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This paper aims to analyse the university experience of a social laboratory that mixes science and art to instruct communities of sustainability practice in heterogeneous contexts through interpretive audio-visual ethnography and cinematographic language.

The research approach was qualitative; data were triangulated through the thorough revision of the literature reported on this praxis, the auto-ethnography of the founder and CEO of this social laboratory and the systematization of the training categories from their documentaries. Furthermore, the analysis of this laboratory as a social innovation considered five categories, namely, critical interaction, shared values, social responsibility, digital competences and sustainability practices, and the projects profile was contrasted with the Sustainable Development Goals to show its sustainable approach.

The results showed that the best scored sustainability university communities are interdisciplinary. Moreover, the mix of science and art to train practice communities is a social innovation model that can go beyond university walls to influence its environment in dissimilar and socially disadvantaged territories.

This research is based on a case from a Mexican university in a specific cultural context. Although the conclusions cannot be generalized, this case contributes to the need for pertinent complementarity between various classical methodological possibilities which, when articulated, enhance the research work.

The results could have practical implications if these are used as inputs in the development of university programmes with an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability training.

This research proposes this experience as an attempt to understand how to promote sustainable education among university communities that influence territories with wide social gaps.

The proposed chapter will focus on university partnerships for sustainable development, specifically in relation to the health and social care sector. As this is a burgeoning field of research and enterprise, this chapter would provide a valuable resource and much-needed exploration of how and with whom universities partner in terms of sustainability in health and social care.

The majority of universities have health sciences and social care departments delivering courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctorate levels. As such, the chapter presents the range of opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and working, shares methods to foster social responsibility through partnerships between students, staff, clinicians, and service users, and acknowledges the prospect of lifelong learning that partnerships in sustainability can generate.

The purpose of this paper is to consider an expanded vision of professional development for embedding education for sustainability (EfS) in a higher education institution. Through an exploration of a community of practice at the University of Tasmania, this paper examines how collaborative peer learning can sustain and promote continued professional development for staff in higher education who are committed to EfS as an educational paradigm.

This research was conducted through a mixed methods investigation that involved participant observation and semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Data were analysed and grouped into themes that are discussed in the paper.

This research reveals that personal values and professional identity were the two driving factors for continued engagement in a collaborative peer learning initiative. Despite institutional challenges and a lack of success of growing membership in the community of practice, participants found a level of job satisfaction and personal connection to the initiative and to each other that has sustained action and impact for this group.

This work contributes an alternative voice to the professional development discussion around EfS. While most professional development activities are aimed at transferring knowledge to individuals and groups that are identified to lack awareness or capacity in a topic, this work highlights the need to include and foster safe learning spaces for continued professional learning. Particular attention is paid to the value of peer learning to support the professional development of sessional staff engaged in EfS.

This chapter forwards a justification, an explanation, and numerous examples related to an emerging integrated sustainability management theory and its connections to other management theories and key-related concepts including systems and immersion. An integrated approach to sustainability solutions presents several implications for educators, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, including the need to consider urgent and immediate responses that address sustainability crises at multiple levels and in multiple systems. This chapter is intended to promote reflection, dialogue, and a collective call to action to secure a sustainable world for present and future generations.

For sustainable strategies to be developed in business schools, it is essential to understand which sustainability drivers and barriers are identified by academic managers and coordinators in the implementation of sustainable practices. In this scenario, the study aims to understand the barriers and possible drivers for the implementation of sustainability practices in Brazilian business schools. The subjects are managers and coordinators of business schools that are part of the Principles for Responsible Executive Education Network – Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Chapter Brazil/UN.

Descriptive research with a qualitative approach was conducted to achieve this objective. The study included academic managers, responsible for the general management of academic and administrative activities and coordinators, responsible for supervising and coordinating academic activities in a specific area, of schools that are part of PRME Chapter Brazil (interviews). For data analysis, the content analysis technique was used.

Taking into account the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) as categories of analysis, as well as management, curriculum and teaching as subcategories, the study identified 10 barriers and 12 drivers.

The results reveal that both the barriers and the drivers are supported by the social pillar, which focuses on the academic community and society as a whole. The “Management” subcategory was also the most mentioned, indicating guidelines for the strategic academic management of these organizations.

The main purpose of this paper is to construct a conceptual model that addresses one of the most urgent matters for contemporary organizations, which is how organizations are to learn and integrate sustainability in its’ working processes. The guiding research question reverberates around how organizational learning (OL) and corporate entrepreneurship (CE) can promote and facilitate sustainability practices in organizations.

This paper uses knowledge from OL and CE theories representing tools to think with for an exploration of how to actualize sustainability practices in organizations.

This paper construes and presents a four-phase multilevel conceptual model for the analysis and creation of sustainability practices using insights from OL and CE. OL contributes with vital parts for creating sustainability practices in organizations delineated by continuous feedback and feedforward loops on individual, group, organizational and societal levels. CE prompts essential process and concrete working elements accentuating the importance of acquiring sustainability in all phases of the change process.

