Institutional Sustainability

This research work evaluates the impact of stormwater infiltration on the removal of organics, solids, nitrogen and phosphorus in a LECA-based horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland. Stormwater runoff for the period between January 2008 and June 2010 (30 months) was estimated for the drainage basin of the Vila Fernando wastewater treatment plant (constructed wetland system) and it was observed proportionality between the increase in surface runoff and the infiltration flow rate that reached the plant. The average stormwater infiltration rate that reached the plant was 67.4 m(3) d(-1) (77% of the influent flow rate into the plant). The 30 month monitoring campaign set up at one of the reed beds showed that stormwater infiltration led to a high variation of the hydraulic loading rate (HLR) throughout the bed, which affected its performance in the removal of organic matter, suspended solids and nitrogen. For a HLR below 20 cm d-1 the removal efficiencies for BOD5, COD and TSS doubled. The removal of nitrogen was too low and was associated with the weak development of nitrifying biofilm and the poor growth of reeds. However, it was observed a good relationship between the applied and removed loads for most of the parameters, which seems to indicate that the organic, solid, nitrogen and phosphorus loading rates influenced the respective removal rates. The use of a bed material with high specific surface area, such as LECA, can only improve the treatment capacity of horizontal subsurface flow systems if the organic and solid loading rates, as well as the HLR, can be effectively controlled.

Forest depletion is one of the most severe issues which has resulted in many environmental and economical problems such as landslides, soil erosion, floods, soil degradation and displacement of people etc. Forests are an important natural capital, which is supposed to contribute towards achieving sustainable livelihoods reducing poverty. There are many root causes of contemporary deforestation, including corruption of government institutions, population growth and overpopulation, and urbanization Panchkula developed as a satellite town of Chandigarh and the pressure of population at Chandigarh has led to the expansion of Panchkula as an urban centre. The aim of soil conservation is to obtain the maximum sustainable level of production from a given area of land whilst maintaining soil loss below a threshold level which theoretically, permits the natural rate of soil formation to keep pace with the rate of soil erosion. In addition, there may be a need to reduce erosion to control the loss of nutrients from agricultural land to prevent pollution of water bodies; to decrease rates of sedimentation in reservoirs, rivers, canals and ditches In the longer term, erosion has to be controlled to prevent land deteriorating in quality until it has to be abandoned and cannot be reclaimed, thereby limiting options for future land use. Since erosion is a natural process it cannot be prevented, but can be reduced to an acceptable rate. A decision on what that rate must match the requirements for sustained agricultural production with those of minimising the environmental impacts of erosion.

This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of cost escalation in transportation infrastructure projects. Based on a sample of 258 transportation infrastructure projects worth US$90 billion and representing different project types, geographical regions, and historical periods, it is found with overwhelming statistical significance that the cost estimates used to decide whether such projects should be built are highly and systematically misleading. Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying. The policy implications are clear: legislators, administrators, investors, media representatives, and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analyses produced by project promoters and their analysts.

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.

Back cover text: Megaprojects and Risk provides the first detailed examination of the phenomenon of megaprojects. It is a fascinating account of how the promoters of multi-billion dollar megaprojects systematically and self-servingly misinform parliaments, the public and the media in order to get projects approved and built. It shows, in unusual depth, how the formula for approval is an unhealthy cocktail of underestimated costs, overestimated revenues, undervalued environmental impacts and overvalued economic development effects. This results in projects that are extremely risky, but where the risk is concealed from MPs, taxpayers and investors. The authors not only explore the problems but also suggest practical solutions drawing on theory, experience and hard, scientific evidence from the several hundred projects in twenty nations and five continents that illustrate the book. Accessibly written, it will be the standard reference for students, scholars, planners, economists, auditors, politicians and interested citizens for many years to come.

The article first describes characteristics of major infrastructure projects. Second, it documents a much neglected topic in economics: that ex ante estimates of costs and benefits are often very different from actual ex post costs and benefits. For large infrastructure projects the consequences are cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and the systematic underestimation of risks. Third, implications for cost–benefit analysis are described, including that such analysis is not to be trusted for major infrastructure projects. Fourth, the article uncovers the causes of this state of affairs in terms of perverse incentives that encourage promoters to underestimate costs and overestimate benefits in the business cases for their projects. But the projects that are made to look best on paper are the projects that amass the highest cost overruns and benefit shortfalls in reality. The article depicts this situation as ‘survival of the unfittest’. Fifth, the article sets out to explain how the problem may be solved, with a view to arriving at more efficient and more democratic projects, and avoiding the scandals that often accompany major infrastructure investments. Finally, the article identifies current trends in major infrastructure development. It is argued that a rapid increase in stimulus spending, combined with more investments in emerging economies, combined with more spending on information technology is catapulting infrastructure investment from the frying pan into the fire.

