Striving for efficiency,harmony and vitality─A human ecological approach to urban sustainable development

Sustainability can only be assured with a human-ecological understanding of the complexinteractions among environmental,economic and social/cultural factors and with careful planningand management grounded in ecological principles. This paper will probe an integrative methodologyfor achieving environmentally sound, economically productive, and ecologically responsibledevelopment in urban and industrial areas of China through ecological regulation. The central objec-tive is to promote highly efficient resource use rather than high speed development,harmonious sys-tem′s relationship rather than inflexible compartmentalization, and robust and vital self-organizationrather than bureaucrstic control. This ecological order is to be regulated through technological inno-vation,institutional reform, and behavioral incentives that promote positive economic dcvelopmentwhile mitigating negative environmental impacts.

Theatre Arts as Social Marketing Application Tool： Sustainable Development Approach to Diffuse the Environmental Message to Teenagers in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Often, the word ＂community＂ and ＂sustainability＂ are interlinked in 21st century development approaches. Most development communicators have focused on top-down communication strategies and used various means to diffuse the message to the target community. However, with the change in media landscape today, the challenge is how to select the ＂right＂ communication application to foster the behavioral and cognitive sustainable changes in their own community. This research aims to investigate theatrical performance as sustainable communicative means demonstrating environmental issues and the concepts of sustainable development among high school students and Chiang Mai University students. With the application of ＂Devised Theatre＂, the process provides a space to investigate the attributes, characteristics and development of community theatre on how it reflects the concept of communication for social change. The research, therefore, examines the outcome of this creative social application tool and utilizes Practice as Research （PAR） a research methodology. The result will reveal the following： （1） how dramatic arts can be an effective means of social marketing to raise ＂awareness＂ on environmental issues; （2） how the performance raises environmental awareness in not only physical and psychological phases, but also spiritual dimension as a learning process among the participants, and （3） the sustainability of theatrical social application tool in which the participants of devised theatre project （devisees） can become the devisors in order to form new generation of the devisees--the teenage audience.

Comparison of Organic Sector Development in Six Balkan Countries

The study elaborates and examines a method for evaluation of organic farming development according to 10 indicators estimated by experts＇ opinion. It could be used for making comparisons in different countries, regions, or even time periods on the basis of the 10 main indicators determined considering organic operators, organic area, organic production, organic farms＇ structure, resources, access to market, institutional support, education and training, science and technology, environmental protection, each one of them including sub-indicators. The proposed organic development index （ODI） could be used as a complex indicator for organic sector development embracing different and very significant aspects rather than only nowadays used organic area, percentage, sales, etc collected data for which are still questionable and difficult. The method was put into practice for six Balkan countries （Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, and Romania）. The calculations of ODI show very low results--not well developed and competitive sector suffering the interference of international open markets. Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania perform better while Western Balkan countries （Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina） are still at the beginning of organic sector development.

Focus on the key problems and dilemmas that arise in developing eco-industrial parks in China

Despite the widespread incorporation of sustainable development into policy discourses, actually achieving the win-win-win scenario of economic, environmental and social development continues to be problematic. Advocates of industrial ecology suggest that shifting the basis of industrial production from a linear to a closed loop system, these gains can be achieved. In recent years, concepts drawn from industrial ecology have been used to plan and develop eeo-industrial parks （EIPs） that seek to increase business competitiveness, reduce waste and pollution, create jobs and improve working conditions. Despite a growing interest in EIPs, there have been few empirically informed studies that seek to explore the potential contribution such EIPs may make to sustainable development. This paper contributes to a developing sympathetic critique of industrial ecology by focusing on the key problems and dilemmas that arise in the course of developing eco-industrial parks, drawing upon empirical work conducted in China. The paper draws upon both an extensive survey of EIPs and in-depth interviews conducted with a range of stakeholders at some sites in China. As the paper reveals, EIPs in China are in their early stages and likewise their contribution to economic development and environmental policy, let alone social policies, is complicated and inchoate. The empirical material reveals that key features of industrial ecology such as inter-firm networking and collaboration in the form of materials interchange and energycascading are either absent or in the early planning stages. In each of the cases studied what is emerging is a form of EIP partly determined by the geographic setting and broader economic realities of the locality. While collaborative behavior between firms is central to EIP development if the potential benefits of industrial ecology are to be realized, it is important to realize that such behavior is difficult to develop from scratch through policy intervention. In conclusion, the paper suggests that expectations must be realistic for the community and location in question. As part of that realism, EIP projects must be designed to allow for a gradual approach, and each phase needs to be financially viable.