Backcasting

In this study we are asking ourselves whether ■Systems Dynamic Modelling■ can be combined with ■Backcasting from Sustainability Principles■ to support strategic planning towards sustainability. From the perspective of a ■Backcasting Practitioner■, ■Systems Dynamic Modelling■ is a set of tools that help gaining insight into the detailed functioning of a given system, but lacks the ability to support strategic planning towards sustainability ■ unless complemented with a satisfactory goal definition. ■Backcasting from Sustainability Principles■, in the eyes of a ■Systems Modeller■, is the planning step of a learning loop that also includes action implementation and follow-up. Since no dynamic modelling takes place this methodology typically produces laundry lists of isolated problems and solutions, thereby missing potentially important feedback loops, delays, hidden problems and suitable intervention points in the system.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise a new mobility reality for People with Disabilities (PWDs) by offering more possibilities for their inclusion into modern transport systems. When considering AVs’ dissemination for PWDs is related to different types and features of disabilities. Via a scientometric and integrative review, this paper proposes a research agenda on the feld of AVs and PWDs. The search and analyses were based on papers indexed on Scopus, having resulted in a total of 294 articles. This database was chosen since it contains a larger number of records when compared to other academic databases, but mainly by yielding more complete metadata to be used on bibliometric analytical software. The articles were collected in a single search. As for the main results, research on AVs and PWDs is concentrated in Europe (mainly in the Netherlands), Asia, and United States. The research agenda provides a guidance for researchers in AVs, human disabilities, and transport inclusion. It was possible to envisage some principles: proper communication with PWDs about transport technologies along with the industry; engagement with users or PWDs consumers with interactive technologies, and adequate regulations of accessibility and safety. The main contributions of this study were: to delineate a landscape of the past research on AVs and PWDs, and to envision a research agenda on this subject. Another important contribution was to observe that some benefts of AVs applicable for PWDs could be also applied to the elderly. Therefore, the elaboration of new technologies on transport must be inclusive and interactive.

Reconnecting society with its ecological roots; Page 2 social, technological, environmental, economic and political terms. Recommendations for interventions in complex social-ecological systems are cross-sectoral in scope and will necessarily entail multiple agents of change, well beyond governmental leadership, within any given sphere of societal activity and interest. We identify strategic challenges for, and between, a spectrum of societal policy areas, many currently overlooking ecosystem dependencies, impacts and potential benefits. Reflections on the collaborative learning approach are also provided.

Backcasting has been widely used for developing energy futures. This paper explores the potential for using industrial ecology to guide the development of energy futures within a backcasting framework. Building on the backcasting work of Robinson [1], a seven step method is presented to embed industrial ecology principles within the development and assessment of future scenarios and transition paths toward them. The approach is applied to the case of backcasting regional energy futures in the Latrobe Valley, near Melbourne, Australia. This region has substantial brown coal deposits which are currently mined and used in coal-fired power stations to generate electricity. Bounded by a sustainability vision for the region in a carbon-constrained world, regional industrial ecologies in 2050 were backcast around three themes: bioindustries and renewables (no coal usage); electricity from coal with carbon capture and storage (low to high coal usage); and coal to products such as hydrogen, ammonia, diesel, methanol, plastics and char (demonstrating medium to high overall coal use relative to current levels). Potential environmental, technological, sociopolitical and economic impacts of each scenario across various life cycle stages were characterised. Results offer a platform for regional policy development to underpin deliberation on a preferred future by the community, industry and other stakeholders. Industrial ecology principles were found to be useful in backcasting for creatively articulating alternative futures featuring industrial symbiosis. However, enabling the approach to guide implementation of sustainable transition pathways requires further development and would benefit from integration within the Strategic Sustainable Development framework of Robèrt and colleagues [2].

ion to some moral dilemmas. Since, a growing number of environmental ethicists have become dissatisfied with the limits of monistic theory, as atypical operating mode in the field of environmental ethics. This growing awareness led many philosophers to develop a pragmatic agenda for environmental ethics by proffering approaches which in turn will shift the focus of investigation to a more practical decision making process about the multiple values at play in specific matters of environmental policy. In this connection, philosophers such as Weston, Light and Norton made significant contributions to the surging tides to bring about apragmatic turn in environmental ethics. 22 Pragmatic environmental ethics seeks to reform and solve environmental problems through policy deliberation and public decision making. But the reconstructions result into fundamental challenges to the traditional preoccupations of the field. But, many scholars are convinced that a pragmatic approach to the role o...

