who had interacted with AI-driven government services in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was used to test a conceptual model involving direct and indirect effects. Results reveal that both AI-enabled service automation and AI-based decision support significantly enhance stakeholder trust and participation, which in turn positively influence digital government transformation. Stakeholder trust emerged as a stronger mediator than participation. The findings highlight the importance of ethical, transparent, and participatory AI integration in public administration. Theoretically, the study extends digital governance literature by validating behavioral mediators in technology-driven reform. Practically, it offers strategic insights for policymakers on how to enhance stakeholder engagement and legitimacy in AI-based public systems. Overall, the study emphasizes that successful digital transformation is not solely technological, but also deeply relational and participatory. Full article

Built environment elements management involving heritage buildings requires a nuanced approach that balances cultural preservation, planning efficiency, and resource optimization. Conventional evaluation methods frequently neglect public perception, leading to misaligned priorities and ineffective heritage resource deployment. To address this gap, this study proposes a Sandglass Tiered Model that integrates public perception into the value assessment process of culturally significant buildings. By integrating multi-source perception data and cultural ontology through a structured, tiered data collection mechanism, the model translates subjective views into four quantifiable indices: symbolizability, authenticity, readability, and regionality. These indices form the basis of an AHP-GRA–driven assessment framework, facilitating value-based prioritization and spatial zoning of heritage elements within construction projects. The model was empirically validated in the Yiling Cultural Heritage Area, where it effectively facilitated differentiated building strategies, optimized resource sequencing, and improved alignment between project goals and stakeholder expectations. Importantly, the model provides a transferable framework that embeds cultural awareness into the lifecycle of heritage building projects—from pre-design evaluation to renovation and adaptive reuse. By integrating public perception into construction workflows, this approach provides a dynamic and participatory framework for managing complex heritage assets within urban development contexts. It improves the precision, responsiveness, and cultural sensitivity of construction planning, offering practical insights for policymakers, architects, and construction managers working in resource-intensive or culturally rich environments. Full article

This study explores how students, teachers, and mentors participating in the EdTech Mentor Project experienced the integration of digital tools within inclusive, service-learning-based STEM education. Drawing on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the research employed semi-structured interviews and participatory video to capture the lived experiences, perceptions, and challenges faced by participants across diverse and often underserved educational contexts. The findings reveal that digital tools empowered both students and teachers by fostering engagement, creativity, and a sense of agency. However, significant barriers were also identified, including limited internet connectivity, lack of technical infrastructure, and digital literacy gaps. Mentorship emerged as a crucial support mechanism, offering both technical guidance and emotional encouragement, especially in remote or isolated settings. Moreover, the project played a vital role in building community and reducing feelings of professional and academic isolation, particularly through collaborative learning environments facilitated by mentors. This research contributes nuanced insights into the intersection of technology, inclusion, and community-based learning in STEM education. It highlights the importance of equitable access, sustained mentorship, and participatory practices in ensuring that EdTech initiatives are not only innovative but also inclusive and empowering for all involved stakeholders. Full article

As global urbanization accelerates in ecologically fragile regions, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have emerged as a critical paradigm for integrating environmental sustainability with urban resilience. Particularly in hyper-arid environments, the deployment of NBS must navigate unique climatic, hydrological, and socio-political complexities. This paper advances a conceptual framework that synthesizes the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) tripartite typology—protection, sustainable management, and restoration/creation—within a broader systems-oriented governance lens. By engaging with international precedents and context-specific urban dynamics, the study explores how adaptive, multiscale strategies can translate ecological principles into actionable urban design and planning practices. Through a comparative lens and grounded regional inquiry, the research identifies critical leverage points and institutional enablers necessary to operationalize NBS under desert constraints. While highlighting both the structural potential and the contextual limitations of existing initiatives in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the analysis underscores the necessity of coupling typological coherence with flexible regulatory and participatory mechanisms. Empirical findings from the Saudi case reveal persistent institutional fragmentation, heavy reliance on top-down implementation, and limited hydrological monitoring as key constraints, while also pointing to emerging governance mechanisms under Vision 2030—such as cross-sectoral coordination and pilot participatory frameworks—that can support the long-term viability of NBS in hyper-arid cities. Building on these insights, the study distills a set of strategic lessons that provide clear guidance on hydrological integration, adaptive governance, and socio-cultural legitimacy, offering a practical roadmap for operationalizing NBS in desert urban contexts. Full article

