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    Papers in International JournalsChapters/ Papers in International BooksChapters/ Papers in National BooksCommunications in International ConferencesCommunications in National ConferencesMSc ThesesBooksProceedingsPatentsTechnical/ Scientific ReportsPhD Theses

    Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots

    TitleSustainability: characteristics and scientific roots
    Publication TypePapers in International Journals
    Year of Publication2011
    AuthorsQuental N., Lourenço J. M., and Silva N. F.
    Abstract

    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.

    JournalEnvironment, Development and Sustainability
    Volume13
    Issue2
    Pagination257–276
    Date Published2011-08-01
    PublisherKluwer Academic Publishers
    ISSN1387-585X
    DOIDOI 10.1007/s10668-010-9260-x
    URLhttp://sieeum.eng.uminho.pt/publicacoes/pub.aspx?pubid=8156
    KeywordsEcological economics, Scientific development, Sustainability, Sustainability science, Sustainable development
    RightsopenAccess
    Peer reviewedyes
    Statuspublished
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    About CTAC

    The Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC) is a research unit of the School of Engineering of University of Minho (UMinho), recognised by the “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Foundation for Science and Technology), associated to the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC), with whom it shares resources and namely human resources.

    Currently CTAC aggregates 24 researchers holding a PhD of which 20 are faculty professors of the Civil Engineering Department. Read more


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    Campus de Azurém
    4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

    Phone: + 351 253 510 200 (517 206)
    Fax: + 351 253 510 217

    Email: geral@ctac.uminho.pt


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