Title: Sustainability in development: rethinking about old paradigms

Authors: Reza Hafezi; Mohsen Bahrami; Amir Naser Akhavan

Addresses: Technology Foresight, Department of Management, Science and Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran ' Technology Foresight, Department of Management, Science and Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran; Futures Studies Research Institute, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran ' Technology Foresight, Department of Management, Science and Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran; Futures Studies Research Institute, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Sustainable development has become an important issue in long-term planning due to the limitation of natural resources and ethical responsibilities to future generations to meet their needs. Some of researches in this field investigated case studies in order to answer environmental concerns. Others went behind and presented a multi-dimensional view, considering economic and social aspects, in addition. This paper suggests a comprehensive rethinking about sustainable development discourse. A three-level meta-model is presented to map interconnections between fundamental aspects of social and personal life (ethics, beliefs and values) and sustainable development. These three levels are: 1) fundamental level (consists of a world view perspective), 2) interactive level (frameworks in which elements of fundamental level translated to behavioural conditions); 3) peripheral level (defines processes to form interacts with the universe). This rethinking of procedures proposed a more basic investigation to guarantee the outcome of a sustainable development process.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainable development; future; ethics; social responsibility.

DOI: 10.1504/WRSTSD.2017.084185

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol.13 No.2, pp.192 - 204

Received: 23 Feb 2016
Accepted: 16 Jan 2017
Published online: 16 May 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article