Initiative and Obsolescence in Sustainable Development

Abstract

This chapter outlines a narrative for this book addressing its content and objectives. The chapters are a collection of essays from prominent authors in the field who have been associated with different aspects of sustainable development over several decades and who realise many of the challenges which the subject has created for researchers and practitioners alike. This is a book which will challenge the reader to consider new thinking and new initiatives and will also encourage the disposal of ideas which no longer seem relevant and are close to being obsolete. The authors come from a variety of disciplines but have a common interest in sustainability and a track record in considering the future of Sustainable Development from different perspectives. They have all been engaged in some capacity within the internationally leading School of the Built Environment at Salford University, UK, but have since diversified into new areas of study as their careers have developed in different parts of the world. This choice of diversity is deliberate. It reinforces the richness of content, process and speculation about the challenges which face the human race if it is to survive. It considers the tools we might use and the mechanisms we might consider when we look for guidance in the future. In a subject as comprehensive as sustainable development there is no ‘right way’ of exploring the future but experience tells us that we learn as we go and ‘action research’ can reveal new insights and new challenges which arise out of both the good and bad experience we may have enjoyed. We will find new ways of working and we will leave behind those ideas which lead us into blind alleys.