Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Sustainable development is more than another kind of development to be pursued. Since the creation of this term in the 1980s, there has been a paradigm shift in meaning and epistemological assumptions. The new concept of development emphasizes the process of adjustment in practices and attitudes rather than wishful thinking of the future. Epistemologically, it takes a “complex system” assumption that links many different aspects of development together. This course targets the Asia-Pacific region because of its commonality and complexity. The western part of it is located in Monsoon Asia and maintains smallholder rice agriculture. Some have a pressing need to uplift the living standards of their people, while many others have experienced quite successful industrialization and economic developments. While Confucian influence is prominent, socio-cultural diversity provides interesting cases about the challenges, coping strategies, and achievements of pursuing a sustainable common future.
能力項目說明
After taking this course, you are expected to be conscious of the environmental implications of your behaviors, the collective consequences of individual actions, and the nonlinear macro-results of micro-interactions. The cases introduced by the lecture and the readings will provide basic knowledge on pursuing sustainable development. The participants will also get a better sense of the impacts of local reality on the global future by taking field trips and conducting empirical studies.
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
Topic One: Overall Introduction
Week 1: Overall Introduction of the Class
Housekeeping: Introducing the Instructor, Course, and Participants
Week 2: Theoretical Foundation: Rational Choice and Complex System Perspectives
Levi, Margaret, 1997. “A Model, a Method, and a Map: Rational Choice in Comparative and Historical Analysis.” In Mark Lichbach and Alan Zuckerman eds., Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, pp. 19-41.
Veldhuizen, C., 2021. “Conceptualising the Foundations of Sustainability Focused Innovation Policy: From Constructivism to Holism.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 162, p.120374.
Week 3: Conceptual Evolution
Hedlund-de Witt, A., 2014. “Rethinking Sustainable Development: Considering How Different Worldviews Envision ‘Development’ and ‘Quality of Life’”. Sustainability, 6(11): 8310-8328.
Topic 2: Ecological Dimension
Week 4: Brown Agenda (pollution control) and Green Agenda (conservation)
Tang, Ching-Ping and Shui-Yan Tang, 2010. “Institutional Adaptation and Community-Based Conservation of Natural Resources: The Cases of the Tao and Atayal in Taiwan.” Human Ecology, 38 (1): 101-111.
Chien, S.S. and Hong, D.L., 2018. “River Leaders in China: Party-State Hierarchy and Transboundary Governance.” Political Geography, 62: 58-67.
Week 5: Resources Management and Blue Agenda
Wai-Fung Lam, Ching-Ping Tang; Shih-Ko Tang, 2021. “Bureaucratising Co-production: Institutional Adaptation of Irrigation Associations in Taiwan.” Water Alternatives, 14 (2): 435-52.
Cannon, T. and Müller-Mahn, D., 2010. “Vulnerability, Resilience and Development Discourses in Context of Climate Change.” Natural Hazards, 55(3): 621-635.
Topic 3: Social Dimension
Week 6: Economic Welfare
Sanderson, S., 2005. “Poverty and Conservation: The New Century’s ‘Peasant Question’?” World Development, 33(2): 323-332.
Week 7: Social Justice
Tang, Ching-Ping, Shui-Yan Tang, and Chung-Yuan Chiu, 2011. “Inclusion, Identity, and Environmental Justice in New Democracies: The Politics of Pollution Remediation in Taiwan.” Comparative Politics, 43 (3): 333-350.
Topic 5: Governance: Scales and Sectors
Week 8 Nexus and Possible Integrated Development
Liu, J., Hull, V., Godfray, H.C.J., Tilman, D., Gleick, P., Hoff, H., Pahl-Wostl, C., Xu, Z., Chung, M.G., Sun, J. and Li, S., 2018. “Nexus Approaches to Global Sustainable Development.” Nature Sustainability, 1(9): 466-476.
Mensah, Justice, 2019. “Sustainable Development: Meaning, History, Principles, Pillars, and Implications for Human Action: Literature Review.” Cogent Social Sciences, 5:1, 1653531
Week 9: Capacity Building and Policy Tools
Tang, Ching-Ping and Shui-Yan Tang, 2014. “Managing Incentive Dynamics for Collaborative Governance in Land and Ecological Conservation.” Public Administration Review, 74 (2): 220-231.
Week 10: Commoning and Alternative Development
Gills, B.K., S.A.H.Hosseini, 2022. “Pluriversality and beyond: consolidating radical alternatives to (mal-)development as a Commonist project.” Sustainability Science 17, 1183–1194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01129-8
Topic 6: Sustainable Community Hackathon
Week 11: Mid-term Trip
Week 12-13: Ulay Field Trip
Week 14-15: Pinglin Field Trip
Week 16 Action Proposal Hackathon
Week 17-18: Independent Learning
1. Class Attendance and Active Participation (40%):
All students must attend each class meeting and be ready to discuss the reading materials and significant issues with others. Most readings will be accessible from a Dropbox file. This course will be taught dialectically, and student participation will be essential. While counter-arguments or second thoughts are welcome in class discussion, please present them politely and thoughtfully.
2. Mid-term Field Report (20%):
We will arrange several field trips to understand the real-world practices of Environmental Protection in Taiwan. You can pick one of them to report the potential topics about them.
3. Final Paper (40%):
By the end of the semester, students have to hand in a term paper with the potential for professional publication. The final write-up must include research interests, theoretical framework (with literature review), propositions or proposed arguments, methods to collect empirical evidence, a preliminary survey, and a conclusion. This work needs to be presented in front of all classmates in 15 minutes. References must be carefully documented, and all academic ethics must be faithfully followed.