Search Results (57)

The concept of a sustainable livelihood affords protection from crises and protects people, including future generations. Conceptually, this paper serves as a study protocol that extends the premises of decent work to include and integrate criteria that benefit people, planet, and prosperity. Existing measures of sustainability principally serve organisations and governments, not individual workers who are increasingly looking for ‘just transitions’ into sustainable livelihoods. Incorporating extant measurement standards from systems theory, vocational psychology, psychometrics, labour and management studies, we conceptualise a classification of livelihoods, criteria for their sustainability, forming a study protocol for indexing these livelihoods, a set of theory-based propositions, and a pilot test of this context-sensitive model. Full article

Heritage conservation projects involve diverse stakeholders, such as property owners, communities, NGOs, and governments, whose “misaligned” incentives produce high transaction costs and often pose persistent challenges. Considering heritage sites as analogous to common pool resources (CPR), this study examines whether sustainable heritage projects adhere to Elinor Ostrom’s design principles for managing CPRs. The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation are used as a benchmark to identify best practices in private–public collaborations over the past two decades. Through content analysis of award application dossiers, the researchers assess whether the design principles are applied differently between successful and unsuccessful projects and evaluate the sufficiency of Ostrom’s principles in the heritage conservation context. The findings indicate that four design principles are more consistently balanced in award-winning projects: “Collective Choice Arrangements”, “Congruence with Local Conditions”, “Monitoring Mechanisms”, and “Minimum Recognition of Rights”. Additionally, successful projects tend to incorporate “people growth-oriented activities”, such as skills training and education for local workers and youth, benefiting current and future project beneficiaries. These insights suggest that adapting Ostrom’s design principles can enhance the sustainability of heritage conservation efforts by better aligning stakeholder incentives and addressing the “misalignment of incentives” challenge commonly encountered in such projects. Full article

Occupational accidents in the construction sector are a significant concern for government agencies and enterprises globally. A detailed assessment of the potential consequences of accidents is essential for supervisory teams. This study presents a novel multidimensional safety assessment optimization model that assesses the cost–benefit relationship of safety measures, considering their impact on workers, company reputation, project cost, project duration, society, and the environment. First, safety risks and measures for primary work items in a typical building construction were determined. The experts subsequently assessed these risks based on precautions. Then, an optimization model was designed using a genetic algorithm and implemented for the risk assessment of a building construction project to identify the optimal measures for reducing risk scores and precautionary costs. Despite the total risk score achieved using the developed approach increased by 17.86% compared to the traditional risk assessment technique, the precautionary measures cost was reduced by 43.60%. Comparing the proposed model with the traditional risk assessment approach, it is observed that the model provides near-optimal risk scores and precautionary costs. The study offers significant implications for both practice and theory by examining risks from multiple perspectives and providing flexibility to users. Full article

Optimizing multi-factory remanufacturing systems with social welfare considerations presents critical challenges in task allocation and process coordination. This study addresses this gap by proposing a hybrid disassembly line balancing and multi-factory remanufacturing process optimization problem, considering workers with government benefits. A mixed-integer programming model is formulated to maximize profit, and its correctness is verified using the CPLEX solver. Furthermore, a discrete zebra optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the model, integrating a survival-of-the-fittest strategy to improve its optimization capabilities. The effectiveness and convergence of the algorithm are demonstrated through experiments on disassembly cases, with comparisons made to six peer algorithms and CPLEX. The experimental results highlight the importance of this research in improving resource utilization efficiency, reducing environmental impacts, and promoting sustainable development. Full article

