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Sustainability is a key concept used by social scientists interested in interactions between human society and the environment. This text offers a systematic and critical review of established and emerging methodological approaches, as well as tools for the integrated investigation of sustainability questions. Recognising the significance of scale for sustainability efforts and measurement, its scope ranges from the local to the global. Divided into five sections: Part I: examines the key challenges inherent to social scientific sustainability research, focusing in particular on methodological questions that arise from recent efforts towards greater disciplinary integration. Part II: discusses methodologies aimed at the investigation of attitudes and behaviour observable at the local level - from families and households to individual organisations within communities. Part III: focuses on comparative sustainability research across different levels of socio-political organisation - from cities and regions to nation-states. Part IV: covers recent developments which recognise the significance of time for sustainability research and which offer innovative methodological approaches that focus on life events and long-term outcome. Part V: offers a critical assessment of current and future trends in social-scientific sustainability researc.

Bringing together contributions from international social scientists, this is the resource for academics and practitioners interested in sustainability research. It will be a core teaching text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sustainability and sustainable development, geography, environmental sociology and the environmental sciences.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Part 1 Measuring The Immeasurable? The Challenges and Opportunities of Sustainability Research
• Introduction: Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences - Interdisciplinary Challenges and Methodological Issues
• Part 2 Researching Local Lives: Experiences of Sustainability Among Individuals, Households and Communities
• Household Analysis: Researching 'Green' Lifestyles - a Survey Approach
• Social Groups and Collective Decision-Making: FG Approaches
• Researching Local Lives: Studying Conflict
• Part 3 Leaders and Laggards? Comparative Research on The Sustainability Performance of Regions and Nation-States
• Ecological Footprint, Material and Energy Flows Analysis (MEFA) and Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
• Lifecycle Analysis (LCA)
• HDI and Millennium Goals
• Part 4 Systems, Networks, Scales and Mobilities
• Mobile Methods and Sustainability
• Time and Sustainability
• Network and Systems Analysis
• Researching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Developments and Future Challenges

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Dr Frances Fahy is a lecturer in Environmental Geography at the National University of Ireland, Galwway. Her primary research interests are in the field of environmental planning and sustainability, specifically the social and cultural consequences of environmental change.

She has published widely in the field of sustainability and has led a number of research projects exploring innovative methods for public participation in planning and developing sustainable planning tools (in particular quality of life indicators and community mapping) for progressing local processes for sustainable development in local authorities. She is the current Chair of the Planning and Environment Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society.

Dr Henrike Rau is a lecturer in Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her research focuses on socio-cultural and political aspects of consumption, especially with regard to (un)sustainable transport patterns. She currently leads research on transport, mobilities and the ′consumption of distance′ as part of ConsEnSus, an EPA Ireland-funded collaborative project between Trinity College Dublin and NUI, Galway on consumption, environment and sustainability (www.consensus.ie).

Her other areas of expertise include environmental sociology, social-scientific and interdisciplinary sustainability research and cross-cultural studies. She is particularly interested in the implications of human time use for sustainability, which enables her to link her previous PhD research on time cultures and temporal practices in Germany and Ireland to her current interests in sustainability.