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A discourse-analytical perspective on sustainability assessment: interpreting sustainable development in practice

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Abstract

Sustainable development is a ubiquitously used concept in public decision-making: it refers to an ideal vision of global society where human development and environmental quality go hand in hand. Logically, any decision-supporting process aiming at facilitating and steering society toward a sustainable future then seems desirable. Assessing the sustainability of policy decisions is, however, influenced by what sustainable development is believed to entail, as different discourses coexist under the umbrella of the sustainable development meta-discourse. This paper proposes a typology of sustainable development discourses, and, subsequently, applies a discourse-analytical lens on two practical cases of sustainability assessment in different institutional and geographical contexts (in Belgium and in Benin). The results indicate that sustainability assessments tend to be influenced mainly by the consensual ‘sustainable development as integration’ discourse, while also providing a forum for dialogue between different discourses. The results shed light on context-specific discursive and institutional dynamics for the development and application of sustainability assessment. Acknowledging these dynamics as well as sustainable development’s inherent interpretational limits can lead to an improved use of sustainable development as a decision-guiding strategy.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the TRADO Flemish Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development, the KLIMOS Research Platform on Climate Change and Development Cooperation and the Van Buuren Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Biology and Nature Management, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Jean Hugé, Tom Waas, Farid Dahdouh-Guebas & Nico Koedam

  2. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Belgium

    Jean Hugé & Tom Waas

  3. Systems Ecology and Resource Management Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 169, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Jean Hugé & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

  4. Centre for Sustainable Development, Ghent University, Poel 16, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Jean Hugé, Tom Waas & Thomas Block

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  1. Jean Hugé
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  4. Nico Koedam
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Correspondence to Jean Hugé.

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Handled by René Kemp, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and Social Research and Training Centre on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), The Netherlands.

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Hugé, J., Waas, T., Dahdouh-Guebas, F. et al. A discourse-analytical perspective on sustainability assessment: interpreting sustainable development in practice. Sustain Sci 8, 187–198 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0184-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0184-2

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