Social Sustainability

A novel, integrated approach to understanding long-term human history, viewing it as the long-term evolution of human information-processing. This title is also available as Open Access.

Social Sustainability provides the readers with a global perspective on the social science and the subject of sustainability. It associates the social change with that of sustainability and discusses the various socio-ecological systems and the related sustainability. Also discussed in the book is the cultural ecosystem and its relationship with social science, the effect of social science on modern cities, the sustainability challenges with regard to social science, the subject of urban regeneration and social sustainability and the future of sustainability in the developing societies. These aspects provide a deep insight on the sustainability of the societies and its various elements.

Social Sustainability for Business demonstrates the need for a transformational change to the way businesses across the globe operate. What has become the standard, accepted "business model," with a focus on corporate profit, shareholder wealth maximization, and GDP growth, is no longer a sustainable business model for workers, consumers, communities, society, the planet, or any of its inhabitants and ecosystems. The authors argue that the current commercial system depletes natural resources, denigrates human rights, and inhibits positive social and technological innovation. To address these issues, they focus on societal goals—such as a sustainable planet, meeting human rights of workers, and safe products for consumers—and outline steps that organizations and individuals must take to achieve them. Readers will gain insight into the psychological barriers to and influences on sustainable behavior. They will also learn how reconsidering corporate social responsibility and business ethics can stop and reverse the destruction of a profit-based approach. Cases on modern examples of sustainability or lack thereof explain how establishing and maintaining a socially sustainable business system can protect the environment, meet the rights of its people, and ensure that their needs are met tomorrow. End-of-chapter and end-of-case discussion questions will help students in sustainability classes to think critically about the practical impact of the topics discussed.

This ground breaking volume raises radical critiques and proposes innovative solutions for social sustainability in the built environment. Urban Social Sustainability provides an in-depth insight into the discourse and argues that every urban intervention has a social sustainability dimension that needs to be taken into consideration, and incorporated into a comprehensive and cohesive ‘urban agenda’ that is built on three principles of recognition, integration, and monitoring. This should be achieved through a dialogical and reflexive process of decision-making. To achieve sustainable communities, social sustainability should form the basis of a constructive dialogue and be interlinked with other areas of sustainable development. This book underlines the urgency of approaching social sustainability as an urban agenda and goes on to make suggestions about its formulation. Urban Social Sustainability consists of original contributions from academics and experts within the field and explores the significance of social sustainability from different perspectives. Areas covered include urban policy, transportation and mobility, urban space and architectural form, housing, urban heritage, neighbourhood development, and urban governance. Drawing on case studies from a number of countries and world regions the book presents a multifaceted and interdisciplinary understanding from social sustainability in urban settings, and provides practitioners and policy makers with innovative recommendations to achieve more socially sustainable urban environment.

Urban communities around the world face increased stress from natural disasters linked to climate change, and other urban pressures. They need to grow rapidly stronger in order to cope, adapt and flourish. Strong social networks and social cohesion can be more important for a community’s resilience than the actual physical structures of a city. But how can urban planning and design support these critical collective social strengths? This book offers blue sky thinking from the applied social and behavioural sciences, and urban planning. It looks at case studies from 14 countries around the world – including India, the USA, South Africa, Indonesia, the UK and New Zealand – focusing on initiatives for housing, public space and transport stops, and also natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes. Building on these insights, the authors propose a 'gold standard': a socially aware planning process and policy recommendation for those drawing up city sustainability and climate change resilience strategies, and urban developers looking to build climate-proof infrastructure and spaces. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of urban studies, resilience studies and climate change policy, as well as policymakers and practitioners working in related fields.

This groundbreaking new volume on social sustainability offers both critique and creative solutions. It challenges the conventional wisdoms of social sustainability and presents practical examples of projects that will help practitioners to think carefully and innovatively about the situations they are addressing.The book consists of original contributions from academics working in the fields of urban planning, housing, regeneration, transport and international sustainable development. Drawing on case study research gathered in the UK, Europe and Africa, it adopts an original, interdisciplinar.

The ongoing social crises and moral conflicts evident in global social policy debates are addressed in this timely volume. Leading interdisciplinary scholars focus on the ‘social’ of social policy, which is increasingly conceived in a globalised form, as new international agreements and global goals engender social struggles. They tackle pressing ‘social questions’, many of which have been exacerbated by COVID-19, including growing inequality, changing world population, ageing societies, migration and intersectional disadvantage. This ground-breaking volume critically engages with contested conceptions of the social which are increasingly deployed by international institutions and policy makers. Focusing on social sustainability, social cohesion, social justice, social wellbeing and social progress this text is even more crucial as policy makers look to accelerate socially sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.