95
caused by an increase in the resident population, which has overwhelmed the GPRD
governments. The fl ood of rural to urban migration has weighed down the infrastructure in cities and has led to tremendous growth of un-serviced urban areas
where millions of migrant workers lack access to basic services. There is also a
pressing need to address the problems of widespread misuse of land, urban sprawl,
traffi c congestion, poor sanitation, and the declining living environment in all cities,
especially those that are threatened by rapid and often uncontrolled growth,
inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, industrialization, and the increasing
ownership of cars and motorcycles.
Sustainability in urbanization is closely linked with competitiveness especially
economic competitiveness [ 1 ]. However, competitiveness does not include noneconomic success or accept the consequences, such as social polarization and environmental pollution [ 2 ]; favoring economic growth has wider problematic social
consequences [ 3 ]. Therefore, the concept of competitiveness is being modifi ed to
incorporate social and environmental criteria as it directly affects the quality of life.
For example, a study by Jiang and Shen [ 1 ] suggests that Guangzhou’s overall
competitiveness among 20 Chinese cities is falling due to the lower social and environmental performance. Perhaps, Guangzhou’s competitiveness demands a balance
of economic growth with social and environmental performance, which in turn signifi cantly affects the quality of life.
The Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL) of The
University of Tokyo (UT) has set out to help understand this balance. As it was
introduced in Chap. 1 , APIEL is an educational program designed to foster
environmental leaders, especially aimed at sustainability issues in Asia. This chapter describes the framework and discusses the circumstances under which activity
theory could be used for an environmental leadership program and to help build a
better QOL in the cities, within the rapidly urbanizing GPRD region. This fi eld unit
took up environmental leadership as a tool for improving the QOL during rapid
urbanization as well as sustainable development in the GPRD. In addition, this fi eld
unit illustrates the use of environmental leadership for a sustainable future in GPRD
cities, using the activity theory framework. Case studies, mostly focusing on major
domains for urban QOL, explore the intricate relationship with urbanization.
Methods based on activity theory were used to conduct the fi eld unit and manage the
data collection and analysis processes. This chapter concludes with a discussion of
the relevance and suitability of activity theory as a framework for the current complex problems in fostering future environmental leaders.
6.2 Activity Theory Framework for Building Leadership
Capacity
Activity theory is a socio-psychological theory with roots in the work of the Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky during the fi rst half of the twentieth century. Vygotsky’s [ 4 ]
important insight into the dynamics of consciousness was that it is essentially subjective
6 Environmental Leadership Development Based on Activity Theory…
caused by an increase in the resident population, which has overwhelmed the GPRD
governments. The fl ood of rural to urban migration has weighed down the infrastructure in cities and has led to tremendous growth of un-serviced urban areas
where millions of migrant workers lack access to basic services. There is also a
pressing need to address the problems of widespread misuse of land, urban sprawl,
traffi c congestion, poor sanitation, and the declining living environment in all cities,
especially those that are threatened by rapid and often uncontrolled growth,
inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, industrialization, and the increasing
ownership of cars and motorcycles.
Sustainability in urbanization is closely linked with competitiveness especially
economic competitiveness [ 1 ]. However, competitiveness does not include noneconomic success or accept the consequences, such as social polarization and environmental pollution [ 2 ]; favoring economic growth has wider problematic social
consequences [ 3 ]. Therefore, the concept of competitiveness is being modifi ed to
incorporate social and environmental criteria as it directly affects the quality of life.
For example, a study by Jiang and Shen [ 1 ] suggests that Guangzhou’s overall
competitiveness among 20 Chinese cities is falling due to the lower social and environmental performance. Perhaps, Guangzhou’s competitiveness demands a balance
of economic growth with social and environmental performance, which in turn signifi cantly affects the quality of life.
The Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL) of The
University of Tokyo (UT) has set out to help understand this balance. As it was
introduced in Chap. 1 , APIEL is an educational program designed to foster
environmental leaders, especially aimed at sustainability issues in Asia. This chapter describes the framework and discusses the circumstances under which activity
theory could be used for an environmental leadership program and to help build a
better QOL in the cities, within the rapidly urbanizing GPRD region. This fi eld unit
took up environmental leadership as a tool for improving the QOL during rapid
urbanization as well as sustainable development in the GPRD. In addition, this fi eld
unit illustrates the use of environmental leadership for a sustainable future in GPRD
cities, using the activity theory framework. Case studies, mostly focusing on major
domains for urban QOL, explore the intricate relationship with urbanization.
Methods based on activity theory were used to conduct the fi eld unit and manage the
data collection and analysis processes. This chapter concludes with a discussion of
the relevance and suitability of activity theory as a framework for the current complex problems in fostering future environmental leaders.
6.2 Activity Theory Framework for Building Leadership
Capacity
Activity theory is a socio-psychological theory with roots in the work of the Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky during the fi rst half of the twentieth century. Vygotsky’s [ 4 ]
important insight into the dynamics of consciousness was that it is essentially subjective
6 Environmental Leadership Development Based on Activity Theory…