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A quantitative assessment of food-water-energy interactions is important to assess pathways and scenarios towards a holistically sustainable regional development. While a range of tools and methods exist that assess energetic demands and potentials on a regional scale, the same is not true for assessments of regional food demand and potential. This work introduces a new food simulation workflow to address local food potential and demand at the regional level, by extending an existing regional energy-water simulation platform. The goal of this work is to develop a GIS-based bottom-up approach to simulate regional food demand that can be linked to similarly GIS-based workflows assessing regional water demands and energetic demands and potentials. This allows us to study food-water-energy issues on a local scale. For this, a CityGML land use data model is extended with a feed and animal potential raster map as well as a soil type map to serve as the main inputs. The workflow simulates: (1) the vegetal and animal product food potentials by taking climate, crop type, soil type, organic farming, and food waste parameters into account, (2) the food demand of vegetal and animal products influenced by population change, body weight, age, human development index, and other indicators. The method is tested and validated in three German counties with various land use coverages. The results show that restricting land used exclusively for energy crop production is the most effective way to increase annual food production potential. Climate change by 2050 is expected to result in annual biomass yield changes between −4% and 2% depending on the region. The amount of animal product consumption is expected to rise by 16% by 2050, while 4% fewer vegetal products are excepted to be consumed.

The concept of academic spin-off (AS) has witnessed an increase in attention due to its effectiveness in solving industry problems using core technology and knowledge from academia. Most studies based on US and western Europe experiences have presented the main key factors for academic spin-offs. The present study aims to address a literature gap regarding AS survival factor identification for central and eastern European countries, to relate resource groups with these key factors from a literature perspective, and to statistically investigate the long-term performance of academic spin-offs in Romania, an eastern European country that has only recently understood the opportunity academic spin-offs offer for national and regional development. Since EU programs are setting the scene for AS development, this research brings new insights for university strategic management to achieve sustainable regional growth by proposing a novelty spin-off key factor specific to central and eastern European countries: team competency in accessing government funds. Since these emerging economies face similar challenges regarding AS formation and development, statistical evidence from Romania is insightful and valuable. Data were collected on Romanian AS companies founded from 2006–2010, and eleven survival factors were investigated within a quantitative survey to understand which had a significant impact on AS performance. By using Pearson’s correlation matrix and a Cobb–Douglas nonlinear regression model, this study validated two research hypotheses that, in Romania, the quality of scientific support received from a university or research center during the development of a product and the competency of a team in accessing government funds were the most important factors having nonlinear influences on AS performance. Their positive and negative influences were furthermore discussed, and managerial implications were outlined.

In this article, we address the water challenges faced by Indigenous communities (ICs) in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6). The importance of ICs for sustainable regional development is increasingly recognised both at, a policy level and in practice. However, there is a reported lack of empirical evidence that gives voice to how such communities perceive development, particularly sustainable water development as articulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015–2030). This article provides case-based evidence from one Indigenous community setting, which challenges assumptions concerning water-related development. Using a qualitative methodology, this case study explores the problem of access to safe water faced by ICs and applies a value cocreation framework based on service-dominant logic. The findings highlight the need to develop sustainable water service models focused on the provision of water not just as a commodity or resource but also as a service. Initiatives aimed at addressing water-related challenges will be more likely to succeed when the culture, experiences, knowledge and practices of the communities in need of clean water access are valued and meaningfully incorporated into value cocreation processes.

The need to enhance energy access has led to the growing recognition of renewable energy sources in sustainable regional development. However, solar power, one of the less polluting renewable energy sources, continues to receive little attention in some developing countries seeking balanced development. Through a review of the literature, this paper examines the need for regional electrification by solar power and suggests measures to integrate regional energy policies and processes for balanced development. The authors find that there are many social, economic, and environmental benefits associated with using solar power. For instance, solar energy creates employment opportunities, reduces a country’s foreign dependence, improves freedom of choice, improves a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and human development index (HDI), and is associated with improved environmental conservation. The region of East Africa is keen to reap these sustainable development gains through solar power electrification. The establishment of the East African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency constitutes an important melting pot for diverse renewable energy policies, in addition to confirming a commitment to solar power deployment. Moreover, some East African Community (EAC) states appear to be progressing faster towards regional solar power projects, while other states are lagging due to complex contextual challenges. However, the overall contribution of solar power to sustainable development remains low, as individual states appear to be focused on developing their national solar power projects. Nonetheless, there is great hope for regional development through shared solar power development if EAC states implement a number of regulatory and voluntary interventions.