In the current continuous dynamic development stage, the organizations which implement the online learning offer the participants to the knowledge activity the possibility to use the change in their benefit.E-Learning is a new method of understanding the learning process in which the basic elements remain the same, but the knowledge exchange and assimilation means are different. The use of an information system for learning also brings new benefits regarding the freedom to learn where and when you want.

As megaprojects have become ubiquitous, their real benefits and costs have come under increased scrutiny. We interviewed Bent Flyvbjerg, who has extensively studied megaproject development. Flyvbjerg has found systematic problems in the development process: by intentionally misrepresenting information and deliberately disregarding risks, proponents instigate projects that result in fewer benefits and higher costs than promised.

The Supplementary Green Book Guidance on Optimism Bias (HM Treasury 2003) with reference to the Review of Large Public Procurement in the UK (Mott MacDonald 2002) notes that there is a demonstrated, systematic, tendency for project appraisers to be overly optimistic and that to redress this tendency appraisers should make explicit, empirically based adjustments to the estimates of a project’s costs, benefits, and duration. HM Treasury recommends that these adjustments be based on data from past projects or similar projects elsewhere, and adjusted for the unique characteristics of the project in hand. In the absence of a more specific evidence base, HM Treasury has encouraged departments to collect data to inform future estimates of optimism, and in the meantime use the best available data. In response to this, the Department for Transport (henceforth DfT), has contracted Bent Flyvbjerg in association with COWI to undertake the consultancy assignment "Procedures for dealing with Optimism Bias in Transport Planning". The present Guidance Document is the result of this assignment.

Over the past five decades, rapid development and conversion of forest land into urban land in Pahang River Basin have led to water related problems such as solid wastes problem and degradation of water quality and quantity. This paper discussed the current institutional framework for planning and development in Pahang River Basin, Malaysia. This case study applied the literature background study and field survey. There is lack of provision to give a clear mandate for public participation in the local planning level and public representative could not be guaranteed in the local planning committee. Based on this Pahang River Basin case study, this paper further argues that the participation of local community needs to be strengthened from consultation level to the involvement level. This could be approached through joint management concept. Integrated approach on water resources management of river basin requires a full commitment from all levels of stakeholders. However, the understanding of the characteristics of the river basin both from the natural and human system aspects could not be neglected in planning and development process.

This article addresses the debate about the relative utility of accommodative federalism as a method of conflict management in multinational states. It challenges the 'substantivist' bias of existing literature by demonstrating that symbolic aspects of territorial reform (formal recognition of minority nationhood) may matter more than substantive ones (e.g. shifts in decision rights or resources) in accounting for the escalation of secessionist crises. The argument rests on a comparison between processes of territorial accommodation of Catalonia and Quebec. When autonomy for minority regions is broadened without symbolic recognition, majority elite response unfolds in the policy arena, mostly through attempts to symmetrize autonomy arrangements. However, when combined with formal symbolic recognition of minority nationhood, the extension of territorial autonomy paves the way for majority political backlash. Majority's open political opposition to the minority national project can, in turn, produce a strong secessionist counter-reaction.

"Over budget, over time, over and over again" appears to be an appropriate slogan for large, complex infrastructure projects. This article explains why cost, benefits, and time forecasts for such projects are systematically over-optimistic in the planning phase. The underlying reasons for forecasting errors are grouped into three categories: delusions or honest mistakes; deceptions or strategic manipulation of information or processes; or bad luck. Delusion and deception have each been addressed in the management literature before, but here they are jointly considered for the first time. They are specifically applied to infrastructure problems in a manner that allows both academics and practitioners to understand and implement the suggested corrective procedures. The article provides a framework for analyzing the relative explanatory power of delusion and deception. It also suggests a simplified framework for analyzing the complex principal-agent relationships that are involved in the approval and construction of large infrastructure projects, which can be used to improve forecasts. Finally, the article illustrates reference class forecasting, an outside view de-biasing technique that has proven successful in overcoming both delusion and deception in private and public investment decisions.

