Regenerative Agriculture (RA) is increasingly promoted as a sustainable agri-food solution. Agronomic studies find that RA practices (e.g. cover crops, reduced tillage, crop rotation, and agroforestry) can regulate soil moisture, sequester atmospheric carbon, enhance biodiversity, and reduce the impacts of droughts and floods. Diverse public, private, and civil society initiatives therefore aim to increase farmer adoption of RA. However, empirical knowledge about the social processes underlying transformation to a regenerative food system is limited. Most research has focused on discourse analyses of RA and farmer experiences employing RA practices. While local institutions are recognized as potentially vital to facilitating RA transformations, there is a lack of empirical research documenting how institutions work to stimulate RA. This thesis presents a case study of Associacion AlVelAl, a grassroots RA movement based in Southeast Spain. Operating since 2015, AlVelAl has more than 500 members, most of whom are almond farmers. Employing concepts of adaptive capacity and bricolage, I examine the social innovations and institutional network that AlVelAl has built to nurture a RA transformation in the region. Specifically, I ask how does AlVelAl navigate sociocultural, ecological, and political-economic contexts at different scales to amplify the transformative potential of its social innovations? I conducted nine weeks of grounded research, involving participation at 7 events and interviews with 16 local actors who included AlVelAl employees, farmer members, and collaborators. My findings suggest that RA transformations depend on enabling farmers while also advancing systemic change. My study answers calls to identify strategies that can amplify adaptive capacity’s potential to generate transformational change. I point to four strategies that AlVelAl relies upon to translate RA practices into contextually-feasible steps for farmers and to mobilize collective action from diverse actors: 1) leveraging synergies among social innovations, 2) social mobilization through a vision for a desired future, 3) employing social-ecological relational thinking, and 4) adopting a systemic cross-scale approach.

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[pt] Esta é uma dissertação de design de serviços para a inovação social e a sustentabilidade que tem como objetivo compreender e fortalecer as iniciativas coletivas produzidas por seis hortas comunitárias situadas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Para tanto, utiliza como metodologia uma revisão de literatura baseada no design e na inovação social, em práticas colaborativas de design e no design de serviços e, ainda, em atividades de campo como entrevistas, a observação participante e diários de pesquisa. Foram desenvolvidos dois exercícios de design de serviços: o primeiro partindo de um processo de design especialista e o segundo de um processo de codesign em uma horta comunitária no qual se utilizou o método Dragon Dreaming. Os resultados foram favoráveis para o desenvolvimento de processos colaborativos dentro das iniciativas das hortas, que já se sustentam de forma coletiva. O processo de codesign deu origem a dois projetos que podem ser desenvolvidos futuramente e ainda contribuiu para que mais encontros e processos coletivos sejam gerados dentro das hortas. O tempo foi um dos fatores limitantes para que a prática de codesign não fosse desenvolvida nesta pesquisa. O estudo comprovou que os processos colaborativos de design são o fio condutor dentro de práticas coletivas e que o codesign é uma prática que pode sustentar os processos para as atividades das hortas comunitárias. / [en] This is a designing services research for social innovation and sustainability and aims to understand and strengthen the collective initiatives produced from six community gardens. A literature review based on social design and innovation, collaborative design practices and service design was used as a methodology, and field activities such as interviews, participant observation and research journals were used as methodology. Two service design exercises were developed: the first part of an expert design process and a second from a codesign process in a community garden using the Dragon Dreaming method. The results were favorable for the development of collaborative processes within the garden initiatives that are already being supported collectively. The codesign process gave rise to two projects that can be developed in the future and also contributed to generate more meetings and collective processes within the gardens. The time was one of the limiting factors so that the practice of codesign was not developed in this research. The study proved that collaborative design processes are the guiding thread within collective practices and that codesign is the practice that can sustain processes for community garden activities.

