Publication date: Available online 30 January 2017
Source:Futures

Author(s): Iris Hanna Casteren van Cattenburch

This paper offers an innovative perspective on engaged scholarship as multiple, cumulative interactions between academia and external organizations in the business and policy realms. A definition of longitudinal immersion is positioned relative to the extant literature on academic engagement as a dialectic relationship between academic research and the praxis of business and society. Using a case study of a specific academic theoretical concept, we seek to demonstrate how over a period of some 25 years the ideas and practice of deep structural sustainability have co-evolved through a process of reflexivity. Drawing from critical management studies and design science we give a different perspective on the processes and mechanisms of engagement and the question of the nature of impact. Notwithstanding the challenges thus presented to researchers in nurturing the ability for informed creativity, it is concluded that future opportunities for engagement and impact may be captured by a longer-term, value-driven and less episodic approach to the entire research process.

Publication date: January 2017
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 114

Author(s): Tuomas Kuhmonen

This study aims at exposing the potential of futures images in anticipating and informing transitions of complex adaptive systems toward sustainability. Our case concerns the food system. The inherent properties of complex adaptive systems make the exact trajectories of these systems unforeseeable. However, since the systems unfold into a common direction, we can say something about the qualities of the milestones toward which these systems navigate. Attractors configure the evolution of complex adaptive systems. Since attractors are the most stable and robust elements in these systems, they are more feasible targets for foresight than the several variants that they configure and effectuate. We have depicted attractors of sustainable local food systems by futures images: through working with an appropriate level of abstraction, by leaning on a multi-perspective approach and by breaking the linear relationship between the present and the future. In this context they were sustainability-oriented trading and delivery systems, food cultures, product development projects, food brands and transparent food systems. We also located hot spots of structural change and agency within the food system. These insights may inform transition management efforts, but they must be updated frequently, since sustainable development is a journey.

Publication date: January 2017
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 114

Author(s): Esther Menezes, Alexandre Gori Maia, Cristiane Silva de Carvalho

This paper evaluates low-carbon urban development strategies for the transport sector in São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world. For each mobility policy selected, we build scenarios to evaluate the potential of mitigating GHG emissions, shedding light on institutional aspects, benefits and risks of implementing each measure. Selected policies analyzed in this paper focus on: (i) reduction of frequency and distance of motorized trips; (ii) improvement of public transport; and (ii) technological issues, from improvement of fuel efficiency of all transport modes to replacement of fossil fuels by biofuels. Results show that the measures that present the highest potential to reduce GHG emissions are those that promote the use of biofuels, particularly ethanol, followed by those that favor the use of public transport. Moreover, simulations of integrated policies evidence that their effectiveness depends upon the adoption of coordinated policies at Federal, State and Local levels. Lastly, we highlight the complementary nature of the proposed policies and the contribution of scenario building to the debate on the strategic planning of integrated urban public policies to promote sustainable development in São Paulo City.