An Integral Approach to the Modeling of Information Support for Local Sustainable Development—Experiences of a Serbian Enabling Leadership Experiment

Abstract

Collaborative strategic decision making has to be widely informed, communicated and knowledge-based in order to innovate transformations toward local and global sustainability. It is unimaginable that this process could be effective without computer-aided information support, but the research indicates the utilization constraints within human capacities to recognize their usability and usefulness. These constraints seem to be even more challenging within the intensively transitional social contexts, such as Serbia. We argue that understanding the relationships between sustainability, governance, and planning in a specific social context has profound importance to gain usefulness of information support and to ensure its increasing utilization. Identifying the practical path of information support modeling requires an operational framework that encompasses innovative and socially valid initiatives. Therefore, an integral theory framework was chosen to comprehend all social influences on the information support of successful utilization. This article presents the integral framework of the information support’s conceptual setting, which was used to build up community-based collaborative action research (CBCAR) as a transformative social learning process that enables information support utilization, and it was tested in six municipalities of Serbia. The implementation of pilot territorial information support (TIS) initiatives resulted in continuous and proactive local community efforts in information support development and usage.

Opportunities for the Transformation of Border Towns into Sustainable Systems in the Republic of North Macedonia by Applying the Integral Theory

“…Integral sustainable development uses a comprehensive framework in which the components of sustainable development can be organised and integrated to work in synergy [36,37]. It acknowledges four fundamental perspectives through which reality can be analysed, namely individual (I)-the subjective inner experiences, thoughts and emotions of an individual; collective (We)-the shared cultural values, norms and beliefs of a group or a society; objective (It)-the objective external observations and measurable phenomena, such as physical structures and natural processes; and interobjective (Its)the systemic or environmental factors which influence the collective, such as institutions, organisations and economic systems [38][39][40] (Figure 1). (3) The development of a case study by applying the "AQAL" method.…”

The Possibilities of Preservation, Regeneration and Presentation of Industrial Heritage: The Case of Old Mint “A.D.” on Belgrade Riverfront

“…In order to promote the integral protection of industrial heritage on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, many professional institutions, including the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Architecture, prepare projects, studies and exhibitions aimed at researching, promoting and popularizing Belgrade The focus of this paper is based on research into the importance of Belgrade's industrial heritage, its preservation, revitalization and presentation in accordance with the goals of sustainability and environmental protection. In other words, the focus is on local sustainable architecture which aims to create new social practices and new social relations [15], referring to the fact that sustainable architecture absorbs a rather complex integration polygon of cultural, ecological and natural factors in the material practice of shaping social reality [16]. Through the analysis of student proposals for reactivation of the Sava riverfront with special emphasis on the industrial complex of the Mint "A.D.", a significant contribution was made to a critical review of current approaches to protection, revitalization and presentation of Belgrade's industrial zones, all in order to find recommendations and guidelines for further urban development and preservation of authenticity and identity of industrial heritage.…”