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The paper introduces a discussion regarding the development of a public bike-sharing system, considering random factors, based on selected external environmental analysis methods. The global energy crisis is forcing scientists to continuously improve energy-efficient sustainable methods and scientific solutions. It is particularly important in transportation since transport activities and the constant increase in the number of vehicles have a large share in global energy consumption. The following study investigates the social, technological, economic, environmental, and political aspects of bike-sharing systems in cities. The research purpose of the article is to select the most important macro-environmental factors and their mutual interaction influencing the sustainable development of bike-sharing systems based on the Polish cities case study. The evaluation was carried out through expert methods with STEEP environmental analysis, evaluation of factors with the weighted score, and structural analysis method with MICMAC computer application. The classification of key factors influencing the development of a bike-sharing system has divided them into five groups. It can support public transport service providers and organizers. This can optimize the planning process with decision-making based on future environmental trends.

When industrial relics, such as obsolete buildings, sites, and infrastructures, enter into a process of adaptive reuse, they become transformation engines capable of shaping the urban fabric. They provide tangible and intangible links to our past and have the potential to play a significant role in today’s cities’ futures. One unresolved issue is the quantification of the externalities of these transformation processes. If undertaken correctly, adaptive reuse can contribute to the development of social and cultural capital, environmental sustainability, urban regeneration, and, most importantly, economic benefits to the surrounding community. In this sense, understanding the value of heritage is particularly important in light of the new European urban environmental policy movement based on the circular economy, which aims to change the way Member States consume and produce materials and energy. After a review of the externalities generated by the adaptive reuse of disused industrial heritage, the paper will concentrate on the estimation of economic benefits given by a transformation process that affected Turin’s Aurora district (Northern Italy) during the last years. The hedonic pricing method (HPM) was used to investigate the effects of the construction of new headquarters and the redevelopment of an old power plant converted into a museum and conference center. This study used econometric models to identify a significant increase in market prices within 800 m of the site and calculated a EUR 16,650,445 capitalized benefit from the transformation on the surrounding residential building stock. The study thus contributed to the awareness that reused heritage not only improves the lives of residents, but it also has a positive impact on the real estate market, in terms of transactions, as well as market values.

Energy is a key ingredient to facilitate economic development in the Middle East. Expectations for a rapidly growing economy in the next decade will likely cause an increase in the fraction of energy consumed domestically limiting what is available for export. These challenges are the biggest for resource-rich countries, since their economy is heavily dependent on fossil fuel exports alongside an energy-intensive economy. Thus, the paper addresses the question of how the development of energy systems among resource-rich countries has changed over the past three decades and what role can they play in the sustainable development of the region’s energy system and emission reduction goals? To address this question, we present an overview on energy trends in four resource-rich countries in the Middle East, which nearly account for 76% of the region’s energy-related emissions and about 77% of total energy consumption. These countries are namely, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. Accordingly, we present a comparative energy analysis between the four countries through examining historical and current energy trends, the structure of energy supply, the status of renewable deployment and energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Results from the analysis showed that inefficient energy production and consumption have played a role in the deterioration of the energy landscape of the four countries compared to the global energy system. Thus, this highlights the necessity for suitable energy strategies and effective policies that will be central to sustainable energy development. The analysis presented here could be used to better understanding of the impacts of current gaps and inefficiencies in large energy consumers in the Middle East.

Healthcare systems face escalating long-term uncertainty due to technological advancement, demographic shifts, and heightened social demands, yet foresight is still insufficiently employed within mission-critical healthcare institutions. This article contributes to futures studies by providing a comprehensive empirical case of applied, participatory, and normative foresight conducted within a national ambulance service. Drawing on the ‘National Ambulance Service 2040’ project in Hungary, the findings indicate how classic foresight methods – STEEP analysis, scenario development, futures wheel, and visioning – can be systematically combined and embedded in organizational decision-making under real-world constraints. The case demonstrates how foresight enhances anticipatory capacity building, strategic sensemaking, and normative alignment within a high-pressure public service context. Methodologically, the article advances applied futures studies by evidencing the complementarity of foresight tools and by highlighting the performative role of visioning as a governance and mobilization mechanism. Substantively, the findings show that foresight can be both cost-effective and impactful in publicly funded, resource-constrained healthcare systems. By extending healthcare foresight into the largely unexplored domain of emergency medical services, the article positions healthcare as a fertile site for methodological advancement in futures studies. The article also offers policy-relevant insights into anticipatory governance, workforce readiness, and the ethical incorporation of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already visible changes in the film distribution model caused by the rapid growth of streaming platforms. Restrictions caused by the pandemic, including movement and occupancy limits, meant that the current distribution model had to change. At the same time, it has caused certain behaviours and changes in audience preferences to emerge that have rendered the value proposition offered to viewers insufficient. The sustainability of film distribution encompasses both business and cultural aspects, seeking to create value that is sustainable from a social, economic, and environmental perspective. The aim of this article is to identify and quantify the strength of factors influencing the formation of contemporary film distribution business models. Starting from the observations of changes in the film distribution market, through a literature review, and semi-structured and computer-assisted CAWI expert interviews conducted from December 2022 to May 2023, we attempt to identify which factors influence the change in the business model adopted. The results of the research carried out indicate that it is primarily social and economic factors that drive the creation of new business models for film distribution, while environmental aspects are still considered to be the least important in this regard.

