This paper is in a special edition published in the lead-up to the Rio+20 Conference in 2012. Given the difficulties experienced in finding new forms of global governance that can meet the challenges of global sustainability, the paper suggests, rather paradoxically, that attention needs to focus on the world’s cities and their local governments.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.686564#.U_yC4fldX_M

The 1987 Brundtland Report popularised the idea that global environmental degradation can only be reversed if progress is also made on reducing poverty and created greater social equity. This paper looks at attempts that have been made to bring together the two ‘traditions’ that have focused separately on environmental wellbeing and social ‘justice’; giving rise to the concept of ‘environmental justice.’

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562570220137907#.U_yDTfldX_M

In examining the impact of the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emission reductions, this paper reaches the surprising conclusion that expectations about the need to reduce emissions have had more influence on policy that the processes of treaty ratification.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21606544.2013.812527#.U_yD0PldX_M

In this paper, a leading scholar on consumption and sustainability, Tim Jackson, examines the paradox that increasing levels of income and consumption across Europe have coincided with a decline in subjective feelings of wellbeing. This opens up the possibility for reducing consumption without compromising wellbeing, but first we need to understand the reasons for growth in levels of consumption, the author argues.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830802475625#.U_yEc_ldX_M

This paper examines efforts made in the UK to reduce waste and electricity consumption by people living in low-income communities. It teases out some principles for working with low-income communities in ways that are sensitive to their needs.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830802475666#.U_yEmfldX_M

This paper focuses on the growth in interest in the UK in the 1990s in the power of consumer action to bring about more sustainable production of goods and services. While such ‘market-based activism’ can have significant awareness-raising benefits for individual consumers, the paper argues, there is no evidence to suggest that it results in lasting changes to production and distribution. According to Parker, there continues to be an important role for the state in regulating market mechanisms.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562579908721785#.U_yFtvldX_M

This paper focuses on efforts made in eight Norwegian municipalities to implement climate change adaptation plans without significant support from the national government. The paper concludes that local government authorities can circumvent lack of action by central governments, however, the key ingredients for success are: size of the municipality, leadership by individuals within the local government authority, and effective use of external expertise.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.678317#.U_yF-fldX_M

This paper reports the results of a study conducted in the Tanzanian village of Mangio which showed that women and their social networks are critical to the ways in which the community can adapt to the onset of global climate change. This points to the need for a bottom-up, community development approach to climate change adaptation.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376812.2012.756766#.U_yGY_ldX_M

This paper reports on a rather bold initiative taken in Australia to cater for the needs of migrating species which are threatened by climate change impacts. While the needs of such species can only be addressed by looking at their geographic range, the Australian experience suggests the need for a very pragmatic approach to the development of protective policies.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19390459.2011.557879#.U_yHSvldX_M

This paper reports the results of an in-depth study of people living in a district in Ghana who were displaced from the traditional farmlands to make way for mining. The paper concludes that the former farmers received very little compensation for the loss of land and there are very few signs of any ‘trickle down’ benefits from the mining operations. The paper demonstrates why economic development policies often make poverty worse rather than better.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376812.2012.690089#.U_yHv_ldX_M

In this paper, one of the co-founders of the concept of ‘ecological footprints’ argues that indiscriminate support for the notion of ‘economic growth’ is taking the world into ‘eco-violence’ and ‘descent into chaos’. The planet simply cannot sustain existing levels of consumption by people living in the world’s richest nations while 40 per cent of people on the planet live in dire poverty. We need to radically rethink how we can cater for human needs in a world of growing resource scarcity, Rees argues.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830802475609#.U_yH7_ldX_M

This paper discusses a range of ‘community energy’ projects operating in the UK. It concludes that they tend to be limited to communities where there is already a high level of awareness about energy supply options and the author suggests a need for more ‘policy attention’ in order to include a much wider range of local communities in such projects.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.678321#.U_yKmfldX_M

This forthcoming journal articles argues that the discovery of oil in Turkana County, Kenya, has already exacerbated inter-ethnic and cross-border conflicts because of increased competition for diminishing pasture land and water resources in the semi-arid region of the country.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376812.2014.884466#.U_yK9vldX_M

This paper reports on the outcomes of interviews with stakeholders in four different international case studies on initiatives to decentralise urban energy production in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The paper suggests the need for a wide array of criteria for assessing project outcomes.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2013.805739#.U_yLW_ldX_M

In arguing for a need to shift the emphasis away from individual community gardens to city-wide urban agricultural activities, this paper reports on the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with a range of people involved in urban agriculture in Detroit. It finds widespread support for expanding urban agriculture in Detroit but warns that the concerns of opponents need to be addressed.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2747/0272-3638.33.3.348#.U_yMPfldX_M

Presented in a special edition of the journal on ‘the state of the art in impact assessment,’ this paper examines recent efforts to build upon impact assessments in order to suggest policy options into the future. Based on an assessment of pilot projects in UK, Australia, South Africa and Canada, the paper suggests that this new form of impact assessment has a bright future.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14615517.2012.661974#.U_yNivldX_M

