Investigations into an integrative concept of sustainable development - status report, problem analysis, further development

  • Project team:

    Paschen, Herbert (Project leader); Volker Brandl; Reinhard Coenen; Juliane Jörissen; Jürgen Kopfmüller; Gerhard Sardemann

  • Funding:

    Cooperative project of the HGF-Centres with financial support of the bmbf

  • Start date:

    1998

  • End date:

    1999

  • Research group:

    Sustainability and environment

Project description

The project is making a detailed analysis and critical evaluation of the present status at national and international levels of operationalising the dimensions of sustainability (ecological, economic, social and institutional-political), and approaches to integrating it in to science and practice. On this basis an attempt is to be made to further develop existing approaches. The project is hence to make its own contribution to the present-day debate on sustainability by processing already existing knowledge and pinpointing deficits and needs for further development, while on the other hand it will provide a preparatory basis for an HGF co-operative project to follow on to this project: Global sustainable development and perspectives for Germany. A study is to be made of how the conceptual premises scheduled for this project - e.g. the equal and integrative treatment of sustainability dimensions, the full-cover survey of societal fields of activity or the incorporation of global aspects into the analysis - can be translated into a manageable and promising investigation concept.

The planned key activity areas for the project are:

  • to establish the status of research work and discussion on operationalising individual modules of the sustainability concept (relevant problem areas and indicators, criteria and goals of sustainable development): comparison, evaluation, deficit analysis, pinpointing need for further development;
  • to compare and evaluate the conceptual and practical application of the sustainability principle in scientific studies and national plans and in initiatives at local, regional and corporate levels;
  • to survey and establish the status of research activities of the HGF relating to the theme of sustainability;
  • to develop a methodology structure for the investigations: a structural grid describing the entire economic activities within a national economy (production, consumption, distribution); survey of the potentials and limits of available models.

Publications


2002
Book Chapters
Bechmann, G.; Grunwald, A.
Experimentelle Politik und die Rolle der Wissenschaften in der Umsetzung von Nachhaltigkeit
2002. Brand, K.W. [Hrsg.] Politik der Nachhaltigkeit : Voraussetzungen, Probleme, Chancen - eine kritische Diskussion Berlin : Edition Sigma, 2002 (Global zukunftsfähige Entwicklung - Perspektiven für Deutschland ; 3), 113–30 
1998
Book Chapters
Kopfmüller, J.
Das Leitbild einer global zukunftsfähigen Entwicklung. Perspektiven seiner Operationalisierung am Beispiel der Klimaproblematik
1998. Daschkeit, A. [Hrsg.] Umweltforschung quergedacht : Perspektiven integrativer Umweltforschung und -lehre Berlin [u.a.] : Springer, 1998 (Umweltnatur- und Umweltsozialwissenschaften), 147–69 
Journal Articles
Bechmann, G.
Im Land der unbegrenzten Zumutbarkeiten
1998. Technikfolgenabschätzung, Theorie und Praxis, 7 (1), 26–31. doi:10.14512/tatup.7.1.26
Conference Papers
Bechmann, G.
Sustainability. A new paradigm of environmental policy?
1998. Technology, Society and Environment : Proc. of the Internat. Conf., Moskva, Russia, June 18-19, 1998. Ed.: Russian Academy of Sciences, Conf.’Sustainable Development’, Budapest, H, June 25-28, 1997 Technology, Society and Environment : Proc.of the Internat.Conf., Moskva, Russia, June 18-19, 1998 Moskva : Russian Acad.of Sciences, 1998 (in russ. Sprache), 155–166, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) 
Presentations
Bechmann, G.
Natur als Umwelt? Zur gesellschaftstheoretischen Beschreibung der Natur
1998. "Die Natur der Natur" Universität Bielefeld (1998), Bielefeld, Germany, November 13, 1998 
Bechmann, G.
Sustainability. A new paradigm of environmental policy?
1998, June. International Scientific Conference (1998), Moscow, Russia, June 18–19, 1998 
Kopfmüller, J.
Vorüberlegungen zu einem integrativen Konzept nachhaltiger Entwicklung - Ein Projekt der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
1998. Tagung “Wissenschaft in Zukunft: lebensdienlich, nachhaltig orientiert und gesellschaftlich verantwortet” (1998), Iserlohn, Germany, November 25–26, 1998 
1997
Journal Articles
Bräutigam, K. R.; Brune, D.; Jeske, U.; Paschen, H.; Schulz, V.
Stoffströme im Bausektor
1997. Nachrichten - Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, 29, 101–12 

Contact

Prof. Dr. Herbert Paschen
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT)
Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)
P.O. Box 3640
76021 Karlsruhe
Germany