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... explicit goal of transformative processes may include measurement of values and beliefs, but change of values and beliefs is the higher goal. Table 1 describes this typology in more detail and points to the key literatures that could be used to inform the development of robust and valid processes. We distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data since much of the social science literature is divided along these lines. ...
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... While criteria and processes define sustainability assessment, Bond et al. (2012) defines the assessment of sustainability as "any process or criteria that direct project decision-making towards resource sustainability". This sustainability view calls for modern sustainability indicators that are more integrated, dynamic and participatory (Carmichael et al., 2017). To this end, the literature review highlights that floating PV behaviour analysis, performance assessments and sustainability valuations are three individually different modelling concepts with varying objectives and scales. ...
Floating Solar PV (FSPV, FPV or floatovoltaics) is an emerging decentralised energy concept in climate-smart agriculture that is quickly becoming a trend in water-rich regions with high land costs, land scarcity and underutilised water areas. FPV technology has excellent environmental compatibility properties, assists in shrinking a farm's carbon footprint, aids farms in decarbonisation towards a net-zero emissions goal, while supporting sustainable energy development towards better carbon taxation and green energy certification in sustainable farming ventures. Amidst a rapidly growing international interest in floating PV and agrivoltaic solutions as climate-solver technologies, current knowledge gaps around its environmental and energy-water-land resource impact uncertainties are the main barriers to floatovoltaic installation deployments. Current FPV performance and impact assessment methodologies still need to overcome critical knowledge gaps constraining fully functional evidence-based scientific assessments as a mandatory requirement to regulatory project permissions prescribed by law. This doctoral dissertation investigates the characterisation and quantification of floating photovoltaic power performance benefits, environmental impact offsets and economic sustainability profiles in a theoretical PV performance model-driven water-energy-land-food resource features. With FPV as natural resource preservation energy technology touching issues along the interplaying water-energy-land-food nexus dimensions (WELF-nexus), a robust validation of the technology's co-benefits and suggested impacts on the nexus of local energy-water-food (EWF) system was lacking. Rethinking environmental sustainability in the FPV context, this research investigation uncovers the root cause of current predictive analytical problems in floating PV characterisation as relating to critical knowledge gaps and modelling challenges in four dimensions: (a) reductionist thinking philosophy as an overwhelming modelling approach engaged by most current PV system assessment models; (b) low-priority role of the natural environmental system and micro-habitat in the integrated systems modelling characterisation of floating PV as a system of systems; (c) inadequate modelling consideration given the water-energy-land nexus system resources and linkages in a unidirectional open-loop linear assessment framework; and (d) modelling framework does not sufficiently cater for systemic interactions in the topological and ontological structures among the PV ecosystem components. Aiming to find a holistic systems thinking solution, the fourth industrial revolution offers information technology principles that enable subject-matter expert knowledge integration into the virtualization of intelligent energy production models using digital twin technology. As operational research paradigms for floating PV modelling, 4IR in digital twinning enables the study to define a new integrated theoretical framework for sustainability evaluation. Towards simulation analysis, this pluralistic-type systemic intervention can account for the extended range of resource-use-efficiencies and impact-effect-positives of floating PV technology in a computer-aided analysis-by-synthesis technique. While comparing the performances of FPV and GPV systems, this study makes a case for the systematisation of sustainability knowledge in the technogenic assessment for floating PV installations through the co-simulation modelling of a novel integrated technical energy-environmental-economic scientific sustainability assessment framework concept. This institutionalised sustainability framework mechanism drives the computer program logic and architecture in a computer synthesis methodology, to assess the integrative technological, economic and natural environmental system attributes in a pluralistic system dynamical way. The approach is further novel in that it covers both short-term and long-term perspectives in a cascaded closed-loop feedback system, with inter-domain feedback memory in a real-time computer synthesis methodology ensuring causal framework ontology modelling. The proposed sustainability definition and systemic framework policy for geospatial sustainability assessment offer a complex appraisal method and modelling technique that supports project decision-making in broad-spectrum environmental, economic and technical contexts that transcends the conventional technically biased scientific evaluation inherited from ground-mounted photovoltaics. The proposed theoretical reference framework and modelling technique offer multidimensional sustainability indicator dimensions, thus addressing critical decision-making domain elements focussed on by impact assessment practitioners, investment stakeholders and subject experts. The scientific investigation and results confer valuable insights into the value-laden sustainability qualities of FPV in pre-qualifying project-assessment experiments for future planned floating solar projects. The theoretical modelling, simulation and characterisation of floatovoltaic technology offer a data collection toolset for duly required scientific evidence of sustainability traits of the technology in support of the adoption, regularisation and licensing of floating photovoltaic renewable energy system installations. The research advances fresh philosophical ideas with novel theoretical principles that may have far-reaching international implications for developing floatovoltaic, agrivoltaic and ground-mounted PV performance models worldwide.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10500/30091
... Institutional sustainability means an institutional consensus involving agreements and strategies reflecting sustainable development concepts. Based on previous institutional indicators, this research categorizes the institutional sustainability of a neighbourhood into policymaking, engagement, and partnership [37,38]. ...