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart technologies into safety management is a pivotal aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. This study conducts a systematic literature review to identify and analyze how AI and smart technologies enhance safety management across various sectors within the Safety 4.0 paradigm. Focusing on peer-reviewed journal articles that explicitly mention “Smart”, “AI”, or “Artificial Intelligence” in their titles, the research examines key safety management factors, such as accident prevention, risk management, real-time monitoring, and ethical implementation, across sectors, including construction, industrial safety, disaster and public safety, transport and logistics, energy and power, health, smart home and living, and other diverse industries. AI-driven solutions, such as predictive analytics, machine learning algorithms, IoT sensor integration, and digital twin models, are shown to proactively identify and mitigate potential hazards, optimize energy consumption, and enhance operational efficiency. For instance, in the energy and power sector, intelligent gas meters and automated fire suppression systems manage gas-related risks effectively, while in the health sector, AI-powered health monitoring devices and mental health support applications improve patient and worker safety. The analysis reveals a significant trend towards shifting from reactive to proactive safety management, facilitated by the convergence of AI with IoT and Big Data analytics. Additionally, ethical considerations and data privacy emerge as critical challenges in the adoption of AI technologies. The study highlights the transformative role of AI in enhancing safety protocols, reducing accident rates, and improving overall safety outcomes across industries. It underscores the need for standardized protocols, robust AI governance frameworks, and interdisciplinary research to address existing challenges and maximize the benefits of AI in safety management. Future research directions include developing explainable AI models, enhancing human–AI collaboration, and fostering global standardization to ensure the responsible and effective implementation of AI-driven safety solutions. Full article

The productivity of smallholder coffee cultivation is declining due to ageing trees, making the rejuvenation of coffee trees with superior seeds essential. This rejuvenation process requires the support and participation of various stakeholders, including the government, banks, investors, universities, community leaders, experts, extension workers, and other parties. The nature of an incomplete contract in building partnership with farmers requires confidence building to avoid higher costs in enforcing a new behavior. However, this study shows that the accumulation of social capital also leads to higher expenses in maintaining these relationships. This study aimed to develop a social capital model to enhance partnerships between coffee farmers and relevant stakeholders. The analysis used a system dynamics model for coffee production and farmer income. The data collection involved the gathering of data and information from 17 actors in the coffee industry in Lampung, particularly in Kopista community. The study reveals that the social capital model must be constructed from four components: (1) trust, (2) ongoing cooperative activities, (3) social capital connections, and (4) memories of successful cooperative actions. Active involvement and instruction from specialists on the concept of social capital and partnership models can enhance cooperation by maintaining social connections. The policy implication of this study is that the development of a social capital model and partnership must be constructed by mentoring for economic benefits and must be continuously supported. Full article

The world has experienced rapid productivity growth in the last three decades, but has this growth reflected in wages? In theory, under certain conditions, workers earn their marginal product so that productivity growth feeds into wages on a one-to-one basis. Given the contradictory literature, this paper revisited the productivity–wage relationship in South Africa using an industry-level panel dataset comprising 74 industries observed between 1993 and 2023. Using several estimators, four main findings are observed. First, productivity is found to have grown faster than wages. Second, the observed productivity–wage divergence partly reflects the squeezing of workers for profits. Third, productivity growth mostly outpaced the wages of low-skilled workers, workers on short-term contracts, and informal workers. Fourth, productivity growth largely undermined take-home pay compared to fringe benefits. These results imply that although boosting productivity growth may be important, its achievement may not lead to broad-based wage gains in South Africa unless the government pursues policies that realign productivity and the pay of low-skilled workers, informal workers, and workers on short-term contracts. Such policies may include sector-based incentives for businesses that improve wage conditions, increased union support in high-growth industries, improved regulation of the informal sector, and vocational training for low-skilled workers. Full article

The Korean agricultural sector faces increasing challenges such as an aging population, labor shortages, and the liberalization of agricultural markets. To overcome these challenges, the Korean government has striven to enhance the competitiveness of agriculture by introducing AI-based technologies to the agricultural sector, labeling this as smart farming. This study estimates farm-level benefits of adopting smart farming technologies, robotic milking systems, in Korean dairy farms. The benefits are estimated by comparing the productivity (i.e., the savings of labor input, increased calf production, and increased milk production) of adopting and non-adopting farms. Our study uses the propensity score matching method to address potential problems from confounding factors, sample selection bias, and the small number of adopters. Our results show that farms that adopted robotic milking systems produced 0.10 to 0.11 more calves per year than farms that did not adopt the system. The adopters also increased milk production by 2.44 kg to 2.88 kg per head/day, while reducing labor input by 0.15 to 0.30 per head/week. However, the reduced labor input was not statistically significant. When the analysis was extended to regard the farm characteristics, the labor input became significant from small and family-run farms. We also found that the increase in the number of calves produced per head was statically significant from small farms, family-run farms, and farms with successors. The increased milk production per head was statistically significant from large farms, farms employing hired workers, and farms with successors. Our findings suggest that the Korean government continue promoting smart farming technologies such as the robotic milking system to increase the adoption rate. The findings can also provide useful information about target markets of this technology, which can be used to increase the adoption rate and ultimately enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of the Korean dairy industry. Full article

