<p> What do product design teams value in sustainable design methods? Specifically, what kinds of activities and mindsets comprise different design methods, and which ones do design teams believe drive sustainability, innovation, and other value? How could they be combined to improve sustainable design&rsquo;s value to companies? This study was the first to deconstruct green product design practices into their constituent activities and mindsets to characterize them and hypothesize their potential synergies. It was also the first to empirically test and compare what practitioners value within three of these sustainable design practices&mdash;The Natural Step, Whole System Mapping, and Biomimicry. </p><p> Others have identified mindsets in sustainable design practices, or have identified activities in general engineering design practices, but none have done both for sustainable design practices. Such analysis is important, because most designers do not follow design methods like tunnels of process to pass through completely, but like toolboxes to draw from opportunistically. Here, fourteen design methods, guides, and certifications were deconstructed to categorize their component activities and mindsets, and hypothesize what designers, engineers, and managers would consider useful tools to select for different purposes, or could combine to multiply their value. It also hypothesized some green design methods might be preferred by designers, while others might be preferred by engineers or managers. </p><p> Empirical testing of the activities and mindsets within The Natural Step, Whole System Mapping, and Biomimicry measured their value for general purposes, sustainability, and innovation. It did so by providing 29 workshops on these design methods to 520 participants, with 376 survey respondents: 172 professionals from over 30 different companies and 204 Berkeley students, totaling 1,432 pre- and post-workshop survey responses, due to many people participating in multiple workshops. This testing of multiple design methods was new because most literature on sustainable product design either treats all sustainable design the same, or proposes a specific new design method and studies it. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey results validated the earlier deconstruction and found &ldquo;golden tools&rdquo; in each design method: In The Natural Step, Backcasting was most valued, largely for its strategic benefit of focusing thought to accomplish goals, and providing a new lens. In Whole System Mapping, Draw System Map was most valued, largely for broadening scope, visually showing the larger system, and aiding collaboration. In Biomimicry, Nature as Mentor was highly valued as a new lens to approach problems, and for being inspiring; AskNature.org was greatly valued for providing new ideas and for being interesting / engaging. Some of these and other components of the design methods were valued for sustainability, innovation, or both, and some for neither. Results were broken down by demographics (job role, company type, company size, industry sector, and gender) to see if different groups valued different things, as hypothesized above. However, differences were generally too small to be statistically significant at these sample sizes, which implies that sustainable design methods can be taught and used universally between all these groups, even though individuals vary in what they most value and why. </p><p> In addition to these theoretical analyses and empirical tests, 42 professional designers, engineers, and managers were interviewed at the beginning and end of the study to help establish background context for the research, recommend what green design methods to analyze, validate survey responses, and test for longer-term impact of workshops. They valued a wide range of design practices for several different reasons; some design practices were valued for both sustainability and innovation. Differences in responses from sustainable design experts versus traditional design practitioners showed how specialized skills help sustainable design; this implied design teams should not merely use standard design practices while thinking green thoughts. Multiple respondents mentioned the value of combining green design practices with both each other and traditional design practices. The interviews also investigated how design professionals measure innovation, though they were surprisingly resistant to the idea of quantifying it. Interviews also investigated who can best lead sustainability in design teams, why sustainability might provide business value, and how adoption of sustainability might best be driven in design teams. </p><p> This study&rsquo;s results should help designers, engineers, product managers, and others who create our material world to practice sustainable design more effectively. It can help practitioners mindfully choose and combine golden tools from various green design toolboxes to build a better world while building business value.</p><p>

