Abstract
Sustainability is a critical issue across the globe, and the debate on sustainable development is still in its incipient phase. The purpose of this chapter is to add another perspective in this ongoing debate. Sustainability concerns have led several countries to introduce policy interventions to reduce carbon footprint. However, these policies are not enough to deal with the challenge. The chapter addresses critical sustainability issues through a detailed discussion on key concepts, methods, and lessons learned in operationalizing ecopreneurship as a solution for solving environmental concerns.
Using construction industry as an example, the chapter discusses ecopreneurship as a solution using the twin lenses of sustainability and environmental concerns. Buildings contribute to 24% of the world’s CO2 emissions. A developing country like India with resource constraints which added to the need to reduce the CO2 footprint poses a significant challenge to building architects. This chapter encapsulates case studies of some Indian architects in sustainable innovation and development. Concerned with sustainability in their work, they face challenges and considerable risks. The chapter analyzes the barriers they encounter, how they view these risks, and the methods they adopt to mitigate the risks. The chapter examines in detail the existing definitions and typologies in dealing with sustainability, explores the motivational aspects for ecopreneurs, and researches the various parameters of operationalizing sustainable solutions. The chapter introduces a novel entrepreneur typology – a bricoleur ecopreneur – who uses bricolage as a solution to the challenges of sustainable development.
The chapter can be helpful for researchers in designing research in the overall context of sustainable development debate. Apart from researchers, this would also be useful for international institutions, NGOs, architects, developers, and building users.
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Rastogi, P., Sharma, R. (2018). Ecopreneurship for Sustainable Development. In: Marques, J. (eds) Handbook of Engaged Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71312-0_46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71312-0_46
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