Sustainability Science and Engineering:  The Emergence of a New Metadiscipline

Abstract

A case is made for growth of a new metadiscipline of sustainability science and engineering. This new field integrates industrial, social, and environmental processes in a global context. The skills required for this higher level discipline represent a metadisciplinary endeavor, combining information and insights across multiple disciplines and perspectives with the common goal of achieving a desired balance among economic, environmental, and societal objectives. Skills and capabilities that are required to support the new metadiscipline are summarized. Examples of integrative projects are discussed in the areas of sustainability metrics and integration of industrial, societal, and environmental impacts. It is clear that a focus on green engineering that employs pollution prevention and industrial ecology alone are not sufficient to achieve sustainability, because even systems with efficient material and energy use can overwhelm the carrying capacity of a region or lead to other socially unacceptable outcomes. To meet the educational and human resource needs required for this new discipline, the technological and environmental awareness of society must be elevated and a sufficient and diverse pool of human talent must be attracted to this discipline.

Sustainability of Water Safety Plans Developed in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [4][5][6][7][8]. In order to evaluate and sustain water and sanitation supplies in developing countries, the international literature offers some proposals such as (i) create a "sustainability chain", consisting of motivation, maintenance, cost recovery and continuing support elements [9]; (ii) divide water and sanitation projects into sequential steps [10]; (iii) base the project on three sustainability components: Effective community demand, local financing and cost recovery, dynamic operation and maintenance [11].…”

Socio-Eco-Efficiency Analysis of Highways: A Data Envelopment Analysis

“…It has mostly been analyzed using three dimensions, the triple bottom line; economic, environmental, and social equity (Barbier 2009;Graedel, Allenby 2009;Mihelcic et al 2003). Literature on transportation sustainability has focused on these three dimensions of sustainability, as well (Hall 2006;Johnston 2008;Litman 2005Litman , 2007Richardson 2005).…”

Sustainable Water Management in Urban, Agricultural, and Natural Systems

“…The language in most SWM definitions is usually qualitative and often normative. For example, sustainability entails "the design of human and industrial systems to ensure that humankind's use of natural resources and cycles does not lead to diminished quality of life due either to losses in future economic opportunities, or to adverse impacts on social conditions, human health, and the environment" [7]. This definition uses "diminished quality of…" and "adverse impacts on…" to describe thresholds of sustainable system effects, which are difficult to interpret for management purposes.…”