Suchergebnisse

Chapter 2: Engaging end-users in the Food-Water-Energy (FWE) nexus process has recently become a core concept, though the practice is often diverse across social contexts. Improving the governance mechanism of nexus complexity and facilitating more inclusive resource management requires adaptive user-centred approaches. An approach that currently shows promise is the urban living lab (ULL), in which urban communities, as the end-users of urban products and services, engage in a problem-solving process together with other stakeholders towards urban development. ULLs are a sort of joint urban governance that provide opportunities created by the integration of multiple disciplines to address FWE nexus challenges. However, there is a great need for the FWE nexus approach to clarify how a ULL can best be organised and integrated into the local governance structure. This research aims to help cities broaden their knowledge of engaging end-users in the FWE nexus processes through an examination of how the ULL approach has been operationalised in the governance structure of a number of nexus-emphasised cities. This is undertaken through the analysis of empirical evidence acquired from six local case studies. The chapter concludes that integrating the fields of participatory modelling methods, the ULL approach, and the FWE nexus will considerably advance cities' capabilities in accomplishing the concept of transdisciplinarity for more sustainable environmental and natural resources management.

Knowledge sharing during unplanned face-to-face meetings between employees is indispensable for innovation-based organizations. Spatial design of office buildings has been proven to influence the number of meetings dyads have at work, but research on the behavior during such meetings remains scarce. This article analyzes how several spatial variables relate to employee behavior during such meetings (joint activities, location, intentionality, and issues addressed). A 1-week diary of 138 employees from one research organization provided data on 918 knowledge-sharing meetings. Analysis of the building layout showed that behavior is particularly different at a very local level within the building. Chi-square tests showed that inter-visibility and proximity are most strongly associated with where knowledge was shared, while sharing a room and overhearing related significantly to how knowledge was shared.

Cities increasingly have to find innovative ways to address challenges arising from climate change and urbanization. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have been gaining attention as multifunctional solutions that may help cities to address these challenges. However, the adoption and implementation of these solutions have been limited due to various barriers. This study aims to identify a taxonomy of dominant barriers to the uptake and implementation of NBS and their relationships. Fifteen barriers are identified from the literature and expert interviews and then ranked through a questionnaire. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) serves to identify the mutual interdependencies among these barriers, which results in a structural model of six levels. Subsequently, Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC analysis) is used to classify the barriers into four categories. The results suggest that political, institutional and knowledge-related barriers are the most dominant barriers to NBS. Cities that intend to apply NBS can draw on these findings, especially by more effectively prioritizing and managing their actions.

Urban Living Labs (ULLs) are widely believed to provide a safe environment for experimentation, co-creation and evaluation of innovations in real-life settings. A growing number of cities have been adopting ULLs to co-create and test Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). However, many of these cities have been facing major barriers in trying to adopt the ULL approach for implementing NBS. In this study, we seek to identify these barriers and provide a systemic understanding. Barriers are identified by means of workshops and interviews. Subsequently, interpretive structural modelling serves to identify the interdependencies among the barriers, resulting in a structural model of barriers in adopting ULLs for NBS. Our results show that political and institutional barriers are significantly limiting the adoption of ULLs. Moreover, knowledge brokers and other intermediaries, as well as cross-sectoral collaboration, play a key role in getting ULLs adopted. The findings from this study can help cities to develop strategies that overcome the main barriers for ULL adoption in the context of nature-based solutions.