Selbstermächtigung und Selbstorganisation als Schlüssel für nachhaltige Lern- und Transformationsprozesse in der Region Römerland Carnuntum

The region Römerland Carnuntum (Lower Austria) is located between the metropolitan areas of Vienna andBratislava and benefits from dynamic demographic and economic development. However, these processes ofgrowth and rapid change are accompanied by specific challenges that are controversial and much-discussed within the region. The question comes up, how a high level of quality of life can be secured in the future and how a transformation towards sustainability can be initiated and established. Since traditional instruments of spatial planning, structural policy, and regional development increasingly show deficits in the face of such complex, multidimensional challenges, the region has set itself the goal of breaking new ground in cooperation, self-organisation, and self-empowerment, within the framework of which the actors in the region become self-organized, collaborative and long-term carriers of sustainable learning and transformation processes in the region. This article describes the structure of the project and highlights, in particular,challenges related to the committee 'Zukunftsrat Römerland Carnuntum', as a basis for self-empowerment, self-organisation and transformative learning as well as to the start-up phase of the transdisciplinary collaboration.First insights after almost one year of project runtime show, that therepresentative composition of the Zukunftsrat, and especially the random selection of citizens proved to be difficult. Nevertheless, the projekt benefits from outstanding commitment and a high willingness to participate on the part of the regional population

"I should" Does Not Mean "I can." Introducing Efficacy, Normative, and General Compensatory Green Beliefs

Compensatory green beliefs (CGBs) denote beliefs that unsustainable behaviours can be compensated for by performing other sustainable behaviours. We propose to differentiate between efficacy, normative, and general beliefs (ECGBs, NCGBs, GCGBs). ECGBs refer to effectively offsetting previous lapses. NCGBs denote feeling morally obliged to make amends. GCGBs refer to trading off unspecified efforts in overall consumption. Employing survey data from n = 502 high school graduates and an n = 145 longitudinal subsample, we find a three-factor structure of CGBs. ECGBs, NCGBs, and GCGBs intercorrelate moderately, indicating their status as different constructs. NCGBs are positively associated with pro-environmental values, self-identity, and social norms, whereas GCGBs are negatively associated with these constructs. CGBs, in particular NCGBs, have unique explanatory power for sustainable behaviours. NCGBs show substantial temporal stability over one year. CGBs need not be destructive, as NCGBs may encourage sustainable action. Persuasive messages could be tailored to specific CGBs in specific behavioural domains

Sustainability in Sport-Events

Wir haben das Zeitalter eines neuen gesellschaftlichen Verantwortungsbewusstseins erreicht. Heute wird endlich erkannt, dass auch die Umwelt kein Gut ist, welches frei und uneingeschränkt nutzbar ist, sondern ein Knappheitsmaß aufzuweisen hat Als schwerwiegendste Verursacher umweltschädlicher Emissionen werden nicht nur die Industriestaaten, sondern auch Unternehmen deshalb verstärkt adressiert, ihr wirtschaftliches Gewinnstreben in Einklang mit der Ökologie zu gestalten. In ihrem Versuch, sozialem Verantwortungsbewusstsein gerecht zu werden, standen unternehmerische Sponsorships von Sportveranstaltungen mit umweltverantwortlichem Organisationskonzept im Fokus meiner Forschungsarbeit. Es galt als zentrales Ziel meiner Untersuchung, herauszufinden, welches Image für Sponsorings dieser Art festgemacht werden kann und welche möglichen Vor- und Nachteile durch ein solches Engagement für das Unternehmensimage wahrscheinlich erscheinen. Die vier dafür konzipierten Anzeigen beschrieben Audi als Sponsor unterschiedlicher Disziplinen und sollten in einer nachstehenden, vergleichsanalytischen Betrachtung zeigen, welche Bewertung das hier hinterfragte Sponsoringmodell erfuhr. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein ökologiebewusstes Sportsponsoring bei den befragten Personen offensichtlich imstande war, eine soziale und verantwortungsbewusste Haltung des Unternehmens zu vermitteln und dadurch als geeignet betrachtet werden kann, Corporate Social Responsibility zu kommunizieren. Auch wenn eine schlussendlich überzeugende Wirkung der relevanten Anzeige beim erreichten Publikum nicht deutlich nachgewiesen werden konnte und persuasive Chancen entsprechend einer gewünschten Einstellungs- oder Verhaltensänderung dadurch zweifelhaft bleiben, sprach am Ende doch viel dafür, dass auch solche in realen Sponsorships durchaus erreicht werden können.We have entered an era of newfound sense of responsibility in society. Finally we are recognizing that our environment is no commodity that can be used unlimitedly or without restrictions, because its resources are finite. Industrial countries and big corporations, regarded as being among the main contributors to harmful greenhouse gas emissions, are now being addressed to balance their pursuit of financial profit with showing respect to the environment. Engagement in sponsorships of sport-events that promote sustainability and environmental awareness as one way of complying with Corporate Social Responsibility constituted the central subject of my research. The principal aim was to study how the corporate image through this type of event was being conveyed and what the benefits or detriments of engaging in such activities would be for a business. Four adverts were being designed for this purpose, presenting Audi as a sponsor through various strategies of which then a comparative analysis should show how the different methods were received and evaluated. The results show that environmentally friendly promoted sport-sponsorship was clearly able to convince the participants of the survey of the company’s social awareness and can therefore be considered as a suitable tool to communicate Corporate Social Responsibility. Whereas the study couldn’t prove a persuading effect on the participants, making the company’s chance of influencing its customers’ attitude towards the brand unlikely, there however is much to suggest that these aims could be reached under real conditions