There is a growing interest in the use of fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) as a participatory method for understanding social-ecological systems (SESs). In recent years, FCM has been used in a diverse set of contexts ranging from fisheries management to agricultural development, in an effort to generate transparent graphical models of complex systems that are useful for decision making, illuminate the core presumptions of environmental stakeholders, and structure environmental problems for scenario development. This increase in popularity is because of FCM's bottom-up approach and its ability to incorporate a range of individual, community-level, and expert knowledge into an accessible and standardized format. Although there has been an increase in the use of FCM as an environmental planning and learning tool, limited progress has been made with regard to the method's relationship to existing resilience frameworks and how the use of FCM compares with other participatory modeling/approaches available. Using case study data developed from community-driven models of the bushmeat trade in Tanzania, we examine the usefulness of FCM for promoting resilience analysis among stakeholders in terms of identifying key state variables that comprise an SES, evaluating alternative SES equilibrium states, and defining desirable or undesirable state outcomes through scenario analysis.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Analysing and evaluating Flood Risk Governance in France: from State Policy to Local Strategies Corinne Larrue, Silvia Bruzzone, Lisa Lévy, Mathilde Gralepois, M Schellenberger, Jean-Baptiste Trémorin, Marie Fournier, Corinne Manson, Thomas Thuillier

Drastic socioeconomic transformation is expected in the course of realizing a low-carbon society in Asian countries, and it will be essential to establish quantitative roadmaps that indicate which options (technologies and policies) need to be introduced or implemented, at what intensity, and by when. The backcasting approach can be an effective means of designing future roadmaps. This approach involves drawing up a target vision to be realized (or avoided), then formulating a roadmap and pathways to satisfy the future target conditions. In this paper, we propose a methodology to create quantitative roadmaps towards a low-carbon society in Asian countries based on the backcasting approach. Our methodology consists of two main steps: (1) formulation of a qualitative roadmap, and (2) design of a quantitative roadmap using a simulation model. In the first step, through an analysis of the barriers that need to be overcome towards realizing the target vision, the required options in the roadmap are specified and mutual relationships among the options are established in temporal order. In the second step, using the AIM/Backcasting Model, CO 2 emission pathways, energy composition and investment profiles are quantitatively determined, and a Gantt chart can also be designed. Finally, in this paper we examine the effectiveness of this approach by describing some results of its application to Japan.

Backcasting is a Futures method that starts with a preferred future and works back to the present, identifying actions over time needed to achieve the preferred future. But there are few specifics in the Backcasting literature on how to develop the pathway that connects a preferred future to the present. This article describes a participatory process for Backcasting that uses a structure similar to the Futures Wheel to develop the pathway from the preferred future back to the present. A case study of U.S. Forest Service organizational planning is used to illustrate the method.

Answering to social issues-How can we build and utilize a backcasting-approach-based open innovation platform? In the present article, we propose a new style of open innovation as an approach to solve unsolved issues "不 (Fu) " of Japanese companies as well as societal issues in Japan ("Fu" of Japanese society) based on a backcasting approach. Also, we introduce the Open Science Platform promoted by Kyushu University as an practical example of such a new open innovation platform.

What effects would it have on German, EU and international climate policy if Trump is re-elected and leaves the Paris Agreement? If the US/China tensions escalate? Or if the European Green Deal were not continued? Climate policy is a multifaceted field characterized by the intricate interplay between domestic, regional, supranational, and international dynamics. Thinking through the plausible future complexities of climate policy requires a comprehensive approach that considers the interconnections and synergies across these different levels. In order to enable such future thinking, two foresight workshops were carried out as part of an internal process within the SWP’s Research Cluster on Climate Policy and Politics. This working paper details how the foresight process enabled structured thinking about complex plausible (rather than probable or desirable) futures, and provided a framework for a discussion of climate policy recommendations that may be robust in the face of a range of such plausible futures.

