Suchergebnisse

Purpose– This paper aims to explore corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the Indian context, focusing on the banking sector. This is of particular importance at this time given the financial industry's pivotal role in driving forward India's growth; this paper contributes to the literature on the operationalisation of CSR within one of the world's fastest growing economies.Design/methodology/approach– The paper presents empirical, on-the-ground qualitative evidence from the Indian finance sector with regard to CSR operations and motivations. Data are based primarily on a series of semi-structured interviews with "elite" participants; senior officials operating in the banking sector.Findings– The paper offers insight into four levels of CSR engagement which currently exist in the day-to-day operations of Indian companies. Of significance to debates on CSR trends and strategies, the paper presents evidence to suggest that western CSR initiatives are influencing executives in India; ultimately causing a reactive response of an ad-hoc nature.Research limitations/implications– While the focus of this paper is the Indian finance industry, the trends within this sector and emerging practice, one must be cautious about making broad generalisations about CSR in India based on the data presented here.Originality/value– A focus on responsible project finance and CSR is imperative at this time of major infrastructure growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) economies; indigenous financial institutions have a crucial role to play in social and economic development. Through a focus on four modes of engagement, which emerged from empirically grounded data collection, this paper highlights multiple forms of commitment and motivation which are often overlooked when reviewing CSR primarily through reporting methods.

This paper considers the everyday geographies of children living in new large-scale urban developments in which multiple forms of 'sustainable' urban architecture are characteristic features. We argue that children's experiences of living with materialities, politics and technologies of sustainability have too-often been marginalised in much chief research on childhood, youth and sustainability. Drawing on qualitative research with 8-16-year-olds living with materialities of 'sustainable' eco-housing, urban drainage, wind turbines and photovoltaic panelling, we explore how sustainable urban architectures are noticed, (mis)understood, cared about, and lived-with by children in the course of their everyday geographies. In so doing, we highlight the challenging prevalence and significance of architectural conservatisms, misconceptions, rumours disillusionments and urban myths relating to sustainable urban architectures.

Introduction: new urbanisms, new citizens -- Towards the interdisciplinary study of children and sustainable urbanism -- Sustainable urbanisms in policy and practice -- Living with sustainable urban technologies -- Sustainable mobilities -- Constituting communities: welcoming, belonging, excluding -- Vital politics: children and young people's participation in public space and local decision-making -- Making space for vitality in sustainable urbanisms: childhood and play -- Conclusion: towards a theory of children and sustainable urban vitalities.

"Urban living has dramatically changed over the past generation, refashioning children's relationships with the towns and cities in which they live, and the modes of living within them. Focusing on the global shift in urban planning towards sustainable urbanism - from master planned 'sustainable communities', to the green retrofitting of existing urban environments - Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments offers a critical analysis of the challenges, tensions and opportunities for children and young people living in these environments. Drawing upon original data, Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments demonstrates how the needs, interests and participation of children and young people often remain inferior to the design, planning and local politics of new urban communities. Considering children from their crucial role as residents engaging and contributing to the vitalities of their community, to their role as consumers using and understanding sustainable design features, the book critically discusses the prospects of future inclusion of children and young people as a social group in sustainable urbanism. Truly interdisciplinary, Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments forms an original theoretical and empirical contribution to the understanding of the everyday lives of children and young people and will appeal to academics and students in the fields of education, childhood studies, sociology, anthropology, human geography and urban studies, as well as policy-makers, architects, urban planners and other professionals working on sustainable urban designs."--Provided by publisher

Amid research into the mounting social and environmental threats presented by climate change, young people's everyday experiences and knowledges are often overlooked, despite being the generation that will be most affected by climate change. We present a 'looping' methodology, developed through collaborative work between two distinct but complementary research projects wherein young people in the Paraíba do Sul watershed, São Paulo state, Brazil shared their perspectives on (respectively) climate-related disasters and the food–water–energy nexus. The approach brings together the theoretical framings of citizen science and nexus thinking under the aegis of participatory action research, to identify points of mutual learning in relation to the knowledge, action and critique co-produced with young people. This 'looping methodology' enables meta-analytic insights into how participatory action research, looped with other forms of action-oriented research, can enable young people and other protagonists to articulate and act upon the complex, multi-scalar processes that characterise what it means to live in uncertain social, political and environmental times.