Search Results (317)

This study explores how older Chinese migrants in London engage with climate change discourse using participatory co-design workshops. Although already practising sustainability behaviours such as recycling, this group faces significant barriers—particularly language difficulties and cultural differences—that limit their active participation in broader climate initiatives. The research addresses three key aspects: (1) identifying opportunities for sustainable practices within migrants’ daily routines; (2) understanding their influential roles within families and communities; and (3) examining their trusted sources and preferred channels for climate communication. Results highlight that family and community networks, combined with digital platforms (e.g., WeChat) and visually engaging materials, play essential roles in disseminating climate information. Participants expressed strong motivations rooted in intergenerational responsibility and economic benefits. The findings emphasise the necessity of inclusive and peer-led communication strategies that are attuned to older migrants’ linguistic preferences, media habits, and cultural values—underscoring their significant but often overlooked potential to meaningfully contribute to climate action. Full article

Effective implementation of the new Greek governance system for Natura 2000 site protection and conservation relies on adopting innovative local participation methods. The remote and transboundary nature of Prespa Lakes presents unique challenges to environmental protection and efficient management of this protected area. Within the framework of the Horizon 2020 ARSINOE project, NECCA supervised three national workshops in the Greek part of the Prespa Lakes watershed, bringing together stakeholders from all relevant sectors that were selected based on their interest in and influence on the challenge of water management. These stakeholders mapped the complex interconnections between climate change; water management; and local issues like vegetation changes, population decline, and economic activities, revealing synergies as well as conflicts, eventually identifying innovation pathways for future climate resilience in Prespa and highlighting the importance of participatory governance for freshwater ecosystems. This paper explores the application of the System Innovation Approach and Living Labs methodology that produced mental maps, future visions, and identified innovations, thus fostering a comprehensive, multistakeholder approach to climate adaptation in water resources management. The future goal is to examine the transferability of experience and insights gained in Prespa to other Greek Protected Areas with similar ecosystem characteristics and challenges. Full article

The integration of small-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems in heritage districts poses a significant challenge: balancing sustainability and energy transition goals while preserving cultural and historical values. This study addresses the problem that existing planning and regulatory frameworks often exclude residents’ perspectives, leading to solutions that are technically feasible but socially contested. The objective is to explore how residents, as potential prosumers, can be effectively integrated into decision-making processes for PV adoption in heritage districts. Focusing on Öjeby Church Town in Piteå, northern Sweden, we employed transdisciplinary participatory design methods, including stakeholder workshops, interviews, council meetings, and a tailored resident design workshop to capture both explicit and tacit knowledge. These design methods were combined with spatial analysis and visual assessment. The findings reveal that residents favour PV solutions that minimise visual impact on heritage buildings, preferring installations in green and grey infrastructure over direct building integration. The process also enhanced awareness, legitimacy, and agency among participants, while exposing regulatory gaps, ownership complexities, and aesthetic tensions. The study contributes a replicable participatory framework that integrates community values with technical and heritage expertise, offering a pathway toward value-sensitive energy transitions in protected cultural environments. Full article

This study explores the implementation of competency-based professional development for correctional staff through the DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) methodology. A National Adaptation Workshop in Portugal engaged professionals from multiple sectors—psychologists, social workers, educators, prison officers, re-education and reintegration technicians—to validate occupational profiles and training needs. Thematic analysis revealed gaps between required and available training, especially in conflict management, mental health, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Key findings show strong support for participatory, practice-informed training, provided it is contextually adapted and accessible. The results underscore the practical need for flexible, modular training frameworks in correctional settings, offering implications for policy and staff retention strategies. Full article

