Sustainable Development: Between Concept and Definition

Sustainable development is development that takes into account social and environmental dimensions alongside economic ones, aiming to improve the utilization of available resources to meet individuals’ needs while preserving the rights of future generations. The world faces the serious threat of environmental degradation, which must be overcome without neglecting economic development needs, as well as equality and social justice.

Sustainable development requires improving living conditions for all individuals without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the Earth’s capacity to bear them. Sustainable development is carried out in three main areas: economic growth, conservation of natural and environmental resources, and social development.

One of the most significant challenges facing sustainable development is eradicating poverty by encouraging balanced patterns of production and consumption without excessive reliance on natural resources.

Sustainable Development Goals

Below is an overview of some examples of sustainable development goals through several items that directly impact people’s living conditions:

1. Water Sustainability:
   Economic sustainability aims to ensure sufficient water supply and increase water use efficiency in agricultural, industrial, urban, and rural development. Social sustainability aims to secure access to sufficient water in the region for household use and small agricultural projects for the poor majority. Environmental sustainability aims to ensure adequate protection of water bodies, groundwater, freshwater resources, and their ecosystems.

2. Food Sustainability:
   Economic sustainability aims to increase agricultural productivity and production to achieve regional food security and export goals. Social sustainability seeks to improve the productivity and profits of small-scale farming and ensure household food security. Environmental sustainability ensures the sustainable use and conservation of land, forests, water, wildlife, fish, and water resources.

3. Health Sustainability:
   Economic sustainability focuses on increasing productivity through healthcare and preventive measures and improving health and safety in workplaces. Social sustainability enforces standards for air, water, and noise to protect human health and guarantees primary healthcare for the poor majority. Environmental sustainability aims to ensure adequate protection of biological resources, ecosystems, and life-support systems. It also promotes the sustainable or optimal use of land, forests, energy, and mineral resources.

4. Housing and Services Sustainability:
   Economic sustainability seeks to ensure adequate supply and efficient use of building materials and transportation systems. Social sustainability aims to guarantee access to affordable housing, sanitation, and transportation for the poor majority. Environmental sustainability promotes the sustainable or optimal use of land, forests, energy, and mineral resources.

5. Business Sustainability:
   A widely accepted standard for corporate sustainability is the efficient use of natural capital. This ecological efficiency is usually calculated as the economic value added by a company relative to its ecological impact on society. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines ecological efficiency as:
   “Achieving ecological efficiency through delivering competitively priced goods and services that meet human needs and improve quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life cycle to a level at least in line with the Earth’s carrying capacity.”

The second standard, social efficiency, though less explored, describes the relationship between a company’s added value and its social impact. While most corporate environmental impacts are negative (aside from rare exceptions like tree planting), social impacts can be positive (e.g., charitable giving, job creation) or negative (e.g., workplace accidents, employee harassment, human rights violations). Social efficiency tries to minimize negative social impacts or maximize positive social contributions relative to the value added.

Ecological and social efficiency primarily relate to increasing economic sustainability by leveraging natural and social capital to create mutually beneficial outcomes.

Economic sustainability aims to increase economic efficiency, growth, and employment opportunities in the formal sector. Social sustainability supports small enterprises and job creation for the poor majority in the informal sector. Environmental sustainability ensures sustainable use of natural resources essential for economic growth in both public and private sectors and aims to increase individual income to achieve social welfare.

6. Architectural Sustainability:
   In sustainable architecture, modern movements promote a sustainable approach to building that develops smart growth, architectural traditions, and classical design — in contrast to modern architecture and the international style. They also oppose single-family residential developments and suburban sprawl with long commutes and significant environmental impacts. Sustainable construction is mostly related to economics, while landscape architecture relates more to environmental concerns.

