Brundtland’s definition of sustainability is the ability to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (IISD, 2021). But what if there are no future generations? Social sustainability, the sector of sustainability that foregrounds the well-being and livelihoods of people (and thereby continuation of humanity), is included in definitions within the sustainability field, but less developed in sustainability practice. In an effort to bridge this gap of knowledge, 14 U.S. cities and over 100 sustainability policies were analyzed for their social sustainability performance. An eight-item analytical framework that deals with differing areas of social equity guided the analysis. Results found that most cities’ sustainability departments fell short of truly addressing social sustainability concerns. Out of the eight items, the most frequently addressed were housing security and racial and gender equality whereas few, if any, cities addressed the more specific social concerns of immigration, technology and media, or arts/cultural preservation. Future research is recommended to gain a better understanding of the ways existing cities can improve in this area.

This paper conducts an exploration of the election policy reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic within the United States. While living through and voting during the real-time events which took place during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020, it soon became evident that there was not enough experience from earlier election emergencies to properly ensure against voter disenfranchisement. Given the scope of the global pandemic and the speed with which policymakers had to act, there was very little time to properly prepare. There was also great contention regarding the legitimacy of election methods proposed to alleviate in-person election concerns, such as mail-in voting. The political battle between those who believed COVID-19 to be a grave concern against those who did not consider COVID-19 to be a legitimate threat towards their livelihoods also affected policymaking decisions. Policymakers were forced into a corner, as they experienced criticism for not enough government action, as well as disapproval on the actual regulation that came to pass. This paper therefore aims to understand what factors led to the decisions which shaped the election policy which occurred as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic during the election year of 2020. This analysis is conducted by considering the following: prior election emergency policy; the development of reactive election policy in March, proactive policy established for the August and November elections; and a review of voter disenfranchisement which occurred due to COVID-19.

The rise in urban populations is encouraging cities to pursue sustainable water treatment services implementing constructed treatment wetlands (CTW). This is especially important in arid climates where water resources are scarce; however, research regarding aridland CTWs is limited. The Tres Rios CTW in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, presents the tradeoff between greater water loss and enhanced nitrogen (N) removal. Previous research has suggested that water loss due to transpiration is replaced by a phenomenon termed the Biological Tide. This trend has been documented since 2011 by combining transpiration values with a nitrogen budget. Calculations were made at both the marsh and whole-system scale. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Biological Tide enhances N uptake throughout the CTW. Results indicate that about half of the nitrogen taken up by the vegetated marsh is associated with new water entering the marsh via the Biological Tide with even higher values during warmer months. Furthermore, it is this phenomenon that enhances N uptake throughout the year, on average, by 25.9% for nitrite, 9.54% for nitrate, and 4.84% for ammonium at the whole-system scale and 95.5%, 147%, and 118% within the marsh. This paper demonstrates the Biological Tide’s significant impact on enhanced N removal in an aridland CTW.