This study explores the cultural, productive, territorial, and organizational practices of cacao-producing families in Lebrija, Santander (Colombia), within the broader context of rural sustainability and peasant identity in Latin America. In response to recent national and international frameworks recognizing the rights of peasants, the research aims to document local knowledge systems and community-based strategies that sustain rural livelihoods. Through a qualitative ethnographic approach, including participatory workshops, semi-structured interviews, and social cartography, the study collected narratives, practices, and territorial dynamics over the course of one year. The results reveal that cacao production is not only an economic activity, but a deeply embedded cultural process that intertwines with memory, family ties, lunar cycles, and environmental stewardship. Participants described conflicts related to water access, deforestation, poultry farming, and the expansion of urban infrastructure. Despite these pressures, families demonstrated adaptive capacities through agrodiversity, traditional knowledge, and associative work. The study concludes that these cacao-based practices offer valuable insights into bottom-up strategies for resilience and territorial sustainability and calls for greater inclusion of peasant knowledge in rural development agendas. Full article

This paper introduces and defines ‘Living Cultural Infrastructure’ as dynamic social-ecological systems where plant heritage and community knowledge are co-produced to reclaim degraded urban landscapes. Addressing the dual challenges of ecological degradation and cultural erosion, we demonstrate this concept through a case study on the Maekha Canal in Chiang Mai, Thailand, employing Participatory Landscape Architecture integrated with urban ethnobotany. Through co-design workshops, biocultural spatial analysis, and ethnobotanical surveys involving 20 key community members, the project engaged residents to reclaim the canal as a functional biocultural corridor. The research documented 149 culturally significant plant species and resulted in a co-created trail system that embodies the principles of a living infrastructure, fostering intergenerational knowledge exchange and strengthening community stewardship. This study demonstrates how a participatory, ethnobotany-informed process can regenerate degraded urban waterways into Living Cultural Infrastructure. The research advances a new paradigm for landscape architecture by providing replicable governance and design tools. Full article

This study, conducted in Cajón de Piedra, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, analyzes women’s participation in Sembrando Vida (PSV), Mexico’s flagship reforestation and rural development program, through the lenses of community engagement and feminist care economy frameworks. The research employed convenience sampling and participatory workshops with 27 participants (20 men and seven women). Using innovative mixed methods, the study maps gendered labor divisions and PSV’s impact on women’s daily lives. The results reveal that while PSV enhances women’s productive labor visibility, it simultaneously exacerbates time poverty due to unpaid care work burdens and infrastructural deficits. The program’s contribution to community resilience is tempered by its reinforcement of traditional gender roles. These findings underscore the urgent need for intersectional policy design in rural development initiatives, highlighting the importance of this research in shaping future policies. Full article

Strong technological development and competitive pressures have driven organizations, especially in the automotive sector, to implement strategies that enhance operational efficiency, thereby improving their performance. One critical topic is the reduction in machine setup times, where the Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) methodology has shown significant potential. However, SMED is mostly approached as a technical tool to improve efficiency, but with limited emphasis on how its implementation can be improved through the implementation as a participatory and strategic approach based on structured workshops. This study addresses this gap by presenting the planning and execution of systematic SMED workshops to engage cross-functional teams in setup time optimization. The field tests were conducted in an automotive manufacturing firm. The setup time on a selected injection line was reduced from 48:30 to 29:41 min (38.8% improvement). Its broader applicability was validated with improvements up to 53.66% across other machines. This study contributes a practical, replicable framework for SMED implementation that integrates structured training workshops into continuous improvement processes in automotive manufacturing and highlights the importance of employee engagement and standardized work in a Lean approach. Full article

The rubber industry is facing major socio-economic and environmental constraints. Rubber-based agroforestry systems represent a more sustainable solution through the diversification of income and the provision of greater ecosystem services than monoculture plantations. Participative approaches are known for their ability to co-construct solutions with stakeholders and to promote a positive impact on smallholders. This study therefore implemented a participatory research process with stakeholders in the natural rubber sector for the purpose of improving inclusion, relevance and impact. Facilitation training sessions were first organised with academic actors to prepare participatory workshops. A working group of stakeholder representatives was set up and participated in these workshops to share a common representation of the value chain and to identify problems and solutions for the sector in Indonesia. By fostering collective intelligence and systems thinking, the process is aimed at enabling the development of adaptive technical solutions and building capacity across the sector for future government replanting programmes. The resulting adaptive technical packages were then detailed and objectified by the academic consortium and are part of a participatory plant breeding approach adapted to the natural rubber industry. On-station and on-farm experimental plans have been set up to facilitate the drafting of projects for setting up field trials based on these outcomes. Research played a dual role as both knowledge provider and facilitator, guiding a co-learning process rooted in social inclusion, equity and ecological resilience. The initiative highlighted the potential of rubber cultivation to contribute to climate change mitigation and food sovereignty, provided that it can adapt through sustainable practices like agroforestry. Continued political and financial support is essential to sustain and scale these innovations. Full article

