Interdisciplinarity in Sustainability Studies: A Review

Abstract

This article offers an exploratory and descriptive analysis of the characteristics of inter‐disciplinary sustainability studies (ISSs). The paper explores the academic and disciplinary nature of inter‐disciplinary inquiry and studies themes, imperatives and methodologies, together with institutional characteristics. Our analysis of 70 articles published between 2003 and 2008 suggests that the publication of ISSs is growing and that this effort is largely based upon attempts to integrate aspects of different disciplines. These studies mostly relate to resource management studies and typically adopt qualitative, case study or mixed methodologies. The articles reviewed have a practical orientation, with nearly two‐thirds of studies explicitly addressing policy‐making issues, and over half cover the orientations, mechanisms and institutions towards people's participation in decision‐making. The research effort is typically made in Europe and North America, and by scholars working in inter‐disciplinary teams. The implications of these findings for research in, and the practice of, sustainability studies are discussed in conclusion. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Interdisciplinary education: a case study

“…The third space is often realised in overarching thematic areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, big data etc. where different disciplines meet to create joint solutions, products or explanations of the world (Lam, Walker, and Hills 2014). This suggests a high level of breadth and complexity in the problem to be addressed is needed to realise the third space.…”

“…Interdisciplinary research can be defined first and foremost as a team or an individual expert (scientist or otherwise), who integrates methods, knowledge and skills, theories, perspectives and different disciplinary knowledge bodies, to realise innovative solutions and knowledge advancement in uncharted problem areas (Castán Broto, Gislason, and Ehlers 2009;Lam, Walker, and Hills 2014;Menken and Keestra 2016). De Jonge Akademie (Evers et al 2015) even argues a change in scholarly identity takes place as a result of the integrated approach in interdisciplinary research.…”

“…The nature of a typical interdisciplinary research problem (Lam, Walker, and Hills 2014), which in academia requires an interdisciplinary research approach, tends to be:…”

Sustainability Matters in National Development Visions—Evidence from Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030

“…The concept has found its way into many phrases across a variety of disciplines and contexts [1][2][3]. Some commonly used terms include "sustainable development" [4,5], "urban sustainability" [6][7][8][9], "sustainable society" [10,11], "economic sustainability" [12,13], "social sustainability" [14,15], "ecological sustainability" [16], and "sustainable growth" [17].…”

A Spatio-Temporal Enhanced Metadata Model for Interdisciplinary Instant Point Observations in Smart Cities

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