The maintenance of sustainable development in light of climate change is presenting society with a serious challenge. This study analyzes the spatial environment and its coupled relationship with socio-economic and food security in the Chaohu Lake Basin in central Anhui Province, China. Previous studies have shown that this study area has good environmental conditions. However, the ecological security, economic development, and food security in the Chaohu Lake Basin was generally poor and poorly coordinated in 2018, especially in the center of local cities and surrounding areas. Nevertheless, many towns are in a well-organized state, meaning sustainable and coordinated regional development can be achieved through resource optimization. Generally, the economic conditions in the Chaohu Lake Basin should be improved in a way that ensures that the environment is not significantly degraded. The main functional zoning requirements of the counties&rsquo, land management planning designate most of the counties as parts of ecological conservation areas. The present study provides monitoring of important basin ecosystems and serves as a guide to future sustainable regional development by providing directions and paths to follow, it can also provide a reference for eco-functional zoning that is applicable to various natural basins worldwide.

Central Asian countries attract investment in transport infrastructure to rebuild the Silk Road paths and enjoy economic benefits from the participation in international trade. The Kazakhstani government approached the Russian and Chinese governments intending to join the Western Europe&ndash, Western China (WE&ndash, WC) initiative to boost the country&rsquo, s regional development. The paper aims to assess how the WE&ndash, WC transport corridor affected the economic potential of linking cities and regions starting from the quality of transport infrastructure and leading to their export potential. The study&rsquo, s findings showed that the Kazakhstan section of the WE&ndash, WC corridor was at an early stage of transformation from a transport into an economic corridor. While the Russia-Uzbekistan section continues to serve mainly a transit function and operate at the level of transport infrastructure, the China-Kyrgyzstan section has started evolving from the level of multimode transport corridor to the level of logistics corridor. The economic sustainability of the WE&ndash, WC linking mining and agricultural regions of Kazakhstan still comes into question and depends on the government&rsquo, s further region-specific policy actions.

Local food production benefits sustainable regional development and should be considered as one the pillars of sustainable regional development strategies. Local food producers share a common heritage because of the cultural and historical ties in their regions, while consumers tend to value food products produced locally. The purpose of this article was to explore market participants’ attitudes toward the impact of local food product attributes on sustainable regional development. The authors’ findings on the main advantages and barriers to consumption of local food products have pointed out the complexity of the relationships between market participants (i.e., producers and consumers) and indicated that a deeper understanding is necessary for overall economic development. The problems of local food products in Serbia, in the context of sustainable regional development, have not been investigated so far, and for this reason, it is important to analyze the differences between consumer and producer attitudes to reduce this perceived gap in the literature. In this way, these insights can offer opportunities for strategic actions in regard to the local food product supply and consumption, with the aim of including different regional stakeholders.

The analysis of the relationship between regional resources and environment and human activities plays an important role in sustainable regional development. This study proposes the pressure&ndash, capacity&ndash, governance (PCG) model, an analytic framework for the assessment of the resources and environmental pressure (REP), carrying capacity (RECC) and governance (REG) levels over a large watershed scale, with the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the study area. A limiting factor analysis is used to recognize the limiting factors of the regional RECC. The coupling analysis of resources and environmental pressure&ndash, governance identifies the regional potential and utilization direction. The research results are as follows. (1) The REP, RECC and REG levels of the YREB exhibit spatial differences. The REPs of the upper reaches are lower than those of the lower reaches, which does not match the RECC but matches the REG levels. (2) The proportions of unused land, water resources, and atmospheric environmental quality are the main limiting factors of the regional RECC. (3) The PCG analysis framework is used as the basis to divide the YREB into several subareas to analyse the resources and environmental potential carrying capacity and utilization direction of different types of region. This research may provide decision-making references for regional sustainable development at the large watershed scale.

This review examines how life cycle methodologies are presently used by regional authorities in their sustainable development programmes. The review incorporates formal methods of life cycle assessment (LCA) as well as non-standardised approaches like life cycle management (LCM). The review describes the sustainability agenda facing regions, and a ‘life cycle toolbox’ that can be used at territorial level. Several parallel literature research methods were used to collect representative examples from around the world of regional life cycle approaches, identifying a variety of common and still-evolving methodologies used to address sustainability issues and applications. Results show that regional use of various life cycle methodologies from the toolbox is growing although scope is often constrained to short life chains, and with limited consideration of secondary (“spillover”) impacts. The conclusions confirm earlier findings that current life cycle tools are not always ideally structured for public sector organisations, with some not yet mature for addressing regional sustainability issues, such as biodiversity, land use and social impacts. Regional data aggregation is currently insufficient for certain methods. Further research is needed to adapt certain life cycle methodologies for regional application, but many available tools could already be further applied than is currently the case.

