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Background on Economic Development

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability has become a widely repeated normative goal for societies to achieve intergenerational prosperity and equality of opportunities. Systems approaches to understanding the interactions of social and natural systems have become more widespread. But human limitations in prioritizing such future, larger-than-local problems persist. Even for those explicitly considering such questions, conflicting priorities surround sustainable development at global, regional, and local scales. Reconciling these seemingly contradictory sustainable development goals requires greater recognition and attention to the reality that competition for growth remains a dominant political and institutional paradigm for nations and communities alike. Sustainability gains may depend upon more clearly delineating where competition for resources, technological development, job opportunities, and wealth creation may be better harnessed or channeled. This chapter focuses on the competition for economic development within metropolitan regions and how local governments in such fragmented governance environments may identify complementary production methods for economic, social, and environmental gains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Aaron Deslatte

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  1. Aaron Deslatte
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Correspondence to Aaron Deslatte .

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Deslatte, A. (2021). Background on Economic Development. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38948-2_110-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38948-2_110-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38948-2

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