The Future of sustainability

At the beginning of the 21st Millennium, outstanding visionary thinkers and scientists make a timely assessment as to the future prospects of mankind: In what direction are we heading? How can the world become more just and equitable, and how can future development be sustained to adequately address economic, social, and –perhaps most important– environmental issues?

This book provides a broad discussion on Sustainable Development, rethinking and improving its effectiveness as a paradigm of today and tomorrow by bringing together the visions and contributions of highly esteemed thinkers on the subject (such as Herman E. Daly, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Mikhail Gorbachev, Dennis Meadows and others). Communities, states, and transnational corporations must take steps to transform engrained practices and priorities. If they fail to do so, Sustainable Development will remain an abstract concept or a superficial catchword and will not become reality. 

This publication is of special interest for university researchers and students, international experts and organizations in the field of Sustainable Development, but also for decision-makers of enterprises and the public sector worldwide. From each Author’s thoughts, experiences and concerns the reader will learn about what the concept of Sustainable Development can really accomplish and where future needs for action are.
 

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 

• Rethinking Sustainability
Editor's Introduction Marco Keiner

Sustainability- Quo vadis? 
• Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment—2006
Albert A. Bartlett 
• Sustainable Development—Definitions, Principles, Policies
Herman E. Daly
• Sustainability is Not Enough
Peter Marcuse

Challanges to sustainable development 
• Sustainable Development and Urbanization
Marios Camhis
• Sustainable Economies—Local or Global?
Helena Norberg-Hodge
• Business and Human Rights
Klaus M. Leisinger

New approaches 
• A New Glasnost for Global Sustainability
Mikhail Gorbachev
• Tools for the Transition to Sustainability
Dennis L. Meadows
• 'Factor Four' and Sustainable Development in the Age of Globalization
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
• Ecological Footprint Accounting—Comparing Earth's Biological Capacity with an Economy's Resource Demand
Mathis Wackernagel 
• Advancing Sustainable Development and its Implementation Through Spatial Planning
Marco Keiner
• Sustainability is Dead—Long Live Sustainability
Alan AtKisson

About the authors 
Index


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marco Keiner (1963) After completing his studies at the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Nice, and post-graduate studies in spatial planning at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, he worked as spatial planner in the cantonal administrations of Zurich and St. Gallen. From 2000 to 2007, Keiner was senior research assistant at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development at ETH-Zurich and and senior lecturer for Geography at the University of Innbruck, where he obtained his habilitation in 2005.
From 2008-2010, he was Director, Environment, Housing and Land Management Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva.
His most recent books include Sustainable Futures for Switzerland, Europe and the World. (Münster. 2007) and editor of Sustainable Urban Development in China – Wishful Thinking or Reality? (Münster. 2008)