The Routledge Handbook of Sport and Sustainable Development

The Routledge Handbook of Sport and Sustainable Development is a comprehensive and powerful survey of the ways in which sport engages with its social, environmental, and ethical responsibilities.

It considers how sport can use its unique profile and platform to influence the attitudes of sport fans and consumers to promote positive social and environmental action around the world and to contribute to sustainable development, perhaps the most important issue of our time. The book is structured around the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a section devoted to each goal that contains chapters reviewing key theory and current research, measurement and evaluation issues, and the application of current knowledge in real-world development situations. Drawing on research and expertise from management, sociology, development studies, psychology, and other disciplines, the book examines the role that sport must play in areas such as health and well-being, poverty, education, gender equality, decent work, responsible consumption, and climate action.

Representing a keynote work on the wider social responsibilities of sport as both an industry and sociocultural activity, this is essential reading for any advanced student or researcher working in sport development, sport management, sport sociology, event studies, development studies, or environmental studies, and for any development practitioner or sport management professional looking to understand how to achieve positive social change in and through sport.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Brian P. McCullough is Associate Professor in the Division of Sport Management at Texas A&M University, USA. McCullough teaches a broad range of graduate and undergraduate courses in sport management and has developed a graduate curriculum focused on the application of environmental sustainability to the business of sport. His research focuses on the bidirectional relationship between sport and the natural environment in a subdiscipline of sport management called sport ecology. McCullough assisted in the creation of the United Nation’s Sports for Climate Action Framework and is currently working with the Commonwealth Secretariat for Sport for Development and Peace to integrate the SDG 13 into sport throughout the Commonwealth. He is also the co-director of the Sport Ecology Group.

Timothy Kellison is Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health and Director of the Center for Sport and Urban Policy at Georgia State University, USA. Kellison’s research is primarily focused on sport in the urban environment, with special emphasis in sport ecology, urban and regional planning, public policy, and politics. He has explored multiple questions related to the real and perceived benefits and harms sport and its industry bring to urban communities. He has received multiple recognitions for his work, including being designated a North American Society for Sport Management Research Fellow and being named a Fulbright Specialist in Urban Planning. Additionally, Kellison served on an international working group convened by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and served as a co-author of the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework.

E. Nicole Melton is Associate Department Chair and Associate Professor in the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. Her research examines diversity and inclusion in sport organizations, with a specific focus on LGBTQ+ inclusion. She serves as the co-director for Isenberg’s Laboratory for Inclusion and Diversity in Sport (LIDS). Most recently, Melton was selected as founding member of The Collective Think Tank, which is a group of academic and industry leaders focused on creating gender equity in sports.