Exploring Sustainable Development: Geographical Perspectives

Front Cover
Martin Purvis, Alan Grainger
Taylor & Francis, 2013 M06 17 - 416 pages

Sustainable development is capturing the attention of planners, politicians and business leaders. Within the academic sphere its study is increasingly breaching disciplinary boundaries to become a focus of attention for natural and social scientists alike. But in studying such a key concept, it is vital that there is a clear definition of what it means, how it is applied on the ground, and the influence it exerts upon people's perceptions of change in the physical environment, economic activity and society.

Exploring Sustainable Development is a major new text which provides a multifaceted introduction to key areas of study in this field, examining sustainability at the full range of spatial scales from the local to the global. Building on existing theory it demonstrates the unique contributions that thinking geographically about space, place and human-environment relationships can bring to the analysis of sustainable development. This book explores different interpretations of sustainable development in both theory and practice, in developed and developing countries, and in rural and urban areas. It pays particular attention to the local, national and international politics of implementation, the future of climate and energy, the role of business, and different conceptions of agricultural sustainability.

This wide-ranging text is ideal for undergraduates and postgraduates in geography, environmental science, development studies, and related social and political sciences.

From inside the book

Contents

1 Introduction
1
2 Geography and Sustainable Development
33
3 The Role of Spatial Scale and Spatial Interactions in Sustainable Development
50
Can Sustainable Development Work in Practice?
85
A Systems Analytical Perspective on the Development of Sustainable Urban Regions
99
People Plans and Participation
128
7 Business Capital and Sustainable Economic Development
156
8 Sustainable Agricuture for the 21st Century
179
Japanese Waterways and New Paradigms of Development
207
10 Sustainable Futures for the Arctic North
230
11 Climate Change Energy and Sustainable Development
250
12 Sustainable Development and International Relations
279
Developing Sustainable Development
313
References
340
Index
388
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About the author (2013)

Martin Purvis and Alan Grainger are Senior Lecturers in Geography at the University of Leeds.

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