Sustainable development
The references below are arranged alphabetically by publisher. Links to relevant websites can be found towards the bottom of the page.
Click on the Sustainable development heading in the Popular topics box on the right of the page for other references.
This page was updated on 25 August 2014
CAG Consultants
Capability for local sustainability: Final report
May 2008
Countryside Agency
June 2005
Department for Communities and Local Government
Planning for a sustainable future: White paper
May 2007
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Securing the future: The UK Government sustainable development strategy
March 2005
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
2006
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
A better quality of life: A strategy for sustainable development for the UK
May 1999
European Commission
ECOLUP Guidance: Environmental management for communal urban land use planning
2004
European Commission
2005
European Sustainable Development Network
A comparison index for a sustainable society: The SSI – the Sustainable Society Index
2008
European Sustainable Development Network
March 2010
European Sustainable Development Network
Involvement of sub-national authorities in National Sustainable Development Strategy processes
March 2009
European Sustainable Development Network
September 2008
European Sustainable Development Network
Sustainable development strategies beyond Europe
September 2009
Forum for the Future
Integrating sustainable development into performance management processes
2006
Friends of the Earth
Environmental sustainability and English regional strategies
May 2007
House of Commons, Environment Audit Committee
The sustainable development strategy: Illusion or reality?
October 2004
House of Commons, Research Library
Sustainable development and the 2002 World Summit (Research Paper 02/55)
October 2002
ICLEI
The Aalborg commitments implementation guide: A 5-step approach
2007
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
A new era in sustainable development
2007
National Audit Office
Regulatory Impact Assessments and sustainable development
May 2006
National Trust
Towards sustainable land management
September 2006
Policy Network
Living sustainably: approaches for the developed and developing world
April 2008
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Reassessing the role of planning in delivering sustainable development
December 2006
Royal Town Planning Institute
Education for sustainable development: A manual for schools
April 2004
Scottish Executive
Sustainable development: A review of international literature
2006
Scottish Natural Heritage
2004
Sustainable Development Commission
The next steps: An independent review of sustainable development in the English regions
November 2005
Sustainable Development Commission
Local decision making and sustainable development: LSPs, Sustainable Community Strategies and LAAs
2008
Sustainable Development Knowledge Partnership
The role of cities in sustainable development
May 2010
Sustainable Development Research Network
Emerging methods for sustainability valuation and appraisal
January 2007
Sustainable Development Research Network
Issues for the practice of sustainability appraisal in spatial planning: a review
September 2008
Sustainable Development Research Network
February 2006
UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development
Making sustainability real: A challenge for regions
August 2008
United Nations
The contribution of sustainable agriculture and land management to sustainable development
May 2009
United Nations
Using non-renewable resource revenues for sustainable local development
October 2008
United Nations, Habitat
Planning sustainable cities. Global report on human settlements 2009
2009
University of Manchester, Impact Assessment Research Centre
The government of sustainable development
2006
WWF
Sustainable development and the UK faith groups: Two sides of the same coin?
October 2005
Websites
Alterra is the research institute for our green living environment. It offers a combination of practical and scientific research in a multitude of disciplines related to the green world around us and the sustainable use of our living environment. Alterra is part of the Wageningen University.
This is an entrepreneurial charity, which initiates practical sustainability solutions, and then delivers them by setting up new enterprises and partnerships around the world.
Building and Social Housing Foundation
The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) is an independent research organisation that promotes sustainable development and innovation in housing through collaborative research and knowledge transfer. Established in 1976, BSHF works both in the UK and internationally to identify innovative housing solutions and to foster the exchange of information and good practice. BSHF believes that everyone should have access to decent housing and is committed to promoting housing policy and practice that is people centred and environmentally responsible.
Sustainable Places (formerly Sustainable Cities) gives expert advice on planning, designing and managing a sustainable place. It includes clear priorities for action alongside expert advice on effective leadership for your neighbourhood, town or city.
Centre for Sustainable Communities
Based at the University of Hertfordshire, the Centre’s work involves public engagement, transport planning and energy and CO2.
Centre for Sustainable International Development
Based at the University of Aberdeen, the Centre espouses an inter-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach and recognises that future long-term research must be coordinated across all areas of sustainable development to maximise impact in least developed countries.
Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF)
SURF is a dedicated centre within the University of Salford, established in 1999 to undertake inter-disciplinary research on Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures. The work cuts across the themes of governance, knowledge and innovation, and environment and energy to consider the relationships between cities, regions and sustainable knowledge-based development. SURF’s purpose is to: advance understanding of how economic, social, environmental and technological changes interact to affect urban and regional futures; promote inter-disciplinary analysis of the sustainability of these changes; and disseminate knowledge to improve understanding and inform feasible changes in policy and practice.