This article presents results from the first statistically significant study of traffic forecasts in transportation infrastructure projects. The sample used is the largest of its kind, covering 210 projects in 14 nations worth U.S.$59 billion. The study shows with very high statistical significance that forecasters generally do a poor job of estimating the demand for transportation infrastructure projects. For 9 out of 10 rail projects, passenger forecasts are overestimated; the average overestimation is 106%. For half of all road projects, the difference between actual and forecasted traffic is more than ±20%. The result is substantial financial risks, which are typically ignored or downplayed by planners and decision makers to the detriment of social and economic welfare. Our data also show that forecasts have not become more accurate over the 30-year period studied, despite claims to the contrary by forecasters. The causes of inaccuracy in forecasts are different for rail and road projects, with political causes playing a larger role for rail than for road. The cure is transparency, accountability, and new forecasting methods. The challenge is to change the governance structures for forecasting and project development. Our article shows how planners may help achieve this.

Do different types of megaprojects have different cost overruns? This apparently simple question is at the heart of research at the University of Oxford aimed at understanding the characteristics of megaprojects, particularly in terms of how they are established, run and concluded. In this study, we set out to investigate cost overruns in the Olympic Games. To do so, we examined the costs of the Games over half a century, including both summer and winter Olympics. We looked at the evolution of final reported costs and compared these to the costs established in the Games bids, submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) up to seven years before the Games occurred. In so doing we established the largest dataset of its kind, and documented for the first time in a consistent fashion the costs and cost overruns for the Olympic Games, from 1960 to 2012. We discovered that the Games stand out in two distinct ways compared to other megaprojects: (1) The Games overrun with 100 per cent consistency. No other type of megaproject is this consistent regarding cost overrun. Other project types are typically on budget from time to time, but not the Olympics. (2) With an average cost overrun in real terms of 179 per cent – and 324 per cent in nominal terms – overruns in the Games have historically been significantly larger than for other types of megaprojects, including infrastructure, construction, ICT, and dams. The data thus show that for a city and nation to decide to host the Olympic Games is to take on one of the most financially risky type of megaproject that exists, something that many cities and nations have learned to their peril. For the London 2012 Games, we find that: (1) With sports-related real costs currently estimated at USD14.8 billion, London is on track to become the most costly Olympics ever. (2) With a projected cost overrun of 101 per cent in real terms, overrun for London is below the historical average for the Games, but not significantly so. (3) The London cost overrun is, however, significantly higher than overruns for recent Games since 1999. London therefore is reversing a positive trend of falling cost overruns for the Games.

As megaprojects have become ubiquitous, their real benefits and costs have come under increased scrutiny. We interviewed Bent Flyvbjerg, who has extensively studied megaproject development. Flyvbjerg has found systematic problems in the development process: by intentionally misrepresenting information and deliberately disregarding risks, proponents instigate projects that result in fewer benefits and higher costs than promised.

More than 1 billion people in the world lack access to
clean water, and 2.6 billion to sanitation. Halving the
number of people without access to water and sanitation
is a Millennium Development Goal. According to a DFID
research project description, 60 million physically
disabled people have difficulties related to water supply,
use, and sanitation. However, access to clean water and
sanitation and other water related problems disabled
people face are not mentioned and dealt with in high
level policy documents such as the three existing editions
of the world water report, the memorandum for a World
Water Protocol (MWWP) or the Human Development
Report 2007/2008 ‗Fighting climate change: human
solidarity in a divided world‘ which covered water scarcity
and floods. Disabled people are invisible in these
documents and although all of these documents mention
other marginalized groups such as indigenous peoples,
women in developing countries, the rural poor and their
children, young people workers/peasants‖, ‗the poor‘,
farmers and displaced people.  This paper submits that
certain forms of ableism are responsible for the invisibility
of disabled people in various water discourses.

Over the coming two decades Asia will be the main driver of a 40% increase in global energy consumption. Ambitions for a more sustainable future in the region are severely compromised by the widespread and rapid take-up of energy-intensive methods for cooling the built environment. For the majority of Asia’s countries buildings account for more than 50% of all national greenhouse gas emissions. With around half that energy consumption typically associated with cooling or heating interior spaces, national carbon footprints have increased dramatically in recent decades through the introduction of electronic airconditioning.
This paper argues such trends are unsustainable and low-carbon alternatives for environmental comfort are required urgently. It traces shifts in how air has been ‘materially imagined’ over the last century or so in Asia and how this bears upon the future of sustainable urbanism. Air-conditioning is seen as pivotal to transformations in urban design and living, such that two phases of modernity are identified: preconditioned and conditioned. By foregrounding the need for low-carbon alternatives, the paper advocates for an alternative, low-carbon regime of thermal governance.

