Os instrumentos de controle ambiental têm sido estudados nas ciências da engenharia ambiental durante décadas, muitas vezes sendo bem sucedidos no sentido de fomentar boas práticas, desenvolver novas tecnologias e prestar auxílio na preservação dos recursos naturais e serviços ecossistêmicos associados. No entanto, a despeito do acúmulo de conhecimento decorrente, diversos campos de aplicação prática das ciências ambientais naturais têm produzido poucos efeitos objetivos, a despeito das tecnologias, diretrizes e normas técnicas e legais encontrarem-se acessíveis. Nesse sentido, faz-se oportuna a busca por possíveis soluções em campos de interface com outras ciências, inclusive aquelas que se distinguem em objeto de estudo e método de abordagem. Para oferecer um panorama mais abrangente dos desafios existentes, a presente dissertação recorreu ao auxílio da dimensão sociológica para explicar elementos do processo de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental - AIA realizada no Estado de São Paulo. Na abordagem, é proposta explicação para identificação das influências que se incorrem no processo de tomada de decisão. Com base na investigação e transposição de modelo da Teoria da Estruturação, da escola de pensamento do sociólogo britânico Anthony Giddens, pôde-se reconhecer com significativa aderência os diferentes elementos da estrutura preconizados pela teoria e se identificar a dinâmica que ocorre nas \'arenas de decisão\' da AIA. Com grande teor de informalidade e emprego de regras cotidianas tácitas, tais arenas funcionam como \'amortecedores\' da tensão existente entre os diferentes atores que dela participam, tornando a dinâmica do processo decisório dependente de diferentes tipos de regras e recursos. Acredita-se que a elucidação de \'forças\' não estudadas nas ciências naturais pode ser fator-chave para melhor efetividade na aplicação do conhecimento em defesa do meio ambiente. / Instruments for environmental control have been studied in environmental engineering sciences for decades, often being successful at encouraging best practices, development of new technologies and assistance in the preservation of natural resources and associated ecosystem services. However, despite the accumulation of knowledge that has occurred, several fields of practical application of natural environmental sciences have produced few objective effects, regardless of the technologies, technical guidelines and technical and legal regulations being accessible. In this sense, it is opportune to search for possible solutions in the interface with other fields of science, including those that differ in subject and method of approach. To provide a more comprehensive picture of existing challenges, this dissertation used the help of sociological dimension to explain elements of the Environmental Impact Assessment - EIA process held in São Paulo. In this approach, it is proposed an explanation for influences that are incurred in the decisionmaking process. Based on the research and implementation of the Theory of Structuration, the school of thought of the British sociologist Anthony Giddens, we could recognize significant compliance with the different elements predicted by the theoretical framework and could identify the dynamics that occurs in \'decision\'s arenas\' of EIA. With high content of informality and use of everyday unspoken rules, such arenas function as \'shock absorbers\' of the tension between the different actors participating in it, making decision-making dependent on the dynamics of different types of resources and rules. It is believed that the elucidation of \'forces\' not studied in the natural sciences can be a key factor for better effectiveness in the application of knowledge in defense of the environment.

