Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2011 |
Outros Autores: | , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/1822/63101 |
Resumo: | Literature about sustainable development is abundant and expanding, and syntheses are therefore increasingly necessary. This paper represents an effort to characterize the main principles behind the concept of sustainability and to identify and describe the scientific approaches at the root of each of those principles. From a scientific point of view, the identification of sustainability principles is possibly more interesting than providing one rigid definition because they are more abstract and conceptual. As a first step, three scientific approaches relevant in the context of sustainability—ecological economics, sustainability transition, and sustainability science—were characterized and synthesized into four sustainability principles. The next step was the identification and description of the scientific approaches at the root of each sustainability principle. All descriptions are based on a literature review. Four sustainability principles were identified: the stressing of biophysical limits that constrain the scale of the human economy; the focus on societal welfare and development; the understanding that each system has its own minimum irreducible needs in order to be viable; and the acknowledgment of system complexity. From an evolutionary perspective, scientific approaches at the root of sustainability progressed from a static view of environmental limits and human impacts to a dynamic and integrative vision of them; from an emphasis on human impacts and availability of natural resources to a more balanced position that puts human and social capital at the center; from a rigid definition of goals to the understanding that the process of transition toward goals is as important as the goals themselves. The four principles of sustainability incorporated in varying degrees a broad range of scientific contributions. Sustainability may, as such, be regarded as a step toward consilience, an attempt to bring together scholars from different backgrounds and disciplines in order to create an integrated thesis. |
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Sustainability: characteristics and scientific rootsEcological economicsScientific developmentSustainabilitySustainability scienceSustainable developmentCiências Naturais::Ciências da Terra e do AmbienteLiterature about sustainable development is abundant and expanding, and syntheses are therefore increasingly necessary. This paper represents an effort to characterize the main principles behind the concept of sustainability and to identify and describe the scientific approaches at the root of each of those principles. From a scientific point of view, the identification of sustainability principles is possibly more interesting than providing one rigid definition because they are more abstract and conceptual. As a first step, three scientific approaches relevant in the context of sustainability—ecological economics, sustainability transition, and sustainability science—were characterized and synthesized into four sustainability principles. The next step was the identification and description of the scientific approaches at the root of each sustainability principle. All descriptions are based on a literature review. Four sustainability principles were identified: the stressing of biophysical limits that constrain the scale of the human economy; the focus on societal welfare and development; the understanding that each system has its own minimum irreducible needs in order to be viable; and the acknowledgment of system complexity. From an evolutionary perspective, scientific approaches at the root of sustainability progressed from a static view of environmental limits and human impacts to a dynamic and integrative vision of them; from an emphasis on human impacts and availability of natural resources to a more balanced position that puts human and social capital at the center; from a rigid definition of goals to the understanding that the process of transition toward goals is as important as the goals themselves. The four principles of sustainability incorporated in varying degrees a broad range of scientific contributions. Sustainability may, as such, be regarded as a step toward consilience, an attempt to bring together scholars from different backgrounds and disciplines in order to create an integrated thesis.This paper was written as part of a PhD research. The authors would like to credit the financial support provided by Fundac¸a˜o para a Cieˆncia e Tecnologia (the Portuguese research foundation) under scholarship SFRH/BD/18588/2004 and project PTDC/ECM/73069/2006.Springer NatureUniversidade do MinhoQuental, NunoLourenço, Júlia M.Silva, Fernando Nunes da Silva2011-08-212011-08-21T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1822/63101eng1387-585X1573-297510.1007/s10668-010-9260-xhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-010-9260-xinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-21T12:35:18Zoai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/63101Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T19:31:07.956656Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
title |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
spellingShingle |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots Quental, Nuno Ecological economics Scientific development Sustainability Sustainability science Sustainable development Ciências Naturais::Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente |
title_short |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
title_full |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
title_fullStr |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
title_sort |
Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots |
author |
Quental, Nuno |
author_facet |
Quental, Nuno Lourenço, Júlia M. Silva, Fernando Nunes da Silva |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Lourenço, Júlia M. Silva, Fernando Nunes da Silva |
author2_role |
author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade do Minho |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Quental, Nuno Lourenço, Júlia M. Silva, Fernando Nunes da Silva |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Ecological economics Scientific development Sustainability Sustainability science Sustainable development Ciências Naturais::Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente |
topic |
Ecological economics Scientific development Sustainability Sustainability science Sustainable development Ciências Naturais::Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente |
description |
Literature about sustainable development is abundant and expanding, and syntheses are therefore increasingly necessary. This paper represents an effort to characterize the main principles behind the concept of sustainability and to identify and describe the scientific approaches at the root of each of those principles. From a scientific point of view, the identification of sustainability principles is possibly more interesting than providing one rigid definition because they are more abstract and conceptual. As a first step, three scientific approaches relevant in the context of sustainability—ecological economics, sustainability transition, and sustainability science—were characterized and synthesized into four sustainability principles. The next step was the identification and description of the scientific approaches at the root of each sustainability principle. All descriptions are based on a literature review. Four sustainability principles were identified: the stressing of biophysical limits that constrain the scale of the human economy; the focus on societal welfare and development; the understanding that each system has its own minimum irreducible needs in order to be viable; and the acknowledgment of system complexity. From an evolutionary perspective, scientific approaches at the root of sustainability progressed from a static view of environmental limits and human impacts to a dynamic and integrative vision of them; from an emphasis on human impacts and availability of natural resources to a more balanced position that puts human and social capital at the center; from a rigid definition of goals to the understanding that the process of transition toward goals is as important as the goals themselves. The four principles of sustainability incorporated in varying degrees a broad range of scientific contributions. Sustainability may, as such, be regarded as a step toward consilience, an attempt to bring together scholars from different backgrounds and disciplines in order to create an integrated thesis. |
publishDate |
2011 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2011-08-21 2011-08-21T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
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publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/1822/63101 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1822/63101 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
1387-585X 1573-2975 10.1007/s10668-010-9260-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-010-9260-x |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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openAccess |
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application/pdf |
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Springer Nature |
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Springer Nature |
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