Team Eta – Sustainable city initiatives Literature review

The notion of sustainability remains an evolving concept in terms of its definition as well as the varying and diverse ways of interpreting its implications. In [1.3] the authors suggest that sustainability should be understood in comparison to the ways of talking that preceded its popular usage. In this light, sustainability is characterized as generally (i) separating environmental from socio-economic issues, (ii) viewing the environment as external to the economy and (iii) seeing environmental problems as primarily local. In contrast, the traditional, awe encompassing concept of sustainability is systemic in nature, integrating socio-economic issues along with a concern for global ecological limits and global social justice. Additionally, in [1.3] the authors point out that there are has been considerable debate about what goals and means are included in the concept of sustainable development. They classify the various positions according to the degree of radical change that is perceived as necessary and label them Status Quo, Reform, and Transformational. Both [1.1] and [1.2] argue that sustainability fundamentally requires a cultural paradigm shift in the way that people view the world and make decisions. On the extreme end of th