Understanding Sustainable Development

Reviews / Votes

A significant achievement in addressing a complex contemporary issue in such a clear and optimistic way. Will it make a difference to our understanding? I think it will.


-Stephen Martin, Visiting Professor, Center for Complexity and Change, The Open University


This is an immensely important book that brings into a cohesive and dialogic whole, the multiple strands that do - or should - feed into understandings of sustainable development. It draws upon worldviews and perspectives often marginalized or ignored in the adrenaline rush to make sustainability a living reality. A 'must read' for both those new to and those steeped in the field.


-David Selby, Director, Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Plymouth


Presents a comprehensive account of the sustainability territory, successfully integrating ideas from science, philosophy, sociology and cultural studies in its explication of key topics within this field. It will prove invaluable for those of us from a range of disciplines and perspectives who are trying to make sense of what 'sustainability' means, and what actions we might take to realize it within our communities, organizations and homes.


-Donna Ladkin, Senior Lecturer in Organizational Learning and Leadership at Cranfield University School of Management


Understanding Sustainable Development is a major work and it largely achieves a very difficult task. It comes closer than most to that elusive ideal: the comprehensive book on a broadly based interpretation of sustainable development!


-Julian Agyeman, Associate Professor and Chair, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University


Scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians, and economists will find the text useful to see how their efforts have been interpreted by others.' Experimental Agriculture 'I found it an excellent refresher and reminder of basic concepts, issues and historical background..I enjoyed this book and I continue to dip into it


-AJH, Eagle Bulletin, 2009.