Overall Score:

Target Readership	Sen. Secondary					For help with criteria, click here
Presentation/Style
Content
Literature
Originality
Overall

Return to main review page

Contents:

1 - Introduction; 2 - Geography and sustainable development; 3 - The role of spatial scale and spatial interactions in sustainable development; 4 - Linking the local to the global: can sustainable development work in practice?; 5 - Forecasting urban futures; 6 - Making cities more sustainable; 7 - Business, capital and sustainable economic development; 8 - Sustainable agriculture for the 21st century; 9 - Sustaining the flow; 10 - Sustainable futures in the Arctic North; 11 - Climate change, energy and sustainable development; 12 - Sustainable development and international relations; 13 - Future perspectives: developing sustainable development.

Review:

There is probably no better sign that an idea is becoming feasible than seeing it taken up by corporate business. From the backwoods of ideas, sustainable development (SD) has become a key feature of much of our thinking. Given that, with current resource uses, we can find more profit in sustainable production there's little wonder that the idea is catching on. However, there's still a great deal to be done and this text focusses on one area - the geographical elements.

The text starts with an introduction that does far more than just outline the key ideas of the following chapters (although it does that well). It also introduces the idea of sustainable development, highlight some of the key reports dealing with it and demonstrate that there are two perspectives: political and theoretical through which to view SD. The old (Western) idea of SD meaning the following by developing nations of a less destructive economic path is giving way to the realisation that many in the developing world see it as a way of getting towards the living standards of those enjoyed in the developed world. Thus the introduction is both guide and polemic. From this point, individual chapters highlight some of the key areas. Thus chapter two argues that geography, concerned with place and space, is ideally suited to engage with the debate on SD and to add some valuable perspective. Chapter three examines the influence of scale on SD. It's often been assumed that SD is scale-free but as we see here, this leads to a far more simplified and thus less accurate understanding. The scale at which something happens is important especially if we then use it in management where a top-down approach meets a bottom-up perspective. If there is any doubt about this then chapter four removes it when study of Nepalese forestry demonstrates that the local idea (which should then translate into global change) is actually constrained by the national and international goal. Chapter six and seven act as a useful set. The former looks more at the theory of sustainable urban areas (and the difficulty of overcoming the complexity of the situation) whilst the latter looks towards planners to provide a way forward. The next two chapters also have a link. The common theme is the way in which business and SD can be linked. In chapter 7 we see how business can profit from SD especially in terms of eco-efficiency and reduced resource demands (something that is already happening). Chapter 8 examines this view from the perspective of agriculture and the value to be gained by reducing impact upon the land. Chapter 9 is somewhat of a departure because it looks at SD using a case study: Japanese waterways. One key finding was that much of the divide in the case was ideological: that there's little theoretically to stop SD becoming more widespread. Chapter 10 turns to another case study; this time the Arctic North. Here there is not just concern about development of a more extreme environment but also the determination of the native peoples who live there. Comparison of American and Russian Arctic development shows how views differ. Climate change is a threat to human development but, as chapter 11 shows, this also means SD. No form of human action is 'safe' if such changes come about but it is interesting to see how climate policies can impact on other areas. Chapter 12 gets back to an earlier theme - of differences in ideology and viewpoint. SD is more than an idea of how to organise factories: it's also a political agenda and one which developing nations may not share either with the developed nations or each other. Ultimately, it is argued, it comes down to relative global power. Finally, there's a review of the preceding work and some conclusions as to where we might develop further.

This is a very good introduction to a neglected area. It shows clearly how we need to put far more effort into understanding the spatial implications of SD as well as understand the political situation. There are some excellent examples and arguments here although the word-heavy style might restrict younger readers there's certainly enough for educators to gain much of value.