Governance challenges, success factors, and stakeholder dynamics are central to the implementation of Positive Energy District (PED) Labs, which aim to develop energy-positive and sustainable urban areas. In this paper, a qualitative analysis combining expert surveys, participatory workshops with practitioners from the COST Action PED-EU-NET network, and comparative case studies across Europe identifies key barriers, drivers, and stakeholder roles throughout the implementation process. Findings reveal that fragmented regulations, social inertia, and limited financial mechanisms are the main barriers to PED Lab development, while climate change mitigation goals, strong local networks, and supportive policy frameworks are critical drivers. The analysis maps stakeholder engagement across six development phases, showing how leadership shifts between governments, industry, planners, and local communities. PED Labs require intangible assets such as inclusive governance frameworks, education, and trust-building in the early phases, while tangible infrastructures become more relevant in later stages. The conclusions emphasize that robust, inclusive governance is not merely supportive but a key driver of PED Lab success. Adaptive planning, participatory decision-making, and digital coordination tools are essential for overcoming systemic barriers. Scaling PED Labs effectively requires regulatory harmonization and the integration of social and technological innovation to accelerate the transition toward energy-positive, climate-resilient cities. Full article

This article demonstrates how positioning residents as active co-designers fundamentally transforms both the process and outcomes of carbon-positive building development. Through structured collaborative workshops, shared decision-making protocols, and continuous partnership throughout the building lifecycle, the REN+HOMES Positive Carbon Building methodology challenges the conventional expert-driven approach to sustainable construction. Developed and validated through the H2020 REN+HOMES project, this resident-centered approach achieved remarkable technical performance—65.9% reduction in final energy demand—while simultaneously enhancing community ownership and long-term sustainability practices. By integrating participatory design with Zero Emissions Building (ZEB) criteria, renewable energy systems, and national carbon offset programs, the methodology proves that resident collaboration is not merely beneficial but essential for creating buildings that truly serve both environmental and human needs. This research establishes a new paradigm where technical excellence emerges from authentic partnership between residents and sustainability experts, offering a replicable framework for community-driven environmental regeneration. Full article

Guadua amplexifolia J. Presl is a Neotropical bamboo native to southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, where it thrives in riparian zones of the San Jorge River basin. Despite its ecological and socio-economic importance, its environmental dynamics and provision of ecosystem services remain poorly understood. This study (1) quantifies spatial and temporal land use/cover changes in the municipality of Montelíbano between 2002 and 2022 and (2) evaluates the ecosystem services that local communities derive from in 2002, 2012, and 2022, and they were classified in QGIS using G. amplexifolia. We applied a supervised classification of Landsat imagery (2002, 2012, 2022) in QGIS, achieving 85% overall accuracy and a Cohen’s Kappa of 0.82 (n = 45 reference points). For the social assessment, we held participatory workshops and conducted semi-structured interviews with artisans, fishers, authorities, and NGO representatives; responses were manually coded to extract key themes. The results show a 12% decline in total vegetated area from 2002 to 2012, followed by an 8% recovery by 2022, with bamboo-dominated stands following a similar pattern. Communities identified raw material provision (87% of mentions), climate regulation (82%), and cultural–recreational benefits (58%) as the most important services provided by G. amplexifolia. This is the first integrated assessment of G. amplexifolia’s landscape dynamics and community-valued services in the San Jorge basin, highlighting its dual function as a renewable resource and a natural safeguard against environmental risks. Our findings offer targeted recommendations for management practices and land use policies to support the species’ conservation and sustainable utilization. Full article