<p> This research aimed to deepen understanding about effective Montessori teachers and broaden the context of the topic by examining aligning Montessori theory with Indigenous theory and sustainability theory. The research was guided by an Indigenous research paradigm and involved using appreciative inquiry and tapping into the wisdom of experienced Montessori educators, considered as coresearchers and elders. Using Bohm&rsquo;s dialogue process, six small groups of elders pondered together about the essence of Montessori and their insights about teachers who effectively implement the Montessori concept. The total of 20 coresearchers concluded that the essence of Montessori was when Montessori became a way of life, a process, coresearchers believed, is lifelong. The elders determined effective Montessori teachers are those who can apply the Montessori concept in their classroom. Key attributes of effective Montessori teachers included ability to trust, exercise keen observation skills, and develop mindfulness. One insight offered for teacher educators included allowing more time for adult learners to practice implementation of the theory. For administrators, elders believed that teachers&rsquo; development unfolds just as students&rsquo; and requires in-kind support. Findings help inform prospective and current Montessori teachers, teacher educators, and school administrators. Findings show an alignment between Maria Montessori&rsquo;s educational theory and how it is practiced, reveal the complex nature of the Montessori concept, and indicate Montessori education fosters a sustainability mindset. </p><p>

<p> Southern pine (SP) lumber is the primary softwood material in the United States. The main procedure during lumber grading process is the identification of the strength reducing characteristics that impacts the modulus of rupture (MOR). Non-destructive evaluation technology can be used to identify higher-stiffness material. This study investigated the use of vibration methods to evaluate the mechanical properties of southern pine lumber. Significant correlations between the properties determined by non-destructive techniques and the static MOE were found. No strong correlations were found for MOR because it is related to the ultimate strength of material, often associated with the existence of localized defects, such as a knot. Non-destructive measurements, visual characteristics, and lumber density were used as independent variables. Linear models were constructed to indirectly estimate the MOE and MOR. The variables selected was dynamic modulus of elasticity (dMOE) to predict MOE. Adding density and knot diameter ratio to the model it was possible to develop a prediction model for MOR. It was possible to improve predictability of strength (MOR) with a combination of non-destructive and knot evaluation.</p><p>

<p> Sustainable land use practices are redefining the urban form, mobility and therefore the transportation planning processes. Regional travel demand models are not sensitive to variables associated with land use practices at neighborhood level, such as transit-oriented developments (TOD). The first objective of this research is to quantify and compare land-use specific emission footprints at the household level (grams/household) for TOD and Non-TOD areas. Household travel survey data is used to stratify households into various TOD and Non-TOD zones. A comparison of means for emission footprints between Non-TOD and TOD land uses indicated that Non-TOD emission footprints are much higher than the TOD footprints and the differences are statistically significant. On the other hand, the differences amongst pairs of TODs and pairs of Non-TODs showed no statistical significance. </p><p> As its second major objective, the research proposes a disaggregate methodology (the Methodology) that is sensitive enough to sustainable land use policies and allows planners to quantify emission impacts of the policies at sub-regional level. At the center of the Methodology is a sub-regional travel demand model with finer TAZ resolution than what is represented in the regional model for the same sub-region. Different land use scenarios, including TODs, and transit patronages are represented in the experimental implementation of the Methodology for Loudoun County, VA, which is a rapidly growing suburban county in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area. Loudoun County&rsquo;s brisk growth, its emphasis on sustainable land use and transportation planning, and recent expansion of Metro rail service in to the County presented a unique opportunity to develop and experiment with TOD scenarios in the end-to-end (from planning to modeling) implementation of the Methodology. The effectiveness of the Methodology is demonstrated by the results, which show that emission reductions can be achieved by sustainable land use policy implementation at sub regional level. Furthermore, unlike the regional models, the Methodology is found to adequately model sensitivity of emissions to land use, area type and facility type as established by statistical validation using analysis of variance technique.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

4 pp. / Originally published: 2010 / While individuals may make conscious, life-style choices that promote sustainability, such as eating locally-grown food or driving a hybrid vehicle, the responsibility of “the greatest good for the greatest number” often rests squarely in the hands of local government. Often local government needs to be involved when dealing with issues that affect the community as a whole. At the same time, engaging with one’s local government may seem daunting and many people believe that there are invisible walls between the citizens of a community and their elected or public officials. However, our state and federal constitutions require transparency and access to government. This fact sheet describes the opportunities for citizens to participate directly with their local government. Revised 9/2016; Originally published 11/2010