Majority people of Bangladesh are illiterate and unconscious about their health. They
are unable to understand the importance of their health. They even do not know the
benefits of health precautions which are primarily concerned with food and drinking
water. It is identified from the research that the people have some general and specific
beliefs on health benefits related to drinking water. The beliefs are bottled water is
purer than tap water, health benefits of bottled water are not substantial bottled water
is not properly processed, etc. Therefore, people are hardly enthusiastic to buy and
consume bottled water. On the other hand, research shows that there are some
motivating factors for buying bottled water. These factors are concerned with health
benefits, concerns about tap water, convenience, taste, preference over soft drinks,
bottle itself, status symbol, luxury item, media, and advertising aspects. Given these
observations in mind, this study concentrates only on the beliefs and motivating factors
to buy bottled drinking water. This study is only confined among the university students
who are studying at the private universities located in Dhaka city. A total of 399
students were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and
inferential statistics were used in analyzing data. For identifying the factors relating to
health beliefs and buying decision of bottled water, factor analysis was conducted.
Results show that the students give most importance on safety and taste of the bottled
water whenever they buy. The other factors include media exposure and reputation of
the bottled water, chemical smell, hygienic, concerns about tap water, use as luxury
item or status symbol, advertising by the producer, shape of the bottle (small or
big),and convenience or readily availability of the water. This study suggests that the
producers of bottled water should give importance on the health and hygiene aspects
and promotional factors for promoting their sales in Bangladesh.

Majority people of Bangladesh are illiterate and unconscious about their health. They are unable to understand the importance of their health. They even do not know the benefits of health precautions which are primarily concerned with food and drinking water. It is identified from the research that the people have some general and specific beliefs on health benefits related to drinking water. The beliefs are bottled water is purer than tap water, health benefits of bottled water are not substantial bottled water
is not properly processed, etc. Therefore, people are hardly enthusiastic to buy and consume bottled water. On the other hand, research shows that there are some motivating factors for buying bottled water. These factors are concerned with health benefits, concerns about tap water, convenience, taste, preference over soft drinks, bottle itself, status symbol, luxury item, media, and advertising aspects. Given these
observations in mind, this study concentrates only on the beliefs and motivating factors to buy bottled drinking water. This study is only confined among the university students who are studying at the private universities located in Dhaka city. A total of 399 students were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing data. For identifying the factors relating to
health beliefs and buying decision of bottled water, factor analysis was conducted. Results show that the students give most importance on safety and taste of the bottled water whenever they buy. The other factors include media exposure and reputation of the bottled water, chemical smell, hygienic, concerns about tap water, use as luxury item or status symbol, advertising by the producer, shape of the bottle (small or
big),and convenience or readily availability of the water. This study suggests that the producers of bottled water should give importance on the health and hygiene aspects and promotional factors for promoting their sales in Bangladesh.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, climate change is increasingly considered to be the matter of key strategic importance, especially by local authorities and the academic community. The State development vision is that by 2025 Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) will be a sustainable and progressive 'green economy'. The implementation of measures for the reduction of greenhouse gases emission is an optimal opportunity and a chance to start a technological transition with international professional and financial help. In B&H, through consultative activities, seven priority sectors for the adaptation to climate changes were identified: agriculture, biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems, energy (hydro-energy), forestry, public health, tourism and water resources/water management. Water management and agriculture are considered as main priorities that have a significant impact on other sectors. Having in mind its descriptive character and the characteristic of the problem solving at the very beginning, the backcasting approach is much more convenient for solving long-term problems and for offering long-term sustainable solutions. The aim of this paper is the identification of optimal technologies in the water management sector using the backcasting approach which can be applied in B&H, and their analysis through the TNAssess software to evaluate their acceptability and the possibilities of their use in B&H.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, climate change is increasingly considered to be the matter of key strategic importance, especially by local authorities and the academic community. The State development vision is that by 2025 Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) will be a sustainable and progressive 'green economy'. The implementation of measures for the reduction of greenhouse gases emission is an optimal opportunity and a chance to start a technological transition with international professional and financial help. In B&H, through consultative activities, seven priority sectors for the adaptation to climate changes were identified: agriculture, biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems, energy (hydro-energy), forestry, public health, tourism and water resources/water management. Water management and agriculture are considered as main priorities that have a significant impact on other sectors. Having in mind its descriptive character and the characteristic of the problem solving at the very beginning, the backcasting approach is much more convenient for solving long-term problems and for offering long-term sustainable solutions. The aim of this paper is the identification of optimal technologies in the water management sector using the backcasting approach which can be applied in B&H, and their analysis through the TNAssess software to evaluate their acceptability and the possibilities of their use in B&H.