The periphery of Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is experiencing intense and increasing hunting pressure, driven by both local subsistence needs and growing urban demand for bushmeat. This situation poses a serious challenge to sustainable natural resource management and underscores the need to realign protected-area policies with the realities faced by surrounding communities. In the absence of comprehensive ecological monitoring, this study used hunters’ perceptions to assess the current availability of mammalian wildlife around the park. From October to December 2023, surveys were conducted using a snowball sampling method with 60 hunters from nine villages bordering the park. Results show that hunting is a male-dominated activity, mainly practiced by individuals aged 30–40 years, with firearms as the primary tools. It occurs both in the park’s buffer zones and, alarmingly, within its core protected area. This practice has contributed to the local disappearance of key species such as African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), and African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), and to the marked decline of several Cephalophus species. These patterns of overexploitation reveal critical weaknesses in current conservation strategies and point to the urgent need for integrated, community-based resource management approaches. Strengthening law enforcement, improving ranger support, and enhancing participatory governance mechanisms are essential. Equally important is the promotion of sustainable alternative livelihoods—including livestock farming, aquaculture, and agroforestry—to reduce hunting dependence and build long-term resilience for both biodiversity and local communities. Full article

Background: Theintegration of artificial intelligence (AI) into clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) has significantly enhanced diagnostic precision, risk stratification, and treatment planning. AI models remain a barrier to clinical adoption, emphasizing the critical role of explainable AI (XAI). Methods: This systematic meta-analysis synthesizes findings from 62 peer-reviewed studies published between 2018 and 2025, examining the use of XAI methods within CDSSs across various clinical domains, including radiology, oncology, neurology, and critical care. Model-agnostic techniques such as visualization models like Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) and attention mechanisms dominated in imaging and sequential data tasks. Results: However, there are still gaps in user-friendly evaluation, methodological transparency, and ethical issues, as seen by the absence of research that evaluated explanation fidelity, clinician trust, or usability in real-world settings. In order to enable responsible AI implementation in healthcare, our analysis emphasizes the necessity of longitudinal clinical validation, participatory system design, and uniform interpretability measures. Conclusions: This review offers a thorough analysis of the state of XAI practices in CDSSs today, identifies methodological and practical issues, and suggests a path forward for AI solutions that are open, moral, and clinically relevant. Full article

Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have emerged as alternative housing models mainly taken up by civil society organizations aiming to de-commodify land and ensure long-term affordable housing, while fostering participatory democratic governance and (re)claiming the right to homeownership. Drawing on empirical evidence from the CLT in Leuven (Belgium) and research conducted between November 2022 and February 2025, this study examines state-led CLTs and their potential in providing affordable housing and democratizing housing systems. The leading role of local authorities serves as a catalyst facilitating access to land and resources while setting up democratic and collaborative governance processes towards the creation of housing commons. However, their involvement introduces market mechanisms that undermine long-term affordability. This research mobilizes the literature on commons and commoning, housing affordability debates and governance theories to explore the paradox of state-led CLTs: Can they democratize housing governance, or does state involvement inevitably reinforce the market mechanisms they seek to counteract? The paper argues that states can initiate commons without fully co-opting them, provided governance is polycentric and reflexive. The contribution of state-led housing commons lies not in radical rupture but in incremental decommodification and emergent commoning, showing how commons can evolve within capitalist states. Full article

This paper introduces a novel four-party evolutionary game model to analyze cooperation dynamics in High-Value Mixed Cropping (HMC) systems integrating non-pesticide cacao, cashew nut, and free-range chicken farming within circular and sharing economy frameworks. The model uniquely examines strategic interactions among local government and three farming family types (cacao, cashew, and chicken), incorporating both regulatory mechanisms and cooperative behaviors. Through rigorous stability analysis and MATLAB simulations based on empirical data from Southeast Vietnam, we identify precise conditions for Evolutionarily Stable Strategies (ESSs) that sustain long-term cooperation. Our results demonstrate that government incentives (subsidies, technical support) and reputational sanctions critically shape farmers’ and consumers’ payoffs, thereby steering the system toward collective action equilibria. In particular, increasing the strength of positive incentives or reputational benefits enlarges the basin of attraction for full-cooperation ESSs, regardless of initial strategy distributions. Conversely, overly punitive sanctions can destabilize collaborative outcomes. These findings underscore the pivotal role of well-balanced policy instruments in fostering resilience, innovation, and resource circulation within rural agroecosystems. Finally, we propose targeted policy recommendations, such as graduated subsidy schemes, participatory monitoring platforms, and cooperative branding initiatives, to reinforce circular economy practices and accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

