The promotion of sustainable development

The promotion of sustainable development in different social, political and economic contexts.

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Sustainable development in design is about ‘the long-term transformation of basic aspects of the present industrial economic system’ (Baker, 2006, p.47). It encourages debate of our relationship with the natural world, social progress and the character of future design.

The core issues of sustainable development include the ‘the consequences of economic development and issues of global equity’. (Baker, 2006, p.81). It has led to a complex and highly environmental management regime, which include the cross-cutting of polices, with relations to the environment, and access sectors (Baker, 2006, Muschett 1997, Hon 2002, Reijnders,1996).

Critical global environmental factors include; climate change, the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, post-war modernization, mass-consummation, the promotion of ‘individual growth and self-advancement’ (Baker, 2006, p.2) Contributing factors to the climate change include clearing forests for agricultural production, taming wilderness into natural parks, harnessing wild rivers, the use natural recourses, such as coal, oil and gas for the production of energy. Promoting sustainable development is about steering social change at the interface between; the ‘social’ aspect that relates the human morals and values, relationships and institutions. The ‘economic’ aspect of the concerns of allocation and distribution of scarce resources and the ‘ecological’ aspect involving the contribution of both the economic and the social and their effect on the environment and its recourse (Baker, 2006, p.7). This calls for global reorganisation of governments to take responsibility, as this promotion guards the common fate of humanity.

The call of fair distribution of the responsibilities and tasks world wide (including third world, high consumption and industrial counties) of environmental laws and agreements. Such as demonstrated sustainable development of multi-dimensional actions; environmental management, international diplomacy and governance regimes, engagement of multi-levels of government, participation of civil society and economic actors, use of new policy instruments, and behavioural and value changes. (Baker, 2006, p.214). This responsibility to change is a shared responsibility, involving social and economic actors to acknowledge the environmental consequences modernization behaviour, with social links and dimensions to environmental citizenship (clean air, health and safety), however currently these actions remain limited, especially when judged by high-consumption societies.



Promoting sustainable development cannot rest on the weight and input of the traditional political authority alone. It needs engagement from state and non-state actors, the public and private sectors as they agree on priorities and devise action to commit to a sustainable practice therefore sustaining a future of the generation to come.

Reference List

1. Susan Baker, (2006). Sustainable Development. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxan: Routledge
2. F. Douglas Muschett, (1997). Principles of Sustainable Development. Delay Beach: St. Lucie Press
3. Bernard Hon, (2002). Design and manufacture for Sustainable Development, Bury St Edmunds and London, UK: Professional Engineering Publishing Limited
4. Lusas Reijnders, (1996). Environmentally Improved Production Processes and products: An Introduction, Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Melissa Stewart