Following the report by the World Commission on Environment and Development, research efforts devoted to sustainable development were promoted by the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (FRN).
With its fifteen essays by Swedish scholars on different aspects of society -- environment interface, giving various analyses of and prospects for the concept of sustainable development -- this book is a result of those efforts. The authors represent a spectrum of inter- and multidisciplinary approaches in the field of ecology, economy and environment. They are economists,...

This book deals with the challenges posed by the transformation of society towards much-needed sustainability. Especially, it deals with the local condi tionalities ofthis change, but seen in a global context. Indeed, its two cases are Swedish, but the problems ofhow to relate to a globalized world are common in the world oftoday. The two cases have been deliberately chosen to expose alternative types ofchoices for the local communities involved: one that relates to the nation state and one that may use short cuts and relate more directly to a broader context while still being very local....

During the last years international cooperation on environmental issues has increased, especially after UNCED in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The efforts made by the United Nations or groups of states to solve more or less global problems through negotiation has brought up a number of questions of interest for the research community. How are inter national agreements achieved? Which roles do governments, ministries, diplomats, researchers, experts and NGO's play? Is the negotiation process of today effective or would we get better results through regional, national or local actions? How should we...

This book deals with the challenges posed by the transformation of society towards much-needed sustainability. Especially, it deals with the local features of this change, but seen in a global context. The two cases examined - the municipalities of Linkoping and Atvidaberg - are Swedish, but the problems of how to relate locally to a globalized world are common today. The cases have been deliberately chosen to expose alternative types of choices for the local communities involved. Large Linkoping is, historically, a nodal city of importance in the national grid of regional centres, one that...