Urbanization trades off the value of ecosystem services for economic value, either directly or indirectly. Optimizing the synergistic effects of both and identifying the coupled influences associated with human activities are essential for sustainable regional development and policy formulation. In this study, we analyzed the spatial differentiation of regional ecosystem service values and urbanization using ArcGIS 10.2, STATA 15.1, the value coefficient method, the urbanization index model, and the coupled coordination model, assessed their coupled coordination status, and further explored the influencing factors, taking the Guanzhong region of China as an example. The results show that the substrate has an important influence on ecosystem service values, with woodlands being the most important value provider and the largest contribution of regulating service values, with a spatial “center-periphery” ring-band growth distribution. There is a clear hierarchy of urbanization, with the higher the administrative level, the higher the level of urbanization. The overall coupling and coordination of ecosystem services and urbanization is in a non-equilibrium state, with high levels in the south and low levels in the north. Further research on the factors influencing the coupling found that the disposable income of urban residents and the population employed in the tertiary industry had the greatest influence.

In the process of rapid development of economic globalization and regional integration, the importance of urban agglomeration has become increasingly prominent. It is not only the main carrier for countries and regions to participate in international competition, but also the main place to promote regional coordination and sustainable development. Coordinated economic, environmental, tourism and traffic development is very necessary for sustainable regional development. However, the existing literature lacks research on coupling coordination of the Economy–Environment–Tourism–Traffic (EETT) system in urban agglomeration. In this study, in order to fill this gap, we establish the index system from four dimensions of economy, environment, tourism and traffic, and select the influencing factors from the natural and human perspectives to exam the spatio-temporal changes and influencing factors in the coupling coordination of the EETT system using an integrated method in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations (MRYRUA), China. The results indicate that the coupling coordination degree of the EETT system transitioned from the uncoordinated period to the coordinated period, while it showed an increasing trend on the whole from 1995 to 2017. The spatial agglomeration effect has been positive since 2010, while “High–High” and “Low–High” agglomeration regions were transferred from the east to the south. Land used for urban construction as a percentage of the urban area and vegetation index has a great impact on the coupling coordination degree. These results provide important guidance for the formulation of integration and coordinated development policy in the MRYRUA, and then increase China’s international competitiveness by improving the contribution of urban agglomerations to GDP.

In this paper, an aggregate indicator of a regional green economy (Regional Green Economy Index&mdash, RGEI) was proposed and applied to assess the level of green economy in Polish regions and its changes in the period 2004&ndash, 2016. The TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method was applied, which is one of the multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDM), widely used to assess the spatial diversity of socio-economic phenomena. Common reference values (ideal and anti-ideal solution) were used for variables for the entire study period. It allowed not only for creating a ranking of regions, but to assess progress towards the green economy as well. It was found that all regions of Poland made progress in this respect. Most importantly, the regions ranked the worst before Poland&rsquo, s accession to the European Union, made substantial progress. It was stated as well that none among the studied regions had high values of all variables included in the aggregate index. The maximum value of the RGEI index was about 0.5, while the index range is [0,1]. Additionally, an important finding was the fact that the weights of all diagnostic variables obtained using information entropy method were about equal, which confirms the approach of researchers and institutions who do not use weighting in aggregate indicators for well-being or sustainable development&mdash, which means implicitly using equal weights.

With the transition in the regional development discourse to knowledge- and innovation-based economics, the cultivation of innovation capacity has gained importance as an initiative to enhance regional sustainability and has emerged as a policy goal. An understanding of the formation of innovation clusters is critical to the cultivation of regional innovation capabilities. Except for the location and regional development conditions&rsquo, factors, researchers emphasize a built environment&rsquo, s role in the formation of innovation clusters. Based on the spatial database of 12,516 high-tech firms in 2017 in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), this study developed a conceptual framework for the built environment. The framework comprises living, service, perceptual, industrial, and physical aspects. The direction and intensity of the correlation between built environment factors and high-tech firms are discussed using the spatial regression model and geographical detector (GD) technique. The results show a highly concentrated spatial distribution pattern of high-tech firms in the PRD. A significant county-level spatial autocorrelation is revealed through Moran&rsquo, s I. According to the model, we determine the positive impacts of technology support, transport infrastructure, and living service levels on the agglomeration of high-tech firms as well as the negative impact of the public service level. The GD&rsquo, s result demonstrates different levels of impact intensity of built environmental factors. We argue that a comprehensive understanding of the influence of built environment factors on innovation agglomeration will help policymakers develop targeted policies to foster local innovation capabilities and promote sustainable regional development.

