Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 378

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 4 of the 4 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Sustainable Development: A Bird’s Eye View

Open access
Waas, Tom, Hugé, Jean, Verbruggen, Aviel, Wright, Tarah·2011·Sustainability
DOI 10.3390/su3101637
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

At the turn of the millennium, the world’s political leadership adopted sustainable development as a leading model for societal development. However, the terms “sustainable development”, “sustainability” and “sustainable” are sometimes over- and misused despite wide consensus about the concept’s meaning among sustainability scholars and practitioners. While the concept allows various sustainability views to co-exist, random conceptualizations which do not respect the fundamental sustainability principles undermine the concept’s objective to steer action. This lack of understanding of sustainability arguably inhibits its practical realization and a proper understanding of sustainability is urgently needed. In this paper we aim to contribute to a better understanding of sustainability by adopting a bird’s eye perspective. We review the rich contemporary literature, with a specific focus on the terminology, genesis, fundamental principles, mainstream views of sustainability, and several governing aspects. Further, using the evolving body of sustainability literature, the paper provides arguments to combat common misconceptions of sustainability.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/su3101637

Cites

4 of 4 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 4 references

Research works printed but not linked: 53

  1. Haughton, 1999, Environmental justice and the sustainable city, J. Plan. Edu. Res., 18, 233, 10.1177/0739456X9901800305 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Lafferty, W., and Meadowcroft, J. (2000). Implementing Sustainable Development. Strategies and Initiatives in High Consumption Societies, Oxford University Press. · DOI · Paper page
  3. 1991, Sustainable development: A critical review, World Dev., 19, 607, 10.1016/0305-750X(91)90197-P · DOI · Paper page
  4. Robinson, 2004, Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development, Ecol. Econ., 48, 369, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.10.017 · DOI · Paper page
  5. Hugé, J., Waas, T., Eggermont, G., and Verbruggen, A. Impact assessment for a sustainable energy future—Reflections and practical experiences. Energ. Policy, in press.
  6. Giddings, 2002, Environment, economy and society: Fitting them together into sustainable development, Sustain. Dev., 10, 187, 10.1002/sd.199 · DOI · Paper page
  7. Sneddon, 2006, Sustainable development in a post-Brundtland world, Ecol. Econ., 57, 253, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.04.013 · DOI · Paper page
  8. Rosner, 1995, Mental models for sustainability, J. Clean. Prod., 3, 107, 10.1016/0959-6526(95)00057-L · DOI
  9. Lozano, 2008, Envisioning sustainability three-dimensionally, J. Clean. Prod., 16, 1838, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.02.008 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Kuhlman, 2010, What is sustainability?, Sustainability, 2, 3436, 10.3390/su2113436 · DOI · Paper page
  11. Dahle, 1998, Toward governance for future generations: How do we change course?, Futures, 30, 277, 10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00036-6 · doi:10.1016/s0016-3287(98)00036-6
  12. Rees, 2010, What's blocking sustainability? Human nature, cognition, and denial, Sustain. Sci. Pract. Policy, 6, 13
  13. Quental, 2011, Sustainable development policy: goals, targets and political cycles, Sustain. Dev, 19, 15, 10.1002/sd.416 · DOI · Paper page
  14. UNEP (2007). Global Environmental Outlook 4—Environment for Development, Progress Press.
  15. Fergus, 2005, Sustainable development: Lost meaning and opportunity, J. Bus. Ethics, 60, 17, 10.1007/s10551-005-2927-9 · DOI · Paper page
  16. Jabareen, 2008, A new conceptual framework for sustainable development, Environ. Dev. Sustain., 10, 179, 10.1007/s10668-006-9058-z · DOI · Paper page
  17. Quental, 2011, Sustainability: Characteristics and scientific roots, Environ., Dev. Sustain., 13, 257, 10.1007/s10668-010-9260-x · DOI
  18. Kemp, 2008, Governance for sustainable development: A framework, Sustain. Dev., 16, 410, 10.1002/sd.367 · DOI · Paper page
  19. Princen, 2010, Speaking of sustainability: The potential of metaphor, Sustain. Sci. Pract. Policy, 6, 60
  20. Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research, Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Sage Publications.
  21. Ponting, C. (2007). A New Green History of the World—The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilazations, Penguin Books. [2nd ed.].
  22. Munasinghe, M. (1993). Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development, The World Bank. · DOI · Paper page
  23. Kidd, 1992, The evolution of sustainability, J. Agr. Environ. Ethics, 5, 1, 10.1007/BF01965413 · DOI · Paper page
  24. WCED (1987). Our Common Future, Oxford University Press.
  25. Hens, 2003, The Johannesburg Conference, Environ., Dev. Sustain., 5, 7, 10.1023/A:1025303511864 · doi:10.1023/a:1025303511864
  26. UN Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. UNCSD 2012 Web site; Available online: http://www.uncsd2012org (accessed on 23 September 2011).
