Women’s Travel Patterns and the Environment: An Agenda for Research

Author(s):  
Laurie Schintler ◽  
Amanda Root ◽  
Kenneth Button

Demographic change, new family structures, and concerns about personal safety are contributing to a growing use of motorized transportation by women. The increasing importance of women as travelers has implications for the ways in which transportation policy must be reviewed in an era when sustainable development has become a key issue. An appreciation of the particular nature of women’s travel behavior, and their designed behavior, could facilitate an easier path to sustainability. The travel patterns, needs, and psychology of women are examined, as well as the influence of these patterns and behavior on efforts to promote sustainable development. Women’s travel patterns differ in important ways from those of men. In particular, gender differences arise in ( a) the distance traveled, ( b) the mode of travel, and ( c) the complexity and purpose of trip making. The particular psychology of women contributes to these patterns. In comparison with men, women tend to be prone to ambivalent feelings, but their analysis of these feelings can prompt leaps in thought and creative solutions to problems. In addition, women are more risk averse than men. Risk aversion may affect women’s travel decisions—for example, when security is a concern. Changes in the economy also are placing new demands and constraints on women, their lives, and their travel patterns. Future research on women and transportation should focus on the psychological aspects of women’s travel, the special travel needs and circumstances of women, and the influence of changing economic conditions on women’s travel patterns and the environment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6955
Author(s):  
David Horan

Most indicator-based assessments of progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focus on identifying priorities for implementation. However, once priorities are established, policymakers are called to implement them in an integrated way which requires progress not just on a Goal’s targets (siloed approach) but also progress in interrelated policy areas. To assess baselines for integrated implementation, this article introduces a new family of SDG index based on a Goal’s targets and first-order interrelations with other goals that divides targets linked to the prioritized or focal SDG into pressure, impact, and response components. Focusing on an application to SDG14, the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, an important priority for many small island developing states, the article develops an integrated SDG14 (I-SDG14) index based on an international study of SDG14 interlinkages with indicators selected from SDSN’s global indicator set for all island states with sufficient data available for the year 2018. While all island states assessed face challenges on SDG14, top-performers in terms of I-SDG14 (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland and Iceland) tend to face greater challenges on pressures, primarily reflecting their performance on targets related to SDGs 2, 12, 13 and 15, whereas bottom-performers (Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, Haiti, Jamaica and Comoros) tend to face greater challenges on responses, i.e., country capacities to influence SDG14, owing to their status on targets related to SDGs 4, 9, 16 and 17. In particular, country scoreboards, “traffic-light” visual representation of performance, and radar-diagrams are used to investigate country-level strengths and challenges for integrated implementation. The proposed index offers a useful starting point to frame discussions with different stakeholders around integrated approaches to implementation and can be flexibly applied to other SDGs and contexts. The article concludes with several suggestions for future research aimed at improving integrated assessments for the SDGs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 665-671
Author(s):  
D. V. Bagnyuk ◽  
A. V. Lebedev

The presented study examines the concepts of “environmental marketing” and “environmental product”. The study attempts to conceptualize these terms in Russian language with allowance for the concept of sustainable development and the principles of the circular economy.Aim. The study aims to develop the conceptual foundations of environmental marketing and its derivative — environmental product, laying the groundwork for future research in specifying the concepts of “environmental marketing” and “environmental product”.Tasks. The authors examine the current state of environmental marketing and environmental product in Russia in terms of legislation and market practices; analyze the evolution of these concepts in foreign and Russian publications; systematize experience in this field; provide an original conceptualization of these terms; operationalize their key characteristics and features.Methods. This study is based on qualitative empirical research using such methods as content analysis, synthesis, formalization, and systematization. The theoretical and methodological approach of the study is based on the works of foreign and Russian scientists in the field of environmental marketing, the “green” approach to the promotion of goods, and sustainable enterprise development.Results. A research gap in the conceptualization of “environmental marketing” and “environmental product” in Russian language is identified. The authors provide an original interpretation of these concepts with allowance for the principles of sustainable development and “green” promotion.Conclusions. This study serves to elaborate on the scientific meaning of the concept of “environmental friendliness” applicable in marketing, changing the trend of the increasing number of products that fall under the definition of greenwashing. The published materials can be useful for environmental consultants, marketers, and representatives of legislative authorities in certifying products according to environmental standards.


Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Daniel Shapiro

This chapter reviews the literature on foreign direct investments among emerging economies (E-E FDI), focusing on the motivations behind E-E FDI, country-specific advantages and firm-specific advantages associated with emerging-economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs), and spillover effects of E-E FDI on host-country economic and institutional development. We identify the following topics as posing important questions for future research: EMNEs’ ability to leverage home-government resources and diplomatic connections to promote investment in other emerging economies; nonmarket strategies of EMNEs in emerging economies; ownership and corporate governance affecting investment strategy and performance of EMNEs; E-E FDI contributions to sustainable development in host countries. Future studies should also consider potential heterogeneity among EMNEs by integrating insights from institutional theory, network theory, political science, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable-development research.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1223
Author(s):  
Mojde Sedaghat ◽  
Yahya Emam ◽  
Ali Mokhtassi-Bidgoli ◽  
Saeid Hazrati ◽  
Claudio Lovisolo ◽  
...  

Strigolactones (SLs) have been implicated in many plant biological and physiological processes, including the responses to abiotic stresses such as drought, in concert with other phytohormones. While it is now clear that exogenous SLs may help plants to survive in harsh environmental condition, the best, most effective protocols for treatment have not been defined yet, and the mechanisms of action are far from being fully understood. In the set of experiments reported here, we contrasted two application methods for treatment with a synthetic analog of SL, GR24. A number of morphometric, physiological and biochemical parameters were measured following foliar application of GR24 or application in the residual irrigation water in winter wheat plants under irrigated and drought stress conditions. Depending on the concentration and the method of GR24 application, differentiated photosynthesis and transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, antioxidant enzyme activities and yield in drought conditions were observed. We present evidence that different methods of GR24 application led to increased photosynthesis and yield under stress by a combination of drought tolerance and escape factors, which should be considered for future research exploring the potential of this new family of bioactive molecules for practical applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Huanhuan Hua ◽  
Amare Wondirad

This study analyzes tourism network in urban agglomerated destinations and puts forth implications for future sustainable development through a critical and extensive review of related literature. First of all, with a bibliometric analysis of 2670 selected articles from three research fields of urban tourism, urban agglomeration tourism and tourism destination network, we analyzed their respective research themes and classified them accordingly. Then, the study further investigates the role of tourism network in urban agglomerated destinations by identifying the differences and connections between urban agglomeration tourism and urban tourism. Finally, a basic architecture is established for the study of tourism networks in urban agglomerated destinations context. Study findings highlight that urban agglomeration tourism emphasizes the interconnectivity and social network relationships. However, research on the destination network of urban agglomerations is limited, especially from the tourism development perspectives. Therefore, the evolution process, structural effects, determinants and dynamic mechanisms of the tourism network in urban agglomerated destination are among the opportunities for future research. Moreover, the research architecture shows that the network relationship emerges as a new direction for the study of urban agglomeration system to better integrate and harness destinations’ resources and thereby promote sustainable development in urban agglomerated areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5987
Author(s):  
Labrini Sideri

In the light of Agenda 2030 awareness of sustainability is steadily growing all over the world. Devastating phenomena like pandemics (Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDGs—Agenda 2030)), poverty (Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDGs—Agenda 2030)) as well as climate change (Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDGs—Agenda 2030)) threaten humanity, calling for more sustainable solutions. Although economic growth (Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDGs—Agenda 2030)) is one of the principal goals for a sustainable future, little research has been devoted to the interface of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability and their contribution to the financial sector, in view of sustainable banking. Even fewer are the studies concerning sustainable banking in Greece. This paper attempts a comparative overview of sustainability integration into businesses, focusing on the banking industry. The current theoretical analysis initially provides an extended review of the CSR and sustainability concepts, which is followed by a comprehensive analysis of non-financial disclosures (NFDs) and their business value, providing some evidence from Greece. The following sections refer to the performance implications and sustainability integration in the banking industry. Eventually, sustainable banking seems to enhance banking performance in a national business system. This is a very important deduction for sustainability to be both the cause and effect of corporate banking. Along with the discussion, some avenues for future research are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Shunhua Bai ◽  
Junfeng Jiao

Travel demand forecast plays an important role in transportation planning. Classic models often predict people’s travel behavior based on the physical built environment in a linear fashion. Many scholars have tried to understand built environments’ predictive power on people’s travel behavior using big-data methods. However, few empirical studies have discussed how the impact might vary across time and space. To fill this research gap, this study used 2019 anonymous smartphone GPS data and built a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) to predict the daily travel demand to six destinations in Austin, Texas: downtown, the university, the airport, an inner-ring point-of-interest (POI) cluster, a suburban POI cluster, and an urban-fringe POI cluster. By comparing the prediction results, we found that: the model underestimated the traffic surge for the university in the fall semester and overestimated the demand for downtown on non-working days; the prediction accuracy for POI clusters was negatively related to their adjacency to downtown; and different POI clusters had cases of under- or overestimation on different occasions. This study reveals that the impact of destination attributes on people’s travel demand can vary across time and space because of their heterogeneous nature. Future research on travel behavior and built environment modeling should incorporate the temporal inconsistency to achieve better prediction accuracy.


Author(s):  
Catalin Ratiu ◽  
Beverlee B. Anderson

Purpose – There are many different conceptualizations to sustainable development and these different approaches may have led to confusion amongst the public. The purpose of this paper is to explore the identities of the term and how the confused identity may be leading to problems for sustainable development efforts. Design/methodology/approach – The design is exploratory, using both secondary and primary data to understand the different sustainable development concepts. Findings – There is no consistent understanding or use of the term “sustainable development” among various groups. Research limitations/implications – Future research should include a larger sample that is more representative of people from different backgrounds and geographical areas. Practical implications – The public is generally willing to support only projects that it understands. Without a clear understanding of sustainable development, the public will be less inclined to support these efforts. Originality/value – This study examines the perceptions and understandings of the term by the general public representing different generations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6034
Author(s):  
Ine Hugaerts ◽  
Jeroen Scheerder ◽  
Kobe Helsen ◽  
Joris Corthouts ◽  
Erik Thibaut ◽  
...  

The United Nations (UN) considers sports as an important enabler of sustainable development. The popular and fast-growing Participatory Sports Event (PSE) sector can play an important role in this regard, however, research that measures and reports sustainability in PSEs is scarce. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to construct and validate a research instrument based on the UN’s sustainable development goals, and to examine sustainability in PSEs. To this end, an online survey was administered among a representative sample of 303 PSE organisers, located in Flanders, Belgium. A confirmatory factor analysis affirmed the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the instrument and provided evidence for its validity and reliability. The results reveal significant discrepancies between the three dimensions, with a noticeable lower score for environmental sustainability compared to social and economic sustainability. Furthermore, challenges are highlighted in the field of the civil society sector and in walking sports events. The findings also indicate that large-sized events are more likely to be sustainable. The current study can act as a foundation for future research on sustainability in PSEs and can assist PSE organisers and policymakers to increase the sustainability-related performance of the sector.


Author(s):  
Kristina M. Currans ◽  
Gabriella Abou-Zeid ◽  
Nicole Iroz-Elardo

Although there exists a well-studied relationship between parking policies and automobile demand, conventional practices evaluating the transportation impacts of new land development tend to ignore this. In this paper, we: (a) explore literature linking parking policies and vehicle use (including vehicle trip generation, vehicle miles traveled [VMT], and trip length) through the lens of development-level evaluations (e.g., transportation impact analyses [TIA]); (b) develop a conceptual map linking development-level parking characteristics and vehicle use outcomes based on previously supported theory and frameworks; and (c) evaluate and discuss the conventional approach to identify the steps needed to operationalize this link, specifically for residential development. Our findings indicate a significant and noteworthy dearth of studies incorporating parking constraints into travel behavior studies—including, but not limited to: parking supply, costs or pricing, and travel demand management strategies such as the impacts of (un)bundled parking in housing costs. Disregarding parking in TIAs ignores a significant indicator in automobile use. Further, unconstrained parking may encourage increases in car ownership, vehicle trips, and VMT in areas with robust alternative-mode networks and accessibility, thus creating greater demand for vehicle travel than would otherwise occur. The conceptual map offers a means for operationalizing the links between: the built environment; socio-economic and demographic characteristics; fixed and variable travel costs; and vehicle use. Implications for practice and future research are explored.


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