Identifying the relationships between ecosystem services (ESs) and land use change is crucial for ES management and sustainable regional development. The Manas region in China has witnessed dramatic reclamation activities in its desert areas that resulted in ecological problems. The changes in eight ESs, including crop production (CP), livestock production (LP), soil conservation (SC), water yield (WY), sand fixation (SF), carbon sequestration (CS), habitat quality (HQ), and nature landscape recreation (NLR), were investigated by using biophysical and questionnaire methods. At the regional scale, provisioning services (i.e., CP and LP) showed some performance improvements, whereas most of the regulating services (i.e., WY, CS, and HQ) along with NLR showed a performance decline. Five ES bundles&mdash, Upper Mountain, Foothill, Oasis, Oasis&ndash, Desert Transition, and Desert bundle&mdash, were identified at the township scale via k-means clustering. From 2000 to 2015, the Oasis bundle sprawled as a result of oasisization, whereas the Oasis&ndash, Desert Transition and Foothill bundles decreased. We performed a questionnaire survey and a statistical analysis to identify the causes behind the performance improvement/decline of these ESs and found that the land use changes in the Manas region had a significant impact on these services. More than 50% of the survey respondents identified land use changes as the primary driver of the changes in some ESs (i.e., CP, CS, HQ, and NLR). In the correlation and partial correlation analyses, oasisization was significantly and positively correlated with CP but was negatively correlated with WY, CS, HQ, and NLR. We enhanced the reliability of our conclusions by integrating biophysical and sociocultural methods into our investigation of ES and land use change. In view of the huge losses in regulating and cultural services, the Manas region should limit its desert reclamation activities to control the expansion of its oasis and to improve the quality of its cropland. Our results can help formulate effective ES management and land use decisions in the Manas region or similar areas.

This paper considers innovations as one of the factors of sustainable agricultural development of the Stavropol Territory. It focuses on the impact of state policy at the regional level in the field of innovations on the sustainable development of the region’s agriculture. This paper tests whether the implementation of the policy in innovations increased the sustainable growth of agricultural development. To do so, a model with switch variables was used. Principle component analysis was used to calculate a composite sustainability index of selected socio-economic and environmental indicators. The hypothesis that the introduction of a state policy aimed at innovation has a positive impact on the sustainable development of the regional agriculture was corroborated. We also assessed the impact of implementing this policy within each dimension separately. The socio-economic indicator is more important than the environmental indicator.

In central and eastern European countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007, there are strong connections between transport development and sustainable regional development. The needs for transport development in post-socialist countries are so high that it is difficult to finance them, and most governments have to choose between immediate and less urgent needs. The aim of this study was to determine the role played by sustainable transport growth in the improvement of regional cohesion and sustainable regional development with a use of geographical information systems’ capabilities. The specific goals of the study were to: (i) determine the impact of EU subsidies on the regional transport development, (ii) identify threats to regional cohesion resulting from under-capitalised regions, (iii) examine geographical information systems’ capabilities in periodical regional transport development monitoring. The analyses include evaluation of the regions’ involvement in sustainable transport development as well as the presentation of direct and indirect results, such as road system improvement, with the use of GIS capabilities. It is particularly important to develop a system for monitoring the level of EU fund allocation with the use of GIS tools and the capabilities of geographic information systems. Such in-depth analysis would be useful for regional governments and decision-makers in creating and updating long term transport policies as well as monitoring long term regional development strategies. Both sustainable transport development and EU fund allocation can be monitored within the use of GIS tools, and such analyses should supplement the INSPIRE Geoportal scope.

The development of Industry 4.0 has a significant impact not only on production processes but also on the functioning and future of regions. It is crucial to understand the phenomena taking place in the social and economic space both from the cognitive and practical point of view. The article is based on research which investigates the prospect of communes in the context of Industry 4.0 development. The aim of the article is to show possible consequences of the development of Industry 4.0 from the local perspective. The basic assumption is a positive impact of entrepreneurship on ensuring sustainable regional development. The model adopted is built on a resource-based view and includes both invariable, external and independent resources such as location, as well as those which are variable in the longer term, such as human and social capital. To verify most of the hypotheses, a linear regression model has been created. The results of the research show that there is a strong correlation between human capital, social capital, proximity of an agglomeration and tourist attractiveness of a region, and regional development operationalised by the number of enterprises. The article presents possible directions of changes in the profiles of local units, as well as the conditions which have to be met in order to enable such a transformation.

The city of Wrocław is an important Polish center for creating innovations and modern technological solutions. In general, Polish innovation system is having problems with a lack of cooperation among different actors, a low level of commercialization and a weak uptake of technologies. Based on that, the objectives of this paper were set on the identification of the local innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities, the analysis of the current innovation system and the development of a community&rsquo, s ecosystem theoretical concept. Currently, in Wrocław, many organizations are dealing with innovation. To assess the regional situation of the innovation system the ethnographic analysis was conducted. Each of the stakeholder segments was analyzed based on the resources, activities, value addition and value capture factors. The research showed a huge potential for creating an innovation ecosystem, however due to the variety of different activities, there is no common Innovation Ecosystem. Based on the analysis results, the Ecosystem Pie Model tool was used to create the ecosystem model concept. Research showed a huge potential for creating an innovation ecosystem. Therefore, Wrocław should aim to create a development policy framework that favors entrepreneurial innovation and will allow sustainable regional development.