Food beyond the City – Analysing Foodsheds and Self-Sufficiency under different Food System Scenarios in European Metropolitan Regions

The debate on urban resilience and metabolism has directed increasing attention to the ecological footprint of food consumption, self-sufficiency as a means of food security, and regionalisation of food systems for shortening supply chains. Recently, metropolitan regions have proposed food policies that aim to foster local food systems connected to their cities. Our research thus focused on the relationship between urban food demand and metropolitan land use.We have developed the Metropolitan Foodshed and Self-sufficiency Scenario (MFSS) model, which combines regional food consumption and agricultural production parameters in a data-driven approach to assess the spatial extent of foodsheds as well as the theoretical self-sufficiency of the communities they serve. The model differentiates between food groups, food production systems, levels of food loss and waste as well as food origin. With regard to future urban growth, we applied the model to current and future population projections.Results show substantial variations in the spatial extent of metropolitan foodsheds and self-sufficiency levels between the case study regions London, Berlin, Milan and Rotterdam, depending on population density and distribution, geographical factors and proximity to neighbouring urban agglomerations. The application of the model as a food planning tool offers a new perspective on the potential role of metropolitan regions for strengthening urban self-sufficiency. It also enables the ex-ante assessment of spatial consequences of changes within metropolitan food systems, on both demand and supply sides. In particular, we discuss possible dietary and consumption changes, but also production and supply chain alternatives.</p

Do Historical Production Practices and Culinary Heritages Really Matter? Food with Protected Geographical Indications in Japan and Austria

Background: Geographical indications (GIs) are collective intellectual property rights that protect food and other products uniquely linked to the production area, local geophysical conditions, and traditions, namely, with the terroir. Thus, GIs can contribute to the transmission and retention of culinary heritages and historical production practices. Methods: Based on an analysis of application documents, we compare the historical linkages of all the Japanese and Austrian GI products. Although more than half of the Japanese applications refer to historical roots in the 20th century, the median of the Austrian GI linkages is in the 17th century. To closely examine these GI linkages, and to better understand their relevance to current cultivation practices, we compared three Japanese cases with roots of diverging depth to the first Austrian GI regarding motivations, geographical and historical linkages, and current cultivation practices and governance. Results: The comparison found that all four products refer to the historical roots of the product name, the product varieties, or cultivation techniques. However, deeper roots did not automatically translate into higher priorities of protecting these historical linkages. The four in-depth case studies found that historic provenance and traditional production methods, although prominently highlighted in the official GI documents of all four GIs, were eclipsed by commercial motivations for GI protection and/or current production practices. In the cases analyzed, we found some potential mismatches between GI historical claims in registration documents and actual GI cultivation and GI management practices. Conclusions: We conclude that our four GI cases do not represent “museums of production” or overly fixed perceptions of history. However, the collective action of the producer group has resulted in dynamic local cultivation practices without restricting innovation. The GI status has rather resulted in the protection of local farmers' collective action and old varieties than in the protection of old production methods

The Plurality of Farmers’ Views on Soil Management Calls for a Policy Mix

While soil degradation is continuing to threaten the global agricultural production system, a common understanding of how to encourage sustainable soil management is missing. With this study, we aim to provide new insights on targeted policies that address the heterogeneity of farmers. We scrutinized the plurality of views on soil management among arable farmers in the Austrian (and European) policy context. To do so, we applied Q methodology, a method that identifies different perspectives on a topic present in a population and analyzes this subjectivity statistically. We interviewed 34 arable land farmers who varied in their farming backgrounds. The results yielded four different viewpoints on soil management held by the interviewed farmers: two rather ecocentric perspectives (Nature Participants, Pleasure Seekers) and two rather anthropocentric perspectives (Traditional Food Providers, Profit Maximizers). Our study shows that farmers’ soil management is influenced by more than economic considerations and suggests that a mix of policy approaches is needed to reach all farmers and avoid adverse effects of excluding farmers. We provide several suggestions for policymakers on how to complement agri-environmental policies: appealing to human-nature relationships, offering training and experimentation services, fostering social networks, and raising the social reputation of farmers