The outlined conceptual model is general and need to address the deeper complexities and context dependencies of sustainable practice in organizations in a more elaborate form. Thus, the proposed model calls for empirical scrutiny and further theoretical development.

Derived from two interrelated fields of research, this paper contributes with a novel model addressing how sustainability practices can be conceptualized and facilitated in organizations. By using OL theory in combination with CE studies, the proposed model seeks to capture key elements to guide new understandings of and transitions to sustainable practices in organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to profile the development of a bicycle parking hub at the University of Tasmania to illustrate how the Academic Operations Sustainability Integration Program promotes real change through the engagement of stakeholders from across an institution to deliver campus sustainability. This case study outlines one example of how place-based learning initiatives focused on campus sustainability challenges have delivered authentic education for sustainability in the Australasian higher education setting.

This case study outlines the process through which a cross-disciplinary place-based learning initiative was designed, implemented and evaluated over a three-year period. The evaluation of the project was designed to assess the impact of this education for sustainability approach on both operational and student learning outcomes, and to make recommendations on the continuation of place-based learning initiatives through the Academic Operations Sustainability Integration Program.

This case study illustrates how learning can be focused around finding solutions to real world problems through the active participation of staff and students as members of a learning community. This experience helped the authors to better understand how place-based learning initiatives can help deliver authentic education for sustainability and the success factors required for engaging staff and students in such efforts.

The case study highlights an example of an education for sustainability initiative that was mutually driven by the operational and learning objectives of an institution, and specifically the ways in which the engagement of staff and students from across an institution can lead to the successful integration of these two often disparate institutional goals.

Social sustainability is a concept frequently referred to in public debates concerning how to construct the governance of future societies. The interpretations of its meaning, however, are ambiguous, and practices often dubious. Confronting top-down technocratic governance structures, this paper aims to argue for for tripartite collaborations between residents, higher education institutions (HEIs) and local government, as an approach toward social sustainability that involves residents’ interests in local governance.

This study argues that a specific time-spatial method of analysis can benefit the co-creation of knowledge as it passes through the spectrum of resident–HEI–local government. It provides a way for resident perceptions to become structured knowledge that originates from the residents, effectively engendering a bottom-up governance structure.

This study shows how to include residents in policymaking and implementation processes as co-creators of knowledge, and thereby displays the possibility of examining knowledge and competence within municipal projects for social sustainability.

The model developed in this study can be used as a methodological instrument to analyze and expand resident participation in local social sustainability work. It thereby provides a toolbox for inclusive policymaking and strategies.

The paper aims to provide a conceptual map of how to mediate between sustainability theory and practice in higher education and how disciplinary divides can be bridged. It further looks at issues linked to knowledge views and drivers for institutional change that affect opportunities for whole institution development promoting action preparedness.

Taking its point of departure in the University Educators for Sustainable Development report UE4SD (2014, 2015), the paper discusses ways that ideas and interaction can be mediated in higher education settings, to connect sustainability research with vocational programmes. Different options are considered and compared.

Although the literature stresses both action orientation and the need for holistic transdisciplinary approaches, many institutional drivers limit opportunities for more integrating approaches.

However, while conclusions may hold for universities at an overarching level, it is likely that certain research and teaching environments have been able to transcend such barriers.

Conceptually mapping the different forms that dialogue, interaction and flows of ideas take within higher education institutions has relevance for whole institution development for sustainability.

Importantly, producing sustainability science with relevance to practice in various professions is a fundamental condition to support accelerated transitions to sustainability at societal levels.

The paper makes a significant contribution by focusing on concrete institutional pathways for knowledge exchange and negotiation that can support education for sustainability in higher education.

The City of Syracuse, New York, has undertaken energy conservation measures over the past decade. In 2011, the city completed a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory that serves as the basis for current sustainability planning processes, and the process to complete this analysis was uniquely collaborative and is offered as a case study. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This inventory was the product of collaboration between the city, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, through the Climate Change Innovation Program. Following guidance from International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives's Local Government Operations Protocol and utilizing Clean Air and Climate Protection software, the baseline year for the inventory was 2002, and the municipal analysis covered five sectors: buildings and facilities, vehicle fleet, aviation, water delivery, and streetlights and traffic lights. The city's community analysis assessed residential, commercial and industrial energy use, transportation and waste sectors.

The City of Syracuse has achieved energy and GHG reductions over the inventory timeframe. While savings have been accomplished, significant challenges to future energy and GHG reductions remain.

Limitations include obtaining data quality and consistency for analysis.

This case study could serve as a model for moving forward with GHG inventory analysis and action for small- to medium-sized cities in the NE, USA.

This was an experiment in collaboration between an academic institution, NGOs and a municipal entity.

The city's 2010 inventory has been followed by community outreach and stakeholder engagement for the sustainability planning process. The city formed advisory teams composed of community experts in the areas of energy and green building, natural environment, waste and recycling, education and outreach, and food systems. The collaborative approach the city utilized offers a helpful model for other municipalities to follow to overcome resource constraints and complete energy and cost-saving carbon footprinting assessments.