In the pursuit of a harmonious coexistence between economic growth and environmental sustainability, this paper delves into the intricate realm of "Mathematical Modeling of Dynamic Interactions in Green Energy Transition for Economic and Environmental Sustainability." Building upon the foundational contributions of Polimeni, Mayumi, Giampietro, and Alcott (2008), we navigate a complex mathematical landscape where equations articulate the interplay of energy consumption (E), economic production (P), and carbon emissions (C). As the equations come to life, they illuminate pathways that offer theoretical insights into the intricate dynamics at play. These pathways, shaped by nuanced parameters, provide a theoretical foundation to decipher the complex interactions between renewable technologies, economic growth, and environmental balance. Guided by the perspectives of Edenhofer et al. (2014) and Grubler (1998), we transcend equations to explore the strategic realm where polici...

Ao professor Antônio Diomário de Queiroz: mostrou-me, baseado em princípios éticos e estéticos, uma forma inovadora de conduzir organizações, entre elas a vida. Ao professor Renato de Mello: apresentou-me uma ideia, um projeto de pesquisa, origem desta tese, e me acompanhou, passo a passo, neste projeto de vida. Ao professor Gregório Jean Varvakis Rados: orientou-me e dedicou-se para propiciar o êxito deste trabalho. Ao professor Neri dos Santos: envaideceu-me tê-lo como co-orientador, pois sua participação engrandeceu esta pesquisa. Ao professor Roberto Carlos dos Santos Pacheco: por sua serenidade, seriedade e competência.

Catarina (UDESC) in the Industrial Technology Department. He is the leader of a research group on fuzzy logic and simulation projects. He holds BSc in Civil Engineering and PhD in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of São Paulo, and MSc in Production Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, where he also carried out a Post-Doctoral Program. He has published a book and several articles in the area and can be reached at

The valorisation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) represents a relevant matter for local governments that may result in significant economic and environmental benefits. In particular, defining the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly OFMSW management strategy should be based upon the active involvement of local stakeholders in order to allow policymakers to take into account all possible environmental, social, technological, and financial OFMSW-related problems. In this framework the present chapter aims at outlining a long-term management plan for OFMSW in the case of the southeastern Italian municipality of Foggia. To this end we have employed an adapted participatory backcasting experiment based upon a double-step procedure. By means of a focus group with experts on OFMSW management issues at the municipal level, we firstly identified the desired end point and the relative expected obstacles and opportunities. These were then discussed during a workshop organised with a group of local stakeholders, who identified and proposed all possible actions to be carried out in the short, medium, and long term to reach the identified end point. Such a participatory approach should contribute to reducing the bounded rationality and the subjectivity affecting decision-making processes as well as to broaden the knowledge base and to achieve a greater transparency in the definition of OFMSW management strategies.

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Many contemporary societal challenges manifest themselves in the domain of human-environment interactions. There is a growing recognition that responses to these challenges formulated within current disciplinary boundaries, in isolation from their wider contexts, cannot adequately address them. Here, we outline the need for an integrated, transdisciplinary synthesis that allows for a holistic approach, and, above all, a much longer time perspective. We outline both the need for and the fundamental characteristics of what we call "integrated history." This approach promises to yield new understandings of the relationship between the past, present, and possible futures of our integrated human-environment system. We recommend a unique new focus of our historical efforts on the future, rather than the past, concentrated on learning about future possibilities from history. A growing worldwide community of transdisciplinary scholars is forming around building this Integrated History and future of People on Earth (IHOPE). Building integrated models of past human societies and their interactions with their environments yields new insights into those interactions and can help to create a more sustainable and desirable future. The activity has become a major focus within the global change community.