This paper explores the practical application at the local government level in Sweden of ‘socio-economic scenarios’ and ‘sustainability analysis’ environmental management ‘tools’. It concludes that both tools are useful for municipal planners although they both take time to master.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2011.646969#.U_ySv_ldX_M

The SEA in the title of this paper stands for ‘strategic environmental assessment’ which is one approach used to turn short-term impact assessments into future projections. The paper reports on the outcomes of an IAIA workshop held in 2011 which discussed ways of bringing together SEA and resilience thinking in order to factor in uncertainties and the interconnectedness of environmental systems.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3152/146155111X12959673795886#.U_yUQ_ldX_M

The combination of a devastating tsunami and consequent nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan showed how difficult it is to address vulnerability to hazards when such hazards have multiplied. In this paper, the authors suggest that resilience thinking can help to overcome a narrow focus on hazard exposure by showing that local processes are always embedded in ‘multi-scale interactions and tensions.’

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2011.617949#.U_yUbvldX_M

This paper shows how a multi-criteria risk analysis resulted in a continuation of a ban on off-shore gas and oil drilling operations in the vicinity of Virginia, USA. However, no such risk analysis has been conducted for many other oil and gas drilling operations across the planet.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19390450903056757#.U_yU2fldX_M

Based on a wide-ranging review of international disaster management approaches, this paper seeks to present core principles of an ‘integrated disaster risk management’ approach, which the authors rather unhelpfully call ‘implementation science.’

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19390459.2012.652822#.U_yVCvldX_M

This paper traces the evolution of thinking from protection of individual species to respect for ecosystem resilience. Using biodiversity conservation in the Border Ranges rainforests as its case study, the paper suggests that people are learning to appreciate the value of ecosystem resilience.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21606544.2011.640856#.U_yVmfldX_M

While policy attention has focused recently on the emergence of ‘urban agriculture’ this paper suggests, rather provocatively, that policy-makers should change their rather hostile attitudes towards food foraging practices in urban environments. Suggesting that food foraging is already a ‘vibrant’ practice in Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle, the paper suggests that it has an important role to play in making cities more sustainable.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2013.841659#.U_yVzfldX_M

Relationships between the local and the global have changed radically in the last 30 years and these authors suggest that many local communities now experience the global as a range of economic and ecological threats. In the era of global climate change and Peak Oil, the authors argue, we need to think of local communities as being in transition and note that an ability to cope with uncertainty will make some communities more resilient than others.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.676637#.U_yWE_ldX_M

Against a backdrop of criticism that community gardens represent a ‘neoliberal’ agenda for improving food security, this paper examines six different case studies in order to depict the criteria that can maximise community participation in food production.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2013.871812#.U_yWN_ldX_M

The relatively new focus on global environmental sustainability has posed major challenges for democratic institutions and practices. This paper seeks to cut through debates about the relative merits of representative, participatory or deliberative democracy to argue that challenges such as intergenerational equity and protection of non-human species require a combination of participation and deliberation alongside a strengthening of forms of representation.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562570701406634#.U_yWW_ldX_M

Focusing on experiences in Norway, this paper argues that personal experience is a major factor in the ways in which people perceive risks and natural hazards in general and climate change impacts in particular.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2014.887666#.U_2TefldX_M

A proposal to site a chemical production plant near a rural township in Louisiana provoked controversy in the local community. Initially divided over whether to trust institutions like the EPA or resort to vigorous protest action, the controversy raised interesting questions about personal action and citizenship.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562570500078758#.U_2TxfldX_M

The author of this paper travelled with irrigation engineers as they toured a region in Turkey to talk to farmers about the benefits of expanding existing water irrigation. While the farmers tended to tell a different story about what would make farming in the region more sustainable, the author argues that we need to move away from a polarisation of ‘local’ and ‘techno-scientific’ knowledge in order to look for convergences and divergences between diverse environmental narratives.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830903096452#.U_2T_fldX_M

This paper suggests a need for a combination of analytical and ‘procedural’ tools in order to develop good environmental policy and management strategies. It suggests an unusual combination of tools and approaches.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830903527639#.U_2UHvldX_M

In this special edition of the journal on environmental impact assessment, Tetlow and Hanusch reflect on a wide-ranging review of the literature on strategic environmental assessment (SEA).  They suggest that SEA has evolved rapidly into a ‘family of practices’ and this paper seeks to depict the main schools of thought in the international literature.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14615517.2012.666400#.U_2UafldX_M

In the same special edition of the journal as the paper by Tetlow and Hanusch (see above), Morgan reflects on lessons learnt from 40 years of international practice in EIA assessments.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14615517.2012.661557#.U_2UnvldX_M

In the same special edition of the journal as the papers cited above, Esteves, Franks and Varclay review the evolution of practices in relation to social impact assessment. If the aim of SIA is to enhance the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people it is important to have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in international SIA practice, the authors argue.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14615517.2012.660356#.U_2UvPldX_M

Rapid urbanisation in countries such as India is putting new pressure on access to water in peri-urban regions. This paper tells an alarming story of the range of ways in which peri-urban residents lose their access to water as cities expand in north-west India.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2014.907248#.U_2U-PldX_M

