Sustainability in Question – The Search for a Conceptual Framework

This book explores approaches to sustainability by linking the economy, society and the environment. The international group of experts uses concepts of sustainability from the physical and social sciences to develop a framework for creating policies for sustainability.

Sustainability in Question goes beyond much of the existing literature on sustainability taking into account culture, institutions, knowledge and traditions. It sheds new light on the ability of humans to create institutional and social arrangements which are able to adapt to changing conditions. The authors consider the current state of environmental and institutional sustainability within the context of economic activity and public policy. They recognise that some of the basic economic notions such as universal substitutability, methodological individualism and the superiority of the price mechanism may be misplaced in the case of environmental protection.

Sustainability in Question will be welcomed by those interested in environmental economics, science, management and environmental studies, as well as by those working in the fields of ecological economics, natural resource economics and environmental sociology.

Edited by Jörg Köhn, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Rostock University, Germany, John M. Gowdy, Rittenhouse Professor of Humanities and Social Science, Department of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US, Friedrich Hinterberger, SERI - Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Austria and Jan van der Straaten, Retired Senior Lecturer, Department of Leisure Studies, Tilburg University, The Netherlands