Sustainable development - introduction

This course introduces students to the concept of 'sustainable development' in a global context. Over the last four to five decades, this concept has become increasingly visible in global and regional policy, business and academic agendas. Students will learn to study ecological and socio-economic development of nations, regions and communities across the globe as integrated challenges.

These concepts will be discussed from three perspectives. The first perspective is to discuss the origins of thinking and practices of 'sustainable development'. The second perspective is to discuss mainstream thinking on and practices of sustainable development (such as ecological modernization; clean-tech innovation paradigm). The third perspective is to discuss some of the counter-currents and critiques on these mainstream approaches (e.g. deep ecology, no-growth perspectives, the anti-globalization movement).

Students will be introduced to recent debates on green growth and a green economy, and learn to apply the knowledge gained in this course for evaluating and taking position in these debates.

After this course, students are able to:

• Explain the concept of sustainable development;
• Appraising sustainable development meanings and practices in different geographical and socio-economics contexts;

You must meet the following requirements

• Registered for a degree programme other than
• HBO-TOP Applied Physics, Pre-Master
• Completed none of the course modules listed below
• Sustainable dev in a global context (0SV00)

• Additional material will be handed out during the course
• Baker, S., Sustainable Development. Routledge Introductions to Environment. Routledge, 2nd edition