The long durée: A question of sustainability

Abstract

In the Brundtland Commission’s classic formulation, sustainability is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Essential to the definition is the emphasis on a long time frame – that we must also consider the possible life situation of future generations. The wording dates back to 1987, and the emphasis on sustainability has only become more relevant with the escalating climate crisis. Also politically. In the first part of the article, we discuss the meta-theoretical foundation of the concept of sustainability – namely the importance of our perception of nature and our time horizons. This discussion is linked to the notion of societal form and, more generally, the question of our modernity. In the second part of the article, we move towards an operational concept of sustainability. In this context, the article’s contribution is to operationalize the concept of sustainability in five dimensions: First, and in a very general sense, it emphasizes the space-time dimension, where the spatial dimension is potentially global, and the temporal dimension potentially infinite. This is followed by four key aspects for defining the content of the concept: self-sustainability, systemic holism, precaution and resilience.