The purpose of this paper was to support in the unraveling of the various complexities problematizing the concept of social innovation. The concept, generally understood as those innovations that serve to solve societal and social issues, is plagued by ambiguity and weak conceptualization which makes empirical studies difficult. To achieve the paper’s goal a concept analysis, a form of qualitative text analysis method based in philosophy and deductive hermeneutics, was performed. The results of the study were a new definition of social innovation that synthesizes previous definitions of social innovation as a multi-dimensional construct and ideas of social innovation being motivated by altruistic ideals. This new definition strikes a balance between specificity and generality by combining a variation of nuanced conceptual attributes with a clear distinction from the similar, economically motivated market innovations, including those market innovations that, with or without intention, also creates public value and helps combatting societal issues.

Set in the sustainable urban development context, the purpose of this work is to depict cycling as a powerful mean to improve social, environmental and economic conditions in our cities. Moving from a qualitative analysis, the work has been conducted by analyzing a series of initiatives that take place in Malmö (Sweden) aimed at raising cycling awareness and practices. The city serves as a model for discussing sustainable development in general.The results show that, even when practicing good cycling policies, public authorities need to adopt broader and more inclusive approaches in order to avoid inconsistencies and divergences. In the diversity of urban cycling dynamics, learning processes and social innovation thrive: if on one hand they help to fill gaps left by public policies, helping to overcome hindrances in cycling promotion, on the other they also set the possibility for a progress in economic and social urban life.

The thesis research question originated form an interest in experiments with web and social media tools, and explores in what ways these kinds of communicative and collaborative media could facilitate opening dialogue among citizens and various actors present in the area of Malmö.The research approach deemed most suitable for the selected area is a combination of a participatory design methodology and ethnographic research. During the fieldwork phase different use situations were investigated through interviews, surveys and case studies. The purpose of the investigation was mapping the different stakeholders who operate to solve these problems engaging the residents. The modalities of communication of Malmö municipality and its non-profit organizations have been analysed. The results were compared with other researches in the fields.To understand the motives behind the users’ behaviour, the reasons for active and non- active participation have been investigated, especially those related to social media. Between a form of passive and active engagement a different form of engagement has been identified, that could include the mixed user group of individuals who are interested in being gradually involved in volunteering; having different level of indirect engagement can facilitate these users in “taking the first step” to participate.The concept was developed as a Facebook App in collaboration with Frivilligcentra. The app will allow the users to define their own engagement path, dividing every local volunteering event in tasks, with different levels of involvement. Overall it may define a new flexibility in the non-profit sector- in the sense of time, place, diversification of the experience, engagement - which could demonstrate that with the support of online tools organizations and users can interact better.

This is a project to design digital technologies to promote uses of public spaces challenging the social religion of productivism + consumerism. Instead I celebrate participative leisure, free time, political involvement and social relationships. Digital artefacts for what I'm calling the "unproductive city". The goal is to incorporate a different set of values where the “paid work” is not as relevant in our life as it is today.The project is focused on life in cities and works with the integration of computing technologies into everyday urban settings and lifestyles. What it is called “urban informatics”.Participative processes as well as user center design have guided the design. It comprehends different services and activities: A collaborative urban jukebox, exercises with locative media, participative design as a leisure activity, technological infrastructures for meetings and game design for public spacesThese activities are examples and explorations to find future challenges and different ways to design technologies for the unproductive city.

