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Construction involves the use of significant quantities of raw materials and entails high-energy consumption. For the sake of choosing the most appropriate solution that considers environmental and sustainable concepts, tools such as the integrated value model for sustainable assessment (Modelo Integrado de Valor para una Evaluación Sostenible, MIVES) used in Spain, plays a key role in obtaining the best solution. MIVES is a multi-criteria decision-making method based on the value function concept and the seminars delivered by experts. Such tools, in order to show how they may work, require application to case studies. In this paper, two concrete slabs manufactured with differing reinforcements during the construction of the La Canda Tunnels are compared by means of MIVES. The two concrete slabs were reinforced with a conventional steel-mesh and with polyolefin fibres. This research was focussed on the main aspects affecting the construction. That is to say, the environmental, economic, and social factors were assessed by the method, being of special impact the issues related with maintenance of the structure. The results showed that from the point of view of sustainability, the use of polyolefin fibres provided a significant advantage, mainly due to the lower maintenance required.

Throughout the 21st century, urban reports demand solutions to the obsolescence and aging process suffered by the existing buildings, due to the growth and expansion of cities that took place in the second half of the 20th century [...]

It is estimated that at least one quarter of the world’s population will be affected by water shortages in the coming years and by 2030 there will be a global water deficit of 40% if urgent action is not taken. Currently, the main consumer of water globally is agriculture. In addition, it has been estimated that to meet the demand for food by 2050, the water available for agricultural irrigation would have to increase by 70%. In this context, wastewater could become a relevant water resource to meet this growing demand. This article aims to show the state of the global research on sustainable use of wastewater in agriculture. To this end, a systematic qualitative analysis and a quantitative bibliometric analysis were conducted. The search was carried out for the period 2000–2019, and the analyzed sample comprised 1986 articles. The results show that this line of research is one of the most outstanding within agriculture and has gained special relevance during the last five years. Research has improved significantly at a technical level, but problems such as energy consumption, and the elimination of heavy metals and elements of chemical and pharmacological products, still need to be refined. There is a particular lack of contributions covering social aspects. This article can serve as a reference for both researchers and stakeholders interested in this topic.

Although it is widely assumed that business activity is dependent on flows of ecosystem services (ES), little evidence is available with which to evaluate this contention. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a questionnaire survey of business dependencies on twenty-six different ES in the English county of Dorset, where the environment supports a significant component of the local economy. Responses were received from 212 businesses across twenty-eight sectors. While virtually all businesses (98%) were familiar with the concept of ES, dependency on ES was highly divided with 50% of businesses surveyed claiming no dependence on any ES flows. The highest businesses dependencies reported in this study were for regulating services with the ES of water quality and waste water treatment being of particular importance to businesses. The results however, advised that greater efforts are needed in highlighting the indirect benefits provided by Dorset’s ecosystems, with eight business sectors (58% of respondents) claiming no or little dependence on supporting and habitat services including the ES of biodiversity, habitats for species and maintenance of genetic diversity. Many businesses also indicated little or no dependence on the globally important ES of pollination and soil condition, which may reflect a lack of awareness of dependencies occurring upstream of their value chains. At the sector level, businesses directly involved in protecting, extracting, or manufacturing raw materials were found to be more dependent on provisioning, regulatory and supporting ES than those operating in the service sector who favored cultural ES. These results highlight the value of assessing business dependencies on ES flows, which could usefully inform environmental management and accounting systems and improve monitoring of business performance, and thereby contribute to achievement of sustainability goals.

In the United States, today’s ranches are engaging in small-scale nature-based endeavors to diversify their income base. But the geographic boundary of the land they own creates a relatively small area within which to operate, and fragmented ownership diminishes the ability of any single landowner to produce nature-based income. Collective action among nearby landowners can produce a set of resources from which all members of the group can profit. Such action can enhance the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of grasslands and the populations that use them. This article shows that common-interest communities can be used to provide and allocate wildlife and other resources on ranchlands, enabling individual landowners to generate more income from selling nature-based experiences to customers. Common-interest communities are familiar in urban settings but they have not yet been used in this setting. Thus, the article proposes a new approach to ranchland management based upon a familiar set of largely private legal arrangements. More broadly, the article illustrates the relevance of private law and private property to sustainable development by explaining how property owners can use private law to engage in environmentally beneficial and economically profitable enterprises on the vast privately owned landscape of the U.S. Great Plains.

Higher Education Institutions are facing a challenging situation: how to introduce concepts such as Sustainability or the Circular Economy into their curricula. This study presents how to organize a Computer Reuse Program, an educational proposal for the Reuse, Repair, Refurbishment, Remanufacture and Recycling of computers into a Curriculum and a case study. The proposal is based in the Service-Learning methodology, by which students develop technical and professional skills while undertaking a project that has a direct and real impact on society. Students work on old or broken computers provided by donors, thereby acquiring technical skills. These now flawlessly functioning computers are donated to NGOs and other non-profit organizations, thus endowing the equipment with a much longer life as well as reducing e-waste, one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. As a case study, this paper presents the UPC Computer Reuse Program, carried out at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC-BarcelonaTech. Since the program started in 2004, some 2500 computers have been donated to 359 different organizations in 29 countries, and more than 5200 students have participated. The paper analyzes the impact of the program on society, on the reduction of e-waste, on the environment and on student awareness regarding social justice and sustainability.