Abstract

The world of fashion is often associated with being trendy and being able to spend a good amount of money in purchasing clothes, shoes and accessories that are «in». The pre-teens, teenagers and yuppies are the main target group. But buying habits are slowly but surely changing, at least in the Northem European countries, and specifically in Finland. The focus is not on quantity but on quality: long-lasting materials and timeless design pieces. And ethics. Though a lot of young people are still prey to cheap, seasonal anires and fashion items, newgeneration designen are anracting clients towards intelligent consumerism: buying for quality and based on values.

Abstract

Weltweit streben immer mehr Regionen Energieautonomie an. Angesichts der Zukunftsrisiken Klimawandel und Erdölverknappung beabsichtigen sie, ihren Energiebedarf zu 100% aus eigenen erneuerbaren und daher CO2-neutralen Quellen zu decken. Während viele Regionen bei der Produktion von Elektrizität und Wärme große Erfolge erzielen, gibt es hinsichtlich der Deckung des Verkehrsenergiebedarfs noch großen Forschungsbedarf. Um regionale Energieautonomie zu erreichen, müssen sowohl die eigenen erneuerbaren Quellen optimal genutzt als auch der Energiebedarf durch Effizienzsteigerungen so weit wie möglich gesenkt werden. Im Artikel werden verschiedene technische und planerische Optionen für den Verkehrsbereich vorgestellt und diskutiert. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei der Frage, inwieweit sich Verkehrsflächen für die Erzeugung erneuerbarer Energie eignen. Die Umstellung der Verkehrsenergieversorgung auf erneuerbare regionale Quellen ist Chance und Herausforderung zugleich. Viele der negativen Umweltfolgen fossiler Mobilität werden sich voraussichtlich deutlich verringern oder sogar verschwinden. Die Installation von Photovoltaik-Elementen und anderen Anlagen der Energieerzeugung im öffentlichen Raum könnte allerdings auch existierende räumliche Qualitäten gefährden. Benötigt werden daher innovative Planungskonzepte und -instrumente. Bedarf besteht auch für neue Organisationsformen von Mobilität. Städtebau, Stadt- und Regionalplanung werden daher beim Übergang zu regionaler Energieautonomie eine wichtige Rolle spielen. A growing number of regions throughout the world aim at energy autonomy. In order to avoid climate and energy risks, they try to cover their energy demand to 100% by regional, renewable and hence carbon-neutral sources. Many of these regions are very successful in providing electricity and caloric energy, but as far as the energy demand of transport is concerned, there is still a big need for basic research. In order to achieve regional energy autonomy, it is necessary to increase the production of renewable energy as well as to reduce the energy demand. The article presents and discusses a set of relevant technological and planning options for the field of transport. Particular attention is paid to the generation potential of transport infrastructures for renewable energy. The switch from fossil to renewable energy is a chance as well as a challenge. Many of the environmental impacts of fossil-fueled transport are likely to diminish or even disappear. But the insertion of pv panels and other energy generating equipment in open spaces could also endanger existing spatial qualities. Hence innovative design concepts and controls should be developed. There is also a need for new organizational models for mobility. Urban and regional planning and urban design will therefore play an important role in the transition to regional energy autonomy. Document type: Book

Abstract

Despite being a basic tool for decision-making about the implementation and operation of enterprises with potential negative impacts on the environment, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) still facechallenges to its consolidation as an effective tool for achieving sustainable development. This study seeks to evaluate the EIAs available in the digital platforms of both federal and state agencies, with afocus on their development (based on regulatory laws), as well as to understand the perspectives of the professionals involved in the drafting and assessment of EIAs. A total of 151 EIA were analyzed and 27 questionnaires were applied to professional EIA drafters and evaluators. EIAs display as their main positive features a predominant authorship by multidisciplinary teams, while their main deficiency liesin their impact evaluations (including the valuation, significance and analysis of cumulative and synergistic impacts). Survey participants pointed out as potential improvement areas the phases of design, preparation, evaluation and implementation of EIAs. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a systematic process designed to identify and predict the potential impacts of human activity on the biophysical and human environment. It also functions as an environmental management tool to identify measures to avoid, mitigate or compensate for those effects. EIA is intended to be an iterative process to follow-up to projects postimplementation to determine actual environmental outcomes, interpret and communicate information about those outcomes and investigate opportunities for improved project environmental performance. Originating from the United States’ National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, EIA is now amongst the most successful and widely practiced environmental management tools in the world. Key Concepts: EIA is an aid to decision making through which concerns about the potential environmental consequences of proposed projects are assessed before those projects become a reality. Screening in EIA ensures that assessments are done when needed and not done when not needed. Scope is essential to good EIA and the goal is to focus on a select set of environmental components that are deemed important from scientific, public or regulatory perspectives and are likely to be adversely affected by the project. The underlying intent of EIA is to allow project proponents, managers and decision makers to enhance the benefits of proposed development projects and to mitigate potentially adverse impacts to the point of acceptability. EIA must be applied early in the development planning processes if it is to be influential in project design and decision making. Information gained in EIA follow-up studies, after the project is implemented, provides feedback to improve predictions and mitigation and management programmes, and an opportunity to learn for subsequent project proposals. Keywords: environmental impact assessment; baseline studies; impact prediction; mitigation and management of impacts; cumulative environmental effects; follow-up studie

Abstract

Mobilität ist Ausdruck von Freiheit, Selbstbestimmung und Wohlstand. Bislang. Doch in den letzten Jahrzehnten hat der Verkehr enorm zugenommen: Die Mobilitätsformen vervielfältigen sich; das bisherige Verkehrssystem stößt an soziale und ökologische Belastungsgrenzen. Für die Zukunft müssen wir Mobilität daher anders organisieren, damit er klimafreundlicher, ressourcenschonender, weniger stressig und wieder komfortabel wird. Der MOBILITÄTSATLAS 2019 ist das Kursbuch für die Verkehrswende. Er präsentiert Vorschläge und Lösungen für eine neue Mobilität und bietet darüber hinaus Beiträge und aussagekräftige Infografiken zu ländlichem Verkehr, autonomem Fahren, Elektromobilität, Klimaschäden und Gesundheitswirkungen unseres Verkehrs.

