ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 44

Figure 10: Sustainability Strategy Model (Newman & Jennings 2008:29)
Figure 10 is relating the vision to the environment and how cities can become more sustainable by
consuming less resource to minimize the waste and maximize the livability; by implementing this
model people will gain environmental, social and economic benefits for the future generation,
and to achieve that, vision principles should be considered:
• Integration: economic, social and environmental factors should be integrated to achieve the
goal of reducing CO2 emission.
• Commitment: People should believe in the importance of sustaining their life needs to plan
their strategies and start making a change towards their future.
• Hope: When people are working on preserving their life and resources, they are giving hope
for the future generation to have a quality of life.
To achieve the strategies for visioning, the gover nment must get over the barriers; it can be financial barrier which focus on the economic growth rather than people’s right, and it can be avoided
if the economy is considered as part of the environment. The innovation and social barrier is one
of the biggest challenges especially when it comes to changing human’s behaviors to achieve
sustainable development; over all, sustainability must be a priority for the government to initiate
the change and be supported by a global vision to follow like the earth charter.
Education’s Role in Enhancing Awareness of Social Issues
Education plays a big role by supporting the next generation of sustainability leadership, the
UNESCO (2014) reported that the environmental impacts are results of people’s unsustainable
practices which were learnt, but now it’s the time to teach the young generation how to live
sustainably which requires to do changes in the way the children are educated, by now people
know that children should feel the responsibility towards their environment, and learn how they
can make a change to see how their studies about the importance of the environment and to the
global warming can be implemented by real projects and see how they can add value to their
surroundings. Kiran Bir Sethi (the founder of river school in Ahmadabad in India) explained how
giving the children the opportunity to experience real world project like experiencing child labor,
they learnt about their rights and they were willing to give their opinions accurately out of honest
feelings.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy