Design academics and practitioners are facing a multiplicity of challenges in a dynamic, complex, world moving faster than the current design paradigm which is largely tied to the values and imperatives of commercial enterprise. Current education and practice need to evolve to ensure that the discipline of design meets sustainability drivers and equips students, teachers and professionals for the near-future. New approaches, methods and tools are urgently required as sustainability expands the context for design and what it means to be a 'designer'. Design activists, who comprise a diverse range of designers, teachers and other actors, are setting new ambitions for design. They seek to fundamentally challenge how, where and when design can catalyse positive impacts to address sustainability. They are also challenging who can utilise the power of the design process. To date, examination of contemporary and emergent design activism is poorly represented in the literature. This book will provide a rigorous exploration of design activism that will re-vitalise the design debate and provide a solid platform for students, teachers, design professionals and other disciplines interested in transformative (design) activism.
Design Activism provides a comprehensive study of contemporary and emergent design activism. This activism has a dual aim - to make positive impacts towards more sustainable ways of living and working; and to challenge and reinvigorate design praxis, . It will collate, synthesise and analyse design activist approaches, processes, methods, tools and inspirational examples/outcomes from disparate sources and, in doing so, will create a specific canon of work to illuminate contemporary design discourse.
Design Activism reveals the power of design for positive social and environmental change, design with a central activist role in the sustainability challenge. Inspired by past design activists and set against the context of global-local tensions, expressions of design activism are mapped. The nature of contemporary design activism is explored, from individual/collective action to the infrastructure that supports it generating powerful participatory design approaches, a diverse toolbox and inspirational outcomes. This is design as a political and social act, design to enable adaptive societal capacity for co-futuring.
Finding specific advice on inclusive processes for engaging a community in a planning or design process can be a daunting undertaking. The latest offering in the Tools for Community Planning Series is the product of nearly two decades of successful practice by internationally acclaimed community planning specialists. It is designed to support veterans and people with little or no experience to conduct a wide variety of community engagement events with absolute confidence.
The book introduces the SpeakOut, an innovative, interactive drop-in engagement process. It provides hands-on, systematic guidance and detailed checklists for managing community engagement processes, as well as targeted advice on facilitation, recording and training. Five international case studies are included.
This unique, illustrated manual is a 'must-have' tool for community, city and regional planners, activists, community organizations, students in planning and the other land professions and workshop facilitators and trainers everywhere.
'Boserup's contribution to our thinking on women's role in development cannot be underestimated. Her keen observations, her use of empirical data and her commitment to greater gender equality are still an inspiration to students, researchers and activists who are interested in a better and more equal world.' From the new Introduction by Nazneen Kanji, Su Fei Tan and Camilla Toulmin
'Women's Role in Economic Development has become a key reference book for anyone - student, scholar, or practitioner - interested in gender and development analyses. This book is important not only because it provided the intellectual underpinning of the Women in Development (WID) analysis, but also because of the lasting influence it had on the development of theoretical, conceptual, and policy thinking in the fields of women, gender, and development. The re-editing of Women's Role in Economic Development, with its new introduction, ensures students, academics, and practitioners continued access to an essential reference for those interested in the women and development literature.' - Gender and Development
This classic text by Ester Boserup was the first investigation ever undertaken into what happens to women in the process of economic and social growth throughout the developing world, thereby serving as an international benchmark. In the context of the ongoing struggle for women's rights, massive urbanization and international efforts to reduce poverty, this book continues to be a vital text for economists, sociologists, development workers, activists and all those who take an active interest in women's social and economic circumstances and problems throughout the world. A substantial new Introduction by Nazneen Kanji, Su Fei Tan and Camilla Toulmin reflects on Boserup's legacy as a scholar and activist, and the continuing relevance of her work. This highlights the key issue of how the role of women in economic development has or has not changed over the past four decades in developing countries, and covers crucial current topics including: women and inequality, international and national migration, conflict, HIV and AIDS, markets and employment, urbanization, leadership, property rights, global processes, including the Millennium Development Goals, and barriers to change.
What is public health? To some, it is about drains, water, food and housing, all requiring engineering and expert management. To others, it is the State using medicine or health education and tackling unhealthy lifestyles.
This book argues that public health thinking needs an overhaul, a return to and modernisation around ecological principles. Ecological Public Health thinking, outlined here, fits the twenty-first century's challenges. It integrates what the authors call the four dimensions of existence: the material, biological, social and cultural aspects of life. Public health becomes the task of transforming the relationship between people, their circumstances and the biological world of nature and bodies. For Geof Rayner and Tim Lang, this is about facing a number of long-term transitions, some well recognized, others not. These transitions are Demographic, Epidemiological, Urban, Energy, Economic, Nutrition, Biological, Cultural and Democracy itself.
The authors argue that identifying large scale transitions such as these refocuses public health actions onto the conditions on which human and eco-systems health interact. Making their case, Rayner and Lang map past confusions in public health images, definitions and models. This is an optimistic book, arguing public health can be rescued from its current dilemmas and frustrations. This century's agenda is unavoidably complex, however, and requires stronger and more daring combinations of interdisciplinary work, movements and professions locally, nationally and globally. Outlining these in the concluding section, the book charts a positive and reinvigorated institutional purpose.
'The School Food Revolution is an important book that deserves success.'
Journal of Organic Systems
'A great new book that describes how 'the humble school meal' can be considered as 'a litmus test of... government's political commitment to sustainable development.'
Peter Riggs, Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade
'The School Food Revolution should be an inspiration for policy makers and for school heads and school canteen operators.'
Tom Vaclavik, President, Organic Retailers Association
School food suddenly finds itself at the forefront of contemporary debates about healthy eating, social inclusion, ecological sustainability and local economic development. All around the world it is becoming clear - to experts, parents, educators, practitioners and policy-makers - that the school food service has the potential to deliver multiple dividends that would significantly advance the sustainable development agenda at global, national and local levels.
Drawing on new empirical data collected in urban and rural areas of Europe, North America and Africa, this book offers a timely and original contribution to the school food debate by highlighting the potential of creative public procurement - the power of purchase.
The book takes a critical look at the alleged benefits of school food reform, such as lower food miles, the creation of markets for local producers and new food education initiatives that empower consumers by nurturing their capacity to eat healthily. To assess the potential of these claims, the book compares a variety of sites involved in the school food revolution - from rural communities committed to the values of 'the local' to global cities such as London, New York and Rome that feed millions of ethnically diverse young people daily. The book also examines the UN's new school feeding programme - the Home Grown Programme - which sees nutritious food as an end in itself as well as a means to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Overall, the book examines the theory, policy and practice of public food provisioning, offering a comparative perspective on the design and delivery of sustainable school food systems.
The cover illustration is by a Roman child. The authors would like to thank the City of Rome (Department for School and Educational Policies) for permission to reproduce it.
How to Win Campaigns is a practical guide for creating and running successful campaigns. Written for the new campaigner and the experienced communicator alike, it explores what works (and what doesn't) and shows how to use principles and strategy in campaigning as a new form of public politics. Applicable to any issue and from any point of view, the book's key steps and tools provide models of motivation, analysis and communication structure.
This fully revised and updated second edition includes the following new features:
* Campaign Master Planner * Political Checklist * Motivational Values * Behaviour Change * Campaigning and the Climate Issue * Dealing With Disasters * Using Celebrities * Being Interesting * Brainstorming * Visual Narratives * A Strategy For Values, Behaviour, Politics and Opinion * Emergencies * Tame and Wicked Problems * How To Tell If You Are Winning * Plus all new case studies on - new media and the Obama campaign, the smoking ban, chemicals and health and greening Apple computers.
Our pocket reference books provide a wealth of practical information at your fingertips, whenever you need it. Rich in background detail, at-a-glance tables and diagrams, equations, and more, the Passive Solar Architecture Pocket Reference is a handy resource for architects, engineers and students.