The Crystal: A sustainable cities initiative
The Crystal is a sustainable cities initiative by Siemens that explores how we can create a better future for our cities. It is home to the world’s largest exhibition focused on urban sustainability. Based in the Royal Victoria Docks, the centre of London’s new Green Enterprise District, the Crystal is a natural home for thought leadership on urban sustainability. It provides a global knowledge hub that helps a diverse range of audiences learn and understand how we can all work to build better cities for ourselves and for future generations. Experts on urban sustainability will be available to exchange ideas, while a dynamic conference programme will foster dialogue between stakeholders. The website also provides access to research sponsored by Siemens, including the Green City Index. The Crystal opens to the public on 29 September 2012.
earthsummit2012: Towards a world summit on sustainable development in 2012
This provides background information for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June 2012.
Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network
Part of the UK Technology Strategy Board’s Knowledge Transfer Network programme, the Environmental Sustainability KTN is the primary KTN supporting the Technology Strategy Board’s Environmental Sustainability Key Application Area.
European Sustainable Development Network
This is an informal network of public administrators and other experts dealing with sustainable development strategies in Europe.
A new 10-year international collaborative project has been launched in order to provide global coordination for science to respond to the most compelling challenges facing our societies in this era of global environmental change. The initiative will deliver solution-oriented research on global environmental change for sustainability and provide support for actions towards sustainability through an integrated approach based on the active involvement of a broad range of stakeholders.
This site aims to improve understanding of innovative approaches to sustainable development pioneered by community activists and offers policy advice on how to support them to grow and spread their ideas. An ongoing series of briefings is available, summarising key findings across all our grassroots innovations projects, designed for a wide audience of policymakers, practitioners and academics.
Siemens publishes a series of green city indices on a global scale.
Informed Cities initative is a 3-year European project that aims to examine and enhance connectivity between research and policy-making for sustainable development, at (and for) the local level. This will be done through encouraging interaction and face-to-face discussions between researchers and policy-makers, as well as through explorative application of research-based tools for sustainable urban management by local governments across Europe.
The Institute for Sustainability is an independent charity established in 2009 to support cross sector collaboration and innovation. Its mission is to significantly accelerate the delivery of economically, environmentally and socially sustainable cities and communities. This is done by driving innovative demonstration projects and developing programmes to actively capture and share learning and best practice.
International Ecocity Framework and Standards
The International Ecocity Framework and Standards (IEFS) initiative seeks to provide an innovative vision for an ecologically-restorative human civilization as well as a practical methodology for assessing and guiding progress towards the goal.
International Human Dimensions Programme
IHDP’s core desire is to produce the most innovative and state-of-the art social science, in order to foster improved human-environment interaction. Our mission is fourfold, activities in each aspect support the success of the overall goal.
International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE)
iiSBE is an international non-profit organization whose overall aim is to actively facilitate and promote the adoption of policies, methods and tools to accelerate the movement towards a global sustainable built environment. The most important activity is networking; helping specialists and generalists to get to know each others’ abilities and needs.
International Institute for Environment and Development
The International Institute for Environment and Development is a global leader in sustainable development. As an independent international research organisation, It specialises in linking local to global in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East and the Pacific.
This site aims to provide a practical resource for those who work with communities (in the wider sense of the term) to help them identify and adopt more sustainable practices.
The Sustainability topic area on the NBS website offers you a set of resources to help you keep up to date with the fast-changing world of green construction and sustainable development. These include articles, videos, links, recommended readings and an extensive bibliography.
Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development
The mission of OISD, which has a multidisciplinary focus, is to help create a sustainable future by undertaking research on sustainability in the built and natural environments.
Sapling.info Sustainability Gateway
This gateway features reviewed links to sustainability-related education, organisations, places, products, research, resources and services on the web.
This website connects policy makers and researchers providing a space to exchange knowledge and access the latest information on Sustainable Consumption and Production specifically in the areas of mobility, housing and food.
Shaping Sustainable Markets (SSM) is the flagship research initiative of the Sustainable Markets Group at IIED. The group drives IIED’s efforts to ensure that markets contribute to stronger livelihoods and more sustsinable environments. Shaping Sustainable Markets (SSM) is the flagship research initiative of the Sustainable Markets Group at IIED. The group drives IIED’s efforts to ensure that markets contribute to stronger livelihoods and more sustainable environments. SSM explores how market governance mechanisms – the formal and informal rules used to govern markets – are designed and how they impact people, the planet and the economy. This work will be useful for policy makers, business professionals, and researchers and anyone who has an interest in how markets can work to support sustainable development.
Sniffer is a registered charity delivering knowledge-based solutions to resilience and sustainability issues. It aims to create and use breakthrough ideas and collaborative approaches across sectors, to make Scotland a more resilient place to live, work and play. Through innovative partnership approaches it aims to share good practice, synthesise and translate evidence, commission new studies and target communications, guidance and training. Knowledge hubs cover: climate resilience, sustainable cities, resilient catchments, environment and health, and environmental regulation.
Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future
The Stakeholder Forum’s agenda is to advance progress towards internationally agreed commitments on sustainable development. It believes that open, informed and transparent decision-making at a global level is critical in achieving this goal, which is why it focuses on stakeholder engagement. Rather than advancing any one particular stakeholder position, it seeks to identify areas of consensus as well as priority issues identified by a range of stakeholders. It does not advance positions or opinions for which there is little consensus, or where they flagrantly contradict the principles of achieving sustainable development.
