Search Results (2,928)

The TV series Architecture School depicts entanglements between design (education), urban development, and the complexities of everyday life through its presentation of students in a program of “public-interest” design–build education (wherein students plan and construct homes for low-income families in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans). The series offers a nuanced presentation of the situated difficulties of critical design thinking in the context of creating contemporary homes: starting from the initial stages of sketching and model making, through construction, and finally to managing the occupation of the homes by persons who are typically underserved by contemporary architecture. We provide an analysis of the series through outlining how the show presents its participants (student designer/builders, non-profit housing administrators, potential homeowners). We focus on discussing instances of talk on the TV series to illustrate some of the specific concerns and contexts of these participants. Our aim is to explore Architecture School as a relevant case study in designing and building that reflects a dilemma underpinning much contemporary, urban, and public-interest design: how can socially and economically marginalized individuals acquire innovative, well-designed homes when structural conditions of government policies, financial protocols, and administrative complexity offer sustained constraint? We detail how the series depicts the students, administrators, and potential occupants to consider how stereotypes of architects, bureaucrats, and the working poor are reinforced or challenged. Accordingly, we argue that Architecture School is a cultural text that remains timely and important today for its presentation and critique of both the inside world of design’s aims to design and build for others and also the outside-world challenges that limit design’s capacities to create inclusive and equitable material conditions. Full article

Political trust is essential for implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda, particularly Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. At the same time, there has been a long-standing decline in political trust within democratic countries, which presents a considerable obstacle to the enactment of sustainable development policies. Although prior research has explored the relationship between economic conditions and political trust, evidence on how different dimensions of inequality jointly shape trust remains limited. This study addresses this gap by analysing how economic inequality, regional economic disparities, and subjective income perceptions affect political trust. Using data from the European Social Survey (Round 9), we estimate multilevel models that account for both individual- and country-level factors. The results demonstrate a negative relationship between individual income and political trust, while lower economic inequality strengthens this negative relationship. Our findings highlight that reducing economic inequality is crucial for enhancing political trust, suggesting that governments should prioritize equitable resource distribution and address regional disparities to foster trust in institutions. By integrating subjective well-being with objective economic indicators, this research offers a comprehensive view of how inequality affects political trust across the EU countries and outlines institutional and distributive conditions that support progress toward the SDGs. Full article

Understanding how green spaces foster sense of place is critical for sustainable urban planning and human well-being, yet no comprehensive synthesis has integrated findings across the fragmented literature spanning multiple disciplines. This systematic review analyzed 497 empirical studies examining green space-place attachment relationships, following PRISMA guidelines across three major databases through June 2025. Beyond documenting the field’s rapid growth—from 10 annual publications pre-2010 to over 50 by 2021—this review reveals critical patterns and gaps with implications for theory and practice. While the term ‘place attachment’ was most frequently used (45% of studies), the field employs diverse terminology often without clear definitional boundaries. Only 18% comprehensively addressed the Person-Process-Place tripartite model, with process dimensions particularly neglected. This theoretical incompleteness limits the understanding of how attachments form and evolve. Geographic analysis exposed severe disparities: 78% of studies originated from high-income countries, with Africa (2.4%) and South America (3.6%) critically underrepresented, raising questions about the applicability of current theories beyond Western contexts. Urban settings dominated (49.5%), potentially overlooking rural and indigenous perspectives essential for comprehensive understanding. Methodologically, studies demonstrated sophistication through strategic deployment of quantitative (60%), qualitative (15%), and mixed methods (25%). Key thematic areas, residence duration, restorative benefits, and pro-environmental behaviors, showed promise, yet environmental justice remained underexplored despite its critical importance. This synthesis advances the field by identifying specific pathways for progress: expanding geographic representation to develop culturally inclusive theories, employing longitudinal designs to capture attachment formation processes, developing validated cross-cultural measures, and centering environmental justice in green space planning. These findings provide essential guidance for creating equitable green spaces that foster meaningful human-nature connections across diverse global contexts. Full article

