“Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal processes; systems; structures; and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and livable communities. Socially sustainable communities are equitable, diverse, connected and democratic and provide a good quality of life.” – WACOSS, Western Australia Council of Social Services
Social sustainability is “a process for creating sustainable successful places that promote wellbeing, by understanding what people need from the places they live and work. Social sustainability combines design of the physical realm with design of the social world – infrastructure to support social and cultural life, social amenities, systems for citizen engagement, and space for people and places to evolve.” – Social Life, a UK based social enterprise specializing in place-based innovation There are 4 factors of social sustainability that come together to define such sustainability within a development. The factors of social sustainability are: · Equity · Diversity · Social cohesion · Quality of life More About Social Sustainability
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Traditional economic policy has been geared towards increasing a state’s gross domestic product (GDP: the total value of goods and services produced within a country during a year). However, scientists, policy makers, and others have now recognized that economic well-being is determined by much more than GDP. Developing a sustainable economy must include addressing rising income inequality and the environmental impacts of economic activity. Increasing inequality is linked to many social problems. Examples of these include rising crime rates and decreasing standards of living. Environmental impacts include increasing pollution and green house gasses, accelerating climate change. Although it will be challenging to transform the global economy, CHOGM provides an effective forum for states to create multilateral solutions.
A very important pillar of sustainable development is the environmental component. The United Nations lists 17 goals for environmental sustainable development that ranges from climate action, clean water and sanitation to affordable clean energy. It is important that we are able to find new ways of using our environment to ensure that we still have one to use in the future. It is crucial that environmental sustainability is reached on both a local and global level. For example, locally a focus could be on finding sustainable energy sources, while globally there should be a focus on combating climate change. Without cooperation by both groups, environmental sustainability will not be able to succeed.
This section focuses on how government can influence our communities and can work to create a sustainable system.
The tragedy of the commons describes a situation with a shared or communal resource where the community prospers from access to that resource – be it fish, water or the such. The tragedy occurs in this scenario when the individual acts in their own self interest as opposed to the interest of the community – taking more than their share for example. Further, what happens when everyone acts in their own interests as opposed to the interest of the community? We see this scenario repeat itself throughout history. Resources being over exploited with little regard with what will benefit the whole or what will happen in the future. Governments are tasked and given the unique ability to attempt to overcome this. Government imposed fishing regulations are meant to preserve fish stocks while regulations on lumber are meant to preserve the forests. We see corporations fight these regulations – but activists support them. This line of thought applies to services as well; what happens when a community’s waist management system becomes over burdened and fails? What happens when a City “saves” money by cutting funding to public infrastructure or transport? Not only setting regulations but having a sustainable plan for the future can save trouble, hardship, and money when the community inevitably encounters the problem. How can government intervene in the tragedy of the commons, plan for the future, and create an economic sustainable place for everyone? Tragedy of the Commons: https://youtu.be/CxC161GvMPc |
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