Abstract
This chapter traces both the intellectual foundations and practical applications of contemporary ideas relating to sustainability and development. Setting the scene for the rest of the book, it explores key contemporary intellectual framings of development, focusing on the renewed prominence bestowed upon the phrase ‘sustainable development’ internationally, given the unveiling of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the centrepiece of the UN’s 2030 development agenda. A more critical exploration, it is argued, must occur if scholars and students of sustainable development are to examine the constitutive role of measuring mechanisms, indicators and metrics in the political realm of sustainability, a field quickly moving down the track of abstraction, quantification and ‘neoliberalisation’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akinci, M. (2018). Inequality and Economic Growth: Trickle-Down Effect Revisited. Development Policy Review, 36, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12214.
Bandarage, A. (2013). Sustainability and Well-Being—The Middle Path to Environment, Society and Economy. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. (2017). Global Governance by Goal-Setting: The Novel Approach of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26–27, 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.01.010.
Böhringer, C., & Jochem, P. E. (2007). Measuring the Immeasurable—A Survey of Sustainability Indices. Ecological Economics, 63(1), 1–8.
Braun, B. (2008). Environmental Issues: Inventive Life. Progress in Human Geography, 32(5), 667–679.
Coeckelbergh, M. (2015). Environmental Skill: Motivation, Knowledge, and the Possibility of a Non-romantic Environmental Ethics. New York and London: Routledge.
Diaz-Sarachaga, J. M., Jato-Espino, D., & Castro-Fresno, D. (2018). Is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index an Adequate Framework to Measure the Progress of the 2030 Agenda? Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1735.
Evernden, L. L. N. (1993). The Natural Alien: Humankind and Environment. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2003). An Ethics of the Local. Rethinking Marxism, 15, 49–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/0893569032000063583.
Hickel, J. (2016). The True Extent of Global Poverty and Hunger: Questioning the Good News Narrative of the Millennium Development Goals. Third World Quarterly, 37(5), 749–767. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1109439.
Holden, E., Linnerud, K., & Banister, D. (2017). The Imperatives of Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development, 25(3), 213–226. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1647.
Jackson, T. (2011). Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. London: Routledge.
Jerven, M. (2013). Briefing: For Richer, for Poorer: GDP Revisions and Africa’s Statistical Tragedy. African Affairs, 112(446), 138–147. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/ads063.
Kull, C. A., Arnauld de Sartre, X., & Castro-Larrañaga, M. (2015). The Political Ecology of Ecosystem Services. Geoforum, 61, 122–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.004.
Max-Neef, M. (1995). Economic Growth and Quality of Life: A Threshold Hypothesis. Ecological Economics, 15(2), 115–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8009(95)00064-X.
Nourry, M. (2008). Measuring Sustainable Development: Some Empirical Evidence for France from Eight Alternative indicators. Ecological Economics, 67(3), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.12.019.
Rametsteiner, E., Pülzl, H., Alkan-Olsson, J., & Frederiksen, P. (2011). Sustainability Indicator Development—Science or Political Negotiation? Ecological Indicators, 11(1), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2009.06.009.
Rau, H. (2018). Minding the Mundane: Everyday Practices as a Central Pillar of Sustainability Thinking and Research. In M. Boström & D. Davidson (Eds.), Environment and Society: Concepts and Challenges. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Satterthwaite, D. (2016). Missing the Millennium Development Goal Targets for Water and Sanitation in Urban Areas. Environment and Urbanization, 28(1), 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247816628435.
Seyfang, G., & Smith, A. (2007). Grassroots Innovations for Sustainable Development: Towards a New Research and Policy Agenda. Environmental Politics, 16(4), 584–603.
Shiva, V. (1993). Monocultures of the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo20850841.html.
Sorrell, S. (2009). Jevons’ Paradox Revisited: The Evidence for Backfire from Improved Energy Efficiency. Energy Policy, 37(4), 1456–1469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.12.003.
Stern, David. I. (2004). The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. World Development, 32(8), 1419–1439.
Strezov, V., Evans, A., & Evans, T. J. (2017). Assessment of the Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions of the Indicators for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development, 25(3), 242–253. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1649.
Vigo, D., Thornicroft, G., & Atun, R. (2016). Estimating the True Global Burden of Mental Illness. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00505-2.
York, R., & McGee, J. A. (2016). Understanding the Jevons Paradox. Environmental Sociology, 2(1), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2015.1106060.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, T.S.J. (2019). The New Sustainable Development Agenda: An Introduction to Measurement and Conceptualisation. In: Sustainability, Wellbeing and the Posthuman Turn. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94078-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94078-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94077-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94078-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)