Climate change and potential global warming has become important in many forums both nationally and internationally. Though there has previously been some opposition to the existence of human caused climate change and resulting global warming as a threat to the earth's population and survival, scientific evidence has more recently been found to be compelling. One of the key industries that may be affected by global warming and climate change is the tourism industry. This is becoming a growing concern in Florida, U.S.A. where potential rising sea levels may have a profound effect. This paper discusses the development, importance and implications of climate change, its relationship to the tourism and hospitality industry and provides a case study of the Florida lodging industry regarding mechanisms and responses that the lodging and resort sector of the industry has been taking in addressing climate change factors.

Mining and quarrying activities in Europe generate approximately 55% of total industrial wastes, according to a recent Eurostat report. Most of these wastes are directly dumped on land or deposited in landfill sites. The first solution may lead to negative environmental impacts on land (removal of vegetation, deforestation, land slope changes and increased risk of erosion), water (pollutant transport through surface runoff, soil infiltration and contamination of water resources), may lead to the contamination of agricultural goods and may impose risks on human health. In Portugal, about 20% of industrial waste produced originates from mines and quarries, particularly from Panasqueira mining, one of the largest tungsten mines in the world. Currently, Panasqueira mining generates almost 100 tonnes of waste-rock, per day. Such waste-rock have accumulated over a number of years into very large heaps and it is desirable to seek new economic solutions that can contribute towards their reuse. In this context, this work discusses the potential for reuse of waste-rock piles of Panasqueira tungsten mine, which may be a case statement to be followed. The proposed solution described in this paper consists in developing innovative polymer-based composite materials, obtained from non-contaminated waste-rock tailings. Such materials must have suitable properties for technical-artistic value added applications, such as conservation, restoration and/or rehabilitation of historic monuments, sculptures, decorative and architectural intervention, or simply as materials for building revetments.

The focus of this study is on who is effective and how they draw frameworks for organizations to start CRS activities.In this study, it is aimed to reveal the institutional actors and initiatives that mediate the diffusion and adaption of CSR activities which have become a popular practice for various reasons.In other words, this study seeks answers to the question of who the choreographers of corporate social responsibility are.The answer is related to the organizational field and institutional actors according to the new institutional theory. For this reason, the concepts of new institutional theory such as institutional actor and organizational field were utilized in the study. The research consists of a literature study to explore how various actors influence the diffusion of CSR in organizational fields. In this study, 16 main actors and their initiatives that have a global impact on the spread of corporate social responsibility were identified, in other words, 16 choreographers were encountered. When these are examined, CSR is influenced by actors representing both coercive and moral mechanisms, in other words, it is influenced by the normative, and regulativepillars of institutions. As the actors mentioned in the same way are composed of authorities, civil society organizations and professional organizations; it is seen that these activities are framed by representing the state, society and professional logic.

Back cover text: This book aims to enlarge the understanding of decision-making on mega-projects and suggest recommendations for a more effective, efficient and democratic approach. Authors from different scientific disciplines address various aspects of the decision-making process, such as management characteristics and cost-benefit analysis, planning and innovation and competition and institutions. The subject matter is highly diverse, but certain questions remain at the forefront. For example, how do we deal with protracted preparation processes, how do we tackle risks and uncertainties, and how can we best divide the risks and responsibilities among the private and public players throughout the different phases of the project? - Presenting a state-of-the-art overview, based on experiences and visions of authors from Europe and North America, this unique book will be of interest to practitioners of large-scale project management, politicians, public officials and private organisations involved in mega-project decision-making. It will also appeal to researchers, consultants and students dealing with substantial engineering projects, complex systems, project management and transport infrastructure.

Climate change and potential global warming has become important in many forums both nationally and internationally. Though there has previously been some opposition to the existence of human caused climate change and resulting global warming as a threat to the earth’s population and survival, scientific evidence has more recently been found to be compelling. One of the key industries that may be affected by global warming and climate change is the tourism industry. This is becoming a growing concern in Florida, U.S.A. where potential rising sea levels may have a profound effect. This paper discusses the development, importance and implications of climate change, its relationship to the tourism and hospitality industry and provides a case study of the Florida lodging industry regarding mechanisms and responses that the lodging and resort sector of the industry has been taking in addressing climate change factors.