The recovery of the global economy in the aftermath of COVID-19 faces enormous challenges. Ensuring stable income growth of the population has become an important means for developing countries to ensure sustained economic development. Raising the overall income of the population is a public initiative that benefits all citizens; therefore, governments of developing countries should promote the implementation of relevant public policies and the provision of public goods to ensure that existing economic instruments can benefit the entire population. In this regard, public space, as a typical form of public good, may play an important role in promoting the benefits of existing economic policies for all residents. This paper examines how residents’ use of public space contributes to their income growth through social capital. Hypotheses are tested based on an econometric analysis of 1565 questionnaires received from Chinese workers. The results show that residents’ use of public space can indeed be an important way to increase their income, which is realized through the enhancement of social capital. The research presented in this paper provides a new influence variable of public space to improve residents’ income. Further, it improves people’s understanding of the three classical concepts—public space, social capital, and income—by establishing the logical connection and theoretical explanation of physical space, emotional space, and value space in human society. The conclusions of this paper highlight the important role of public space in urban and rural development planning. Full article

The rapid growth of the elderly population is a major global demographic and social issue. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of pension plans and social security programmes for this population in developing countries, which has severe consequences for their quality of life and well-being. In this article, we aim to better understand the pension systems in developing country contexts such as Ghana, Pakistan, and Myanmar by reviewing official government materials (for example, pension reports) and the published literature to suggest relevant policy recommendations. We observed several policy implementation gaps and inequities in pension schemes for older people, specifically for informal and private sector workers. Considering the size of formal versus informal economies and the level of development index of each country, we suggest a wide variety of options for pension policies, financing, designing cash benefits, and pension payments to cover all older citizens. This article addresses the unmet needs of the elderly and their wider economic sustainability to ensure social justice and resource utilisation. Governments in developing countries should embrace and establish unique, inclusive, and friendly policies encompassing the informal sector to warrant older adults’ functional and social well-being with dignity and honour. Full article

Over recent years, the sustainability and resilience concept has increased its significance in the construction industry. Sustainability is associated with implementing best practices in the construction industry, while resilience is the adaptability and tolerance of systems in harsh conditions. The concepts are learned in the construction process. Moreover, building automation is growing rapidly, and buildings are becoming increasingly dependent on complex systems and technology and susceptible to unanticipated failure. Though sustainability and resilience concepts are interlinked, limited research quantifies their combination, resulting in a limited comprehension of how both concepts interact during application by developers in a smart building. Therefore, this study has established a financial model that employs Net Present Value (NPV) in studying the inference and clampdown of investment in both concepts. NPV was estimated using indirect and direct costs and benefits derived from the continuous integration of sustainability and resilience in a smart building. To quantify sustainability, its three components had to be quantified. Reduced energy expenditure and government environmental incentives were used to calculate the environmental component. Workers’ cost savings, fire insurance cost savings, and additional system maintenance costs were used to calculate the economic component. The social component of sustainability measured hard-to-quantify attributes like productivity, indoor environment quality, reputation, extra profit, services, and safety. To quantify them, a survey and RII method were used. The two concepts were then coupled by estimating the benefits and costs of installing and keeping resilience tools in design that are sustainable in the smart building and the impact study on the NPV outcome. Application of the design model was also carried out on four smart buildings that were selected in Dubai. The result indicated that coupling sustainable approaches and resilience yields higher NPV by at least 22%. Nevertheless, for NPV to be maintained positively and reduce the cost of failure, faulty detection tools should be assimilated while designing sustainable and smart buildings. The findings of this study will contribute to the benefit of other researchers, developers, investors, managers, engineers, and anyone who is involved in the design or construction process of intelligent buildings. Full article