7. Political Sustainability:
   Studies have summarized that social and sustainable development indicators form a scientific framework whose main goal is to shape public policies. The International Institute for Sustainable Development established a political policy framework linked to sustainability indicators, composed of six core areas:

• International trade and investment

• Economic policy

• Climate change and energy

• Measurement and evaluation

• Natural resource management

• Information technology

The United Nations program defined cities within the framework of the Global Compact for sustainable political development by expanding the usual definition beyond states and governance. Politics is defined as the field of practices and meanings related to fundamental social power issues concerning organizing, interpreting, legitimizing, and regulating communal social life.

This definition aligns with the view that political change is important for responding to economic, ecological, and cultural challenges. It means economic change policies can be addressed politically. Seven subfields of political domain include:

• Regulation and governance

• Law and justice

• Communication and critique

• Representation and negotiation

• Security and reconciliation

• Dialogue and mediation

• Ethics and accountability

This aligns with the Brundtland Commission’s focus on development guided by human rights principles.

8. Cultural Sustainability:
   Some researchers and institutions have argued that a fourth dimension should be added to the three basic dimensions of sustainable development (economy, environment, and society) to reflect the complexity of contemporary society. In this context, the 21st Century Agenda for Culture and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) executive office issued a statement on November 17, 2010, during the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders — the 3rd UCLG World Congress held in Mexico City — making culture the fourth pillar of sustainable development.

This document opens a new perspective and highlights the relationship between culture and sustainable development through a dual approach consisting of developing and strengthening cultural policies and advocating for the cultural dimension in all public policies. The “circles of sustainability” approach identifies four sustainability domains: economic, environmental, political, and cultural. Other organizations have also supported the idea of a fourth domain for sustainable development.

Under the European Union’s auspices today, multidisciplinary capabilities integrate, interpreting cultural diversity as a key element in a new sustainable development strategy. The fourth pillar was highlighted by IMI UNESCO’s executive director Vito Di Bari in his statement on art and the architectural movement “New Future,” inspired by the 1987 UN report Our Common Future. The “circles of sustainability” approach used by Metropolis incorporates cultural elements into sustainable development frameworks.

Recently, human-centered design and cultural cooperation have become popular sustainable development frameworks in marginalized communities. These frameworks include open dialogue involving participation, discussion, and comprehensive assessment of the development site. Cultural focus is a decisive factor in project decisions as it greatly influences people’s lives and traditions. Collaborators use co-design theory to understand each other’s thinking processes and views on sustainable projects.

Through co-design, the overall needs of beneficiaries are considered, and final decisions and implementations account for social, cultural, and environmental factors.

Humans at the Center of Design

The user-centered framework heavily relies on user participation and feedback during planning. Users can provide new perspectives and ideas, which can lead to improvements and changes. Increasing user involvement in the design process can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of design issues due to greater contextual and emotional transparency between researchers and participants.

A key component of human-centered design is ethnographic application, a research method rooted in cultural anthropology requiring researchers to immerse themselves fully in observation to record implicit details.

The Role of Information Technology in Achieving Sustainable Development

In an era where technologies determine competitive capabilities, information technology (IT) can play a crucial role in sustainable development by harnessing its vast potential for economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This is achieved by enhancing technology for sustainable development as follows:

• Promoting research and development activities to advance new materials technology, information and communication technologies (ICT), biotechnology, and adopting sustainable mechanisms.

• Improving private sector performance through targeted inputs based on modern technologies and developing new institutional models such as technology parks and incubators.

• Building capacities in science, technology, and innovation to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a knowledge-based economy. Capacity building is essential for enhancing competitiveness, boosting economic growth, generating new jobs, and reducing poverty.

• Planning and implementing programs aimed at transforming society into an information society by integrating new technologies into social and economic development strategies, also working toward global targets like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

• Developing national innovation policies and new technology strategies, focusing on ICT.

The Role of Communications in Achieving Sustainable Development

Knowledge and information are fundamental elements for successful sustainable development as they facilitate social, economic, and technological changes and help improve agricultural productivity, food security, and livelihoods in rural areas. However, these must be effectively communicated to people to realize their benefits, which is done through communications.

Communications for development include various media such as rural community radio, multi-media training for farmers, and the internet to link researchers, educators, extension workers, producer groups, and global information sources.