The purpose of this paper was to identify collaboration opportunities between one of the most important universities in Romania and companies with production activity within the development region in which this university operates. In order to attain this goal, a survey was conducted to identify the needs of consultancy, expertise, and services for companies that operate in the Centru Development Region of Romania (RO12) and to evaluate the extent to which they are interested in cooperation with Transilvania University of Brasov. In this respect, 3506 companies were included in a panel and their managers were invited to take part in the survey. Finally, a sample of 457 companies was obtained. According to the survey results, the most used consulting services by these companies were the economic and financial ones, but the percentage of companies that have benefited from these services is low. The percentage of interviewed companies that have benefited so far from the consultancy offered by Transilvania University of Brasov is much lower (3.9%). Starting from the research results we proposed an entrepreneurial pilot model for online data analysis, based on the Tableau Public v. 2019.3 software, meant to help companies to do better promotion in order to develop their markets.

This study aimed to analyze and assess the spatial and temporal trends in distribution of reserves and production of igneous and metamorphic dimension stones and crushed rocks in the Lower Silesia region, which with 90% of total supply is the key source region of these rock raw materials in Poland. The research utilized descriptive statistics to examine temporal variations of production, as well as to determine sufficiency of these resources for four different scenarios and seven main lithological groups of rocks. Spatial statistics in the geographic information system was used to map changes in spatial distribution of production with the density function, as well as to determine areas of highest concentration in the 2010&ndash, 2018 period. Then, 169 communes in the region were assessed using the multicriteria analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique to identify local communities prospective for development of this mining sector. Strong, positive correlation (r = 0.645) between year to year production change with annual rate of gross domestic product was determined. Sufficiency of economic reserves was estimated, in four scenarios, as being the lowest for melaphyre and porphyry (25&ndash, 49 years), and the highest for marble (380&ndash, 389 years). Reserves of basalt and amphibolite should last for approximately 50 years (32&ndash, 60 and 36&ndash, 67 years, respectively), granite for 82 to 110 years, and gabbro and gneiss for over 100 years (78&ndash, 159 and 76&ndash, 189 years, respectively). Maps revealed a possible trend of increasing production in quarries located in the central and eastern parts of Lower Silesia, whereas multicriteria analysis allowed for the identification of nine communes with the highest potential for rock raw material quarrying. The practical outcome of this study is a knowledge database for authorities, upon which sustainable management of regional rock raw materials can be based in the context of economic, social, and environmental impacts of their extraction.

Decoupling of energy consumption and economic development is a key factor in achieving sustainable regional development. The decoupling relationship between energy consumption and economic development in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region is still unclear. This paper uses the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method and Tapio elastic index model to analyze the decoupling degree and driving factors of energy consumption and economic development, and evaluates the decoupling effort level in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2006 to 2016. The results indicate that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region showed a weak decoupling as a whole, and that only Tibet experienced expanding negative decoupling in 2006-2007 and an expansion link in 2007-2008. Economic scale is a primary factor that hinders the decoupling of energy consumption, followed by investment intensity and industrial energy structure. The cumulative promotion effect of research and development（R&amp, D）efficiency and intensity and the inhibition effect of investment intensity cancel each other out. With the exception of Tibet and Xinjiang, all provinces in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau have made decoupling efforts. Decoupling efforts made by R&amp, D efficiency contributed the most, followed by energy intensity and R&amp, D intensity. This paper provides policy recommendations for the decoupling of energy consumption experience for underdeveloped regions.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a cornucopia of international projects that offer mammoth opportunities for more economic cooperation and deeper regional integration primarily among emerging economies. BRI is providing new drivers of sustainable economic growth in China and of cross-border trade, along with the reimagined land and “Maritime Silk Road„. The initiative focuses on restoring global balance and on expanding universally beneficial and inclusive relationships. This article argues that the forces of globalization are so pivotal to Eurasia, where development opportunities can propel the region toward a more comprehensive socioeconomic integration, that governments in that region need to provide more support that ensures the continuing success of BRI. In essence, BRI is a critical tool for peaceful development that is resulting in massive investments in infrastructure, that is facilitating economic development, and that is promoting shared governance. This article provides theoretical perspectives on BRI as a beachhead for sustainable regional development. It also highlights BRI programs and projects that have emerged as an internal and external policy framework for an openly inclusive “win⁻win„ cooperation model based on shared development and on communities of shared interests.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Albania and Kosovo have invested considerable efforts to tackle present regional sustainability challenges on a research-based and strategic level. This happened through their traditional role as a provider of research and education. Additional activities fostering HEIs as a driver for sustainable regional development and innovation have been initiated as part of their third mission. However, customized education approaches were missing in order to fulfill specific regional demands of different research and learning projects in collaboration with regional actors. This paper explores the recently finished project &ldquo, Connecting Science-Society Collaboration for Sustainability Innovation&mdash, ConSus&rdquo, which focuses on the efforts of HEIs in Albania and Kosovo to tackle present regional sustainability challenges in both countries. An analytical framework regarding collaborative learning opportunities towards sustainable regional development and innovation has been drafted based on five key elements (capacities of HEIs in regional development, planning, learning and implementation theory, and action research). This framework has been applied to analyze the learning activities of the ConSus project. As a main finding, customized education approaches in the contexts of sustainable development (SD) and collaboration of scientific and regional actors are important elements to cope comprehensively with real-world problems.

