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Concepts and perspectives of sustainable development
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:14:55
Abstract
Sustainable development is a joint commitment of governments, business and civil society to sustainable economic, environmental and social change. The course illustrates the approaches and standards business, government and civil society apply to meet the challenges of sustainable development, discusses the role of scientific knowledge and innovation and the consequences for knowledge production.
Objective
Students are to get familiar with models of sustainable development in business, economics, politics and sciences. They learn about how different social actors respond to these challenges and they get an understanding of the role of scientific knowledge and innovation in sustainable development and how this affects the future production of scientific knowledge.
Content
Students are introduced to the concept of sustainable development and the roles of business, policy, and science in achieving sustainable economic, environmental and social change. Regarding science particular challenges (participation, integration or implementation) will be discussed that research has to address in order to provide useful input into the societal process of sustainable development. Selected research approaches (e.g. Sustainability Science, Constructive Technology Assessment, Integrated Assessment) will be discussed in order to learn how these challenges can be put into practice. Regarding enterprises, it will be exemplified which chances and risks are posed by the quest for sustainability. Then it will be illustrated how companies can respond to this challenge on a strategic level with a special focus on stakeholder management. On an operational level, concepts and examples for green technology design are investigated. Regarding policy, the course will present insights from economics, political science and law. From an economics perspective, the question whether it can be sustainable to substitute man-made capital for natural capital and whether there is necessarily a conflict between economic growth and environmental protection are discussed. This also includes economic measures of sustainability (e.g. Green National Income Accounting. From a political science and law perspective, the impacts of the various theoretical concepts of sustainability on political processes and policies on an international and national level will be analysed. A special focus will be laid on sustainability issues in the context of developing countries and on conceptual aspects of the Swiss sustainability strategy 02.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Handouts
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DR , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Concepts and perspectives of sustainable development |
|
2 h weekly |