Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice

James, Paul

doi:10.4324/9781315765747

Cited by 196 publications

(102 citation statements)

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“…The results could therefore be presented in a spider-web diagram that is easy to interpret. For example, a circular structure is used in sustainability assessments for urban planning [40] and social sustainability assessments [41] (Figure 1). As sustainability assessment involves complex concepts and utilizes data, the assessments are usually presented in a matrix or diagram with different structures.…”

Section: The Circular Triangular and Network Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results could therefore be presented in a spider-web diagram that is easy to interpret. For example, a circular structure is used in sustainability assessments for urban planning [40] and social sustainability assessments [41] (Figure 1). A triangular structure is another arrangement commonly applied in sustainability assessments, where a number of indicators are aggregated from several criteria to form the base of the triangle, while the criteria are aggregated from each sustainability dimension (Figure 2).…”

Section: The Circular Triangular and Network Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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An Evaluation of Holistic Sustainability Assessment Framework for Palm Oil Production in Malaysia

Lim

Biswas

2015

Sustainability

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Palm oil based biodiesel offers an alternative energy source that can reduce current dependence on conventional fossil fuels and may reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions depending on the type of feedstock and processes used. In the Malaysian context, the palm oil industry not only provides high-yield, renewable feedstock to the world, it brings socio-economic development to the Malaysian rural community and contributes to the national income. However, the sustainability of palm oil remains controversial, due to deforestation, pollution and social conflicts associated with its production. Sustainability assessment is vital for the palm oil industry to identify weaknesses, improve its sustainability performance and improve consumer confidence. This paper proposes a holistic sustainability assessment framework for palm oil production with the aim to address the weaknesses of existing palm oil sustainability assessment methods. It identifies environmental, social and economic Headline Performance Indicators, Key Performance Indicators and their Performance Measures in crude palm oil production in a structured framework. Each quantitative/semi-quantitative performance measure is translated into Likert Scale of 1-5, where 3 is the threshold value, 5 is the ideal condition, and 1 is the worst case scenario. Calculation methods were established for the framework to provide quantitative assessment results. The framework was tested using a hypothetical example with data from existing studies. The results suggest that crude palm oil production in Malaysia is below the sustainability threshold. Evaluations of this sustainability assessment framework also demonstrate that it is a comprehensive assessment method for assessing sustainability of feedstock for biofuel production.

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Section: The Circular Triangular and Network Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results could therefore be presented in a spider-web diagram that is easy to interpret. For example, a circular structure is used in sustainability assessments for urban planning [40] and social sustainability assessments [41] (Figure 1). A triangular structure is another arrangement commonly applied in sustainability assessments, where a number of indicators are aggregated from several criteria to form the base of the triangle, while the criteria are aggregated from each sustainability dimension (Figure 2).…”

Section: The Circular Triangular and Network Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

An Evaluation of Holistic Sustainability Assessment Framework for Palm Oil Production in Malaysia

Lim

Biswas

2015

Sustainability

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“…Urban gardens, for example, increase permeable surfaces and green roofs absorb storm water run-off. Both reduce pressure on urban storm water systems that are at capacity in many of our cities (Agudelo-Vera, Mels, Kessman, & Rijnaarts, 2011;James, Magee, Scerri, & Steger, 2015;Lovell, 2010;). When food is produced in densely populated urban communities rather than in sparsely populated rural areas, issues like integrative pest management and mitigating heat islands must also come into focus (Li, Bou-Zeid, & Oppenheimer, 2014;Wittmer et al, 2010).…”

Section: What Is An Urban Food Hub?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Urban Food Hubs Solution: Building Capacity in Urban Communities

O’Hara¹

2017

MUJ

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Access to affordable fresh food is an ongoing challenge for underserved urban neighborhoods across the United States. Several are designated food deserts with no access to a full-service grocery store within a one-mile radius. The Urban Food Hubs of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) exemplify the University's commitment to building capacity in the food desert neighborhoods of Washington D.C. The four components of the Urban Food Hubs are food production, food preparation, food distribution, and waste and water recovery (http://www.udc.edu/category/causes). They are designed to not only provide access to fresh food, but also to create jobs, improve public health, mitigate water management problems, and create urban resiliency. The contributions in economic, social/cultural, and physical/environmental impacts, and the five pillars of economic development that track the broader impacts of urban capacity building are described here. The Urban Food Hubs demonstrate the investment metropolitan universities could make to ensure the long-term economic, social, and environmental health of each community. The model is scalable and replicable in other metropolitan areas, including those that experience high pressure on land-use and those experiencing decline.

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“…In its literal rudiments, sustainability means a capacity to maintain some entity, outcome, or process over time. In terms that are more general, James et al (2013) describe sustainability as the endurance of systems and processes. Hamblin (1991) described sustainability as the ability of a system to maintain its productivity with little or no net decline over many decades, even if subjected to stress or perturbation.…”

Section: Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An island of success in a sea of failure? The MDGs and Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya

Kalsi¹

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For a number of decades, foreign aid-supported poverty reduction and development concepts, and This research examined the case of Sauri using ethnographic mixed methods involving qualitative semi-structured interviews with residents and key informants to explore the impact of the MVP.The specific focus was on the processes employed in implementing the MVP approach, and its effects and outcomes, having regard for the MDGs paradigm's truth claims about poverty and poverty reduction in Sauri, the voices of the villagers, and an understanding of the experiences of those engaged in, or affected by, the MVP.The major findings indicated that the MVP to some extent had empowered Sauri villagers in agricultural and non-agriculture, education and health programmes with significant foreign aid funding. At the same time some challenges emerged, due in the main to a lack of understanding of ii the complexity of poverty, and the traditional structures at village levels where new MVP power structures were introduced. Further, the absence of a clear exit strategy in Sauri put the sustainability of the MVP in question, as well as the veracity of implementation of MDGs in other villages in Kenya, as stipulated in the Kenya Vision 2030. Such reservations made other future development programmes, potentially problematic.As the current MDGs expire in 2015, this study contributes towards a richer understanding of the dimensions of poverty, sustainability and foreign aid from the villagers' perspectives, valuing their knowledge, priorities, and the outcomes of implementation of the SMV project. The thesis main contribution stems from presenting an account of how the villagers themselves assess and experience the interventions, and this constitutes a valuable addition to development debates.Similarly, the study adds valuable insight that the SMVP has replaced existing power structures and that it is thus -despite all its self-proclaimed descriptions as grassroots and bottom-up -another topdown development intervention. In addition, the study provides valuable lessons about the implications of time-bound short-term MVP development approaches with a strong focus on the end goal, recognising that insufficient attention has been paid to two main aspects of sustainabilitynamely, post-implementation administration and operational sustainability. The study adds value by including the voices of the villagers in the MVP agenda for poverty reduction, and in the end contributing to the MVP's re-evaluation and improvement, suitability and sustainability, at national levels and in the global debate regarding the shaping of the Sustainable Development Goals.iii Declaration by authorThis thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly authored works that I have included in my thesis.

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Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice

Cited by 196 publications

References 0 publications

An Evaluation of Holistic Sustainability Assessment Framework for Palm Oil Production in Malaysia

An Evaluation of Holistic Sustainability Assessment Framework for Palm Oil Production in Malaysia

The Urban Food Hubs Solution: Building Capacity in Urban Communities

An island of success in a sea of failure? The MDGs and Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya

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