Sustainable Development: An Introduction

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Today it is acknowledged that achieving sustainable development at the global scale is one of the greatest challenges for the 21st century. However, sustainable development means different things to different people. This course is aimed at developing the students' understanding of sustainable development as a complex and fluid concept, which will continue to evolve over time. But common characteristics underlie the many streams of thought. In part 1 of the course, some of these main concepts, ideas and theories related to the complex and ambiguous term of sustainable development will be illuminated, using present-day cases. Key ideas/concepts discussed are: the Tragedy of the Commons, ecosystem services, biogeochemical cycles, carrying capacity and ecosystem dynamics, and uneconomic growth. Furthermore, sustainable development requires an understanding that inaction has consequences and that we must find innovative ways to deal with the important economic, social and ecological trade-offs involved. However, there is no detailed plan of action or a formula that we can all blindly follow. There is no one solution. In part 2 of the course, students will learn about some of the contemporary ideas about how to achieve a more sustainable society, including contemporary developments in corporate sustainability an sustainable production (e.g. Cradle-to-Cradle), the role of lifestyles and consumer choices and about the opportunities and pitfalls of (the global) governance for sustainability. As part of the examination students will link theories/concepts/ideas discussed in the course to a self-selected case study in a poster presentation.