To foster sustainable regional development, many regions rely on innovations. To safeguard the generation of innovations and their market introduction, companies have increasingly used technology roadmapping and open innovation. The project INNOrural (Innovations for sustainable rural development) expanded these concepts by applying them to regions. This led to the rise of the “Regional Open Innovation Roadmapping” framework for innovation-based regional development (ROIR). This framework was tested by conducting two innovation roadmapping processes in the model region of Märkisch-Oderland (MOL), Germany: the certification of regional wood fuel and the establishment of a competence center for precision farming technology. Both innovation ideas were selected during the roadmapping process by applying a sustainability assessment. After 12 months, two complete roadmaps were ready for implementation. Key principles of ROIR were identified, including the use of a clear and replicable sustainability assessment method, the involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups in the early process and the cooperation between regional and subject experts. Generally, the broader adaptation of ROIR for additional regions will be useful. Nevertheless, the ROIR processes need to be evaluated in depth to develop a better understanding and to provide evidence of the benefits and limitations of this approach.

The paper explores different models of innovation management at the regional level and reasons for the best model considering the specific features of St. Petersburg as the innovative region of Russia. The authors, on the base of their long-time experience in studies of innovative enterprises and elaborating the regional innovation policy in St. Petersburg, propose the tool of creation and measuring the results of the regional innovation policy that promotes the life quality improvement and regional sustainable development. The balanced scorecard is used as a method, based on the methodology of knowledge economy development and adjusted to the specific needs of St. Petersburg innovation eco-system. The authors pay special attention to the implementation of principles of green economy into the realization of the regional innovation policy and the proposed balanced scorecard.

Landscape corridor planning (LCP) has become a widespread practice for promoting sustainable regional development. This highly complex planning process covers many policy and planning issues concerning the local landscape, and ideally involves the people who live in the area to be developed. In China, regional planners and administrators encourage the development of landscape corridor planning. However, the current LCP process rarely considers ideas from local residents, and public participation is not recognized as beneficial to planning outcomes. We use a specific Chinese case of LCP to analyze how citizen involvement may enrich sustainable spatial planning in respect to ideas considered and solutions developed. To this end, we compare a recently approved landscape corridor plan that was created without public participation with alternative solutions for the same landscape corridor, developed with the involvement of local residents. These alternatives were then evaluated by professional planners who had been involved in the initial planning process. We demonstrate concrete differences between planning solutions developed with and without public participation. Further, we show that collaborative processes can minimize spatial conflicts. Finally, we demonstrate that public participation does indeed contribute to innovations that could enrich the corridor plan that had been produced exclusively by the decision-makers. The paper closes with a discussion of difficulties that might accompany the involvement of local residents during sustainable LCP in China.

Understanding the integration process of urban agglomeration is essential for sustainable regional development and urban planning. However, few studies have analyzed the spatial integration patterns of metropolitan regions according to the impacts of landscape ecology along rail transit corridors. This study performed a comprehensive inter-city gradient analysis using landscape metrics and radar charts in order to determine the integration characteristics of an urban agglomeration. Specifically, we analyzed the evolution of spatial heterogeneity and functional landscapes along gradient transects in the Changsha&ndash, Zhuzhou&ndash, Xiangtan (CZT) metropolitan region during the period of 1995&ndash, 2015. Four landscape functional zones (urban center, urban area, urban&ndash, rural fringe, and green core) were identified based on a cluster analysis of landscape composition, connectivity, and fragmentation. The landscape metric NP/LPI (number of patches/largest patch index) was proposed to identify the urban&ndash, rural fringe, which revealed that the CZT region exhibited a more aggregated form, characterized by a single-core, continuous development, and the compression of green space. The integration of cities has resulted in continued compression and fragmentation of ecological space. Therefore, strategies for controlling urban expansion should be adopted for sustainable urban development. The proposed method can be used to quantify the integration characteristics of urban agglomerations, providing scientific support for urban landscape planning.

The improvement in a regions&rsquo, accessibility that accounts for various means of inter-regional transport and inter-regional communication is one of the main determinants of sustainable regional development. This study focuses on road accessibility in rural areas where an insufficient number and scope of international and domestic investments can lead to an imbalance in the transport infrastructure. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate road accessibility at the level of the NUTS4 units in view of their sustainable development and their divergence from rural units that are less distant from the main transport routes. The studied area&mdash, a province&mdash, is situated in the northeast of Poland. Data concerning the travel time, condition, and density of the road network were analysed to develop and compare the measures of road accessibility in individual units and to perform an overall assessment of the NUTS4 units. Partial indices were calculated with the support of the QGIS and ArcGIS software. Peripheral regions in post-socialist countries appear to be particularly underinvested in terms of the transport, including at the local and regional level. The applied methodology supported the presentation of problem peripheral areas that are underinvested and threatened with exclusion.