Os instrumentos de controle ambiental têm sido estudados nas ciências da engenharia ambiental durante décadas, muitas vezes sendo bem sucedidos no sentido de fomentar boas práticas, desenvolver novas tecnologias e prestar auxílio na preservação dos recursos naturais e serviços ecossistêmicos associados. No entanto, a despeito do acúmulo de conhecimento decorrente, diversos campos de aplicação prática das ciências ambientais naturais têm produzido poucos efeitos objetivos, a despeito das tecnologias, diretrizes e normas técnicas e legais encontrarem-se acessíveis. Nesse sentido, faz-se oportuna a busca por possíveis soluções em campos de interface com outras ciências, inclusive aquelas que se distinguem em objeto de estudo e método de abordagem. Para oferecer um panorama mais abrangente dos desafios existentes, a presente dissertação recorreu ao auxílio da dimensão sociológica para explicar elementos do processo de Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental - AIA realizada no Estado de São Paulo. Na abordagem, é proposta explicação para identificação das influências que se incorrem no processo de tomada de decisão. Com base na investigação e transposição de modelo da Teoria da Estruturação, da escola de pensamento do sociólogo britânico Anthony Giddens, pôde-se reconhecer com significativa aderência os diferentes elementos da estrutura preconizados pela teoria e se identificar a dinâmica que ocorre nas \'arenas de decisão\' da AIA. Com grande teor de informalidade e emprego de regras cotidianas tácitas, tais arenas funcionam como \'amortecedores\' da tensão existente entre os diferentes atores que dela participam, tornando a dinâmica do processo decisório dependente de diferentes tipos de regras e recursos. Acredita-se que a elucidação de \'forças\' não estudadas nas ciências naturais pode ser fator-chave para melhor efetividade na aplicação do conhecimento em defesa do meio ambiente. / Instruments for environmental control have been studied in environmental engineering sciences for decades, often being successful at encouraging best practices, development of new technologies and assistance in the preservation of natural resources and associated ecosystem services. However, despite the accumulation of knowledge that has occurred, several fields of practical application of natural environmental sciences have produced few objective effects, regardless of the technologies, technical guidelines and technical and legal regulations being accessible. In this sense, it is opportune to search for possible solutions in the interface with other fields of science, including those that differ in subject and method of approach. To provide a more comprehensive picture of existing challenges, this dissertation used the help of sociological dimension to explain elements of the Environmental Impact Assessment - EIA process held in São Paulo. In this approach, it is proposed an explanation for influences that are incurred in the decisionmaking process. Based on the research and implementation of the Theory of Structuration, the school of thought of the British sociologist Anthony Giddens, we could recognize significant compliance with the different elements predicted by the theoretical framework and could identify the dynamics that occurs in \'decision\'s arenas\' of EIA. With high content of informality and use of everyday unspoken rules, such arenas function as \'shock absorbers\' of the tension between the different actors participating in it, making decision-making dependent on the dynamics of different types of resources and rules. It is believed that the elucidation of \'forces\' not studied in the natural sciences can be a key factor for better effectiveness in the application of knowledge in defense of the environment.

An ontology describing the constructs and their inter-relationships for business models has recently been built and evaluated: the Business Model Ontology (BMO). This ontology has been used to conceptually power a popular practitioner visual design tool: the Business Model Canvas (BMC). However, implicitly these works assume that designers of business models all have a singular normative goal: the creation of businesses that are financially profitable. These works perpetuate beliefs and businesses that do not create outcomes aligned with current natural and social science knowledge about long term individual human, societal and ecological flourishing, i.e. outcomes are not strongly sustainable. This limits the applicability and utility of these works. This exploratory research starts to overcome these limitations: creating knowledge of what is required of businesses for strongly sustainable outcomes to emerge and helping business model designers efficiently create high quality (reliable, consistent, effective) strongly sustainable business models. Based on criticism and review, this research project extends the BMO artefact to enable the description all the constructs and their inter-relationships related to a strongly sustainable business model. This results in the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology (SSBMO). To help evaluate the SSBMO a practitioner visual design tool is also developed: the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas (SSBMC). Ontological engineering (from Artificial Intelligence), Design Science and Systems Thinking methodological approaches were combined in a novel manner to create the Systemic Design Science approach used to build and evaluate the SSBMO. Comparative analysis, interviews and case study techniques were used to evaluate the utility of the designed artefacts. Formal 3rd party evaluation with 7 experts and 2 case study companies resulted in validation of the overall approaches used and the utility of the SSBMO. A number of opportunities for improvement, as well as areas for future work, are identified. This thesis includes a number of supplementary graphics included in separate (electronic) files. See “List of Supplementary Materials” for details.