This volume is a collection of essays considering the relationship between the social sciences and sustainability studies. Contributions are drawn from a range of disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology (both scholarly and applied), political science, and media studies. It has been carefully edited to provide the reader with a range of commentaries to interrogate the evolution of ‘sustainability imaginaries’ in contexts as varied as urban planning, community gardens, bread-making, sustainable food movements in Italy, applied projects such as water projects in Bangladesh, and disaster studies. As such, this is a book which ultimately argues for the value of the social sciences in considering one of the more urgent and complex topics of our time – that of sustainability.

The evidence is increasingly persuasive. We are changing the way our planet's physical systems work—irrevocably. These changes are global and interconnected and unavoidable. They are upon us already, making it virtually impossible for any modern society to continue its present trajectory of growth. This book provides a penetrating analysis of how we have come to this point, of why science and technology will fail to solve these problems, and of how we as a society must change in order to avoid ecological catastrophe. The scope is broad, the urgency of the message is impossible to ignore.

This book systematically explores the trade and environment interests of developing countries from a Southern perspective. The contributors write explicitly about both hopes and fears in the South. Essays are from leading experts and thought leaders from various regions of the South who work for bold new agendas and priorities for their region.

A collection of articles addressing the issue of whether the industrial model of human progress can be sustained in the long term. It asks what the social, political, economic and environmental implications as well as potential solutions to the problem of resource-intensive growth are.

Reading this book will lead to new insights compelling to an international audience into how cities address the sustainability challenges they face. They do this by not repeating old patterns but by searching for new and innovative methods and instruments based on shared principles of a transitions approach. The book describes the quest of cities on two continents to accelerate and stimulate such a transition to sustainability. The aim of the book is twofold: to provide insights into how cities are addressing this challenge conceptually and practically, and to learn from a comparison of governance strategies in Europe and Asia. The book is informed by transition thinking as it was developed in the last decade in Europe and as it is increasingly being applied in Asia. The analytical framework is based on principles of transition management, which draws on insights from complexity science, sociology, and governance theories. Only recently this approach has been adapted to the urban context, and this book is an opportunity to share these experiences with a wider audience. For scholars this work offers a presentation of recent state-of-the-art theoretical developments in transition governance applied to the context of cities. For urban planners, professionals, and practitioners it offers a framework for understanding ongoing developments as well as methods and instruments for dealing with them. The content is potentially appealing to post-graduate and graduate students of environmental management, policy studies, and urban studies programs.

The first wide-ranging, organic analysis of the sociology of unmarkedness and taken-for-grantedness, this volume investigates the asymmetry between how we attend to the culturally emphasized features of social reality and ignore the culturally unmarked ones. Concerned with the structures of cultural invisibility, unconscious rules of irrelevance, automatic frames of meaning, and collective attention patterns, it brings together scholarship spanning sociology, anthropology, and social psychology, to cover various aspects of humdrum, unglamorous, nondescript, nothing-to-write-at-home-about social phenomena, developing the key assumptions, underpinnings, and implications of this field of study. As comprehensive analysis of unremarked features of our social existence, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in social theory and the sociology of everyday life.

Comprehensively covers the definition, methodology, and current applications of the principles of sustainability and resiliency in every engineering discipline This book contains detailed information about sustainability and resiliency principles and applications in engineering practice, and provides information on how to use scientific tools for sustainability assessment that help engineers select the best alternative for each project or activity. Logically organized around the three pillars of sustainability—environment, economy, and society—it is a primary resource for students and professionals alike. Sustainable Engineering: Drivers, Metrics, Tools, and Applications offers numerous ways to help engineers contribute towards global sustainable development while solving some of the grand challenges the world is facing today. The first part of the book covers the environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with project/product development as well as society as a whole. This is followed by a section devoted to sustainability metrics and assessment tools, which includes material flow analysis and material budget, carbon footprint analysis, life cycle assessment, environmental health risk assessment, and more. Next comes an in-depth examination of sustainable engineering practices, including sustainable energy engineering, sustainable waste management, and green and sustainable buildings. The book concludes with a look at how sustainable engineering may be applied to different engineering (i.e. environmental, chemical, civil, materials, infrastructure) projects. Some of the key features of this book include the following: Provides a complete and sensible understanding of the important concepts of sustainability, resiliency, and sustainable engineering Offers detailed explanations of sustainable engineering practices in waste management and remediation of contaminated sites, civil construction and infrastructure, and climate geoengineering Presents a set of case studies across different engineering disciplines such as bio/chemical, environmental, materials, construction, and infrastructure engineering that demonstrate the practical applicability of sustainability assessment tools to diverse projects Includes questions at the end of each chapter as well as a solutions manual for academic adopters The depth of coverage found in Sustainable Engineering: Drivers, Metrics, Tools, and Applications makes it an ideal textbook for graduate students across all engineering disciplines and a handy resource for active professionals.

