Five Approaches to Social Sustainability and an Integrated Way Forward

Abstract

Abstract:Sustainability is often conceived of as an attempt to balance competing economic, environmental and social priorities. Over the course of three decades of scholarship, however, the meaning and appropriate application of the 'social pillar' continues to inspire confusion. In this paper, we posit that the inherent challenge of understanding social sustainability is its many legitimate meanings plus a lack of interdisciplinary scholarship. We draw from literature in multiple disciplines to illustrate five different ways that the concept of social sustainability has been applied in scholarship and professional practice, and highlighting the importance of applications that acknowledge placed-based, process-oriented perspectives that understand social, economic, and environmental imperatives as integrated concepts. Ironically, this framing forecloses on social sustainability as an entity distinct from environmental and economic sustainability. We believe that organizing the conversation around these five applications can help advocates of sustainability use the concept of social sustainability in clear and powerful ways while avoiding applications that relegate the social dimensions of sustainability to an afterthought.

Lessons Learned from the Failed Spanish Refugee System: For the Recovery of Sustainable Public Policies

“…The Spanish reception and integration system begins with the reception centers, in which a key first phase for future integration takes place since it guarantees the rights of refugees to the social services and housing that national and European legislation recognizes to be in line with sustainable development objectives, and in particular regarding the social pillar of sustainability, since "[s]ocial equity programs include neighborhood planning, anti-gang programs, affordable housing provisions, homeless prevention programs, etc." [51].…”

“…Even if the meaning and associated objectives of the social pillar of sustainability may be vague [51,56,[58][59][60][61], there is a general consensus regarding the kinds of social concepts and policy objectives that this social pillar should include: housing, education, health, economic self-sufficiency, and social inclusion [55][56][57][58][59]62]. An effective refugee reception system, one that is sustainable, should comprise these policy objectives.…”

The Role of Collaborative Healthcare in Improving Social Sustainability: A Conceptual Framework

“…Sustainability has been acknowledged as a magnet [10] to pull healthcare stakeholders' interests together and commit them to the common goal of sustainability development. Although sustainability encompasses economic, social, and environmental (or ecological) dimensions [11], named as the triple bottom line, existing research in this highly relevant area has mainly been limited to the economic dimension [11], such as the impact of collaborative healthcare models on the financial performance. Although social sustainability is essential to the healthcare system, research on this dimension is relatively sparse and emerging [12].…”

Participatory socio-ecological system: Manglaralto-Santa Elena, Ecuador

“…The participation of stakeholders in socio-ecological system researches is relevant to understand relationships between societies and environments, through the integration of scientific knowledge and insights of residents about dynamics and interactions of humans and ecosystems in order to the sustainability of resources in a territory (Boyer, Peterson, Arora, & Caldwell, 2016). This paper aims to understand the socio-ecological system of Manglaralto through of a participatory methodology in order to understand human ecodynamics and the perception of beneficiaries about ecosystem services focus to the planning of a participatory ecofuture scenario for Manglaralto.…”