Coverage includes:
Whales and dolphins are icons for the conservation movement. They are the most conspicuous ambassadors for entire marine ecosystems and possibly even for the biosphere as a whole. Concurrent with our realisation of impending threats to their environment is a growing scientific understanding of the social and cognitive complexity of many of these species.
This book brings together experts in the relevant diverse fields of cetacean research, to provide authoritative descriptions of our current knowledge of the complex behaviour and social organization of whales and dolphins. The authors consider this new information in the context of how different human cultures from around the world view cetaceans and their protection, including attitudes to whaling. They show how new information on issues such as cetacean intelligence, culture and the ability to suffer, warrants a significant shift in global perceptions of this group of animals and how these changes might be facilitated to improve conservation and welfare approaches.
Achieving a sustainable society is the biggest issue of our time. It is not an issue confined to a particular subject area or to certain jobs. It is a way of thinking and behaving that will need to be embedded in all aspects of all of our lives.
The Sustainable Self is the perfect resource for lecturers, trainers, students and professionals of any discipline who need to teach or learn about sustainability. There is widespread agreement that we need to live more sustainable lives. But when up against entrenched habits and everyday obstacles, it can be difficult to turn good intentions into action.
This book presents a complete curriculum for effecting a personal transformation towards sustainability, showing you how to align your personal and professional actions with your values and beliefs. Full of activities that can be done individually or in groups, it is supported by additional resources online including downloadable worksheets and directories of sustainability organisations. Recommended readings at the end of each chapter enable readers to pursue areas of personal or professional interest.
Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the world's growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, based on real world examples, rather than theoretical constructs. That is what this book provides.
Using case studies, the book illustrates how better water management, guided by the IWRM approach, has helped to meet a wide range of sustainable development goals. It does this by considering practical examples, looking at how IWRM has contributed, at different scales, from very local, village-level experiences to reforms at national level and beyond to cases involving trans-boundary river basins. Using these on-the-ground experiences, from both developed and developing countries in five continents, the book provides candid and practical lessons for policy-makers, donors, and water and development practitioners worldwide, looking at how IWRM principles were applied, what worked, and, equally important, what didn't work, and why.
Published with the Global Water Partnership
Humans have always used denial. When we are afraid, guilty, confused, or when something interferes with our self-image, we tend to deny it. Yet denial is a delusion. When it impacts on the health of oneself, or society, or the world it becomes a pathology. Climate change denial is such a case. Paradoxically, as the climate science has become more certain, denial about the issue has increased. The paradox lies in the denial. There is a denial industry funded by the fossil fuel companies that literally denies the science, and seeks to confuse the public. There is denial within governments, where spin-doctors use 'weasel words' to pretend they are taking action. However there is also denial within most of us, the citizenry. We let denial prosper and we resist the science.
Climate Change Denial explains the social science behind denial. It contains a detailed examination of the principal climate change denial arguments, from attacks on the integrity of scientists, to impossible expectations of proof and certainty to the cherry picking of data. Climate change can be solved - but only when we cease to deny that it exists. This book shows how we can break through denial, accept reality, and thus solve the climate crisis. It will engage scientists, university students, climate change activists as well as the general public seeking to roll back denial and act.
Indigenous knowledge that embraces ornithology takes in whole social dimensions that are inter-linked with environmental ethos, conservation and management for sustainability. In contrast, western approaches have tended to reduce knowledge to elemental and material references. This book looks at the significance of indigenous knowledge of birds and their cultural significance, and how these can assist in framing research methods of western scientists working in related areas.
As well as its knowledge base, this book provides practical advice for professionals in conservation and anthropology by demonstrating the relationship between mutual respect, local participation and the building of partnerships for the resolution of joint problems. It identifies techniques that can be transferred to different regions, environments and collections, as well as practices suitable for investigation, adaptation and improvement of knowledge exchange and collection in ornithology.
