SESSION: EDUCATION AND PRACTITIONER TRAINING TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABILITY Teaching Sustainable Development / Transportation in Institutions of Higher Education

Ralph Hall, Virginia Tech

Over the past decade, the concept of sustainable development has taken root in institutions of higher education, spurring the development of sustainability-focused courses and degrees. The concept of sustainable transportation has been described as an expression of sustainable development in the transportation sector. While much progress has been made in integrating sustainability into transportation education, this presentation will argue that the considerable challenges society faces may require the adoption of multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary scholarship and pedagogy. This raises important questions in terms of how to teach sustainable development/transportation in institution of higher education.

Ralph P. Hall is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. He is an Affiliate Member of the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, an Affiliated Scholar of the Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience, and a Faculty Fellow of the Metropolitan Institute.

Ralph P. HallAssistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs

http://ralphphall.wordpress.com/

Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Workshop TRB ADC60 Committee

June 18, 2014

Teaching Sustainable Development/ Transportation in Institutions of Higher Education

Systems Thinking – breaking apart problems results in paying an enormous hidden price

“From a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the consequences of our actions: we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole.”

Peter Senge, p. 3

Source: ISI, Envision, http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/

Environmental Justice

Climate Change

Economic Inequality

Competitiveness (effective and efficient delivery of goods and

services)

Employment

Resource Depletion

Biodiversity/ Ecosystems

Toxic Pollution

Government activity areas

Key:

Challenges confronting sustainable development

Peace and Security

Purchasing Power

(job creation) &

ASCE Policy Statement 418

• The civil engineering profession recognizes the reality of limited natural resources, the desire for sustainable practices …, and the need for social equity in the consumption of resources. 

 

Source: Policy Statement 418 - The Role of the Civil Engineer in Sustainable Development, http://www.asce.org/landingpage.aspx?id=8475

ASCE Policy Statement 418

To achieve these objectives, ASCE supports the following implementation strategies: • Promote broad understanding of economic, environmental,

political, social, and technical issues and processes as related to sustainable development;

• Advance the skills, knowledge and information necessary for a sustainable future; including habitats, natural systems, system flows, and the effects of all phases of the life cycle of projects on the ecosystem;

• Advocate economic approaches that recognize natural resources and our environment as capital assets;

Source: ISI, Envision, http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/

• Promote multidisciplinary, whole system, integrated and multi-objective goals in all phases of project planning, design, construction, operations, and decommissioning;

• Promote reduction of vulnerability to natural, accidental, and willful hazards to be part of sustainable development; and  

• Promote performance based standards and guidelines as bases for voluntary actions and for regulations in sustainable development for new and existing infrastructure.     

Source: ISI, Envision, http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/

ASCE Policy Statement 418

Finding the ‘Root Cause’ of a ProblemEconomics and markets Inadequate and/or perverse incentives, prices, markets,

institutional/organizational structure and behavior, free-rider problems, and unrecognized/unmet needs and demands

Legislation and political process Inadequacy of existing legislation/regulations, lack of

knowledge/enforcement thereof, and inadequate stakeholder involvement

Public/private-sector management lack of adequate incentives or perverse incentives for, or commitment

to, management of the problemTechnical system capabilitiesTechnical solutions do not yet exist

Responding to the Root CauseEconomics and marketsChanges in prices, markets, and industry structureChanges in demandLegislation and the political processChanges in law and political process (legislation, regulation,

negotiation, and stakeholder participation)Public/private-sector managementSystem changes related to organizational/institutional structureChanges in public- and private-sector activityThe technical systemTechnological/scientific changes (options for R&D, innovation, and

diffusion)

Published in 2014

“Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is an integrated rather than a stand-alone concept: TBL is not exclusive to any one policy area or system. Given the integrated nature of transportation with the rest of human activity, it is difficult to view the transportation system in isolation. Sustainable transportation requires considering a broad definition of sustainability that considers how transportation affects overall social sustainability and how other policy areas need to be coordinated to achieve sustainability.”

Questions Facing Institutions of Higher Education?What knowledge and skills do students need to learn?

How should we promote ‘Sustainability in Higher Education’ (SHE) – e.g., top down vs. bottom up?

How do we change the hearts and minds of faculty?

What should be the role of non-academic entities – e.g., government agencies, private businesses, and NGOs?

Source: Questions inspired Mulder et al. (2012) How to Educate Engineers for/in Sustainable Development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 13(3), pp. 211-218.

