Sustainable development has come to refer to the challenges of balancing the need to reduce global inequalities with reducing threats to the planet's systems from industrialised production and consumption.

But what ‘sustainable development’ do we have today? What is its history, how has it developed this way, and what are its possible futures?

The social sciences aim to offer insight on the underlying causes of the challenges of our time, be they:

social
political
economic
technological
cultural
Understanding the origin of these problems can help us adapt and transform, leading the way to a more sustainable future. This is especially important, as we seek to expand environmental care in relation to:

climate stability
biodiversity
the renewal of natural resources
Our multidisciplinary programme addresses sustainable development – as interrelated global and local issues – to examine:

how societies organise social, economic and political activity
the social and environmental consequences of current ways of living
how societies relate to the natural world
the relationship between current and future generations
patterns of development
opportunities for social, political, economic and technological change