ancient cities

794 Sustainable Development
by 2015, holding between them some 600 million
people. Given the difficulties inherent in governing
such enormous and fragmented areas, some argue
for the need for reinvigorated grassroots organization
and democratic processes, such as were emphasized
in AGENDA 21.
Yet, at the same time, sustainable development
concerns transcend the local: Ecological, economic,
and social unsustainability cannot be isolated
within a particular jurisdiction but cross political
boundaries and thus levels of institutionalized
decision making.
Envisioning the Future of
Sustainable Development
Many are now advocating regional approaches to
sustainability, ones that can account for natural
regions such as watersheds, as well as marshal the
resources of multiple political jurisdictions. What
is advocated in this so-called new regionalism is
not new levels of government but rather new
forms and processes of governance, in which
coalitions of interest groups (public, private, and
nonprofit) collaborate, share resources, and
develop regulatory frameworks that can address
mutual concerns. Interestingly, studies show that
such regional coalitions are most likely to form
around shared ecological concerns. Regional
approaches are also more readily able to address
social inequities that are exacerbated by uneven
development.
What seems incontrovertible, however, is that
for all it has contributed to the discourses on
social, economic, and environmental progress and
justice, sustainable development has yielded almost
no real improvements in the actual sustainability
of human societies. Western models of development
and growth predominate, and energy consumption
continues to increase, even in the face of
inevitable resource depletion.
Critics of mainstream conceptualizations of sustainable
development argue that most of the common
practices under this rubric may be
incompatible with its actual demands, which
would include an end to fossil fuel use, a drastic
reduction in the use of resources, a return to local
small-scale agriculture, and—in effect—the end of
the industrial era.
It remains to be seen how the current global
economic crisis will affect both the unsustainability
of present urban systems and the theory and
practice of sustainable development.
Michael Dudley
See also Broadacre City; Geddes, Patrick; New Urbanism;
Sprawl; Urban Planning
Further Readings
Berke, Philip R. and Maria Manta Conroy. 2000. “Are
We Planning for Sustainable Development?” Journal
of the American Planning Association 66(1):21–33.
Brown, Donald. 1995. “The Role of Ethics in Sustainable
Development and Environmental Protection
Decisionmaking.” Pp. 39–51 in Sustainable
Development: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy, edited
by J. Lemons and D. A. Brown. New York: Springer.
de Roo, Gert and Donald Miller. 2004. Integrating
City Planning and Environmental Improvement:
Practicable Strategies for Sustainable Urban
Development. Farnham, Surry, UK: Ashgate.
Haughton, Graham. 1997. “Developing Sustainable
Urban Development Models.” Cities 14(4):189–95.
Marcuse, Peter. 2008. “Sustainability Is Not Enough.”
Environment and Urbanization 10(2):103–12.
McDonald, Geoffrey. 1996. “Planning as Sustainable
Development.” Journal of Planning Education and
Research 15:225–36.
Rees, William E. 1989. Defining “Sustainable
Development.” Vancouver: University of British
Columbia Centre for Human Settlements.