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are engineered water treatment systems that mimic the features and functions of natural wetlands. As a nature-based solution (NBS) for wastewater treatment, CWs are sustainable and cost-effective while providing various ecosystem services. However, their widespread application faces several uncertainties, particularly in developing countries. This study aims to analyze the success factors and challenges in implementing CW projects. Using the case of successful CWs in Bayawan City in the Philippines, this study surveyed 270 household heads from the community benefiting from the CWs and interviewed various CW stakeholders, including the project planner, management, community leader, social workers, and CW workers. The results showed that 89% of the respondents were aware of the existence of CWs in the community and 73% believed in their long-term sustainability. Among the identified factors for the successful implementation of the CW project were government support (43%), good governance (32%), and public support (14%). On the other hand, the implementation was challenged by improper maintenance (63%), overcrowding in the community (11%), foul smells (4%), funding (4%), and climate-related uncertainties, including natural calamities (4%), flooding (7%), earthquakes (4%), and sea level rise (11%). The implications of these success factors and challenges were discussed in the application of real options valuation to CW projects by incorporating the identified uncertainties into flexible decision making in the scaling up and widespread implementation of a more sustainable NBS to water resources management. Full article

With the expected colonization of human daily life by artificial intelligence, including in industry productivity, the deployment of Industry 4.0 (I4) in the food agriculture industry (FAI) is expected to revolutionize and galvanize food production to increase the efficiency of the industry’s production and to match, in tandem, a country’s gross domestic productivity. Based on a literature review, there have been almost no direct relationships between the I4—Food-Agriculture (I4FA) Nexus and the agroecosystem. This study aimed to evaluate the state-of-the-art relationships between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem and to discuss the challenges in the sustainable FAI that can be assisted by the I4 technologies. This objective was fulfilled by (a) reviewing all the relevant publications and (b) drawing a conceptual relationship between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem, in which the I4FA Nexus is categorized into socio-economic and environmental (SEE) perspectives. Four points are highlighted in the present review. First, I4 technology is projected to grow in the agricultural and food sectors today and in the future. Second, food agriculture output may benefit from I4 by considering the SEE benefits. Third, implementing I4 is a challenging journey for the sustainable FAI, especially for the small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Fourth, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles can help to manage I4’s implementation in agriculture and food. The advantages of I4 deployment include (a) social benefits like increased occupational safety, workers’ health, and food quality, security, and safety; (b) economic benefits, like using sensors to reduce agricultural food production costs, and the food supply chain; and (c) environmental benefits like reducing chemical leaching and fertilizer use. However, more studies are needed to address social adaptability, trust, privacy, and economic income uncertainty, especially in SMEs or in businesses or nations with lower resources; this will require time for adaptation to make the transition away from human ecology. For agriculture to be ESG-sustainable, the deployment of I4FA could be an answer with the support of an open-minded dialogue platform with ESG-minded leaders to complement sustainable agroecosystems on a global scale. Full article

Coworking spaces are shared workplaces in which desk space is available to remote workers, freelancers, and small enterprises. They offer the social, technological, and networking advantages of an office while allowing workers the freedom to reside in a location of their choice. Remote working has become a common work practice in recent years, accelerated by restrictions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Irish Government policy strongly supports coworking spaces across the island to support employment diversity and retain populations in towns and villages. Along with the provision of viable workplaces, coworking spaces can provide a range of co-benefits to their localities, such as stimulating local economies and reducing commuting-related emissions. This paper describes a mixed-method study seeking to identify this range of co-benefits through a survey of coworking space users and semi-structured interviews with coworking space founders, managers, and coordinators. The study uses an integrative process to categorise the findings into social, urban, and environmental co-benefits. The research finds that locating a coworking space in a central rather than peripheral urban area can support and optimise many of these co-benefits. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic, adverse effects of climate change, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and other threats have been calling on all relevant stakeholders from varied disciplines to collaborate via the One Health approach, addressing the health of people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. This narrative review examines the need to add two more dimensions to the One Health approach: food systems and resilience, thus laying down the foundation of the Food System, One Health, and Resilience (FOR) approach. By doing so, all FOR approach elements would benefit from collaborative, multisectoral, transdisciplinary, planet-based, and system-focused efforts. Addressing more comprehensive determinants that positively impact resilience and sustainability would upgrade the One Health approach. We share some examples of academic institutions and innovation hubs that use this approach to improve access to adequate, safe, nutritious, and sustainable diets for all on our planet. We call on other FOR stakeholders, including governing institutions, to embrace the FOR approach and join the “FOR-runners”. It is suggested to widen the FOR community by including the doers, the food system’s workers, and consumers and to create the needed common grounds to drive for solutions rooted in equitable, just, locally tailored, inclusive, and sustainable solutions that withstand emergencies. Full article