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Environmental technology and regional sustainability – The role of life-based design

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  • Aarras, Nina
  • Rönkä, Mia
  • Kamppinen, Matti
  • Tolvanen, Harri
  • Vihervaara, Petteri

Abstract

Environmental technology provides useful tools for enhancing regional sustainability. The successful development and adoption of new technologies, however, requires a model which includes social elements. We argue that an optimal technology platform for regional sustainability is constructed by using life-based design, i.e. a design where the requirements of the users, of the local human culture, are taken into account. Our argument is illustrated by means of a case study, where we investigated how Finnish farmers in the Karjaanjoki River catchment area adopted new environmental technologies, and how they adapted these technologies to their specific ways of life. We conclude by proposing that in order to effectively promote regional sustainability, environmental technologies should be construed as elements of social processes, in which their life-based design features are actualized in their adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Aarras, Nina & Rönkä, Mia & Kamppinen, Matti & Tolvanen, Harri & Vihervaara, Petteri, 2014. "Environmental technology and regional sustainability – The role of life-based design," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 52-59.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:36:y:2014:i:c:p:52-59
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2013.12.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Graymore, M.L.M. & Sipe, Neil G. & Rickson, Roy E., 2010. "Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity: A tool for regional sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 459-468, January.
    2. Paul Shrivastava, 1995. "Environmental technologies and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 183-200.
    3. Dasgupta, Partha, 2001. "Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199247882.
    4. Graymore, Michelle L.M. & Sipe, Neil G. & Rickson, Roy E., 2008. "Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 362-372, October.
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