This study analyzes how Entrepreneurship Education Programs (EEPs) are discussed in the scientific literature, focusing on their relationship with social entrepreneurship, socioeconomic inclusion, sustainable development, and economic growth. The study adopts a narrative literature review with an analytical approach, drawing from nationally and internationally recognized databases. Additionally, this study distinguishes entrepreneurship education from social entrepreneurship, recognizing that while both share core values, they require distinct educational strategies and institutional support. The results were categorized into seven analytical dimensions, allowing a comprehensive evaluation of the relevance, challenges, best practices, and future perspectives of EEPs in higher education. Good practices were identified, as well as the importance of strengthening community networks and adopting active methodologies and emerging technologies as strategies to expand the programs’ impact. Practical recommendations were organized by target audiences—including educators, policymakers, institutional managers, and researchers—to support more inclusive and context-sensitive, and growth-oriented implementation of EEPs. This study reinforces the relevance of EEPs as instruments of social transformation and sustainable development, and recommends further investigation into the impacts of EEP on vulnerable communities, and developing more effective inclusion strategies. Full article

Postharvest technologies and supply chain management are critical to improving food security, reducing losses, and advancing sustainability in global agri-food systems. Nearly one-third of global food is lost after harvest, particularly in developing regions, underscoring the urgent need for efficient postharvest handling, cold chain integration, and sustainable logistics systems. This paper explores key components of effective postharvest systems, including harvesting, treatments, storage, and value-added processing. It highlights digital innovations IoT sensors, blockchain, AI, and digital twins that enhance traceability, forecasting, and operational efficiency. Case studies from South Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America emphasize region-specific solutions, highlighting low-cost technologies for smallholders and advanced systems for export chains. Sustainable practices such as renewable-powered cold chains, circular economy models, and eco-friendly packaging align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on zero hunger, responsible consumption, and climate action. This paper concludes that while technology is vital, systemic transformation requires inclusive policies and collaboration among governments, private sectors, researchers, and farming communities to build resilient, equitable food systems. Full article

This article draws on research in a Norwegian municipality to examine the affective aspects of teaching gifted students and to explore how systemic and cultural norms surrounding gifted education in Norway may shape teachers’ perceptions and practices. Teacher well-being is a concern for educational quality and sustainability, yet in gifted education, it is often overlooked. Giftedness refers to a high ability to learn faster, more complex or in greater depth than same-age peers when adequately supported. In Norway, teachers face contradictory signals concerning teaching the gifted: definitional ambiguity, limited training, strong egalitarian norms that make giftedness a contested category, and, at the same time, a strong principle of inclusive adapted education for all. Those combined may lead to ethical tensions that challenge teachers’ professional integrity and well-being. Such conditions can reduce teachers’ handlingsrom, meaning their space (room) for professional agency, within institutional, cultural, and policy frameworks. To investigate how such pressures shape teacher’s well-being, this study synthesises findings from four interrelated sub-studies conducted within a single research project on gifted education. Using a meta-ethnographic approach, we translated and integrated insights from the sub-studies to develop higher-order constructs not visible in the individual analyses. The synthesis identified three key dynamics: conceptual ambiguity, ethical strain under cross-pressure, and buffers as recalibrators of demands and resources. Together, these insights informed the Cross-Pressure Model for Teacher Well-being (CP-Well Model) developed in this study, which positions teacher integrity at the centre of professional well-being. We argue that teacher well-being in gifted education may depend less on individual resilience and more on systemic, cultural, and policy conditions. Addressing these cross-pressures requires structural change, supportive leadership, and sustained professional development to enable teachers to work with integrity. Full article

The convergence of fashion and technology has created new opportunities for creativity, convenience, and sustainability through the integration of computer vision and artificial intelligence. This systematic review, following PRISMA guidelines, examines 200 studies published between 2017 and 2025 to analyze computational techniques for garment design, accessories, cosmetics, and outfit coordination across three key areas: generative design approaches, virtual simulation methods, and personalized recommendation systems. We comprehensively evaluate deep learning architectures, datasets, and performance metrics employed for fashion item synthesis, virtual try-on, cloth simulation, and outfit recommendation. Key findings reveal significant advances in Generative adversarial network (GAN)-based and diffusion-based fashion generation, physics-based simulations achieving real-time performance on mobile and virtual reality (VR) devices, and context-aware recommendation systems integrating multimodal data sources. However, persistent challenges remain, including data scarcity, computational constraints, privacy concerns, and algorithmic bias. We propose actionable directions for responsible AI development in fashion and textile applications, emphasizing the need for inclusive datasets, transparent algorithms, and sustainable computational practices. This review provides researchers and industry practitioners with a comprehensive synthesis of current capabilities, limitations, and future opportunities at the intersection of computer vision and fashion design. Full article