The core aim of this research is to explore the communication processes of the Transition movement, a community-led global social movement as it adapted in a local context. The Transition movement facilitates community -led responses to the current global financial and climate crisis via the Transit ion Network, an online network that began in 2006, and is comprised of more than 2000 initiatives in 35 countries that have used the Transition model to start projects that use small scale solutions to achieve greater sustainability. This research uses qualitative ethnographic methods and a theoretical framework based on actor network theory to better understand how the movement's grand narratives of "climate change" and "peak oil" are communicated into local community-based stories, responses, and actions toward sustainability, and secondly, to analyze the multilayered communication processes that facilitate these actions toward sustainable social change. Transition projects address a wide range of issues, including reducing dependency on peak-oil, creating community based local economies, supporting sustainable food production and consumption, building efficient transportation, housing, and more diverse and inclusive education. The Transition model provides a participatory communication framework laid out in specific stages for communities to begin this process. The popularity of the model coincides with an increase in the interest in and use of the term "sustainability" by media, academics and policymakers around the world, and an increase in the global use of digital technology as a resource for information gathering and sharing. Thus this study situates itself at the intersections of a global environmental and economic crisis, the popularization of the term "sustainability," and an increasingly digitized a nd networked global society in order to better understand how social change is contextualized and facilitated in a local community via a global network. From the findings, I argue that although the model's rapid growth can be attributed, in part, to an appealing narrative that reframes more traditional environmental movement discourse into solutions-based community focused actions, the movement would do well to develop more organized communication processes around connecting with and recognizing other people and groups who share similar values and goals, and around defining and creating the space for consistent and efficient leaders. This study also reveals that members of Transition Amherst had mixed feelings about the group's success and this was attributed to a wide range of interpretations of the model and the purpose it serves, particularly in towns where the ideology of Transition has already, to some extent, been adopted.

This dissertation examines state-society relationships in Turkey through the lens of efforts to promote sustainable development at the local level. To this end, it first lays out a theoretical framework to analyze the political economy of local sustainable development, for which purpose the Gramscian state theory and its applications to the political economy of the environment are deployed. The dissertation thus situates the local social-economic-environmental processes within the making of state hegemony and the uneven impacts of state behavior on the society. The dissertation employs two case studies, each based on extensive qualitative study and quantitative data from the administration of representative surveys to operationalize this framework. At both case study sites, Sultan Sazligˇi and Köprülü Kanyon, the Turkish state made explicit efforts to implement sustainable development through projects funded by the Global Environmental Facility, but failed to do so. In analyzing the reasons for failure, the dissertation documents how the Turkish state’s hegemonic practices, interacting with local power inequalities, undercut the implementation of sustainable development. It further reveals how inequalities are perpetuated by the failure of sustainable development and how they, in turn, prove to be impediments on sustainable development implementation at the local level. The dissertation also provides a critical lens through which community-based schemes, including co-governance and participatory management, can be examined. It highlights, in particular, the role of local inequalities and anticipations shaped by the state by conducting an econometric study. It demonstrates the different channels through which exclusion from decision-making operates, impeding the democratic functioning of these institutions and undermining efforts to promote sustainable development.

Despite Africa's significant legislative and institutional framework developments, collective bargaining remains underdeveloped. As a contribution to the theoretical discourse on collective bargaining in South Africa, this thesis addresses the question: In what ways can collective bargaining support the viability of corporations while securing employment in the changing world of work? It suggests a need to look into various aspects that contribute to business sustainability within the collective bargaining landscape, which is adequately linked to job security, growth, the development of businesses, and strengthening industrial relations. The study adopted a qualitative research method to outline and combine such aspects using doctrinal, open-ended research questionnaires (based on desktop research) and comparative research methods. The thesis further contributes to an understanding that employers and employees have conflicting interests in employment relations. The thesis argues that while businesses seek to make returns, employees also seek fair wages to satisfy their human needs. The findings further show that collective bargaining plays a vital role in the sustainability of a business by negotiating in good faith and recognising and reconciling various parties' interests. Additionally, collective bargaining can be used by employers and employees to ease the movement of skills development in the changing world of work in which the partnership between humans and machines is inevitable because the growing adoption of artificial intelligence will shape the future of work. The purpose of this thesis is to give clarity as to how collective bargaining can continue to serve its purpose in the changing world of work. To this end, the thesis is valuable in that it contributes to a deeper understanding of other relevant aspects of collective bargaining in the world of work.

