Beyond growth: a critical analysis of sustainable development

Abstract

This paper analyzes the ideas behind the concept of sustainable development and how such concept is interpreted from different perspectives. Moreover, it tries to uncover the basic logic behind sustainable development and how this holistic idea should be placed into practice in the real world. Afterwards, the paper realizes a brief summary of the recent history of sustainable development. It analyzes how the concept has evolved throughout the most important international summits on sustainability and the future steps that the international community has agreed to pursuit towards sustainable development in the future. Later, the paper studies in depth how we should measure progress towards sustainable development; and proposes two different sets of approaches to realize assessments at national and local levels, paying special attention on the main applications of such methodologies, pros and cons. Finally, the paper uses the analysis made on different approaches to measure sustainable development and applies one of the methodologies studied in a practical case: Agenda 21 in Brussels