The author notes that marine conservation projects are on the rise in East Africa and they share the espoused aim of ‘community empowerment.’ However, the paper’s case study suggests that reality is falling a long way short of the espoused rhetoric.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376812.2013.878664#.U_2VH_ldX_M

Unregulated urban growth in Tijuana, Mexico, is overtaking the city’s existing waste water treatment capacity. This paper examines two small-scale waste water treatment plants which aim to reuse waste water. It concludes that water quality coming out of the small-scale plants can, and needs to, be improved but they can complement the role of the overwhelmed centralised system.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2014.917909#.U_2VRvldX_M

This paper suggests that changes in rural land use in the Upper Western Region of Ghana are increasing rural poverty and food insecurity in the region. As more people are forced to migrate in search of paid employment, an increasing number of households are relying on receiving food ‘remittances’ sent by distant household members.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376812.2013.791630#.U_2VY_ldX_M

This paper focuses on the rise of citizen-led and NGO-led urban agriculture initiatives in Minneapolis and it points out that these have been recognised in the suite of urban sustainability policies adopted by the city. The author suggests that urban gardening has usefully broadened municipal thinking on sustainability beyond the conventional focus on rather abstract indicators and metrics.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2014.916142#.U_2VnPldX_M

Based on a wide-ranging review of literature and three case studies, this paper suggests that the contemporary community gardens movement in USA differs from earlier movements in regard to the range of participants and their motivations for participation. The paper suggests that urban community gardens now have a more secure financial basis and enough political support to remain a lasting feature of urban life.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2013.784086#.U_2Vx_ldX_M

Starting initially as ‘practices of resistance,’ alternative food networks have gained significant policy support in a wide range of countries. However, they take many forms and this paper uses Italian case studies to suggest a way of understanding their significance according to their spatial dimensions, resources and relationships with other projects and initiatives.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2013.836163#.U_2V7PldX_M

This study looks at ways of accounting for greenhouse gas emissions in the production of tomatoes from their origin in farm-based greenhouses to a point of sale in a fruit shop in Sydney, Australia. It casts doubt over the value of simple accounting mechanisms ‒ such as ‘food miles’ ‒ and suggests that the biggest barriers to lowering greenhouse gas emissions in this particular supply chain lie in the cost and availability of lower greenhouse gas emitting practices.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.738653#.U_2WGvldX_M

This paper explores the paradox that many farmworkers who produce food cannot afford to buy enough for their own consumption due to low wages and production for export markets. Although California has some of North America’s most productive agricultural land, many farmworkers are forced to rely on food assistance or farmworker gardens.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2012.729568#.U_2WLfldX_M

Noting that urban planning has widely adopted the assumption that urban renewal involving the creation of ‘walkable neighbourhoods’ with high-density housing serves the interests of urban sustainability, this paper explores the tension between ‘densification’ and housing affordability in Vancouver, Canada, and concludes that social considerations must play a bigger role in sustainability policies.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2747/0272-3638.33.7.1055#.U_2WmfldX_M

Noting that urban planners have been divided by some rather fierce debates about, for example, urban expansion versus consolidation, this paper reviews such debates for the City of London, Ontario, and concludes that it is important to get beyond simplistic generalisations in order to look at ‘locale-specific considerations.’

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2011.553589#.U_2W7PldX_M

This paper examines two urban regeneration projects, which are each representative of major approaches to regeneration in Japan, to consider if synergies are possible with policies aiming at mitigating and adapting to climate change. It concludes that such synergies are possible but only if there is an overall vision, political commitment and a willingness to implement ‘binding measures.’

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2013.798634#.U_2XMPldX_M

In the light of recent debates about ‘new urbanism’, ‘compact cities’ and ‘eco-cities’, this paper focuses on the relationship between urban design and social satisfaction at a neighbourhood level in the Indian city of Delhi. It concludes that access to high quality public realm or common space and mixed land use are likely to enhance social satisfaction.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2011.607159#.U_2XVvldX_M

This paper looks at municipal solid waste treatment in 12 coastal municipalities in Barcelona and concludes that people in high socioeconomic categories are more able to avoid waste treatment hazards. The paper argues that environmental and social impacts should be taken into account in thinking about the sustainability of solid waste treatment processes.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2013.792045#.U_2XcfldX_M

This paper analyses responses to Britain’s Household Panel Survey on indicators of well-being. The analysis finds a positive relationship between recycling rates and self-reported well-being.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21606544.2014.883941#.U_2Xr_ldX_M

This paper presents the results of an intense study of the flows of electronic waste through the massive Agbogbloshie e-waste dump in Accra, Ghana. The paper concludes that the site operates as an informal e-waste market that is directly linked into international e-waste circuits, and concludes that it is important to study the intersections of such international e-waste circuits.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2747/0272-3638.33.1.1#.U_2X1fldX_M

In the absence of adequate local government sanitation and solid waste treatment facilities, a range of NGOs, community-based organisations (CBOs) and private companies try to fill the void in many African cities. This study examines the work of 40 NGOs and CBOs involved in this kind of work in Kampala, Uganda, and finds that their efforts are seriously hampered by a lack of financial and political support.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549830903406032#.U_2YAvldX_M