This track focuses on the overarching perspectives and dimensions to sustainability, and seeks to fuse the technological, the economic and the political.  At the hub of this track, we find political processes and the overarching structure within which sustainability either thrives of festers. The track welcomes contributions from any field that takes these political processes seriously, whether they are connected to technological, economic or political developments, or seeks to link these together. We are especially looking for contributions that deal with one of the most urgent topics of our time and age, namely how to achieve a sustainable transition.

Potential abstract topics include:

• Discourses of sustainability, e.g. co-benefits; survivalism; sufficiency; others
• How to accomplish the structural changes that are necessary for long-term sustainability?
• Institutions for sustainability
• Governance towards reduced poverty/poverty eradication.
• Systemic change or tinkering at the margins of the system
• Responsible research and innovation (RRI)
• What are the policies for implementing the technologies for tomorrow?
• Justice between current and future generations?
• National vs. global institutions

Track organizers: Espen Moe and May Thorseth  

Cities worldwide face serious challenges in the transition to smart and sustainable cities, providing adequate city services. Not only do cities meet organizational and logistic difficulties due to overcrowding and adverse weather conditions, traffic congestion and pollution issues, but they also  need to ensure parity of access and social cohesion, economic competitiveness, low carbon footprints, safety and security for citizens. 

The goal of the Smart and Sustainable City Services track is to promote innovative, conceptual, and city-wide platforms for technology-human-infrastructure integration in order to facilitate the transition to inclusive, competitive and sustainable cities through the use of information and sensing technology and urban data. The wide availability of urban data through smart phones, (participatory) sensing, and actuators, connected via cyber-physical systems and Internet of Everything, offer unprecedented opportunities for better city services, supporting transition processes by citizen engagement, open planning processes,  while fostering  economic development, environmental quality and sustainability.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Smart transportation
• Clean urban energy supply
• Urban resource usage and limitation of pollution
• Environmental monitoring
• Health and well-being among citizens
• Sustainable, inclusive city planning
• Smart government and governance
• Application of big and open urban data
• Privacy and security in cyber-physical systems and the internet of everything (IoE)
• Intelligent infrastructure and platforms for smart cities

Track organizers: John Krogstie and Judith Borsbom van Beurden 

Special focus on: Data for the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services: management, analyses, and implementation

Biological, social, and environmental data provide the knowledge base for assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services and their relation with land-use and other drivers of change. However, data availability is often limited, and data quality is variable, hampering scientific approaches, management and political awareness. This session aims to bridge the gap between data management and analyses across disciplines. The session will focus on three subtopics, and therefore welcomes abstracts along the lines of:

1. Acquisition, management, and sharing of data from different sources and scientific disciplines.
2. Methodological approaches to assess biodiversity and ecosystem services.
3. Biodiversity and ecosystem services assessments for facilitation of political awareness, management and sustainable development.

We particularly encourage presentations that strengthen the science-policy interface and explore pathways to sustainable management of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and land-use. The session is closely linked to Sustainable Development Goals 15 "life on land" and 14 "life below water".

Track organizers: Bente Jessen Graae and Gunnar Austrheim

In order to make the fundamental changes needed to transition the global economy away from unsustainable processes, the private sector must be involved as a critical player. Although there exists a wealth of theory and methods for increasing sustainability in business, companies need guidance on how, practically, to implement social and environmental criteria into their strategies and operations. Improved collaboration between researchers, industry and financial players is therefore essential, and contributions that present ways to bridge such gap are encouraged.

This track has its focus on implementing sustainability in business models, i.e. strategies and measures at the corporate level. Abstracts are therefore invited along the following topics:

• Interdisciplinary approaches and systems thinking related to sustainable business models
• The systems perspective and life cycle thinking
• Strategies and measures for sustainability at the corporate level
• Strategies and alliances for transitioning business operations toward sustainability
• Incorporation of social and environmental criteria into company operations
• Taxation and business incentives for green innovation
• New models for sustainability assessment
• Use of science-based frameworks, methods and tools when implementing sustainable business models  
• Success studies and critical factors for implementing new sustainable operations technologies, products and services
• Case studies and in-depth analyses of business transitions (e.g. toward a circular economy and low-carbon energy use)

Track organizers: Annik Magerholm Fet and Helge Brattebø