Conventional approaches to evaluating international development programmes undervalue the local contexts within which development initiatives occur. Programmes are most often assessed according to economic criteria, which do not fully represent the aspirations and concerns of community members. Consequently, formal development evaluations are poor reflections of a programme's total influence on the social organisation of communities and the daily lives of community members. Two objectives guided my research. The first was to develop an approach to evaluating rural development programmes, at the level of individual communities, which was more sensitive to indigenous social contexts and priorities than are conventional approaches. My second objective was to demonstrate the utility of this new approach by using it to evaluate the influence of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) initiatives on Shimshal community, Pakistan. The first objective was theoretical; the second, empirical. The study begins by addressing the initial objective with two major theoretical points. First, draw from the critical social theory of Habermas to develop the concept of community sustainability, which I offer as a universally acceptable standard against which to evaluate the results of development programmes. Community sustainability is defined as follows: (a) a universally desirable, ideal state; (b) in which community members' shared norms and supporting institutions are established consensually; (c) where decisions are validated according to those shared norms within accepted institutions; and (d) where those norms and institutions, and changes to them, are supported through time by the material resources available to the community. According to this conception programmes should be evaluated in tenns of their influence on community decision making processes, and not on specific technical innovations. Second, I employ Matthews' sociological work to suggest that we can evaluate the contribution of development programmes to community sustainability by examining their influence on decision making in four areas of organisation: social, political, economic, and ecological. These, when integrated with the larger concept of community sustainability, facilitate the identification and definition of four categories according to which community sustainability can be empirically evaluated: social vitality, political validity, economic viability, and ecological volition. I applied this framework to interpreting the nature of sustainability in Shimshal community, in northern Pakistan, and to evaluating the influence of an initiative by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme to create village organisations in Shimshal. Two main research strategies were employed. First, I analysed historical and contemporary texts to provide the following contextual understandings: (a} Shimshalis' formal interpretation of their community; (b) outsiders' historical and contemporary perspectives on Shimshal; (c) the history of community sustainability in Hunza (of which Shimshal is a part) over the past two centuries; and (d) the objectives and achievements of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in the villages of northern Pakistan. Second, I engaged in seven months of ethnographic fieldwork in the community of Shimshal. Field notes collected during my two visits were coded along two dimensions: (a} into four theoretically-derived categories (social, political, economic or ecological); and (b} into inductive categories, each of which represented some theme or narrative of Shimshali lived experience {eg. formal education} relating to the creation of AKRSP village organisations. These two dimensions of analysis integrate in an interpretation that utilises small case studies to assess the influence of AKRSP initiatives on the sustainability of Shimshal's four areas of social organisation. This process of evaluation reveals that Shimshal has become more sustainable in the past half decade because village organisations created by the AKRSP have facilitated an increasingly consensual form of decision making within an increasingly rationalised culture and society. That AKRSP village organisations have facilitated this change is due mainly to the social and cultural context of Shimshal, particularly an indigenous tendency toward community autonomy and collective decision making. The study's significance relates to its initial objectives. First, the approach to evaluating agency development I advanced improves on conventional approaches to programme evaluation, and also contributes to the evaluation of social change more generally. Second, the application of this evaluation approach to AKRSP development in Shimshal contributes to AKRSP's practical understanding of the influence of its endeavours in Shimshal, and provides guidance for improving development efforts in Shimshal and elsewhere within its programme area. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)