Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sustainable Development

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

Introduction

Many scholars discuss the emergence of “Sustainable Development” (SD), and associated discourses, from “World War 2” onwards. Indeed, it was from the 1980s that discourse solidified at the international scale and became significantly embedded in policy, research, and practice. Driven by nongovernment organizations (NGOs), associated SD praxis was galvanized under the United Nations (UN), diffused deeper into the Third Sector, colonized government policy, and even the discourses and practices of private enterprise (Macekura 2016, p. 66).

SD is of course most famously defined by the UN’s World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987, p. 43), as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This work was the culmination of international efforts to reconcile increasing international concern for environmental impact with the continuing demands of the less economically development...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 849.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 549.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adelman I, Morris CT (1997) Editorial: development history and its implications for development theory. World Dev 25(6):831–840

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anand S, Sen A (2000) Human development and economic sustainability. World Development 28(12):2029–2049

    Google Scholar 

  • Arndt HW (1981) Economic development: a semantic history. Econ Dev Cult Chang 29(3):457–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bordoff J (2017) Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement hurts the US. Nat Energy 2:17145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckholtz JW, Marois R (2012) The roots of modern justice: cognitive and neural foundations of social norms and their enforcement. Nat Neurosci 15:655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns R (2018) Genocide: 70 years on, three reasons why the UN Convention is still failing. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/genocide-70-years-on-three-reasons-why-the-un-convention-is-still-failing-108706

  • Carson R (1962) Silent spring. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Chasek PS et al (2016) Getting to 2030: negotiating the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Rev Eur Comp Int Environ Law 25(1):5–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connelly S (2007) Mapping sustainable development as a contested concept. Local Environ 12(3):259–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras-Lisperguer R et al (2017) Cradle-to-cradle approach in the life cycle of silicon solar photovoltaic panels. J Clean Prod 168:51–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corning P (2011) The fair society: the science of human nature and the pursuit of social justice. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cottrell D et al (2018) Mortality, incarceration, and African American disenfranchisement in the contemporary United States. Am Politics Res 47(2):195–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Crutzen PJ (2002) Geology of mankind. Nature 415:23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly EH (1996) Beyond growth. Beacon Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly H, Cobb JB Jr (1989) For the common good: redirecting the economy toward community, the environment, and a sustainable future. Beacon, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis CH (1919) Preamble to constitution of the league of nations. V Law Regist 5(1):14–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (1991) The rise and fall of the third chimpanzee. Vintage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Federico G (2005) Feeding the world: an economic history of agriculture, 1800–2000. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank AG (1966) The development of underdevelopment. Mon Rev 18:17–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Gammage B (2011) The biggest estate on earth: how Aborigines Made Australia. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentile D (2009) International trade and the environment: what is the role of the WTO? Fordham Environ Law Rev 19:195–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb R (1993) Forcing the spring: the transformation of the American environmental movement. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb RS (ed) (1996) This sacred earth: religion, nature, environment. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Griggs D et al (2013) Policy: sustainable development goals for people and planet. Nature 495(7441):305–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall E et al (2011) Ancient slavery and abolition: from Hobbes to Hollywood. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopwood B et al (2005) Sustainable development: mapping different approaches. Sustain Dev 13(1):38–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulse JH (2007) Sustainable development at risk: ignoring the past. IDRC, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs M (1999) Sustainable development as a contested concept. In: Fairness and futurity: essays on environmental sustainability and social justice. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidd CV (1992) The evolution of sustainability. J Agric Environ Ethics 5(1):1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkby J et al (1995) Sustainable development: the Earthscan reader. Earthscan Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Lafferty WM (1996) The politics of sustainable development: global norms for national implementation. Environ Polit 5(2):185–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langhelle O (2000) Sustainable development and social justice: expanding the Rawlsian framework of global justice. Environ Values 9:295–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larcher D, Tarascon JM (2015) Towards greener and more sustainable batteries for electrical energy storage. Nat Chem 7:19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macekura S (2015) Introduction: NGOs and the origins of “sustainable development”. In: Macekura S (ed) Of limits and growth: the rise of global sustainable development in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–14

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Macekura S (2016) Of limits and growth: the rise of global sustainable development in the twentieth century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Malthus T (1798) An essay on the principle of population. Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church-Yard [Online]. http://www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf

  • Marten GG (2010) Human ecology: basic concepts for sustainable development. Routledge, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald R (2006) Sustainable development as freedom. Int J Sust Dev World Ecol 13(6):1–1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadowcroft J (2007) Who is in charge here? Governance for sustainable development in a complex world. J Environ Policy Plan 9(4):299–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadows DH et al (1972) Limits to growth. Universe Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Meadows D et al (1992) Beyond the limits. Earthscan Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mebratu D (1998) Sustainability and sustainable development: historical and conceptual review. Environ Impact Assess Rev 18(6):493–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niragu J (1994) Lead and lead poisoning in antiquity: a reader in environmental literature, philosophy and politics. In: Wall D (ed) Green history. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • North DC, Thomas RP (1977) The first economic revolution. Econ Hist Rev 30(2):229–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum M (2003) Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice. Fem Econ 9(2–3):33–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer J et al (1997) Mapping out fuzzy buzzwords: who sits where on sustainability and sustainable development. Sustain Dev 5(2):87–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pezzey J (1992) Sustainability: an interdisciplinary guide. Environ Values 1(4):321–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponting C (1991) A green history of the world. Sinclair-Stevenson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Redekop BW (2010) Leadership for environmental sustainability. Routledge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Richard G (2002) Climatic fears: colonialism and the history of environmentalism. Harv Int Rev 23(4):50

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockstrom J et al (2009) Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecol Soc 14(2):32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen AM (2015) The wrong solution at the right time: the failure of the kyoto protocol on climate change. Polit Policy 43(1):30–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rostow WW (1959) The stages of economic growth. Econ Hist Rev 12(1):1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sachs JD (2015) The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sahlins M (1998) The original affluent society. In: Limited wants, unlimited means: a hunter–gatherer reader on economics and the environment. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 5–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandom C et al (2014) Global late Quaternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 281(1787):20133254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Nowara C (2011) Slavery, freedom, and abolition in Latin America and the Atlantic world. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher EF (1973) Small is beautiful: economics as if people mattered. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen AK (1999) Development as freedom. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Sneddon C et al (2006) Sustainable development in a post-Brundtland world. Ecol Econ 57(2):253–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen W et al (2015) Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet. Science 347(6223):1259855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner FR (2016) Human ecology: how nature and culture shape our world. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeten P (1984) The distinctive features of a basic needs approach to development. In: Ghosh PK (ed) Third World development: a basic needs approach. Greenwood Press, Connecticut

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan P (2017) Development as freedom. In: Economic inequality, neoliberalism, and the American community college. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 311–321

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Surovell TA et al (2015) Test of Martin’s overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:886–891

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tisdell C (1999) Conditions for sustainable development: weak and strong. In: Dragun AK, Tisdell C (eds) Sustainable agriculture and environment: globalisation and the impact of trade liberalisation. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Tryzna TC (1995) A sustainable world. IUCN, Sacramento

    Google Scholar 

  • UN (1981) Declaration on the Right to Development. United Nations. [Online]. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r128.htm

  • UN (2000) United Nations. http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

  • UN (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations. [Online]. http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E

  • United Nations (1993) Agenda 21: Earth Summit – the United Nations Programme of Action from Rio. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Uvin P (2007) From the right to development to the rights-based approach: how ‘human rights’ entered development. Dev Pract 17(4–5):597–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel M, Rees W (1996) Our ecological footprint. New Society, Gabriola Island

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall D (1994) Green history: a reader in environmental literature, philosophy and politics. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Warde P (2011) The invention of sustainability. Mod Intellect Hist 8(1):153–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts D (1990) The West Indies: patterns of development, culture and environmental change since 1492. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • WCED (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson RG (1973) Poverty and progress. Methuen, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson-Strydom M, Walker M (2017) Human development as an expansive perspective on socially just pedagogies and quality. In: Walker M, Wilson-Strydom M (eds) Socially just pedagogies, capabilities and quality in higher education: global perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 223–243

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer KS (2006) Humboldt and the history of environmental thought. Geogr Rev 96(3):456–458

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Sustainable Development, School of Cross-Faculty Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Alastair M. Smith

Authors
  1. Alastair M. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alastair M. Smith .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

Section Editor information

  1. Centre for Sustainable Development (Greens), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

    José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Smith, A.M. (2019). Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_472

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation