SESSION: EDUCATION AND PRACTITIONER TRAINING TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABILITY

1. 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.

2. Teaching Sustainable Development/ Transportation in Institutions of Higher Education Ralph P. Hall Assistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs http://ralphphall.wordpress.com/ Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Workshop TRB ADC60 Committee June 18, 2014

3. 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/

4. Competitiveness (effective and efficient delivery of goods and services) Resource Depletion Economic Development Health and Environment Housing and Urban Dev. Environmental Protection Employment Manufacturing Biodiversity/ Ecosystems (job creation)& Transportation Purchasing Power Agriculture Employment Defense Energy Economic Inequality Toxic Pollution Peace and Security Climate Change Social Development Key: Government activity areas Environmental Justice Challenges confronting sustainable development

5. 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

6. 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/

7. ASCE Policy Statement 418 • 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/

8. Finding the ‘Root Cause’ of a Problem Economics 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 problem Technical system capabilities • Technical solutions do not yet exist

9. Responding to the Root Cause Economics and markets • Changes in prices, markets, and industry structure • Changes in demand Legislation and the political process • Changes in law and political process (legislation, regulation, negotiation, and stakeholder participation) Public/private-sector management • System changes related to organizational/institutional structure • Changes in public- and private-sector activity The technical system • Technological/scientific changes (options for R&D, innovation, and diffusion)

10. “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.” Published in 2014

11. 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.

12. 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 • Scenario methodology • Forecasting from statistical and simulation models • Backcasting and envisioning methods • Anticipatory multi-methodologies • Participatory anticipatory approaches, including Delphi and future workshop • Participatory methods, including negotiation, mediation, deliberation, constructive conflict methodology • Teamwork methods • 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 Source: Wiek et al. (2011) Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science, 13, pp. 203-218.

13. What knowledge and skills do students need to learn? Boundary Crossing Skills Deep Learning Students 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.

14. 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.

15. How do we change the hearts and minds of faculty? 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? Source: Lidgren et al. (2006) A Systemic Approach to Incorporate Sustainability into University Courses and Curricula. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14, pp. 797-809.

16. 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 manage • Establishing and certifying learning objectives is more complex • How 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.

17. Concluding Thoughts • Provide 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?

18. Questions?

19. Supporting Slides

20. Definitions • Multidisciplinarity – research/teaching that studies a topic in several disciplines at the same time • Interdisciplinarity – 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

21. ‘Weak’ Sustainability Community livability EQUITY ENVIRONMENT Environmental preservation & regeneration Social development & well-being Comprehensive sustainability Social & economic equity Environmental protection Economic development & vitality ECONOMY Source: Adapted from CST (1997, p. 2)

22. Sustainability Assessment Framework based on Triple Bottom Line – TBL or 3BL Social Environmental Economic Source: ISI, Envision,http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/

23. ‘Strong’ Sustainability ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY/EQUITY ECONOMY

24. “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.” Source: NCHRP Report 750 (2014)

25. 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)