The environmental–social interface of sustainable development: capabilities, social capital, institutions (original) (raw)

Shaping the social dimension of sustainable development

The social-cultural dimension has commonly been recognised as the weakest pillar of sustainable development, notably when it comes to the theoretical an analytical underpinnings (see f.i. Coenen 2000;. At the same time, socialcultural considerations form the heart of the whole concept of sustainable development. The whole idea of sustainable development was introduced in an effort to unite the idea that human development is necessary, desirable and possible with the notion that the development of a certain group of people should not undermine the possibilities for development of other people, living elsewhere or in the future. Sustainable development is about increasing the quality of life from a social, economic and ecological perspective, both 'here and there' and 'now and later'and more in particular, about the just way to realise this. This makes the idea of justice a central concept when it comes to understanding and promoting sustainable development. In this project we will apply the Theory of Justice of John Rawls to answer the question what criteria can be used to evaluate the interactions and trade-offs between the social-cultural, the economic and the ecological pillars.

THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development stands for development processes that combine economic and social wellbeing and efficiency with ecological resilience and health, as well here and now, as elsewhere, and later. This implies that every method designed to assess impacts with regard to sustainable development needs a broader scope and deeper focus than the many already existing methods to assess environmental, economic, or social impacts. Their object is the quality of live, in the broadest meaning of the term. If we look closer at the requirements for such a tool we come across a paradox. On the one hand there is a broadly shared understanding that the assessment of social aspects and developments should get more and better attention. On the other hand it is also quite clear that assessments-models are not well suited to come to terms with the social dimension. Concepts and indicators that refer to the social reality, always refer to social change. As a result, they are themselves always prone to change. In other words: that what defines our goals or target is itself continuously and visibly changed by us. From a social point of view, sustainability is a process instead of a condition, and as such not something that can be measured unambiguously. What we need is a tool that addresses this fluidity and comes to terms with the fact that sustainability has more in common with a qualitative perspective than with quantitative norms, at least if we look at it from the social angle. If we want to develop assessment-methods for sustainable development, we have to take this into account, and work out the eventual consequences for the assessment of social sustainable development and the sustainable interaction between the social, economic and ecological domains. In this paper we want to address these issues.

Towards a Conceptual Framework for the Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development

African Journal of Governance and Development, 2024

Scholars generally try to make sense of complex phenomena such as sustainable development (SD) by constructing conceptual frameworks. Such frameworks are intended to reduce complexity by mapping associated issues, components, dimensions and properties. This demarcation process entails arranging variables, concepts and constructs into groups that are internally homogeneous but distinct from other groups. Conceptual frameworks are indispensable in scholarly inquiry, since they enable one to explicate the meaning of concepts by mapping out their dimensions. Inquiry into SD is generally constrained by the specific meanings ascribed to the highly polemical and multidimensional notions of sustainability and development, as well as the social, environmental and economic dimensions thereof. Contexts and applications can vary widely in terms of their objectives, scope and impact. The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual framework for the social dimensions of SD by means of content analysis and the Delphi method. The findings confirm and accentuate the multidimensional nature of social sustainability. By providing a structured, scholarly framework for teaching and research, the novel conceptual framework might guide scholars, policymakers and practitioners to gain a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the social dimensions of SD than previously.

The role of social capital in sustainable development assessment frameworks

International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment, 2005

This paper explores the role of social capital in frameworks for assessing sustainable development. This paper is arranged in three sections. The first argues that many aspects of social capacity qualify as 'capital', as they: • represent durable assets providing a stream of benefits • are subject to feasible social governance. The second reviews existing sustainable development measurement frameworks, and finds they neglect social capital or only include measures related to the instrumental economic value of social capital. The third section presents evidence that the neglected aspects of social capital are likely to be material to future well-being, and warrant special attention (including because they have few functional substitutes, are subject to threshold effects, and are irreplaceable if lost). The paper concludes there would be benefits from improving our understanding of social capital dynamics, developing suitable macro measures, and exploring policies for promoting sustainable development through protecting or enhancing social capital.

The search for socially sustainable development: conceptual and methodological issues

The New Economics of Amartya Sen

International reports reveal that economic inequalities are increasing in the world. When these inequalities result from injustice, they produce frustration and tension that may degenerate into social conflicts and jeopardise the social fabric for generations to come. To avoid such negative consequences, promoting socially sustainable development becomes a necessity, and this implies referring to social justice at both the intra-and intergenerational levels. Ensuring an equitable transmission of capabilities from one generation to the next then becomes a fundamental objective, and in this respect the capability approach provides an interesting and innovative perspective. However, this requires addressing a series of conceptual and methodological issues in order to identify conditions for social sustainability. At the conceptual level, the ethical foundations underlying the economic reasoning and the characteristics of the economic agent will have to be reviewed. At the methodological level, field observations of people's ethical choices are called for. This investigation referring to positive ethics helps to identify the indicators and thresholds from which relevant social precautionary principles are identified in order to steer public action. This paper looks first at how the capability approach can be related to the concept of socially sustainable development, and then addresses the methodological implications of this relationship.