This study analyses the progress and persistent challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8—Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8)—in the province of Alto Amazonas, Loreto, Peru, a territory characterized by structural informality exceeding 80%. A mixed-methods design was employed, integrating a survey of 500 economically active residents, semi-structured interviews with local authorities and business representatives, and a documentary review of official data from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Quantitative results reveal uneven economic growth driven mainly by low-value primary sectors, with 41.2% of workers lacking social protection and 51.4% reporting discriminatory practices. Although 70% expressed interest in entrepreneurship, only 37.8% achieved business formalization. Qualitative findings highlight a strong dependence on public investment, limited private-sector diversification, and an entrepreneurial ecosystem with high motivation but insufficient institutional support. The study concludes that structural constraints—informality, credit restrictions, territorial inequality, and weak institutional coordination—continue to hinder SDG 8 achievement. It recommends integrated policies that promote labor formalization, financial inclusion, productive diversification, and sustainable micro-enterprise development to align economic dynamism with social protection and territorial cohesion. Full article

Urban resilience has emerged as a crucial objective for achieving sustainable urban development. However, its practical integration into planning remains limited. This study evaluates the extent to which resilience thinking is integrated into Chengdu’s urban planning system by combining policy-theoretical analysis with empirical evidence. Drawing on a framework of nine resilience attributes, we conduct content analysis of Chengdu’s three types of statutory plan documents (Socioeconomic Development Plan, Urban and Rural Plan, and Land Use Plan) and a questionnaire survey of 70 expert planners. The results reveal that resilience is reflected implicitly in the plans through engineering-oriented attributes such as robustness, efficiency, and connectivity. In contrast, social and ecological attributes like inclusion, redundancy, and innovation are largely absent. Planners demonstrate moderate awareness of resilience, yet associate it predominantly with rapid response and infrastructure robustness rather than long-term adaptation or community capacity-building. These findings indicate the dominant top-down, growth-centric planning logic that constrains the adoption of broader socio-ecological resilience concepts. This paper concludes with policy recommendations for institutionalizing resilience in Chinese urban planning through legal mandates; multi-sectoral coordination; and participatory, adaptive planning frameworks. Full article

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) disproportionately affect the world’s most marginalised populations, yet programmes aiming to control and eliminate NTDs often fail to fully address the structural, social, and political dimensions of exclusion. This narrative review examines the concept of inclusion within NTD programming, with a particular focus on intersecting forms of marginalisation, including poverty, gender, disability, and displacement. Drawing on studies from 2010 to 2025, from various databases such as google scholar, PubMed and PLOS, this review synthesises evidence on barriers to equitable healthcare access, the role of community-driven approaches, and the integration of inclusive strategies within NTD programming and broader health systems. Key themes include the impact of structural inequalities such as racism and poverty, the need for gender-responsive services, the marginalisation of displaced communities, and the critical role of community empowerment through mechanisms like peer support and community drug distribution of NTD medicines. The review proposes a working definition of inclusion in NTDs as the intentional integration of underserved groups into all levels of programming, policy, and service delivery. It highlights the urgency of reframing NTDs not just as biomedical challenges but as deeply embedded social justice issues. By embedding inclusion into programme design, implementation, and evaluation, stakeholders can better align NTD responses with global equity goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

Living Labs have become key instruments for fostering sustainable and user-driven innovation, yet their conceptual ambiguity and fragmented evaluation practices limit their effectiveness. This paper synthesises academic and policy literature to develop a comprehensive qualitative framework for assessing Living Labs across nine dimensions: governance, user engagement, methods, infrastructure, outputs, scalability, sustainability, equity, and learning. The framework integrates a temporal perspective to capture short-, medium-, and long-term impacts. Exploring the INNOFEIT Energy Living Lab in Skopje, North Macedonia, through the lens of this framework demonstrates how a university-based Living Lab can function as both an experimental ecosystem and a policy instrument supporting the digital and green transitions. The findings reveal strong methodological and infrastructural maturity but highlight the need for deeper co-creation, broader stakeholder inclusion, and longitudinal evaluation. The proposed framework offers a practical tool for improving comparability, reflexivity, and institutional learning across diverse Living Lab contexts, ultimately strengthening their role in sustainable innovation governance. Full article

