New multi-disciplinary approaches and methodologies for sustainable development

This special issue focusses on the question what do policy makers actually need to know for policy formation? What exactly we are trying to sustain, how much of it and how to value it; the underlying boundlessness of the concept of SD and whether “decoupling” or the “green elasticity of growth” has anything to offer policy makers. In doing so, the special issue adopts a holistic approach to critically examine the inter-relationship between the natural, the governmental, the economic and the social dimensions of our world and how science and technology can contribute to solutions. It is therefore essential that research and policy development fully takes account of the differing perspectives of SD and make explicit the particular perspective(s) that they are taking. No single definition necessarily fully captures the concept, but by being clear about our meaning of the concept and the underlying assumptions, we can progress our understanding of our common future challenges and their relationships to SD.