This study examines how strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices in pharmaceutical multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Greece are influenced by digital innovation and social dialogue. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 82 participants across seven large pharmaceutical MNEs in Greece, using purposive and stratified sampling to capture perspectives from senior managers, middle managers, and specialized employees. Findings indicate that while digital tools are present in SHRM systems, their integration remains functional rather than strategic. Social dialogue mechanisms exist but exert limited influence on decision-making. The study proposes that SHRM models—economies like Greece (characterized by medium-level competitiveness performance)—must be recontextualized to account for organizational learning capacities, and the strategic alignment between innovation, management, and social dialogue. We suggest that MNEs in the pharmaceutical sector should invest in integrated SHRM systems that prioritize cross-functional collaboration, localized adaptability, and participatory governance. Full article

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the B Impact Assessment (BIA) as a catalyst for integrating sustainability into industrial firms through a qualitative case study of LC Paper, the first B Corp-certified tissue manufacturer globally and a pioneer in applying BIA in the pulp and paper sector. Based on semi-structured interviews, organizational documents, and direct observation, this study examines how BIA influences corporate governance, environmental practices, and stakeholder engagement. The findings show that BIA fosters structured goal setting and the implementation of measurable actions aligned with environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic resilience. Tangible outcomes include improved stakeholder trust, internal transparency, and employee development, while implementation challenges such as resource allocation and procedural complexity are also reported. Although the single-case design limits generalizability, this study identifies mechanisms transferable to other firms, particularly those in environmentally intensive sectors. The case studied also illustrates how leadership commitment, participatory governance, and data-driven tools facilitate the operationalization of sustainability. By integrating stakeholder and institutional theory, this study contributes conceptually to understanding certification frameworks as tools for embedding sustainability. This research offers both theoretical and practical insights into how firms can align strategy and impact, expanding the application of BIA beyond early adopters and into traditional industrial contexts. Full article

This study focuses on Shanghai, a pioneer city in China’s community renewal practices. In recent years, community renewal driven by civic participation has become a prominent research topic, leading to the emergence of numerous exemplary cases in Shanghai. However, field investigations revealed that many projects have experienced varying degrees of physical deterioration and a decline in spatial vitality due to insufficient maintenance, reflecting unsustainable outcomes. In response, this study examines a bottom-up community renewal project led by the research team, aiming to explore how broad civic participation can promote sustainable community renewal. A multidisciplinary approach incorporating perspectives from ecology, the humanities, economics, and sociology was used to guide citizen participation, while participatory observation methods recorded emotional shifts and maintenance behavior throughout the process. The results showed that civic participatory actions under the guidance of sustainability principles effectively enhanced citizens’ sense of community identity and responsibility, thereby facilitating the sustainable upkeep and operation of community spaces. However, the study also found that bottom-up efforts alone are insufficient. Sustainable community renewal also requires top-down policy support and institutional safeguards. At the end, the paper concludes by summarizing the practical outcomes and proposing strategies and mechanisms for broader application, aiming to provide a reference for related practices and research. Full article

The integration of renewable energy into power grids is imperative for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating reliance on depleting fossil fuels. In this paper, we develop symmetric and asymmetric evolutionary game-theoretic models to analyze how user–grid cooperation in peak shaving can be enhanced by incorporating whole-process democracy (deliberative governance) into decision-making. Our framework captures excess returns, cooperation-driven profits, energy pricing, participation costs, and benefit-sharing coefficients to identify equilibrium conditions under varied subsidy, cost, and market scenarios. Furthermore, this study integrates the theory, path, and mechanism of deliberative procedures under the perspective of whole-process democracy, exploring how inclusive and participatory decision-making processes can enhance cooperation in renewable energy systems. We simulate seven scenarios that systematically adjust subsidy rates, cost–benefit structures, dynamic pricing, and renewable-versus-conventional competitiveness, revealing that robust cooperation emerges only under well-aligned incentives, equitable profit sharing, and targeted financial policies. These scenarios systematically vary these key parameters to assess the robustness of cooperative equilibria under diverse economic and policy conditions. Our findings indicate that policy efficacy hinges on deliberative stakeholder engagement, fair profit allocation, and adaptive subsidy mechanisms. These results furnish actionable guidelines for regulators and grid operators to foster sustainable, low-carbon energy systems and inform future research on demand response and multi-source integration. Full article