Abstract
Sustainability has been predominantly associated with ecological integrity. The concept suggests built-in or internal mechanisms that perpetuate or maintain a system, perhaps indefinitely. Thus we should not be surprised when non-ecological organizations, and their well-being are said to be ‘sustainable.’ This study asks the question: what conditions of community lead to sustainable well-being, especially social well-being? The underlying premise is that attention to the essence of community will lead both to more sustainability and greater social well-being. The answer offered is that for sustainable well-being, communities need caring capital, which is a structure in which mutual caring maintains social well-being within a community. This premise is illustrated with exemplary Ecovillage communities.
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Anderson, R.E. (2017). Community Functioning That Fosters Sustainable Social Well-Being. In: Phillips, R., Wong, C. (eds) Handbook of Community Well-Being Research. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0878-2_1
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