The authors take anthropologists and biologists who have been trained in, and largely continue to practise from, a western reductionist approach, along another path - one that presents ornithological knowledge from alternative perspectives, which can enrich the more common approaches to ecological and other studies as well as plans of management for conservation.
This book offers a broad introduction to food policies in the United States. Real-world controversies and debates motivate the book's attention to economic principles, policy analysis, nutrition science and contemporary data sources. It assumes that the reader's concern is not just the economic interests of farmers, but also includes nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the environment and food security. The book's goal is to make US food policy more comprehensible to those inside and outside the agri-food sector whose interests and aspirations have been ignored.
The chapters cover US agriculture, food production and the environment, international agricultural trade, food and beverage manufacturing, food retail and restaurants, food safety, dietary guidance, food labeling, advertising and federal food assistance programs for the poor.
The author is an agricultural economist with many years of experience in the non-profit advocacy sector, the US Department of Agriculture and as a professor at Tufts University. The author's well-known blog on US food policy provides a forum for discussion and debate of the issues set out in the book.
Now with new Introduction and additional new chapter.
At a time when polls suggest that a majority of young British people believe that the future will offer a worse quality of life than the present, it is becoming imperative that children are introduced to principles of sustainability through the educational system from an early age, and that these principles are regularly reinforced and built upon. The government's own Panel on Sustainable Development has called for a 'comprehensive strategy for environmental and training', and NGOs frequently point to education as a key policy instrument in the transition to sustainable development. This is the first book published in Britain to provide an overview of the theory and practice of these issues. It brings together contributions from environmental educators working in the formal and informal sectors and in continuing education, and provides perspectives on the philosophy, politics and pedagogy of education for sustainability, as well as case studies and pointers towards good practice. Part I establishes some initial perspectives on sustainability, education and the role of NGOs; the potential for education for sustainability in the formal and informal sectors is assessed in Parts II and III; Part IV discusses its development as part of the greening of business and local government; and Part V looks at the way forward.
Urban authorities and organizations are responsible for providing the basic services that affect the lives of urban children. Cities for Children is intended to help them understand and respond to the rights and requirements of children and adolescents. It looks at the responsibilities that authorities face, and discusses practical measures for meeting their obligations in the context of limited resources and multiple demands. While the book emphasizes the challenges faced by local government, it also contains information that would be useful to any groups working to make urban areas better places for children.
Cities for Children begins by introducing the concept, history and content of children's rights and the obligations they create for local authorities. The volume then goes on to look at a variety of contentious issues such as housing, community participation, working children, community health, education and juvenile justice. The final section of the book discusses the challenge of establishing systems of governance that can promote the economic security, social justice and environmental care essential for the realization of children's rights. It follows through the practical implications for the structure, policies and practices of local authorities.
Written by the top experts in the field of children's issues, and including a resource section which lists publications and organizations that can provide further information and support, this volume is a must for all involved in planning for, and the protection of, children within the urban environment.
The Sustainability Transformation is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of what is happening to our world - and wanting to change it for the better.
Renowned consultant and communicator Alan AtKisson, author of the sustainability classic Believing Cassandra, cuts through the jargon and illuminates the essentials in this highly readable and motivational work. The Sustainability Transformation covers theory and practice, tools and strategies, the opportunities and the obstacles, illustrated with in-depth case studies and poignant personal anecdotes. AtKisson's aim is to empower the reader and to help grow a global 'army of change agents, ' working effectively to overcome the great challenges of our times.
At the heart of the book is AtKisson's potent ISIS Method, used by business, governments, and organizations around the world. ISIS - Indicators, Systems, Innovation, Strategy - helps professionals, students, and amateurs alike to put sustainability to work and accelerate change, even when facing difficult circumstances. AtKisson also introduces the reader to many inspiring people, unsung heroes whose success stories provide a solid foundation for hope.
Previously published in hardcover as The ISIS Agreement.