Urban and rural areas differ in economic, social and environmental terms. Due to the diverging dynamics in urban and rural areas, the social and economic distance between them might increase in the future even more. Rural entrepreneurs with linkages to urban areas are able to bridge the rural–urban divide by accessing some of the urban features, such as knowledge and markets, while at the same time profiting from the advantages of their peripheral location. This paper highlights exploratory results from qualitative interviews with rural entrepreneurs, and we illustrate entrepreneurial linkages to urban centers. The interview data show that rural entrepreneurs with rural–urban linkages develop sensibility for core market demands and trends, they valuate rural assets, and they combine rural and urban sources of knowledge for innovation. Through their entrepreneurial activity, rural entrepreneurs with linkages to urban areas might constitute an opposite force to polarizing concentration of economic activities in cities. Hence, rural entrepreneurs with urban linkages might contribute to sustainable economic relationships between urban and rural areas.

Studying the geospatial association within the urban agglomeration around the South China Sea can provide a basis for understanding the internal development of the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area (CAFTA) and provide ideas for promoting economic and trade cooperation among cities in the region. The purpose of this paper was to reflect the characteristics of the urban agglomeration association network based on big traffic data. Based on trajectory data mining and complex network analysis methods, the automatic identification system (AIS) data was used to construct the traffic flow association network of the urban agglomeration around the South China Sea and then analysis and evaluation were carried out in three aspects: Spatial distribution characteristics of marine traffic flow, analysis of spatial hierarchy and internal difference analysis of the urban agglomeration. The results show the following: (1) The distribution of marine traffic flow within the urban agglomeration around the South China Sea is characterized by polarization and localization and shows a specific power-law distribution, (2) there is a close relationship within the urban agglomeration and the core urban and the marginal urban agglomerations were apparent, (3) subgroup division of urban agglomeration around the South China Sea shows an evident geographic agglomeration phenomenon and there were significant differences between the level of economic development among subgroups, and (4) relative to static factors such as population size and economic aggregate, dynamic flow of information and capital traffic flow plays a more important role in the spatial correlation between cities. Strengthening the links among the three layers of core-intermediate-edge cities through trade and investment means enhancing cooperation among cities within the urban agglomeration and ultimately promoting sustainable regional development.

The ecological niche of a complex regional ecosystem reflects the fit of various human activities and the advantages and disadvantages of the environment in the region. This study examined China&rsquo, s comprehensive niches of the compound social&ndash, economic&ndash, natural ecological system during the &ldquo, 11th Five-Year&rdquo, and &ldquo, 12th Five-Year&rdquo, periods using a Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method. The results showed that before the 11th Five-Year period, the levels of comprehensive niches in the country were generally low, and, by the end of the 11th Five-Year period, the comprehensive niche levels in Beijing, Tianjin, and the eastern coastal regions each exceeded 0.40. During the 12th Five-Year period, after the ecological civilization construction plans were implemented, the average national comprehensive ecological level reached 0.57, the comprehensive ecological niche levels in eastern coastal areas reached more than 0.84, those in southern regions and some developed middle and western regions were greater than 0.72, and, in central regions, the levels were between 0.50&ndash, 0.70. This shows that the concept of compound sustainable natural&ndash, societal&ndash, economic ecosystem development was incorporated into planning and used to guide local policies and assessment criteria for regional development. This paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of regional development plans through time, and can be used to promote coordinated and sustainable regional development.

Quantification of the spatial pattern of urban heat island intensities across the transnational urban agglomeration of the Tumen River is important for the promotion of sustainable regional development. This study employed Landsat images and MODIS LST data obtained in 2016 to determine the intensity of urban heat islands in this region, enabling direct comparison of data from the sub-regions of China, Democratic People&rsquo, s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and Russia. The average urban heat island intensity for the region was found to be 1.0 &deg, C, with the highest intensity of 3.0 &deg, C occurring during the summer time. The intensity of urban heat islands on the Chinese side was higher than on the other two sides, with city size, socio-economic development levels and vegetation coverage significantly affect their intensity. Urban heat island effects in Chinese cities in the region contribute increases in maximum summer temperatures and the number of high-temperature days that pose a threat to the health of their residents. The factors that influence urban heat island intensities in these cities and the impacts of urban heat island effects on the quality of life and health of residents are discussed. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the impact of urban heat island effects on cities in the region by increasing the area of green spaces they contain, as well as controlling their size and population.

