| 1. |
- Burch, Sarah, et al.
(författare)
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Building urban resilience through sustainability-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises
- 2022
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Ingår i: Urban Transformations. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2524-8162. ; 4:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, and the unprecedented social and economic costs it has inflicted, provide an important opportunity to scrutinize the interplay between the resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the resilience of the communities they are embedded in. In this article, we articulate the specific ways that SMEs play a crucial, and underappreciated role in building resilience to human and natural hazards, and provide new opportunities to accelerate the adoption of sustainability practices through the configuration of 'enabling ecosystems' geared towards promoting sustainability in the private sector. We argue that capacity-building and experimentation are not only required within companies, but also throughout this emerging supportive ecosystem of policies, resources (i.e. finance, materials, skills), governance actors, and intermediaries to adequately focus investment, technical capabilities and innovation. Ultimately, we call for a new transdisciplinary action research agenda that centers on SMEs as pivotal actors and amplifiers of community resilience; while recognizing that these firms are themselves in need of support to secure their own capacity to respond to, and transform in light of, crises. This research program calls for recognizing and applying the lessons that the pandemic presents to the urgent need for accelerated climate action. This will be enabled by developing more targeted approaches to collaborative capacity-building activities in SMEs that feed into experimentation and allow for the accelerated adoption of deliberate and strategic resilient business practices and models.
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| 2. |
- Carvalho, Bruna, et al.
(författare)
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Can B Corp certification anchor sustainability in SMEs?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. - : Wiley. - 1535-3966 .- 1535-3958. ; 29:1, s. 293-304
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- B Corp certification is considered a viable instrument to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting sustainable practices. However, there is a lack of evidence to what extent this instrument can anchor sustainability at the core of SMEs. This study investigates the B Corp certification process of a SME, a craft brewery in southern Sweden, regarding the extent to which it helped infusing sustainability into the business’ mission, practices, corporate form, certificates, and capacities. Results show that the B Impact Assessment, as part of the certification process, positively influenced the business’ mission, practices, and capacities. Limited influence on social commitment and adoption of a sustainable corporate form can be explained through regulatory context and time required for deep organizational change. To enhance the effectiveness of B Corp certification, we recommend making it even more adaptable to different geographical and social contexts and increase focus on impact business models.
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| 3. |
- Fazey, Ioan, et al.
(författare)
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Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research
- 2018
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Ingår i: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 40, s. 54-70
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The most critical question for climate research is no longer about the problem, but about how to facilitate the transformative changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate-induced change. Addressing this question, however, will require massive upscaling of research that can rapidly enhance learning about transformations. Ten essentials for guiding action-oriented transformation and energy research are therefore presented, framed in relation to second-order science. They include: (1) Focus on transformations to low-carbon, resilient living; (2) Focus on solution processes; (3) Focus on ‘how to’ practical knowledge; (4) Approach research as occurring from within the system being intervened; (5) Work with normative aspects; (6) Seek to transcend current thinking; (7) Take a multi-faceted approach to understand and shape change; (8) Acknowledge the value of alternative roles of researchers; (9) Encourage second-order experimentation; and (10) Be reflexive. Joint application of the essentials would create highly adaptive, reflexive, collaborative and impact-oriented research able to enhance capacity to respond to the climate challenge. At present, however, the practice of such approaches is limited and constrained by dominance of other approaches. For wider transformations to low carbon living and energy systems to occur, transformations will therefore also be needed in the way in which knowledge is produced and used.
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| 4. |
- Luederitz, Christopher, et al.
(författare)
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Learning through Evaluation: A Tentative Evaluative Scheme for Sustainability Transition Experiments
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - 0959-6526. ; 169, s. 61-76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitions towards sustainability are urgently needed to address the interconnected challenges of economic development, ecological integrity, and social justice, from local to global scales. Around the world, collaborative science-society initiatives are forming to conduct experiments in support of sustainability transitions. Such experiments, if carefully designed, provide significant learning opportunities for making progress on transition efforts. Yet, there is no broadly applicable evaluative scheme available to capture this critical information across a large number of cases, and to guide the design of transition experiments. To address this gap, the article develops such a scheme, in a tentative form, drawing on evaluative research and sustainability transitions scholarship, alongside insights from empirical cases. We critically discuss the scheme's key features of being generic, comprehensive, operational, and formative. Furthermore, we invite scholars and practitioners to apply, reflect and further develop the proposed tentative scheme – making evaluation and experiments objects of learning.
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| 5. |
- Miller, Thaddeus, et al.
(författare)
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The future of sustainability science: a solutions-oriented research agenda
- 2014
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Ingår i: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 9:2, s. 239-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over the last decade, sustainability science has been at the leading edge ofwidespread efforts from the social and natural sciences to produce use-inspired research.Yet, how knowledge generated by sustainability science and allied fields will contribute totransitions toward sustainability remains a critical theoretical and empirical question forbasic and applied research. This article explores the limitations of sustainability scienceresearch to move the field beyond the analysis of problems in coupled systems to …
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| 6. |
- Wiek, Arnim, et al.
(författare)
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Collaboration for transformation
- 2014
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Ingår i: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 9:1, s. 113-114
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Wiek, Arnim, et al.
(författare)
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From complex systems analysis to transformational change: a comparative appraisal of sustainability science projects
- 2012
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Ingår i: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 7, s. 5-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability science is being developed in constructive tension between a descriptive-analytical and a transformational mode. The first is concerned with analyzing problems in coupled human-environment systems, whereas the second conducts research on practical solutions to those problems. Transformational sustainability research is confronted with the challenges of generating actionable knowledge, incorporating knowledge from outside academia, and dealing with different values and political interests. This study approaches the theory and promise of sustainability science through a comparative appraisal of five empirical sustainability science projects. We exemplarily appraise in how far sustainability science succeeds and fails in yielding solution options for sustainability problems based on an evaluative framework (that accounts for the particularities of sustainability science). The selected sustainability projects cover a range of topics (water, bioenergy, land use, solar energy, urban development), regions (from coastal to mountainous, from rural to urban areas, in several countries in Africa, Europe, and South and North America), spatial levels (from village to country levels), and research approaches. The comparative results indicate accomplishments regarding problem focus and basic transformational research methodology, but also highlight deficits regarding stakeholder participation, actionable results, and larger impacts. We conclude with suggestions on how to fully realize the potential of sustainability science as a solution-oriented endeavor, including advanced collaborative research settings, advances in transformational research methodologies, cross-case generalization, as well as reducing institutional barriers.
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| 8. |
- Withycombe Keeler, Lauren, et al.
(författare)
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Utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science
- 2016
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Ingår i: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 11:5, s. 749-762
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A promising approach for addressing sustainability problems is to recognize the unique conditions of a particular place, such as problem features and solution capabilities, and adopt and adapt solutions developed at other places around the world. Therefore, research and teaching in international networks becomes critical, as it allows for accelerating learning by sharing problem understandings, successful solutions, and important contextual considerations. This article identifies eight distinct types of research and teaching collaborations in international networks that can support such accelerated learning. The four research types are, with increasing intensity of collaboration: (1) solution adoption; (2) solution consultation; (3) joint research on different problems; and (4) joint research on similar problems. The four teaching types are, with increasing intensity of collaboration: (1) adopted course; (2) course with visiting faculty; (3) joint course with traveling faculty; and (4) joint course with traveling students. The typology is illustrated by extending existing research and teaching projects on urban sustainability in the International Network of Programs in Sustainability, with partner universities from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. The article concludes with challenges and strategies for extending individual projects into collaborations in international networks.
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