Thesis-2006-Grimley.pdf (1.76 MB)
Indicators of sustainable development in civil aviation
thesis
posted on 2007-04-13, 09:02 authored by Paul M. GrimleyCivil aviation provides for large scale, rapid, safe and reliable transport over long
distances. In the last half of the 20th century, the reliability of air transport has
increased, safety has improved and costs have reduced: the volume of civil aviation
has greatly increased and demand continues to rise. The social and economic
benefits arising from aviation are substantial while its environmental costs are
significant and increasing: with current technologies aviation is considered to be
essentially unsustainable. Sustainable development as a concept, arose in the latter
part of the 20th century. It may be regarded as a journey of changes through time, a
journey navigating a wide range of changes in technology and behaviour thought to
be needed to move towards a better level of sustainability. There is a need to apply
the principles of sustainable development to the practice of the civil aviation industry.
The research on which this thesis is based draws on sustainable development
literature, general systems theory and quality principles to derive a holistic and
systemic sustainable development model, and a methodology for deriving indicators
of sustainable development. These are then applied to the civil aviation system, to
select and construct indicators of sustainable development in civil aviation. The
indicator selection process is participative, and seeks the views of stakeholders of
UK civil aviation. Stakeholders are asked, via a Delphi study, to give their views on
the meaning of sustainable aviation, and on the most important aspects of
sustainable development in civil aviation.
The research proposes a set of 29 indicators for sustainable development in civil
aviation, including institutional and regulatory indicators. The research findings
suggest that, amongst UK civil aviation stakeholders, there is some consensus on
the important sustainability issues facing civil aviation, and on their choice of
indicators. There is little understanding of the meaning of sustainable aviation, and
disagreement on policies to adopt in favour of sustainable development in aviation.
Amongst stakeholders from civil aviation organisations, there is strong opposition to
regulatory or economic policies in favour of sustainable development. While the
safety of civil aviation is institutionalised, there is evidence to suggest that opposition
to other aspects of sustainable development is embedded in the regulatory and
operational organisations of civil aviation in the UK.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Publication date
2006Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.444424Language
- en