The pursuit of urban sustainability is considered central to sustainable development and is a key objective of the global Sustainable Development Goals (2015) and the New Urban Agenda (2016). This thesis aims to contribute to debates on urban sustainability by providing insights as to the role of actors participating in processes of governing for urban sustainability, with particular focus on the municipal organisation. The thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach to illustrate divergent approaches to governing for urban sustainability, with reference to empirical studies of strategic planning processes in municipalities in selected North-western European countries – Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands. These studies address themes including climate change, sustainable transport and multi-level governance. The thesis provides a broad overview of theoretical discussions related to governing, strategy and planning, the role of actors in governing for urban sustainability, and the particular importance of climate change as a challenge for urban sustainability. A number of research gaps are identified and addressed in two research questions, focusing on the organisation and practice of processes of governing for urban sustainability, and the factors influencing actors participating in such processes. The thesis responds to these research questions with reference to five appended papers, which illustrate different dimensions of governing for urban sustainability. The first paper concerns the organisation of processes to develop energy and climate strategies in Swedish municipalities, and the second paper highlights the experiences of actors participating in such processes. The third paper presents results from a survey illustrating the expectations of stakeholders active in governing transport in the city of Norrköping, Sweden. In the fourth paper, the development and implementation of policies aiming for sustainable transport and urban sustainability in Basel, Switzerland, are discussed. In the final paper, cooperation through transnational municipal networks is explored with reference to the World Ports Climate Declaration, an initiative of the city of Rotterdam. The thesis confirms the presence of five factors – capacity, mandate, resources, scope and will – that shape the “strategy space” of actors and play an important role in conditioning the form and content of processes of governing for urban sustainability. The thesis suggests that the ways in which a municipal organisation perceive and mobilise the five factors will strongly determine the extent of its sustainability strategy space. In sum, municipal organisations and other actors participating in processes of governing for urban sustainability need to mobilise the five factors and expand their strategy space, in order to achieve vertical and horizontal alignment of strategic objectives and facilitate implementation that delivers transformative change.

Despite recent optimism and global initiatives, the implementation of corporate sustainability programs has been slow at best, with less than a third of global companies having developed a clear business case for their approach to sustainability. Presenting numerous award-winning cases and examples from companies such as Unilever, Patagonia, Tumi, DSM and Umicore alongside original ideas based upon 20 years of consulting experience, this book reveals how to design and implement a stronger sense of focus and move sustainability programs forward. This proven combination of purpose, direction and speed is dubbed “Vectoring”. Based upon practitioner cases and data analysis from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Vectoring offers a plain-spoken framework to identify the relative position of companies compared to their peers. The framework and its 4 archetypes deliver insights for practitioners to locate inhibitors and overcome them by providing practical suggestions for process improvements. This includes designing and executing new sustainability programs, embedding the SDGs within company strategy and assessing the impact of sustainability programs on competitiveness and valuation. Offering directions for CFOs to shift companies from integrated reporting to integrated thinking in order to accelerate their sustainability programs, Winning Sustainability Strategies shows how to achieve purpose with profit and how to do well by doing good.

Solving today’s environmental and sustainability challenges requires more than expertise and technology. Effective solutions will require that we engage with other people, wrestle with difficult questions, and learn how to adapt and make confident decisions despite uncertainty. We need new approaches to leadership that empower professionals at all levels to tackle wicked problems and work towards sustainability. Leadership for Sustainability gives readers perspective and skills for promoting creative and collaborative solutions. Blending systems thinking approaches with leadership techniques, it offers dozens of strategies and specific practices that build on the foundation of three main skills: connecting, collaborating, and adapting. Inspiring case studies show how the book’s strategies and principles can be applied to diverse situations: Coordinating the activities of widely dispersed individuals and groups who may not even know they are connected, illustrated by the work of urban planners, local businesses, citizens, and other stakeholders advancing ambitious climate action goals via a Community Energy Plan in Arlington County, Virginia Collaborating with diverse stakeholders to span boundaries despite their differences of opinion, expertise, and culture, as illustrated by the bold actions of a social entrepreneur who transformed the global food service industry with the “plant-forward” movement Adapting to continuous change and confounding uncertainty, as a small nonprofit organization mobilizes partners to tackle poverty, water scarcity, sanitation, and climate change in rural India Readers will come away with a holistic understanding of how to lead from where they are by applying leadership principles and practices to a wide range of wicked situations. While the challenges we face are daunting, the authors argue that these situations present opportunities for creating a more just, healthy, and prosperous world.

“Sustainable strategic management” refers to strategic management policies and processes that seek competitive advantages consistent with a core value of environmental sustainability.This book has been specifically written as a text to augment traditional graduate and undergraduate management courses on strategic management. It fills the need for a strategy text that gives full attention to sustainability and environmental protection. The authors have structured the book to follow the usual order of topics in any standard management text. Sustainable Strategic Management also features an on-going, chapter-by-chapter case study (Eastman Chemical Company) that exemplifies many of the principles of environmentally sound management practices.From creating organizational visions, to formulating goals and strategies, to strategy implementation and evaluation, this book provides readers with new ways of thinking about their organization’s role in the greater society and ecosystem. From the Authors’ Preface:Ours is the first book to integrate sustainability into strategic management. It covers the full gamut of strategic management concepts and processes that would be expected in any quality strategic management book, and it does so in a way that thoroughly weaves sustainability into each and every one of them. Students using this book understand such things as: why reducing materials and energy intensity is an effective functionallevel strategy, why socially differentiated products command premium prices, and why a business ecosystem pursuing a vision of social and ecological responsibility can dominate its market. Further, because the book is relatively short, reasonably priced, and very thorough in its coverage of strategic management concepts and ideas, it can be used either as a stand-alone text for graduate and undergraduate strategic management courses, as a supplement to another book, or as one of a group of short texts.

This book seeks to show the role of sustainability and innovation in the business and productive sector as good strategy to improve performance and contribute to growth and sustainable development through innovative strategies applied to the management process. Different public and private organizations seek to maintain their business and market share, while developing strategies to improve environmental performance through innovation and address new challenges that seek a productive sector responsible on environmental issues. This book offers an analysis of the relationship between sustainability and innovation in production with the aim to offer strategies to improve sustainability performance.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction: a new paradigm for the built environment -- 2 Why regreen the built environment? -- 3 Ecological design, energy, and waste -- 4 Land conservation and preservation -- 5 Auto-alternative transportation: a catalyst for greenspace -- 6 Roadways -- 7 Parking surfaces -- 8 Buildings and rooftops -- 9 Corridors -- 10 Alternative sites -- 11 Implementing green infrastructure -- 12 Concluding remarks -- Index

The Yearbook on Space Policy, edited by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), is the reference publication analysing space policy developments. Each year it presents issues and trends in space policy and the space sector as a whole. Its scope is global and its perspective is European. The Yearbook also links space policy with other policy areas. It highlights specific events and issues, and provides useful insights, data and information on space activities. The first part of the Yearbook sets out a comprehensive overview of the economic, political, technological and institutional trends that have affected space activities. The second part of the Yearbook offers a more analytical perspective on the yearly ESPI theme and consists of external contributions written by professionals with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. The third part of the Yearbook carries forward the character of the Yearbook as an archive of space activities. The Yearbook is designed for government decision-makers and agencies, industry professionals, as well as the service sectors, researchers and scientists and the interested public.