Sustainable cities have been the leading global paradigm of urbanism. Undoubtedly, sustainable development has, since its widespread diffusion in the early 1990s, positively influenced city planning and development. This pertains to the immense opportunities that have been explored and the enormous benefits that have been realized in relation to sustainable urban forms, especially compact cities and eco-cities. However, such forms are still associated with a number of problems, issues, and challenges. This mainly involves the question of how they should be monitored, understood, analyzed, and planned to improve, advance, and maintain their contribution to sustainability and thus to overcome the kind of wicked problems, unsettled issues, and complex challenges they embody. This in turn brings us to the current question related to the weak connection between and the extreme fragmentation of sustainable cities and smart cities as approaches and landscapes, respectively, despite the proven role of advanced ICT, coupled with the untapped potential of big data technology and its novel applications, in supporting sustainable cities as to enhancing and optimizing their performance under what is labeled "smart sustainable cities." In this respect, there has recently been a conscious push for sustainable cities to become smart and thus more sustainable by particularly embracing what big data technology and its novel applications has to offer in the hopes of reaching the optimal level of sustainability. In the meantime, we are in the midst of an expansion of time horizons in city planning and development. In this context, sustainable cities across the globe have adopted ambitious smart goals that extend far into the future. Essentially, there are multiple visions of, and pathways to achieving, smart sustainable cities based on how they can be conceptualized and operationalized. The aim of this paper is to generate a vision for smart sustainable cities of the future by answering the 6 guiding questions for step 3 of the futures study being conducted. This study aims to analyze, investigate, and develop a novel model for smart sustainable cities of the future using backcasting as a scholarly approach. It involves a series of papers of which this paper is the second one, following the earlier papers with steps 1 and 2. Visionary images of a long-term future can stimulate an accelerated movement towards achieving the long-term goals of sustainability. The proposed model is believed to be the first of its kind and thus has not been, to the best of one's knowledge, produced, nor is it being currently investigated, elsewhere.

A key strength of backcasting is arguably the emphasis it places upon envisaging longer-term distant futures, allowing participants and users to think beyond incremental changes in their current lived experience and to embrace the more radical and disruptive socio-technical changes which may be necessary to deliver sustainability. In so doing, however, backcasting may run the risk of obscuring significant differences in current lived experience, negating alternative problem framings and normatively derived views of what constitutes sustainability. This paper reports an innovative UK attempt to develop an inclusive 'bottom-up' community foresight process for urban sustainability research. Unlike most backcasting studies, the methodology was initially grounded in an exploration of the community participants' current lived experience and understandings of sustainability. Given the particular purpose of the study the primary outcome from the work was structured around the articulation of a 'community-led' agenda for urban sustainability research, rather than an explicit normative vision and transition pathway. However, the methodology could easily be adapted for use in other contexts, and showed potential to contribute to the formation of local 'transition arenas': facilitating network formation and building capacity for local sustainability initiatives and experiments.

Scenarios, roadmaps and similar foresight methods are used to cope with uncertainty in areas with long planning horizons, such as energy policy, and research into the future of hydrogen energy has been no exception. Such studies can play an important role in the development of shared visions of the future: creating powerful expectations of the potential of emerging technologies and mobilising resources necessary for their realisation. This paper reviews the hydrogen futures literature, using a six-fold typology to map the state of the art of scenario construction. The paper then explores the expectations embodied in the literature, through the 'answers' it provides to questions about the future of hydrogen. What are the drivers, barriers and challenges facing the development of a hydrogen economy? What are the key technological building blocks required? In what kinds of futures does hydrogen become important? What does a hydrogen economy look like, how and when does it evolve, and what does it achieve? The literature describes a diverse range of possible futures, from decentralised systems based upon the small-scale renewables, through to centralised systems reliant on nuclear energy or carbon-sequestration. There is a broad consensus that the hydrogen economy emerges only slowly, if all under 'Business as Usual' scenarios. Rapid transitions to hydrogen occur only under conditions of strong governmental support combined with, or as a result of, major 'discontinuities' such as shifts in society's environmental values, 'game changing' technological breakthroughs, or rapid increases in the oil price or speed and intensity of climate change.

