Sport, Development and Environmental Sustainability

This is the first book to consider the intersections of sport, international development and environmental sustainability. It explores the tensions between sport’s potential contribution to the environment and its rather poor record to date.

Bringing together a diverse group of scholars who approach the topic from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, the book provides both critical and optimistic perspectives on the place of sport in sustainable development. Chapters examine and question how and whether sport contributes to sustainable development on an international scale. Attention is also paid to the place and role of Indigenous knowledge in sustainable Sport for Development, particularly as an alternative to modernization and/or in support of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Sport, Development and Environmental Sustainability is important reading for academic researchers, students and policy-makers in the fields of kinesiology, sport studies, sport sociology, leisure studies, sport management, sport media, physical cultural studies, environmental studies and sustainability and international development studies.

Rob Millington is Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Brock University, Canada. His research focuses on how international NGOs such as the United Nations and International Olympic Committee mobilize sport for development in policy and practice, in both historical and contemporary contexts. His postdoctoral work considered what role, if any, sport can play in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Simon C. Darnell is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. His research focuses on the relationship between sport, international development and peace-building, the development implications of sports mega-events and the place of social activism in the culture of sport. He is currently an Associate Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal and sits on the editorial boards of five other journals, including the Journal of Sport for Development. He has served as a guest editor for issues of Third World Quarterly and Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health.