Yes / Corporate Social Innovation (CSI) has emerged as a research priority for multinational enterprises (MNEs) due to the increasing popularity of sustainable development solutions addressing wicked problems in the 21st century. Although most studies on CSI have focused on data from developed economies, emphasising the younger generation's forward-looking, sustainable, and environmentally friendly attitudes, there exists a gap in our understanding of the attitude of the older generation towards CSI practices of MNEs operating in emerging economies. The UN's SDG 3 advocates for the well-being of all at all ages. Despite this, healthcare outcomes in global-south countries fall below standard. Therefore, we conducted an in-depth critical analysis of textual data concerning CSI practices of 115 healthcare MNEs operating in 13 emerging economies. We quantified the number of CSI practices in their annual reports and operationalised the dependent variable using an entropy index to calculate the density and percentage score of CSI. Drawing on Upper Echelons, our analysis revealed that older CEOs are likelier to promote, initiate, and implement CSI in greater depth and breadth. These findings present a compelling case supporting the argument that CEOs and board members tend to contribute more to society as they age. We offer empirical evidence supporting the strengthening roles of senior board members and female board chairs. Our findings complement existing CSI studies from developed countries and illustrate how CEO and board characteristics influence the depth and breadth of CSI in emerging economies. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo, 12 months after publication.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-12-23T14:53:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Christiane Balzaretti Bordin_.pdf: 6544781 bytes, checksum: 984d3e13ec1746b3ce0d74d0ad94bdbc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-23T14:53:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Christiane Balzaretti Bordin_.pdf: 6544781 bytes, checksum: 984d3e13ec1746b3ce0d74d0ad94bdbc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-23 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho estuda as características da inovação social e suas possíveis analogias com o Evento Natal Luz, realizado anualmente no Município de Gramado, tendo como alusão principal a teoria da estruturação de Anthony Giddens. A sociedade passa por fortes tensões sociais e cada vez mais se constitui um enfraquecimento dos avanços econômicos e sociais dos indivíduos, que não são solucionadas pelas organizações, sejam elas públicas ou privadas. Apesar de toda boa intenção dos governos de proporcionar esta melhoria e bem-estar, existe ainda uma lacuna muito grande, pois as políticas públicas promovidas não conseguem atingir todos os problemas de desigualdades. Neste contexto, surge a inovação social que contempla a cooperação e a inclusão dos agentes envolvidos, com a qual cria atitudes, ações novas e princípios duradouros perante o todo. Atribui a uma sociedade, uma natureza não mercantil, um caráter coletivo e uma intenção que transforma relações sociais. Emerge como ferramenta de mudança alternativa para implantar soluções para problemas sociais através de ações duradouras. Passa a ter importância no contexto social mundial com objetivo de agregar interesses comunitários não factíveis, insere novos sistemas eficientes, busca resolver ou amenizar problemas de gestão e de necessidades básicas dos agentes envolvidos. Apresenta-se como uma manifestação do sujeito, que supõe o desejo de transformação através de políticas voltadas à inclusão de pessoas em uma base territorial. O conceito de inovação social apresenta-se com foco na organização, no indivíduo e na territorialidade. Os dados coletados nas entrevistas sugerem que os elementos econômicos, culturais e sociais favorecem o desenvolvimento do município, segundo a lógica da teoria da estruturação. O Evento Natal Luz apresenta-se, neste estudo, como forma de encontrar soluções de impacto positivo através da autossustentabilidade proporcionando melhoria da qualidade de vida. / This paper studies the social innovation features and their likely analogies towards the Enlightened Christmas Event held annually in Gramado having as its main reference Anthony Gidden’s Theory of Structuration. Society goes through severe social stress and each time more it causes the weakening of the economical and social advancements of the individuals, which are not solved by organizations, whether they are public or private. Despite the government good will to provide the improvement and well being, there is still a very big gap, for the public policies promoted can’t manage to reach all the problems of inequality. In this context, there comes the social innovation which contemplates the cooperation and inclusion of the agents involved, which creates attitude, new actions and lasting principles before the whole. The social innovation attributes to society a non-mercantile nature, a collective character, and an intention which transforms social relations. It emerges as a tool of alternative change to implement solutions through permanent actions. It begins to matter in the world social context aiming to aggregate non-factile community interests, inserts new efficient systems, tries to solve or softens management issues and the basic needs of agents involved. Social innovation presents itself as a manifestation of the individual, who supposedly wishes the transformation through policies with the focus on inclusion of people in a territorial basis. The concept of social innovation features with focus on organization, on the individual and on the territoriality. The data gathered in the interviews suggest that the economical, cultural and social factors, favor the development of the county according to the logic of the Theory of Structuration. The Enlightened Christmas Event is presented in this study, as a way of finding positive impact solutions through the self sustainability providing improvement in the quality of life.