Abstract

The rapid advance of technologies is revolutionizing the way people work and transforming society into a digital world. In the shipping domain, many innovative technical systems have been designed and developed in the past decades, aiming to enable the maritime users to achieve the goal of safety, efficiency and effectiveness. The introduction of advanced technologies into workplaces that are intended to aid humans have also created unprecedented challenges. As their workplaces are inundated with new artefacts that cause confusion and information overloading, human users frequently find themselves in a supporting role to serve technology, being responsible for automation issues and blamed for “human errors” that sometimes result in tragic results. Today’s work in shipping is generally getting more distributed, complex and demanding. These challenges are closely associated with the design and use of technologies. Human-technology interactions in the context of sociotechnical systems has become an important research topic. It explores the relation between humans and machines to illustrate how interface design could address the human limitations, shape social interactions and provide ecological implications. This thesis considers the context of the shipping domain to investigate the impact of innovative technology, design issues and opportunities in various projects that attempt to increase safety or/and efficiency. The exploration and discourse in these applied projects are positioned in sociotechnical systems which include human, technology and organisational constituents. The thesis aims to achieve a deeper understanding of human-technology interactions from psychological, sociological and ecological perspectives, reflecting the ways in which technology interacts with humans. It aims to form a pluralistic epistemology to provide design implications and enlighten knowledge and organisational management within sociotechnical systems. The results have identified many issues related to situation awareness, attention and automation bias. It suggests the importance of adapting interfaces to the human limitations and accommodating the context change to support decision making. Perspectives of Activity Theory, distributed cognition and situated learning have high reference value in human-computer interaction research, providing insightful understanding about the nature of knowledge and interaction design, particularly how tool mediation could facilitate social interaction. In addition, technology-centric design that only concerns “user-interface” interaction is identified having significant limitations in complex systems. “Human errors” and organisational failures should be perceived via a holistic thinking. The results have presented the importance of adopting pluralistic approaches to understand the sociological factors and the nature of the work that is undergoing transitions along the shipping industry’s ecology. Overall, the thesis has identified the need to go beyond the pure cognitivist approach to better understand the complexity of human-computer interaction and human factors research, forming a deepened understanding towards an emerging interdisciplinary language of sociotechnical systems. To truly contribute to safety, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, it is critical to develop a pluralistic epistemology and a comprehensive human-centric vision regarding design and technological innovation in the digital revolution.

Abstract

The rapid advance of technologies is revolutionizing the way people work and transforming society into a digital world. In the shipping domain, many innovative technical systems have been designed and developed in the past decades, aiming to enable the maritime users to achieve the goal of safety, efficiency and effectiveness. The introduction of advanced technologies into workplaces that are intended to aid humans have also created unprecedented challenges. As their workplaces are inundated with new artefacts that cause confusion and information overloading, human users frequently find themselves in a supporting role to serve technology, being responsible for automation issues and blamed for “human errors” that sometimes result in tragic results. Today’s work in shipping is generally getting more distributed, complex and demanding. These challenges are closely associated with the design and use of technologies. Human-technology interactions in the context of sociotechnical systems has become an important research topic. It explores the relation between humans and machines to illustrate how interface design could address the human limitations, shape social interactions and provide ecological implications. This thesis considers the context of the shipping domain to investigate the impact of innovative technology, design issues and opportunities in various projects that attempt to increase safety or/and efficiency. The exploration and discourse in these applied projects are positioned in sociotechnical systems which include human, technology and organisational constituents. The thesis aims to achieve a deeper understanding of human-technology interactions from psychological, sociological and ecological perspectives, reflecting the ways in which technology interacts with humans. It aims to form a pluralistic epistemology to provide design implications and enlighten knowledge and organisational management within sociotechnical systems. The results have identified many issues related to situation awareness, attention and automation bias. It suggests the importance of adapting interfaces to the human limitations and accommodating the context change to support decision making. Perspectives of Activity Theory, distributed cognition and situated learning have high reference value in human-computer interaction research, providing insightful understanding about the nature of knowledge and interaction design, particularly how tool mediation could facilitate social interaction. In addition, technology-centric design that only concerns “user-interface” interaction is identified having significant limitations in complex systems. “Human errors” and organisational failures should be perceived via a holistic thinking. The results have presented the importance of adopting pluralistic approaches to understand the sociological factors and the nature of the work that is undergoing transitions along the shipping industry’s ecology. Overall, the thesis has identified the need to go beyond the pure cognitivist approach to better understand the complexity of human-computer interaction and human factors research, forming a deepened understanding towards an emerging interdisciplinary language of sociotechnical systems. To truly contribute to safety, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, it is critical to develop a pluralistic epistemology and a comprehensive human-centric vision regarding design and technological innovation in the digital revolution.