Can sustainability and liveability be simultaneously pursued at the neighbourhood level? Adopting neighbourhood satisfaction as a proxy to indicate liveability at the neighbourhood scale, this paper investigated how the residential subjective perception of sustainability factors interacted with neighbourhood satisfaction in the context of three different neighbourhoods in Chengdu, China. This began with a comprehensive literature review to construct the neighbourhood sustainability framework. Then, a total of 510 cross-sectional questionnaire surveys was conducted in Chengdu. Logistic regression was employed to investigate significant associations. The findings revealed that the ‘sense and habit of energy saving’ is the only sustainability factor that is negatively associated with neighbourhood satisfaction in commodity-housing neighbourhood. Compared with intangible factors, tangible or physical sustainability factors are more likely to contribute to improving neighbourhood satisfaction and suppressing moving intention. The study also evidenced the contextual differences of significant associations among danwei, resettlement, and commodity-housing neighbourhoods coexisting in transitional China. This calls for adaptive and contextual rather than standardized, top-down strategies for developing sustainable neighbourhood planning to simultaneously promote sustainability and liveability in Chengdu, China. Finally, a specific contextual framework was provided as policy implications for developing local and adaptive solutions.
... According to Lafferty (2006), governance for sustainable development concerns integrating core values and principles of sustainable development vertically within governments and finding effective ways to involve and mobilise civil society into the formulation and implementation of sectoral policies. For interaction between neighbourhood residents and authority, the patterns of interaction can be more contextually relevant and locally responsive in adapting to changing circumstances, which also promotes neighbourhood sustainability institutionally (Carmichael et al., 2005;Meek, 2008). Sustainable neighbourhood development cannot be limited to governments but has to be diffused into wider sectors of society through appropriate institutional agreements (Bäckstrand, 2006). ...
There have been increasing concerns about neighbourhoods’ contextual characteristics and the importance of applying integrated sustainability principles to develop sustainable neighbourhoods. Among the contextual characteristics, the role of residents’ perception of their neighbourhoods is critical when identifying various local sustainability issues and developing sustainable neighbourhood planning. However, little research has been done on evaluating residents’ subjective perceptions of different neighbourhoods’ sustainability performance, particularly in this time of transitional China. Thus, this research employed an empirical approach to investigate residents’ perceived sustainability performance in three different neighbourhoods, including the traditional danwei, resettlement and commodity housing neighbourhoods in Chengdu. Questionnaire surveys and expert interviews were conducted to analyse the sustainability performance and critical sustainability issues in different neighbourhoods. The results demonstrated that infrastructure and public engagement were two common and significant factors affecting the sustainability of all three neighbourhoods. Most importantly, the three different neighbourhoods showed different sustainability challenges which called for developing contextual framework for sustainable neighbourhood development. Several theoretical and policy implications for planning were also provided.