The disposal of industrial waste poses a significant environmental challenge, often leading to pollution and degradation of surrounding and terrestrial ecosystems. This study investigates the sustainable valorization of such wastes through the development of one-part geopolymer mortars. Solid sodium silicate was employed as a dry alkali activator for binary blends comprising ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), clay brick powder (CBP), steel slag (SS), and fly ash (FA), with all mixtures cured under ambient conditions. The mortars were evaluated in terms of fresh properties (flow and setting time) and hardened characteristics, including compressive strength, density, water absorption, and porosity. Durability performance was assessed through mass loss, visual degradation, and compressive strength retention following exposure to acidic (H₂SO₄, HCl) and sulfate environments. Microstructural characterization using XRD, SEM, and FTIR provided insight into the mechanisms of gel formation and degradation in aggressive media. The results revealed that incorporating 5% FA into GGBS-based mortars enhanced 28-day compressive strength by 21.7% compared with the control mix. The inclusion of industrial by-products promoted the formation of C–S–H and C–(A)–S–H gels, contributing to a denser and more refined microstructure. Overall, the findings demonstrate that one-part geopolymer mortars offer a promising, eco-efficient, and durable alternative to traditional cementitious systems, while also addressing safety and handling concerns associated with liquid alkaline activators used in conventional two-part geopolymer formulations. Full article

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) play a critical role in urban residents’ well-being, yet conventional evaluations rely heavily on green-space area and overlook how facility quality and basic services influence the delivery of actual cultural benefits. To address this methodological gap, this study develops a three-tier evaluation framework—service potential, actual supply capacity, and actual service utility—to quantify multistage attenuation in CES provision across 95 parks in seven central districts of Shenyang, China. The framework integrates 114 quantitative and qualitative indicators from field surveys, national facility standards, and perception-based assessments, enabling a scientifically robust and replicable assessment of how cultural benefits are transformed from ecological structure to human experience. Results reveal that single-index, area-based assessments substantially overestimate CES supply: district-level supply–demand ratios drop from 66 to 195% to only 11–55% once quality and basic services are incorporated. Comprehensive and special parks retain the highest CES potential, whereas community and linear parks undergo significant losses due to aging facilities, insufficient maintenance, and inadequate infrastructure. Education and cultural services exhibit the most severe shortages, with deficits reaching 59–84%, underscoring structural limitations in learning-oriented spaces. By distinguishing structural (quantity), functional (quality), and experiential (basic service) constraints, the framework provides clear diagnostic guidance for targeted planning and management. Its multistage structure also reflects broader principles of sustainable urban development: improving CES requires not only expanding ecological elements but also enhancing service quality, strengthening infrastructure, and promoting equitable access to cultural benefits. The framework’s generalizability makes it applicable to high-density cities worldwide facing land scarcity and green-space inequality, supporting efforts aligned with SDG 11 to build inclusive, resilient, and culturally vibrant urban environments. Full article

This study examines the influence of agricultural labor policies on the sustainability and productivity of farming enterprises in Türkiye, with a particular focus on the sector’s increasing reliance on foreign labor. Using primary data collected through face-to-face surveys with 73 agricultural enterprises in the Çumra District of Konya Province during the 2023–2024 production year, supplemented by secondary data from national and international institutions, the research explores how workforce composition, policy regulations, and socio-economic factors affect farm performance. Descriptive and comparative statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS to evaluate demographic characteristics, employment patterns, wage structures, and satisfaction levels among local and foreign workers. The findings indicate that as farm size expands, the use of foreign labor—mainly from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan—significantly increases, generating cost and productivity advantages but also raising concerns related to social integration and legal employment barriers. Local labor demonstrates greater competence in mechanization but remains insufficient in quantity, deepening the existing labor shortage. A substantial majority (91%) of producers consider current labor regulations restrictive and emphasize the need for government incentives, vocational training programs, and simplified permit procedures for foreign workers. The results highlight the importance of inclusive and adaptive labor policies that harmonize economic efficiency with social cohesion, supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2, 8, and 11—Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Sustainable Cities and Communities. Full article

Water management in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions (ASAR) relied on large-scale, centralized systems that expanded potable water access. However, high energy requirements, rising operational costs, and limited adaptability to climate variability now put their sustainability under question. According to this study, hybrid rainwater–graywater systems (HRGSs) are emerging as decentralized approaches that can reduce the stress on centralized water systems, increase water supply during dry season, and lower the risk of flooding during rainy seasons. Identifying and evaluating a comprehensive sustainability framework of HRGSs for ASARs remains underexplored. To address this gap, a systematic review of literature indexed in two databases, Scopus and Engineering Village, was performed. Forty studies met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised to delineate their scope, recurring patterns, and frameworks. Moreover, this study developed a comprehensive sustainability framework specific to the ASAR context, proposing key indicators for HRGS evaluation across environmental, economic, and social aspects with their indicators. Proposing a new sustainability framework provides a basis for guiding future research, technology design, and policy development aimed at implementing HRGS in ASAR contexts. Full article