What knowledge and skills do students need to learn?• Qualitative and quantitative modeling• Institutional, decision, governance,• social systems analysis• Systems multi-methodologies (e.g.,

‘‘thick’’ description methodology)• Participatory systems approaches,

including participatory modeling

• Methods to design governance arrangements, policies, institutions

• Planning methodologies• Decision support methodologies• Transition management methodology• Methods to support learning and

reflexivity• Organizational (change) management• Methods to support behavioral

change

• Multi-criteria assessment methods• Risk analysis• Sustainability efficiency analysis• Envisioning methods (e.g.,

backcasting)• Participatory normative methods,

including negotiation methods and consensus conference

• Participatory methods, including negotiation, mediation, deliberation, constructive conflict methodology

• Teamwork methods

• Scenario methodology• Forecasting from statistical and

simulation models• Backcasting and envisioning methods• Anticipatory multi-methodologies• Participatory anticipatory approaches,

including Delphi and future workshop

Source: Wiek et al. (2011) Key competencies in sustainability: a reference frameworkfor academic program development. Sustainability Science, 13, pp. 203-218.

What knowledge and skills do students need to learn?Boundary Crossing Skills Deep LearningStudents need to:Be aware of different

perspectives (knowledge)Appreciate the ‘value’ of

different disciplinary perspectives (attitude)

Apply different perspectives/disciplines and leverage the connections between them (skills)

Students need to:Be internally/intrinsically

motivated via a strong personal interest in sustainability

Benefit from varied teaching styles (that promote both ‘mastery’ and ‘discovery’ learning)

Be guided towards principles/concepts (rather than facts) in a ‘spiral curriculum’

Source: Fortuin and Bush (2010) Educating Students to Cross Boundaries between Disciplines and between Theory and Practice. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(1), pp. 19-35.

Source: Warburton (2003) Deep Learning and Education for Sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4(1), pp. 44-56.

How should we promote Sustainability in Higher Education (SHE)?

Source: Rusinko (2009) Integrating Sustainability in Higher Education: A Generic Matrix. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(3), pp. 250-259.

How do we change the hearts and minds of faculty?

Source: Lidgren et al. (2006) A Systemic Approach to Incorporate Sustainability intoUniversity Courses and Curricula. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14, pp. 797-809.

Will the promotion and tenure (P&T) committee penalize me for being too broad?

Where are the resources to support the effort it will take to transform the way I teach?

What should be the role of non-academic entities?Government agencies, private businesses, and NGOs can

support active and project-based learning (PBL)Active and PBL – is an effective way to learn

interdisciplinary skills and systems thinking‘Real’ problems motivate students

Challenges: Requires resources/effort (on both sides) to manageEstablishing and certifying learning objectives is more complexHow to ensure students see the boarder implications of a case Management of commercial or political interests

Source: Ideas informed by Mulder et al. (2012) How to Educate Engineers for/in Sustainable Development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 13(3), pp. 211-218.

Concluding ThoughtsProvide students with the ability/confidence to ask better

questions – e.g., to think systemically/holistically

Equip students with cross-disciplinary skills to promote technological, institutional, organizational, and social change

Each institution of higher education will need to tailor its approach to fit within existing systems/structures

Need to explore ‘collaborative models’ that promote active and problem-based learning – requires greater cooperation with public and private actors

Will there be sufficient employment opportunities for students?

Questions?

Supporting Slides

DefinitionsMultidisciplinarity – research/teaching that studies a topic

in several disciplines at the same timeInterdisciplinarity – concerns the links and the transfer of

knowledge, methods, concepts, and models from one discipline to another

Transdisciplinarity – involves what is between the disciplines, across the disciplines, and beyond the disciplines (transcends disciplinary boundaries)

Sources: • Remington-Doucette et al. (2012) Assessing sustainability education in a transdisciplinary undergraduate course focused on

real-world problem solving A case for disciplinary grounding. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 14(4), pp. 404-433.

• Marinova and McGrath (2004), “A transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning sustainability: a pedagogy for life,” Teaching and Learning Forum, http://otl.curtin.edu.au/events/conferences/tlf/tlf2004/marinova.html

Comprehensive sustainability

Economic development & vitality

Environmental preservation & regeneration

Social development &

well-being

Environmental protection

Social & economic equity

Community livability

EQUITYENVIRONMENT

ECONOMYSource: Adapted from CST (1997, p. 2)

‘Weak’ Sustainability

Environmental

Social

Economic

Sustainability Assessment Framework based on Triple Bottom Line – TBL or 3BL

Source: ISI, Envision, http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/

SOCIETY/EQUITY

ECONOMY

ENVIRONMENT

‘Strong’ Sustainability

Source: NCHRP Report 750 (2014)

“The U.S. overall policy system and institutional framework today is not yet capable of making the strategy, policy, and funding decisions that are truly driven by TBL considerations.”

When and if TBL policy systems do evolve, decision models for policy and funding will probably cross organizational and jurisdictional lines as they are currently known

“Responsibility for supporting, planning, and executing sustainable TBL will likely extend beyond the traditional jurisdictional and modal organizational boundaries of national, state, and local transportation agencies …”

“Existing agency roles and functions would necessarily continue, but TBL management could take a matrix form, cutting across not only internal organization units but also across multiple external agencies. Private- and public-sector entities could jointly occupy points in that management matrix.”

Source: NCHRP Report 750 (2014)