... According to Lafferty (2006), governance for sustainable development concerns integrating core values and principles of sustainable development vertically within governments and finding effective ways to involve and mobilise civil society into the formulation and implementation of sectoral policies. For interaction between neighbourhood residents and authority, the patterns of interaction can be more contextually relevant and locally responsive in adapting to changing circumstances, which also promotes neighbourhood sustainability institutionally (Carmichael et al., 2005;Meek, 2008). Sustainable neighbourhood development cannot be limited to governments but has to be diffused into wider sectors of society through appropriate institutional agreements (Bäckstrand, 2006). ...
To further comprehensively advance sustainable neighbourhood development, investigating the residents’ perception on sustainability and satisfaction on neighbourhood life are important. In advanced countries, there have been increasing concerns about neighborhoods' context-specific characteristics and the impact of applying integrated sustainability principles to cultivate or evaluate sustainable neighborhoods regardless of their different context. Among the contextual characteristics, the role of residents’ perception of their neighborhoods is critical when identifying various local sustainability issues and developing sustainable neighborhood planning. Meanwhile, the relationship between residents’ perceptions on neighbourhood sustainability and liveability (neighborhood satisfaction as the proxy) drew growing concerns in advancing sustainable neighbourhood development. However, little
research has been done on either residents' subjective perceptions when comparing different neighborhoods’ sustainability performance or the association between perceived sustainability performance and neighbourhood satisfaction in this time of transitional China. Thus, this research employed an empirical approach to investigate residents’ perceived sustainability performance and neighbourhood satisfaction in three typical and different neighborhoods, including the traditional danwei, resettlement and commodity housing neighborhoods in Chengdu, China. Questionnaire surveys were conducted and interviews with experts and field observation were also employed to understand
the respective neighborhood contexts. This research used cross-case analysis of sustainability performance to identify critical sustainability issues from each neighborhood. Logistic regression modeling was also adopted to investigate the association between sustainability and satisfaction. The results demonstrated that infrastructure and public engagement were two common and significant dimensions affecting the overall sustainability of all three neighborhoods. Respectively, contextual and local sustainability issues were identified in different neighborhood. The discussion of the results investigated how the perceived neighbourhood sustainability issues of the three neighbourhoods differed from each other even within the same city. This article also examined whether and how the sustainability issues interact with neighbourhood satisfaction in three neighbourhoods. To better advance sustainable neighbourhood development, adaptive, pluralistic and dynamic sustainable neighbourhood development strategy was advocated to be adopted rather than applying general and non-contextual sustainable planning and development guidelines.
... Such information is vital for supporting sustainability planning. Indeed, there is now a substantial body of literature on the technological dimensions and the development of GIS-based sustainability indicators (see for example Carmichael et al., 2005;Ghose and Huxhold, 2005). In Chapter 7, Enda Murphy and Eoin King draw on their respective geographical and engineering backgrounds and expertise to demonstrate the importance of mapping as a method for assessing environmental sustainability. ...
... Scenario-based participatory visual modeling provides an opportunity to increase participant knowledge and comprehension of regional planning challenges and their interconnectivity. The Invent a Future tool used scenario models to demonstrate how the region functions as a system by showing which aspects of the system may be related to others [8]. Such models also support participants to consider the interactions among complex ecological, social and economic conditions and choices [29]. ...
... Such information is vital for supporting sustainability planning. Indeed, there is now a substantial body of literature on the technological dimensions and the development of GIS-based sustainability indicators (see for example Carmichael et al., 2005; Ghose and Huxhold, 2005). In Chapter 7, Enda Murphy and Eoin King draw on their respective geographical and engineering backgrounds and expertise to demonstrate the importance of mapping as a method for assessing environmental sustainability. ...
... Such information is vital for supporting sustainability planning. Indeed, there is now a substantial body of literature on the technological dimensions and the development of GIS-based sustainability indicators (see for example Carmichael et al., 2005;Ghose and Huxhold, 2005). In Chapter 7, Enda Murphy and Eoin King draw on their respective geographical and engineering backgrounds and expertise to demonstrate the importance of mapping as a method for assessing environmental sustainability. ...
