SUSTAINABILITY AND REGENERATION

Sustainability and Regeneration

Sustainability through Regeneration at the Neighbourhood Level

Introduction

The growing recognition that human activities are transforming Earth systems and having far-reaching implications for society has given rise to the ambitious research field of sustainability science. This area of study is concerned with the most complex challenges that societies face, focusing on the dynamic interaction of nature-society systems in response to stresses emanating from multiple sources. Sustainability science grapples with societal problems that are characterized by multiple viewpoints and a high degree of uncertainty (Glasson, 2009, 48). It evolves from a scientific perspective of critically examining the relationship between nature and society. It addresses tensions among economic, social, technological, and environmental interests among a broad range of stakeholders while focusing on interactions across scales. Though sustainability science has not been clearly defined, in recent years, its central elements have begun to gain clarity; hence, the field has begun to be recognized as an area of inquiry that can point the way toward sustainable development (Agyeman, 2005, 123). The field has focused on the nature of a sustainability transition, described as meeting the needs of a stabilizing future population while maintaining Earth's life support systems.

This paper is aimed at discussing the concept and importance of sustainability in relation to the phenomenon of regeneration. The paper attempts to help create an understanding of these two inter-related ideas and presents an argument that provides support to its theme.

Sustainability

Sustainability has many definitions, but the core concept remains this: As people use the Earth's resources to produce economic goods and services, one must maintain the Earth's capacity to provide natural resources and absorb wastes for the benefit of future generations, and one must meet the social responsibilities to allow and enable poor countries and marginalized groups to share the Earth's bounty (Marshall and Michael, 2005, 673).

Defining Sustainability

Sustainability is frequently defined by resource economists in terms of maintaining the Earth's productive and waste assimilative capacity, or natural capital, over time. Sustainability can then be expressed as four constraints on production of goods and services:

Consumption of renewable resources must be limited to sustainable yield.

Consumption of exhaustible resources must be minimized, and the stock of renewable resources must be increased at least as fast as the stock of exhaustible resources is decreased.

Biodiversity must be preserved.

The waste assimilative capacity of the environment must be preserved (Peterson, 2006, 189).

This notion of sustainability by resource and ecological economists focuses attention on the importance of the environment, as opposed to social equity and economic capacity. Thus, this concept is sometimes called “ecological sustainability.”

Three Pillars of Sustainability

The core of mainstream thinking on sustainability is that all policy and law must be made with an awareness of three separate dimensions of sustainability:

Environmental,

Social, and

Economic (Rydin, 1999, 467).

These have been drawn in a variety of ways: as “pillars,” as concentric circles, or as interlocking circles.

Perhaps the most popular approach to discussing sustainability is to note that there are three so-called pillars of sustainability: environmental protection (environment), social equity (social), and economic ...