Due to the current challenges of climate change, population growth in urban settlements and resource depletion, agri-food researchers have put an increasing emphasis on the sustainability transitions of food systems. In this regard, there has been an increasing interest in the local food supply of cities and their surrounding regions, as local food is considered to be a contributing factor toward more sustainable, resilient and just urban food systems. Based on this background, a roadmapping process was conducted to assess the status quo and to identify measures to enhance the local food supply in the city-region of Graz in Austria. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 47 stakeholders, analysed textual materials and calculated food carrying capacities. The obtained data served as input for a series of three workshops, where measures were derived. Our results suggest that cooperation among agri-food stakeholders should be facilitated by local decision makers in order to promote food from regional sources within the target area. Furthermore, smart technologies can help to scale-up local food supply schemes, and to track down food stocks and flows more efficiently. Besides, food policy councils and open food labs can help to incubate food product innovations and to support partnerships among agri-food stakeholders, including local small-scale farmers. In the future, engagement and empowerment processes with local food stakeholders should be addressed to enable transformational processes. Roadmaps can help to initiate such processes.
Comprehensive research is carried out on consumers with respect to their sustainable behaviour in private life. Other research focuses on employees and their sustainable behaviour in business life. This divide also characterises companies" activities for promoting sustainable consumption and lifestyles. But how can both sides being brought together? Is it possible for companies to initiate a spillover in the sustainable routines of their employees from work to private life? In the transdisciplinary project "Sustainable behaviour at work and in private life", empirical research was conducted on the interests and opportunities of Austrian companies for promoting a spillover in sustainable behaviour. The project is innovative in that it "builds bridges" in two ways. First of all, it links social and ecological fields of action within companies (health promotion including sustainable nutrition, physical exercises and work-life balance, on one hand, and sustainable mobility, on the other). Secondly, the project "bridges" the perspective of managerial staff and the everyday life perspective of employees. The paper presents first empirical results of this study. Insights concern the behavioural spillover, the success factors for companies" "sustainability activities" and the perspectives of management and employees. Against this backdrop it is recommended to enrich workplace health approaches with environmental factors (and not conversely). Finally, a crucial insight into social learning in companies is presented, which could help to promote sustainable behaviour at work and in private life.
Project-based learning (PBL) has been thoroughly integrated in university sustainable development curricula, but has not been well-established in curricula used at pre-university educational levels. Integrating real-world settings into the teaching of secondary school students can help to promote problem-solving skills and competencies at younger ages, which is a crucial task in sustainability education. Therefore, in this article we describe the results of a case study on the development of sustainable food products that involved a university and two secondary schools in Austria. The methods used in this case study were drawn from the transdisciplinary case study (TCS) and the PBL literature. Data were collected by carrying out participatory research methods such as photovoice, focus group discussions, food diaries, student evaluations, and surveys. We divided the study design into three phases: (1) exploration, (2) product ideation, and (3) product prototyping and optimisation. The case study illustrates that the use of PBL research approaches by students at different levels of education provides promising results, if the research process is clearly structured and managed. When a demand for learning is encountered by students, secondary school teachers and university researchers must provide the students with additional sources of information. The establishment and management of a transinstitutional research setting is a promising, yet time-consuming endeavour.
Zusammenfassung: Der Beitrag zeigt exemplarisch am Verbundprojekt ,Nachhaltiges Handeln im beruflichen und privaten Alltag' (BMBF-Programm proVISION, 2008-2011, wie transdisziplinäres Forschen in einem strukturierten und reflektierten Forschungsprozess stattfinden kann. Die Darstellung fokussiert auf die Integration der Zugänge verschiedener Wissenschaftsdisziplinen sowie Integration des Alltagswissens sogenannter PraxisakteurInnen. Insbesondere wird das Verfahren der Begriffsintegration, der Konzeptintegration und der Integration der Alltagsakteure dargestellt. Dabei werden das Grunddesign und die doppelte Fragestellung des Projekts sowie einige zentrale Ergebnisse referiert: Können "nachhaltige" Alltagspraktiken der MitarbeiterInnen durch betriebliche Angebote so gefördert werden, dass sie im Unternehmen und im Privatleben praktiziert (und zur Routine) werden? Worauf ist bei der Ausgestaltung diesbezüglicher betrieblicher Angebote zu achten? Schlüsselwörter: Transdisziplinäres Forschen · Methoden der Begriffs-und Konzeptintegration · Nachhaltiges Handeln in Unternehmen · Spillover beruflicher Alltag -privater Alltag Abstract: Taking the example of the joint project "Sustainable Behaviour at Work and in Private Life" (BMBF programme proVISION, 2008-2011, the contribution shows how transdisciplinary research can take place within a structured and well reflected research process. The presentation is focussing on how to integrate the approaches of various scientific disciplines as well as on the integration of the common knowledge of everyday life actors. Particularly the process of integrating terms, concepts, and stakeholders is described. This description includes the introduction of the basic design and the two leading questions of the project as well as some essential results: Can company-measures promote sustainable behaviour and routines of employees in a way that they are practised at work and also in private life? What will be important considerations for the shaping of such offers?
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