While there is a literature on public and stakeholder engagement in environmental research and scenario development, less attention has been given to the learning processes that take place in these contexts. We present public perceptions of emissions contraction scenarios for the UK city of Manchester and discuss this in terms of learning theory developed by Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner. A key theme of this is the combination of three learning tools of use in social and individual learning: scaffolding techniques, scenario building and backcasting. We discuss the ways in which our structured scenario-building process, employing Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Protocol (GRIP) backcasting software, bring together these components. Following Bruner, learners are treated as scientific reasoners, but with the acknowledgement that there are also important affective and other dimensions to learning. Highlights  We reflect on the learning processes of energy scenario participants  GRIP energy-emissions backcasting software was used with 4 groups of the public  The process required envisaging strong CO 2 reduction scenarios for a city region  Key to the theory is Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding, developed by Bruner

Este estudo traz inicialmente uma contextualizacao do aspecto estrategico da criacao do valor compartilhado e sua relacao com a sustentabilidade no contexto social do conceito de triple-bottom-line . A partir deste referencial, trata da relacao entre o alinhamento participativo de stakeholders e do desenvolvimento de uma metodologia de planejamento para a exequibilidade de cenarios futuros almejados alinhados a sustentabilidade, denominado backcasting. Este foi o ponto de partida para a realizacao de um estudo inicial de bibliometria. O estudo foi realizado atraves de dados do banco de dados ISI Web of Knowledge e seu tratamento pelos softwares Sitkis e UCINET. Ao final do estudo sao apresentados resultados de estatistica descritiva com a evolucao das publicacoes mundiais na area e principais redes de relacionamento de autores, citacoes e palavras-chaves.

The lives of young adults on Ameland, a small island off the northern coast of Friesland (the Netherlands), are defined by a particular kind of migratory rhythm between the island and the mainland. This is because all students in the Netherlands are required by the 'leerplicht' (compulsory education) law to finish high school with a so-called 'starting qualification', but the lone school on Ameland does not offer this diploma. For this reason, each year's graduating high school class undertakes the rite of passage of moving to the mainland to finish their education, usually in the nearby city of Leeuwarden. Most live together in Amelander houses in Leeuwarden, where they learn to live as independent adults from a young age, form friendships with Amelanders from other social networks and age cohorts, redefine and strengthen their sense of island identity, and bring these new connections home to the island each weekend. As a result, the social life of Ameland is renewed and remade through weekly acts of leaving and returning. In this multi-sited ethnographic study, we describe young adult mobility on Ameland and its implications for the island's social identity.

So short and so long period of the thesis research was very interesting, valuable, challenging and unforgettable learning experience for me. I would like to express my gratitude to many people who supported me during this time-actually a lot of people from all over the world. My special gratitude will go to my supervisors: Mikael Backman and Han Brezet. It was real pleasure to work with you. Thank you, Mikael, for very valuable help in organising my overall research and field works and constant support in any difficult situation. Thank you, Han, for your eternal optimism, motivation, creative and inspiring ideas. Thank you to all academic staff of IIIEE with special thanks to Lars Stupeit, TU Delft, C2CI project, Spiekeroog people especially Birgit and Gerald, my MESPOM friends and corridor mates, my dear boyfriend Ilya for patience and love, my family and God.

T he normative turn that occurred as a result of radical reforms in science, technology, and innovation policies in various countries has sparked a broad discussion around the "directionality-neutrality" dilemma in science, technology, and innovation (STI) development strategies. However, despite a number of recent publications and science and innovation policy programs, the relationship between these two principles, including the practice of their application by government agencies, remains understudied. A representative analysis (using qualitative methods) of the two national STI councils and their role in strategy development, focusing on the process of approach selection and its value orientation, will fill this gap. On the basis of the collected information and scientific literature, the connection with different policy options is identified. It is shown that the role of the councils is determined by their powers and resources and the boundaries of relevant practices and directions for further research are outlined.