The Government of Uttarakhand has undertaken significant initiatives to promote renewable energy development to meet growing demand while safeguarding the fragile Himalayan ecosystem. In this context, the present study evaluates the feasibility of deploying large-scale solar power parks in Uttarakhand using a hybrid Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)–TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making framework. Five potential locations—Dehradun, Nainital, Haridwar, Almora, and Udham Singh Nagar—are assessed based on a comprehensive STEEP (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political) framework comprising 18 sub-criteria. AHP is employed to determine the relative importance of the criteria, while TOPSIS is used to rank the candidate sites according to their closeness to the ideal solution. The results indicate Udham Singh Nagar as the most feasible location for solar park deployment, owing to its high solar irradiation potential, developed infrastructure, land availability, and comparatively lower environmental sensitivity. Haridwar and Dehradun follow as the second and third preferred locations, respectively. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the hybrid AHP–TOPSIS approach in integrating technical, environmental, and socio-economic considerations for solar site selection. The study provides practical insights for policymakers and planners to support informed decision-making for sustainable solar energy investments, contributing to energy security, ecological conservation, and regional sustainable development.

To address the adverse impact of climate change, the concept of low-carbon tourism has recently been developed, which promotes a new way of travelling to obtain higher value and travel experience for tourists as well as more social, economic, and environmental benefits for society by reducing carbon emissions caused by tourists’ activities. The present study proposes and applies a methodological approach to assess various carbon-related scenarios for tourism development on the island of Lefkada, Greece. The methodology includes two phases: the diagnosis and the assessment phase. The diagnosis phase includes four distinct steps: (i) SWOT analysis, (ii) STEEP analysis, (iii) identification of driving forces (DF) and (iv) formulation of four tourism development scenarios based on two axes of uncertainty. The assessment phase includes: (i) a pairwise comparison of DF and (ii) selection of the preferred tourism development scenario. A combination of two multicriteria analyses, namely the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), is implemented to rank the four tourism development scenarios. The two most essential driving forces for defining the priority order of the tourism development scenario are National Policies—Green Development and Local Community Awareness. The scenario that promotes low-carbon tourism is the preferred scenario for the study area. The presented research results could provide a reference for relevant tourism development in the study area and the proposed methodology can be applied in all tourism destinations.

Objective: Purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to indicate the business and technological foundations of smart tourism, as well as prospects for its further development; (2) to indicate factors and barriers to the development of smart tourism management system in Poland. The paper then discusses a series of challenges currently neglected in the practical smart tourism agendas and the academic literature. Research Design & Methods: A combination of 3 methods was used: mind mapping, STEEP analysis and semi-structured interview with 48 experts, representing tourism industry new-tech sector. All the interviewees were interviewed in Jan/Feb 2020. Findings: The article presents the general concept of the smart tourism and smart tourism destination (STD) development and identifies opportunities and threads to the development of smart tourism in Poland. Contribution & Value Added: The article is an important value from the point of view of tourism industry practitioners (destination managers). The study contributes with valuable insights on how the chances of implementing smart tourism assumptions are perceived in Poland. The final diagram gives the idea of big data availability and usability in tourism and its impact on management efficiency.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of important social and technological trends on health care delivery, in the context of developing “Iran's Health System Reform Plan by 2025”.Methods: A detailed review of the national and international literature was done to identify the main trends affecting health system. To collect the experts’ opinions about important trends and their impact on health care delivery, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured in-depth interviews techniques were used. The study was based on the STEEP model. Final results were approved in an expert’s panel session.Results: The important social and technological trends, affecting health system in Iran in the next 15 years are demographic transition, epidemiologic transition, increasing bio-environmental pollution, increasing slums, increasing private sector partnership in health care delivery, moving toward knowledge-based society, development of information and communication technology, increasing use of high technologies in health system, and development of traditional and alternative medicine. The opportunities and threats resulting from the above mentioned trends were also assessed in this study.Conclusion: Increasing healthcare cost due tosome trends like demographic and epidemiologic transition and uncontrolled increase in using new technologies in health care is one of the most important threats that the health system will be facing. The opportunities that advancement in technology and moving toward knowledge-based society create are important and should not be ignored.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of important social and technological trends on health care delivery, in the context of developing \"Iran's Health System Reform Plan by 2025\". A detailed review of the national and international literature was done to identify the main trends affecting health system. To collect the experts' opinions about important trends and their impact on health care delivery, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured in-depth interviews techniques were used. The study was based on the STEEP model. Final results were approved in an expert's panel session. The important social and technological trends, affecting health system in Iran in the next 15 years are demographic transition, epidemiologic transition, increasing bio-environmental pollution, increasing slums, increasing private sector partnership in health care delivery, moving toward knowledge-based society, development of information and communication technology, increasing use of high technologies in health system, and development of traditional and alternative medicine. The opportunities and threats resulting from the above mentioned trends were also assessed in this study. Increasing healthcare cost due to some trends like demographic and epidemiologic transition and uncontrolled increase in using new technologies in health care is one of the most important threats that the health system will be facing. The opportunities that advancement in technology and moving toward knowledge-based society create are important and should not be ignored.