The STEPS Centre is a new interdisciplinary global research and policy engagement hub, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. It aims to develop a new approach to understanding, action and communication on sustainability and development. By acknowledging the interactions between social, technological and environmental factors in diverse local settings the Centre aims to create more sustainable, socially just and favourable conditions for the poor. Uniting development studies with science and technology studies, the Centre seeks to address two vital global challenges: how to link environmental sustainability with better livelihoods and health for poor people; and how to make science and technology work to reduce poverty and increase social justice. Based at the Institute of Development Studies and SPRU Science and Technology Policy Research in the UK, it has partners in China, India, Kenya and Argentina.
Sustain Worldwide, an invitation only membership organisation comprising the world’s leading sustainable and leisure tourism developers and professionals, launched to the public on 6th September 2010. The organisation’s prime objective is to raise awareness of and create a benchmark for environmental and socially responsible residential development worldwide. Member developers are the world’s leading sustainable residential and leisure tourism developers, while the professional members, architects, landscape architects, manufacturers, are among the foremost practitioners and thinkers working in the sustainability arena today. Register to receive free downloads, newsletters and updates.
For the first time, leading organisations from across the further and higher education sector have joined forces to create the Sustainability Exchange. Combining resources and experience from 23 of the country’s top sustainable development and tertiary education bodies, the Sustainability Exchange is the UK’s first centralised information portal and online community for the sector, sharing a wealth of information that is available to everyone.
Sustainability in the Built Environment (SustBE)
The “sustainability in the built environment” research portfolio draws together a multi-disciplinary team of experts from across the University of Reading. Research themes include: Planning for sustainability; Design for resilience; Urban green infrastructure; Energy supply systems; Sustainable behaviours within the community; Promoting sustainable practices.
Sustainable Cities Collective is an editorially independent, moderated community for leaders of major metropolitan areas, urban planning and sustainability professionals. It aims to provide resources for all who work in or are interested in urban planning, sustainable development and urban economics. Looking at issues such as transportation, building practices, community planning and development, education, water, health and infrastructure.
Sustainable Development Commission
Since 2000, the SDC has worked to help decision makers and advisors embed sustainable development as the operating system of choice in the four Governments of the UK. As of 31 March 2011 the SDC ceased operations and there are new arrangements in the four governments. This is an archive site.
Sustainable development in Government
UK Government website on sustainable development.
Sustainable Development Research Network
The Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN) aims to contribute to sustainable development in the UK by encouraging the better use of evidence and research in policy-making. Membership of SDRN is free and open to all.
The Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI)
The Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI) is a Pan-European think tank exploring sustainable development options for European societies. It was set up in September 1999.
Sustainable Places Research Institute
The Research Institute’s mission is to reinforce Cardiff’s reputation as a unique international leader in the emerging field of sustainability science, by bringing together leading scholars and research clusters across a wide-range of academic disciplines. Through making these new connections, the Institute will tackle the vital issue of sustainability and sustainable places in a fundamentally new way, seeking solutions to the enormous environmental and social challenges facing humanity.
The Sustainable Urban Environment (SUE) programme is an initiative supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) investigating different ways of improving sustainability in the urban environment. Spanning 30 different UK Universities, the programme has funded 18 consortia in all areas of sustainability including: waste, water management, transport planning and strategy, spatial planning, regeneration and stakeholder engagement. As well as funding over 400 researchers, SUE’s multidiciplinary consortia can boast over 120 project partners including local authorities, large and small companies, town planners and charities.
Transitioning Towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability (TURAS)
The “TURAS” initiative brings urban communities and businesses together with local authorities and researchers to collaborate on developing practical new solutions for more sustainable and resilient European cities.
United Cities and Local Government
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organisation’s stated mission is: to be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community.
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236). The Conference will take place in Brazil on 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.
United Nations Environment Programme
This programme aims to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. Six priority areas define UNEP’s focus on the environmental challenges of the 21st century: climate change; disasters and conflict; ecosystem management; environmental governance; harmful substances; and resource efficiency.
United Nations Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform
The Division serves as the primary UN office responsible for supporting intergovernmental processes in the area of sustainable development.
UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development
World Resources Institute
The Institute’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.
The URBAN-NEXUS Consortium comprises of 13 core partners, supported by 25 Strategic Partners throughout Europe. This coordination and support action builds on the work of the FP6 project URBAN-NET, which formulated the themes that URBAN-NEXUS is now working on. URBAN-NEXUS will develop a Strategic Dialogue & Partnership Framework to organise a long-term collaboration with stakeholders in relation to the key dimensions of sustainable urban development: Urban climate resilience; Health and quality of life; Integrated urban management; Integrated data and information; Competing for urban land.
World Wide Virtual Library: Sustainable Development
A comprehensive list of internet sites dealing with sustainable development, including organisations, projects and activities, electronic journals, libraries, references and documents, databases, directories or metadatabases
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