Abstract
The purpose of this research is to map the conceptual and theoretical foundations of sustainability and sustainable development, specifically how these concepts have been defined, conceptualized, and operationalized in the past, in effect to elucidate knowledge gaps and limitations of current research. This research uses an exploratory approach to textual discourse analysis to uncover the ways in which sustainability and sustainable development has been defined, conceptualized, and operationalized by the City of Toronto over the past thirty years. The findings of this research indicate that despite poorly defined conceptions of sustainability and sustainable development, operationalization has continued. However, many challenges to conceptualization and operationalization remain, such as those related to cross-scale coordination, understanding of social, economic, and environmental interdependencies, inadequate understanding of environmental conditions, and issues related to information sharing and reporting across institutions. Keywords sustainability; urban sustainability; sustainable development; municipal policy; municipal decisionmaking; textual data analysis; content analysis; discourse analysis
Highlights
Frequency and context are both important in analyzing the definitions, conceptualization, and operationalization of sustainability and sustainable development concepts
This research found that the frequency of sustainability and/or sustainable development in municipal documents was not necessarily indicative of a document’s relevance to either concept, nor did it convey any information regarding the context or use of these concepts, aside from the themes indicated from word cooccurrences
The discovery that fifty per cent of the time the City referred to some variant of sustainability was to attribute someone or something as sustainable could be concerning; further research is warranted to determine whether these references are regarding currently sustainable or prospectively sustainable
Summary
Scientific advancements, and technological innovation (Hoornweg et al, 2016), humans have evolved, developed, and thrived for over 10,000 years (Rockström, 2009). During this time, the human population has transitioned to an increasingly urban way of life (Hoornweg et al, 2016). Urban areas, referred to synonymously as cities, are home to over half of the world’s population today (Graham et al, 2016). Despite this transition, human civilization remains unequivocally dependant on Earth’s natural systems and processes to sustaining its progress (Ehrlich et al, 1973; Lotka, 1925; Soddy, 1933) as it has since inception. Numerous events during the postwar era, for instance, radioactive fallout from nuclear testing, thousands of deaths from the Great Smog of London, the realization that CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) created a hole in Earth’s ozone layer, and the periodic death of Lake Erie in 1960s (Carson, 1962; Ehrlich et al, 1973; Georgescu-Roegen, 1975) have all evoked uncertainty regarding the sustainability of modern human civilization
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