Transitions to sustainable consumption and production in cities

Abstract

This Special Volume focuses on Sustainable Production and Consumption, and especially on transformation processes in the Built Environment. More than 50% and rising of the world population is now living in cities that are both centers of technological and social innovations in sustainable life styles; and carriers of unsustainable lifestyles. In this Special Volume contributions can be found on Grassroots Innovations; Sharing; Food, Energy and Waste systems associated with cities; The role of corporations in realizing transitions towards sustainable living; Consumer Activism, Behavioral Change and Consumer Values in driving change; and on Governance and Indicators for measuring all such transformations. Many of the papers were presented at the second conference of the Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption (GRF-SPaC) in Shanghai in June 2014; and thus a substantial number of them report on research on Sustainable Production and Consumption in Cities in China. The authorship also reflects growing collaboration between researchers from developing and industrialized countries. The great diversity of contributions on the topic reflects the wealth of insights generated on the topic in recent years, but also the need for a better understanding of change processes at the intersection of social and physical systems and at multiple levels of action.