Increased environmental and social responsibility awareness, while producing unique opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovations, has generated important challenges for companies. The path to sustainability requires corporate strategies that guarantee profitability, managing simultaneously environmental and social responsibilities. An attempt is made to provide an understanding of sustainable development thinking in business, discussing how the combination of the transition management, adaptive planning and sociotechnical approaches can contribute towards an effective implementation of sustainability-oriented innovations in business context. The article proposes a conceptual model, which incorporates this contribution, developed through a four-year action-research project carried out within a large Brazilian energy company-Petrobras. The authors argue that the adoption of the proposed model by other large firms operating in different societal sectors might trigger organisational changes related to current corporate practices of technological innovation management.

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El presente artículo tiene como objetivo abordar un análisis de las políticas sustentables en México a partir del programa Hipoteca Verde, tomando éste como modelo de buena práctica. Tema que nos permite acceder al conocimiento de las políticas y tecnologías que se están desarrollando en México en contra de la acción de la emisión de CO2. Con este análisis se pretende dar a conocer y generar conocimiento sobre los beneficios que brindan las políticas de vivienda sustentable y el ahorro generado con ellas dentro de las familias. Este análisis se realizará con base en estudios producidos por Infonavit mediante un simulador de ecotecnologías, el cual permite conocer los gastos sobre el agua, luz, gas y equipos de gas en la vivienda, y demostrando los ahorros generados con las ecotecnologías promovidas gracias a las políticas de vivienda, así generando el apoyo a nuevas ecotecnologías apoyadas por el Gobierno debido a la necesidad que existe en México y en otros países en implementar po...

Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. A number of tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development (often referred to as The Natural Step (TNS) framework) based on backcasting from basic principles for sustainability. The aim is to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed "strategic life-cycle management. " This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. The resulting overview is expected to help avoid costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability and/or strategic perspective and to help identify strategic gaps in knowledge or potential problems that need further assessment. Early experience indicates that the approach can complement some existing tools and concepts by informing them from a sustainability perspective-for example, current product development and LCA tools.

Knowledge has become more open and accessible to a large audience with the "democratization of information" facilitated by technology. This paper provides an ethical perspective on utilizing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for the democratization of mental health knowledge and practice. It explores the historical context of democratizing information, transitioning from restricted access to widespread availability due to the internet, open-source movements, and most recently, GenAI technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs). The paper highlights why GenAI technologies represent a new phase in the democratization movement, offering unparalleled access to highly advanced technology as well as information. In the realm of mental health, this requires a delicate and nuanced ethical deliberation. Including GenAI in mental health may allow, among other things, improved accessibility to mental health care, personalized responses, conceptual flexibility, and could facilitate a flattening of traditional hierarchies between health care providers and patients. At the same time, it also entails significant risks and challenges that must be carefully addressed. To navigate these complexities, the paper proposes a strategic questionnaire for assessing AI based mental health applications. This tool evaluates both the benefits and the risks, emphasizing the need for a balanced and ethical approach for GenAI integration in mental health. The paper calls for a cautious yet positive approach to GenAI in mental health, advocating for the active engagement of mental health professionals in guiding GenAI development. It emphasizes the importance of ensuring that GenAI advancements are not only technologically sound but also ethically grounded and patient centered.

Volume Sustainable Consumption Towards Action and Impact Abstract Volume Corrigendum Posters p.87 Comparative assessment of e-participation in the context of sustainable development and climate change Ralf Cimander (Institut für Informations-management Bremen, DE) • Ina Rust (Leibniz Universität Hannover, DE) p.88 Developing a concept for an interdisciplinary competence based module to empower students for sustainable consumption behaviour

Considering how wicked problems, such as overconsumption, climate change, or the management of the COVID-19 pandemic rely on multiple stakeholder groups' deliberation, this study investigates gamification's potential in participatory backcasting processes to support the emergence and growth of social innovations towards sustainability. Gameful methodologies have progressively been introduced into strategic planning processes, futures research, and transition studies, offering a powerful input to participatory backcasting processes. As gamification is a novel and impactful way to motivate and engage participants to take action during and after the participatory process, this study develops a framework for practitioners to gamify backcasting processes. Developed through state-of-the-art review of extant corpus as well as two cases of gamified participatory backcasting, the framework elucidates how participatory backcasting processes that include gamification elements designed to address engagement do have an impact on the participants, particularly in terms of the process being a positive, co-creative experience, and offer a good foundation for posterior actions.