Global refugee flows’ increasing scale and complexity pose significant challenges to national education systems. Turkey, hosting one of the largest populations of refugees and individuals under temporary protection, faces unique pressures in ensuring equitable educational access for refugee students. Addressing these challenges requires a shift from linear, fragmented interventions toward holistic, systemic approaches. This study applies a Community-Based System Dynamics (CBSD) methodology to explore the systemic barriers affecting refugee students’ participation in education. Through structured Group Model Building workshops involving teachers, administrators, and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representatives, a causal loop diagram (CLD) was collaboratively developed to capture the feedback mechanisms and interdependencies sustaining educational inequalities. Five thematic subsystems emerged: language and academic integration, economic and family dynamics, psychosocial health and trauma, institutional access and legal barriers, and social cohesion and discrimination. The analysis reveals how structural constraints, social dynamics, and individual behaviors interact to perpetuate exclusion or facilitate integration. This study identifies critical feedback loops and leverage points and provides actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to design sustainable, systems-informed interventions. Our findings emphasize the importance of participatory modeling in addressing complex societal challenges and contribute to advancing systems thinking in refugee education. Full article

This article discusses the importance of cultural identity for ethnic youth, considering the challenges they face as migrants or from migrant backgrounds. It then develops the idea of using safe cultural spaces as a culturally responsive model of care for these youth. The data used are drawn from a qualitative study with 35 African heritage youth living in Aotearoa–New Zealand as participants. The study was guided by participatory action research (PAR) methodology principles. Data was collected using research workshops (adaption of focus groups) and qualitative survey questionnaires. PAR’s transformative lens, narrative inquiry, and inductive thematic analysis were used to identify and analyse the reported themes. Findings show that ethnic youth value their cultural identities primarily because, in the context of migration, where they constantly navigate multiple levels of social exclusion and marginality, it confers a sense of personhood, uniqueness, and belonging. However, trying to live their multiple cultures authentically presents many challenges. Accordingly, intentional initiatives that are culturally responsive and holistic are critical to support them in navigating this process healthily. Creating safe cultural spaces is proposed as a model of care. The article reports and discusses youth perspectives on what these spaces and the model of care would entail. Full article

Mining activities in Pakistan’s mineral-rich provinces threaten freshwater security through groundwater depletion, contamination, and flood-induced pollution. This study develops an Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (IDRR) framework integrating governance, social, environmental, and technical (GSET) dimensions to holistically assess mining-induced water hazards across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab. Using GIS-based spatial risk mapping with multi-layer hydrological modeling, we combine computational analysis and participatory validation to identify vulnerability hotspots and prioritize high-risk mines. Community workshops involving women water collectors, indigenous leaders, and local experts enhanced map accuracy by translating indigenous knowledge into spatially referenced mitigation plans and integrating gender-sensitive metrics to address gendered water access disparities. Key findings reveal severe groundwater depletion, acid mine drainage, and gendered burdens near Saindak and Cherat mines. Multi-sectoral engagements secured corporate commitments for water stewardship and policy advances in inclusive governance. The framework employs four priority-ranked risk categories (Governance-Economic 15%, Social-Community 30%, Environmental 40%, Technical-Geological 15%) derived via local stakeholder collaboration, enabling context-specific interventions. Despite data limitations, the GIS-driven methodology provides a scalable model for regions facing socio-environmental vulnerabilities. The results demonstrate how community participation directly shaped village-level water management alongside GSET analysis to craft equitable risk reduction strategies. Spatially explicit risk maps guided infrastructure upgrades and zoning regulations, advancing SDG 6 and 13 progress in Pakistan. This work underscores the value of inclusive, weighted frameworks for sustainable mining–water nexus management in Pakistan and analogous contexts. Full article