  27. Cairns, 2004, Will the real sustainability concept please stand up?, Ethics sci. environ. politics, 2004, 49, 10.3354/esep004049 · doi:10.3354/esep004049
  28. Cairns, 2001, Equity, fairness, and the development of a sustainability ethos, Ethics sci. environ. politics, 2001, 1, 10.3354/esep001001 · doi:10.3354/esep001001
  29. Palmer, 1997, Mapping out fuzzy buzzwords—Who sits where on sustainability and sustainable development, Sustain. Dev., 5, 87, 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1719(199708)5:2<87::AID-SD70>3.0.CO;2-Z · DOI
  30. Pezzey, J. (1992). Sustainable Development Concepts: An Economic Analysis, The World Bank. · DOI · Paper page
  31. Hopwood, 2005, Sustainable development: Mapping different approaches, Sustain. Dev., 13, 38, 10.1002/sd.244 · DOI · Paper page
  32. Hajer, 1995, Politics on the move: The democratic control of the design of sustainable technologies, Knowl. Tech. Policy, 8, 26, 10.1007/BF02832228 · doi:10.1007/bf02832228
  33. Mebratu, 1998, Sustainability and sustainable development: Historical and conceptual review, Environ. Impact Assess. Rev., 18, 493, 10.1016/S0195-9255(98)00019-5 · DOI · Paper page
  34. Leiserowitz, 2006, Sustainability values, attitudes, and behaviors: A review of multinational and global trends, Ann. Rev. Environ. Resour., 31, 413, 10.1146/annurev.energy.31.102505.133552 · DOI · Paper page
  35. Gibson, 2006, Sustainability assessment: basic components of a practical approach, Impact Assess. Project Appraisal, 24, 170, 10.3152/147154606781765147 · DOI · Paper page
  36. Langhelle, 2000, Why ecological modernaization and sustainable development should not be conflated, J. Environ. Policy Plan., 2, 303, 10.1080/714038563 · doi:10.1080/714038563
  37. Meadowcroft, 2000, Sustainable development: A new(ish) idea for a new century?, Polit. Stud., 48, 370, 10.1111/1467-9248.00265 · doi:10.1111/1467-9248.00265
  38. Kemp, 2007, Sustainable development: How to manage something that is subjective and never can be achieved?, Sustain. Sci. Pract. Policy, 3, 1
  39. Spangenberg, 2004, Reconciling sustainability and growth: criteria, indicators, policies, Sustain. Dev., 12, 74, 10.1002/sd.229 · DOI
  40. Dawe, 2003, The faulty three-legged-stool model of sustainable development, Conserv. Biol., 17, 1458, 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02471.x · DOI
  41. Ross, 2009, Modern interpretations of sustainable development, J. Law Soc., 36, 32, 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00455.x · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00455.x
  42. Stoker, 1998, Governance as theory: Five propositions, Int. Soc. Sci. J., 50, 17, 10.1111/1468-2451.00106 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Francken, 2007, Partnerships for sustainable development: A review of current literature, Environ. Sci., 4, 75, 10.1080/15693430701526336 · DOI · Paper page
  44. Hens, L., and Nath, B. (2005). The World Summit on Sustainable Development—The Johannesburg Conference, Springer. · DOI
  45. George, C., and Kirkpatrick, C. (2007). Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development—European Practice and Experience, Edward Elgar. · doi:10.4337/9781847205407.00008
  46. Haas, 2004, Addressing the Global Governance Deficit, Glob. Environ. Polit., 4, 1, 10.1162/glep.2004.4.4.1 · DOI · Paper page
  47. Bishop, 2002, Mapping public participation in policy choices, Au. J. Public Adm., 61, 14, 10.1111/1467-8500.00255 · DOI · Paper page
  48. 2010, Public participation and environmental impact assessment: Purposes, implications, and lessons for public policy making, Environ. Impact Assess. Rev., 30, 19, 10.1016/j.eiar.2009.05.001 · DOI · Paper page
  49. Andersson, K. (2008). Transparency and Accountability in Science and Politics—The Awareness Principle., Palgrave MacMillan. · doi:10.1057/9780230227767
  50. Hartley, 2005, Public participation in environmental impact assessment—Implementing the Aarhus Convention, Environ. Impact Assess. Rev., 25, 319, 10.1016/j.eiar.2004.12.002 · DOI · Paper page
  51. Rotmans, 2001, More evolution than revolution, transition management in public policy, J. Future. Stud. Strategic Think. Policy, 3, 15
  52. Voss, J.-P., Bauknecht, D., and Kemp, R. (2006). Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development, Edward Elger. · DOI · Paper page
  53. Folke, 2006, Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses, Glob. Environ. Change, 16, 253, 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002 · DOI · Paper page

Cited by

See all 378

Metadata

Authors
Waas, T., Hugé, J., Verbruggen, A., & Wright, T.
Venue
Sustainability
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2011-09-27
Volume
3
Issue
10
Pages
1637-1661
ISSN
2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/su3101637
OpenAlex
W2107428128
Cited by
378
References
4
FWCI
37.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
gold
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (vor)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Sustainable Development: A Bird’s Eye View. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3390/su3101637
The paper
Waas, T., Hugé, J., Verbruggen, A., & Wright, T. (2011). Sustainable Development: A Bird’s Eye View. Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su3101637

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.