With the Stockholm+50 Conference, held on 2-3 June 2022, the global movement to protect the environment has reached a 50 year milestone. The first UN Conference on the Human Environment, also held in Stockholm, from 5-16 June 1972, proved to be the watershed in addressing this problem, and as the world assembles once more in the Swedish capital it is time to think aloud and look ahead. In his address in 1972, the then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme said: “The decisive question is in which direction we will develop ... there is no individual future, neither for people nor for nations.” The only other head of government to attend in 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, highlighted the development as “one of the primary means of improving the environment of living, of providing food, water, sanitation and shelter, of making the deserts green and mountains habitable” and drew attention to the wisdom of the Atharva Veda: “What of thee I dig out; Let that quickly grow over; Let me not hit thy vitals or thy heart." As we look back over 50 years, we need to assess what has gone wrong in the trajectory travelled so far and look ahead to the future of our environment at this juncture and beyond. As a scholarly journal for global decision-makers, Environmental Policy and Law has sought to envision what lies ahead in the 21st century by inviting outstanding scholarly works from around the world. The 22 articles which resulted from this invitation are presented in this book, Envisioning Our Environmental Future, which is organised in three parts: Testing Times; Global Ideas; and Sectoral Ideas. The book is a sequel to Our Earth Matters (IOS Press), which was published on 5 June 2021. Bharat H. Desai is Professor of International Law and Jawaharlal Nehru Chair in International Environmental Law at the Centre for International Legal Studies, School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is Editor-in-Chief of the global journals Environmental Policy and Law (Amsterdam: IOS Press) and Yearbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Prof. Desai’s ideas and proposals are reflected in his published books and in journals of international repute.

What is it like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity? Volume 3 of the series Perspectives on youth focuses on “healthy Europe”, not just in the narrow sense, but in the broader sense of what it is like to be young in a Europe faced with conflict and austerity, and what it feels like to be young as transitions become ever more challenging. The assumption when planning this issue was that health in this broader sense remains a controversial area within youth policy, where the points of departure of policy makers, on the one hand, and young people themselves on the other are often dramatically different; in fact, young people tend to interpret the dominating discourse as limiting, patronising, maybe even offensive. The question of health brings the old tensions between protection and participation as well as agency and structure to the forefront. Not all questions are addressed in detail but many are touched upon. It is, intentionally, an eclectic mix of contributions, to provide a diversity of argumentation and to promote reflection and debate. As has been the intention of Perspectives on youth throughout, we have sought to solicit and elicit the views of academics, policy makers and practitioners, presenting theoretical, empirical and hypothetical assertions and analysis. Perspectives on youth is published by the partnership between the European Union and the Council of Europe in the field of youth in co-operation with, and with support from, four countries: Belgium, Finland, France and Germany. Its purpose is to keep the dialogue on key problems of child and youth policies on a solid foundation in terms of content, expertise and politics. The series aims to act as a forum for information, discussion, reflection and dialogue on European developments and trends in the field of youth policy, youth research and youth work while promoting a policy and youth work practice that is based on knowledge and participatory principles. The editorial team of this volume is composed of 12 members representing the supporting countries, the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR), the co-ordinator of the youth policy reviews of the Council of Europe, the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership and the co‐ordinator of the editorial team.