This paper focuses on problems and their causes and cures in policy and planning for large infrastructure projects. First, it identifies as the main problem in major infrastructure development pervasive misinformation about the costs, benefits, and risks involved. A consequence of misinformation is massive cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and waste. Second, the paper explores the causes of misinformation and finds that political-economic explanations best account for the available evidence: planners and promoters deliberately misrepresent costs, benefits, and risks in order to increase the likelihood that it is their projects, and not the competition's, that gain approval and funding. This results in the "survival of the unfittest," where often it is not the best projects that are built, but the most misrepresented ones. Finally, the paper presents measures for reforming policy and planning for large infrastructure projects, with a focus on better planning methods and changed governance structures, the latter being more important.

Risk, including economic risk, is increasingly a concern for public policy and management. The possibility of dealing effectively with risk is hampered, however, by lack of a sound empirical basis for risk assessment and management. This article demonstrates the general point for cost and demand risks in urban rail projects. The article presents empirical evidence that allow valid economic risk assessment and management of urban rail projects, including benchmarking of individual or groups of projects. Benchmarking of the Copenhagen Metro is presented as a case in point. The approach developed is proposed as a model for other types of policies and projects in order to improve economic and financial risk assessment and management in policy and planning.

This paper aims to revive debate and to improve the concern and understanding of the importance of water infrastructure development in enabling sustainable socio-economic growth and poverty alleviationalthough this is just one of many aspects that must be weighed and understood in managing water resources. In this purpose, we present and support the paradigm of the "S curve" water security scenarios. Then we consider the limits and challenges in assessing the socio-economic development impact of improved access to water infrastructure, from a modeling view. Defying some of these obstacles and acknowledging the special situation of Romania, we develop some simple regression and correlation analysis of these issues, to conceptually assist the supposed large investment effort.

Abstract: This paper aims to revive debate and to improve the concern and understanding of the importance of water infrastructure development in enabling sustainable socio-economic growth and poverty alleviation–although this is just one of many aspects that must be weighed and understood in managing water resources. In this purpose, we present and support the paradigm of the „S curve” water security scenarios. Then we consider the limits and challenges in assessing the socio-economic development impact of improved access ...

Nurses are educated to interact with patients based on knowledge of various sciences (biological and social) and to a lesser degree on nursing theory (McCrae 2011). It is probably fair to say that issues of procurement and waste management are not their main preserve and the knowledge and skills around these issues are seen to be peripheral to their direct patient care. Therefore the immediate small win that comes from nursing for clinical waste management will have to focus on what nurses are doing in everyday practice. However this has to be placed in a wider context if nurses are to, in future, take their place in a hospital’s sustainability practice.  This wider context involves an understanding of material resource use and the systems (e.g. take-make-waste) that bring clinical materials to wards and takes them away again. Clinical waste operates within legislative frameworks and EU directives (e.g. the Waste Framework Directive 2008 and the Waste Hierarchy) which will reflect particular views and understandings of how society should deal with its waste. What follows is an outline of the two main systems for resource use and waste management (take-make-waste ‘TMW’, and closed loop), an understanding of which forms the basis for the design of any waste management process. Then we will discuss the stages hospitals may go through to move from unsustainable to sustainable waste management. The role that nurses can play in this process will be based on their understanding of their place in the hospital’s waste management and sustainability governance systems and of how these systems function.

Out-of-control information technology (IT) projects have ended the careers of top managers, such as EADS CEO Noël Forgeard and Levi Strauss’ CIO David Bergen. Moreover, IT projects have brought down whole companies, like Kmart in the US and Auto Windscreen in the UK. Software and other IT is now such an integral part of most business processes and products that CEOs must know their IT risks, which are typically substantial – and overlooked. The analysis of a sample of 1,471 IT projects showed that the average cost overrun was 27% — but that figure masks a far more alarming “fat tail” risk.  Fully one in six of the projects in the sample was a Black Swan, with a cost overrun of 200%, on average, and a schedule overrun of almost 70%. This highlights the true pitfall of IT change initiatives: It’s not that they’re particularly prone to high cost overruns on average – it is that there are a disproportionate number of Black Swans. By focusing on averages instead of the more damaging outliers, most managers and consultants have been missing the real risk in doing IT. In conclusion, the article outlines ideas as to what can be done to avoid Black Swans.