Sustainability is a key concept used by social scientists interested in interactions between human society and the environment. This text offers a systematic and critical review of established and emerging methodological approaches, as well as tools for the integrated investigation of sustainability questions. Recognising the significance of scale for sustainability efforts and measurement, its scope ranges from the local to the global.
Divided into five sections:
Part I: examines the key challenges inherent to social scientific sustainability research, focusing in particular on methodological questions that arise from recent efforts towards greater disciplinary integration
Part II: discusses methodologies aimed at the investigation of attitudes and behaviour observable at the local level - from families and households to individual organisations within communities
Part III: focuses on comparative sustainability research across different levels of socio-political organisation - from cities and regions to nation-states.
Part IV: covers decent developments which recognise the significance of time for sustainability research and which offer innovative methodological approaches that focus on life events and long-term outcomes
Part V: offers a critical assessment of current and future trends in social-scientific sustainability research
Bringing together contributions from international social scientists, this is the resource for academics and practitioners interested in sustainability research. It will be a core teaching text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sustainability and sustainable development, geography, environmental sociology and the environmental sciences.
... Our backcasting work has shown the same trajectory, from early studies where normative energy scenarios were produced by researchers as an input to the policy and decision-making process [11,12], through a broadening of the focus from energy to sustainability [13], to the development of participatory approaches that allow stakeholders to express their views as to what futures are desirable [14,15]. Backcasting processes recognize the importance of choice when addressing uncertainty in complex human-environment problems [16][17][18][19]. Real-time, choice-based participatory approaches are made possible by developments in modeling and simulation, which allow participants to actively explore the trade-offs and consequences associated with different policy choices, behaviours and objectives in 'real time' during the workshops [16,17]. ...
... Backcasting processes recognize the importance of choice when addressing uncertainty in complex human-environment problems [16][17][18][19]. Real-time, choice-based participatory approaches are made possible by developments in modeling and simulation, which allow participants to actively explore the trade-offs and consequences associated with different policy choices, behaviours and objectives in 'real time' during the workshops [16,17]. This can increase participant buy-in and also facilitate a broadening of scope from discrete goals to systemic development path changes. ...
... The Georgia Basin Futures Project (GBFP) was a five-year (1999-2004) regional participatory integrated assessment project that combined public values, preferences and beliefs with expert knowledge to produce future scenarios of the Georgia Basin region of western Canada. A highly interdisciplinary undertaking, the project aimed to increase public awareness and engagement on issues of sustainability [14,16,17]. ...
This paper describes recent progress in the utilization of participatory scenario-based backcasting approaches to sustainability research that blend quantitative and qualitative analyses in order to explore alternative climate change futures, as undertaken in a range of academic, government, and private sector projects in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. These projects reveal that buy-in to policy proposals may be enhanced by participation, but there is a risk of participants being overwhelmed by the complexity of the choices they are being asked to make. Furthermore, tools are grounded in a process, which must itself be the explicit focus of attention in designing successful backcasting projects and combining participatory backcasting techniques with more interactive processes that can enhance our ability to explore highly complex and uncertain, value-laden issues. These approaches can be used to drive action and support decision-making, but for a truly consultative and consensus-oriented process to occur, it is important that a broad sample of the community be engaged in the discussion that are equipped with technical knowledge or understanding of the goals of the process in order to participate in an equitable and effective fashion.
... Such information is vital to support sustainable development planning. Indeed, literature on sustainability indicators has increasingly focused on technological dimensions and the development of GIS-based indicators (Carmichael et al., 2005;Ghose and Huxhold, 2005). ...
Difficulties with operationalising the concept of sustainable development have generated much debate, and have stimulated a good deal of research on the challenging task of assessing progress towards that goal. This paper focuses on quality of life, as one discourse in the sustainable development literature, and reports on the development and testing of an operational framework for the assessment of quality of life in an urban setting. Core principles of sustainable development are translated into a set of operational criteria for investigating quality of life. The process of formulating these criteria and the manner in which they may be linked to policy and practice are outlined. The application of the framework is demonstrated by reference to the experience of implementing it in an urban centre in Ireland.
