Sustainable development: Mapping different approaches
- Author
- B. Hopwood, M. Mellor, G. O’Brien
- Year
- 2005
- Type
- journal article
- Category
- Sustentabilidad
Hopwood, Mellor and O'Brien (2005) map the many different approaches to sustainable development and offer a classification scheme to bring clarity to the concept. They argue that addressing today's environmental and social challenges requires prioritizing well-being and long-term environmental sustainability over material accumulation.
This widely cited paper addresses the many different meanings attached to the term 'sustainable development' and the varied policy responses these meanings produce. The authors set out a classification scheme meant to bring clarity to this diversity, mapping different approaches according to how much change to current economic, social and environmental structures they call for. They argue that sustainable development, properly understood, can help address major challenges facing humanity now and in the future, but that doing so requires more conceptual clarity: a focus on livelihoods and well-being rather than material accumulation, priority given to long-term environmental sustainability, and firm principles linking social, environmental and equity concerns together.
Credits: Hopwood, B., Mellor, M., & O'Brien, G. (2005). Sustainable development: Mapping different approaches. Sustainable Development, 13(1), 38–52. http://doi.org/10.1002/sd.244
Where to find it
Academic papers