Title: From rationality to governance: the decision process of sustainable development

Authors: Christian Brodhag

Addresses: Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne, 158 Cours Fauriel, 42023 Saint-Etienne Cedex 02, France

Abstract: Many of the challenges for sustainable development involve issues and triggering mechanisms that are global, long term and complex. Yet solutions need to be, for a large part, concrete, simple, short term and local. The purpose of Local Agenda 21 is to build local capacity and private–public–citizen partnerships for action on sustainability. This can be seen, on the one hand, through the development of sustainability indicators appropriate at different scales and, on the other hand, as the development of new forms of governance that bring stakeholders together at local levels and across levels, to define options for collective action. Multi-sector engagements through local stakeholders| networks are complementary with formal democratic institutions for implementing sustainable development policy.

Keywords: decision process; governance; indicators; information exchange; local action; procedural rationality; stakeholders; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.1999.004337

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 1999 Vol.2 No.3, pp.388 - 396

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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