As China increases its pace of urbanization, urban areas achieve rapid development by snatching resources from small towns that suffer persistent outflow of resources and anemic growth. Consequently, this trend is likely to destroy the foundation of urbanization and structural equilibrium of sustainable development. Based on the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS), this paper held that the changes above were results of the small towns&rsquo, making adaptive adjustments to their internal structures according to external environments. To assess the fitness values of the small towns around major cities in China, this study analyzed Wuhan city and its peripheral towns from the &lsquo, fitness&rsquo, perspective using the NK model. Meanwhile, the &ldquo, space-function&rdquo, coupled mode was introduced to analyze the development features of these small towns at different fitness levels. On this basis, spatial autocorrelation was employed to reveal the spatial patterns of the small towns around Wuhan according to their fitness values. Besides, the locally optimal paths of eight different types of combinations to evolve fitness were identified based on the NK computation results. The findings indicate positive correlations between the fitness values of small towns around major cities and the number of dominant factors. Apart from this, there exists a hierarchical clustering structure in the region of the major city which is bounded by urban growth boundary based on the fitness values of small towns. Also, spatial restructuring, the path to closer interaction with peripheral adaptive agents and effective resource integration in a greater scope, should be given priority to improve the adaptability of small towns. Additionally, the small towns should shift toward the function-oriented pattern that emphasizes specialization from the conventional centralized clustering structure to go with the tide of regional specialization and transformation in urban areas and realize their regional value.

Recognizing changes in ecosystem services (ES) and their relationships is the basis of achieving sustainable regional development. Regional collaborative development has become the core strategy of the development of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region. However, sub regions have different ecological changes and relationships. Here, we quantify and map ES, including water yield, sediment retention, carbon sequestration and grain productive capacity in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, using several biophysical models and explore the relationships of spatial correction, trade-offs and synergies among multiple ES in different spatial scales. Results across the four years show that the quality and variation tendency of ES from each region are spatially heterogeneous. The relationship between ES that are not significant in the entire region shows different correlations in individual ecological–functional zones. From the perspective of regional disparity, the effect of land use factor and correlative mechanisms among ES are analyzed. To observe the spatiotemporal variations and relationships of ES in individual regions, land use management policies are proposed on the basis of the results of the relationships among ES.

Leadership has emerged as a central factor in sustainable regional development. Complex regional development initiatives need dynamic leaders to convene diverse stakeholders, sustain participation, leverage external resources, and achieve collective impact. This study researched the deeper meanings and application of backbone leadership using case study research examining a collaborative, regional initiative known as the Mon River Valley Coalition (MRVC). The MRVC is a regional and community-based economic revitalization program that promotes economic and environmental sustainability by capitalizing on the outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism potential of the Monongahela River. Through an inductive logic process, this research study analyzed the role and capabilities exhibited by backbone leaders associated with the MRVC. The data revealed that backbone leadership has been important to the cumulative success of the Monongahela River Valley Coalition. Study results highlight the backbone leadership roles and capabilities demonstrated by the leadership team both internally and external to the coalition. Sustainable development leaders work in uncharted waters—beyond the safe harbors of government, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. Research is needed that elaborates the integrative work that these sustainability leaders do. Studies such as this one can illuminate the pathway for those to follow.

Today, more than 1000 World Heritage (WH) sites are inscribed on UNESCO’s list, 228 of which are natural and mixed heritage sites. Once focused primarily on conservation, World Natural Heritage (WNH) sites are increasingly seen as promoters of sustainable regional development. Sustainability-oriented regions, it is assumed, are safeguards for conservation and positively influence local conservation goals. Within UNESCO, discussions regarding the integration of sustainable development in official policies have recently gained momentum. In this article, we investigate the extent to which WNH sites trigger sustainability-oriented approaches in surrounding regions, and how such approaches in turn influence the WNH site and its protection. The results of the study are on the one hand based on a global survey with more than 60% of the WNH sites listed in 2011, and on the other hand on a complementary literature research. Furthermore, we analyze the policy framework necessary to support WNH sites in this endeavor. We conclude that a regional approach to WNH management is necessary to ensure that WNH sites support sustainable regional development effectively, but that the core focus of WNH status must remain environmental conservation.

This article aims to identify occupations at risk of climate change, and explore their spatial distribution by investigating their spatial concentration and cluster patterns in Korea. In order to identify professions vulnerable to climate change, we used three criteria: (1) exposure to the risks of job activities; (2) sensitivity to work environments; and (3) adaptive capacities based on the socioeconomic conditions of a person’s occupation. We identified 26 vocations as vulnerable, which corresponds to 16.5% of the total number of careers. Then, we used exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) techniques to examine the spatial distribution of jobs at risk of climate change effects. Endangered occupations show the extremely uneven spatial distributions across regions, indicating that there is a wide range of values for the proportion of endangered occupations across regions. The regions with high proportions of professions in jeopardy show clear spatial clustering based on the large geographic belt from the southwest to the northeast. Our results suggest that policymakers should consider the specific geographies of vulnerable occupations. The current work provides helpful hints on regional policy coordination to promote a virtuous circle of sustainable regional development.