Framing in Sustainability Science : Theoretical and Practical Approaches

This open access book offers both conceptual and empirical descriptions of how to “frame” sustainability challenges. It defines “framing” in the context of sustainability science as the process of identifying subjects, setting boundaries, and defining problems. The chapters are grouped into two sections: a conceptual section and a case section. The conceptual section introduces readers to theories and concepts that can be used to achieve multiple understandings of sustainability; in turn, the case section highlights different ways of comprehending sustainability for researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders.

The book offers diverse illustrations of what sustainability concepts entail, both conceptually and empirically, and will help readers become aware of the implicit framings in sustainability-related discourses. In the extant literature, sustainability challenges such as climate change, sustainable development, and rapid urbanization have largely been treated as “pre-set,” fixed topics, while possible solutions have been discussed intensively. In contrast, this book examines the framings applied to the sustainability challenges themselves, and illustrates the road that led us to the current sustainability discourse.

Takashi Mino is a Professor at the Department of Socio-cultural Environmental Studies and Program Head of the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science at the University of Tokyo. In addition, he is Vice-Director of Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S). He specializes in Environmental Microbiology, Wastewater Engineering, and most recently, Sustainability Education. He holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, and has been a visiting scholar at Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), visiting professor at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), and adjunct professor at the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand). His courses at the graduate school include Sustainable Environmental Technology Systems, Advanced Concepts and Methodologies of Sustainability Science, and Frontiers of Sustainability Science. He also teaches Water and Wastewater Treatment Technology at the Faculty of Engineering, and Technology and Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo. In addition to having published extensively, he is a member of several academic organizations, e.g. the International Water Association, International Society on Microbial Ecology, Japan Society on Water Environment, and Society of Environmental Instrumentation Control and Automation. 

Shogo Kudo is an Assistant Professor and part of the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science, University of Tokyo, where he also completed his Ph.D. He currently holds a visiting researcher position at the Institute of Asian Studies and Regional Collaboration, Akita International University, and is a visiting research fellow at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, United Nations University.  His research focus is on the impact of aging and depopulation in rural areas of Japan. He is currently working on a project platform called the Akita Age Lab, which will promote educational, research, and social implementation projects for the challenges of an aging society in Japan’s Akita prefecture.