IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p8825-d610031.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Three E’s Revisited: How Do Community-Based Organizations Define Sustainable Communities and Their Role in Pursuit of?

Author

Listed:
  • Tony G. Reames

    (School for Environment & Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Nathaniel S. Wright

    (Department of Political Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79416, USA)

Abstract

A sustainable community seeks to protect and enhance the environment, meet social needs, and promote economic success. On average, local governments lack meaningfully connecting their environmental and economic sustainability efforts to equity and social justice. Community-based organizations (CBOs) have emerged as local leaders with a growing capacity for pursuing community sustainability. Based on data from a national survey National Community Action Partnership member organizations, this study explores (1) how CBO leaders define sustainable communities; (2) how important each of the three pillars of sustainability are to their mission; and (3) with what organizations do CBOs collaborate in their pursuit of sustainable communities. A content analysis of responses to an open-ended query to define sustainable communities revealed a significant focus on the social equity pillar of sustainability which is closely linked to economic sustainability. Similarly, CBO leaders ranked social equity and economic sustainability as the highest priority for their core mission. Lastly, CBO leaders heavily engaged in local collaboration in their sustainable community efforts. Therefore, serious pursuit of sustainable cities and communities must shift from a go-at-it-alone, centralized government approach to more inclusive, collaborative efforts that take advantage of the economic-social equity sustainability focus of CBOs in both planning and implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony G. Reames & Nathaniel S. Wright, 2021. "The Three E’s Revisited: How Do Community-Based Organizations Define Sustainable Communities and Their Role in Pursuit of?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:8825-:d:610031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8825/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8825/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julian Agyeman & Briony Angus, 2003. "The Role of Civic Environmentalism in the Pursuit of Sustainable Communities," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 345-363.
    2. Nathaniel S. Wright & Tony G. Reames, 2020. "Unraveling the Links between Organizational Factors and Perceptions of Community Sustainability Performance: An Empirical Investigation of Community-Based Nongovernmental Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Brian Dollery & Michael A. Kortt & Sue O'Keefe, 2014. "Local Co-Governance and Environmental Sustainability in New South Wales Local Government: The Lake Macquarie City Council Sustainable Neighbourhoods Program," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 33(1), pages 36-44, March.
    4. Hess, David J. & Renner, Madison, 2019. "Conservative political parties and energy transitions in Europe: Opposition to climate mitigation policies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 419-428.
    5. Abebe, Bethlehem A. & Jones, Kelly W. & Solomon, Jennifer & Galvin, Kathleen & Evangelista, Paul, 2020. "Examining social equity in community-based conservation programs: A case study of controlled hunting programs in Bale Mountains, Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ken Polin & Tan Yigitcanlar & Tracy Washington & Mark Limb, 2024. "Unpacking Smart Campus Assessment: Developing a Framework via Narrative Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zeynep Clulow & Michele Ferguson & Peta Ashworth & David Reiner, 2021. "Political ideology and public views of the energy transition in Australia and the UK," Working Papers EPRG2106, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    2. Chiara Lodi & Agnese Sacchi & Francesco Vidoli, 2024. "Gender politics, environmental behaviours, and local territories: Evidence from Italian municipalities," Papers 2410.06091, arXiv.org.
    3. Berka, Anna L. & Creamer, Emily, 2018. "Taking stock of the local impacts of community owned renewable energy: A review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3400-3419.
    4. Suzanne Vallance & Harvey C. Perkins & Jacky Bowring & Jennifer E. Dixon, 2012. "Almost Invisible: Glimpsing the City and its Residents in the Urban Sustainability Discourse," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(8), pages 1695-1710, June.
    5. Zapletalová, Veronika & Komínková, Magda, 2020. "Who is fighting against the EU's energy and climate policy in the European Parliament? The contribution of the Visegrad Group," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. Fernández-González, Raquel & Puime-Guillén, Félix & Panait, Mirela, 2022. "Multilevel governance, PV solar energy, and entrepreneurship: the generation of green hydrogen as a fuel of renewable origin," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Andrea Testi & Iacopo Zetti & Elena Tarsi & Cassandra Fontana & Maria Rita Gisotti & Maddalena Rossi, 2023. "Supporting Local Implementation of the European Green Deal through a Place-Based, Participatory Approach: Methodology for a Comprehensive Analytical Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Atif Saleem & Philip Saagyum Dare, 2023. "Unmasking the Action-Oriented ESD Approach to Acting Environmentally Friendly," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-22, January.
    9. Irfan, Muhammad & Abdur Rehman, Mubeen & Liu, Xuemei & Razzaq, Asif, 2022. "Interlinkages between mineral resources, financial markets, and sustainable energy sources: Evidence from minerals exporting countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Funcke, S. & Ruppert-Winkel, C., 2020. "Storylines of (de)centralisation: Exploring infrastructure dimensions in the German electricity system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Julia Affolderbach & Christian Schulz, 2016. "Mobile transitions: Exploring synergies for urban sustainability research," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(9), pages 1942-1957, July.
    12. Abbas, Shahbaz & Rao, Abdur Rehman Bin Nasir & Khattak, Farrukh & Ahmad, Yasir, 2024. "Revolutionising sustainability using a new triplet: A system dynamic model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 492(C).
    13. Eleni Sinakou & Vincent Donche & Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Peter Van Petegem, 2019. "Designing Powerful Learning Environments in Education for Sustainable Development: A Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-23, October.
    14. Julian Agyeman & Tom Evans, 2003. "Toward Just Sustainability in Urban Communities: Building Equity Rights with Sustainable Solutions," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 590(1), pages 35-53, November.
    15. Hannan, M.A. & Faisal, M. & Jern Ker, Pin & Begum, R.A. & Dong, Z.Y. & Zhang, C., 2020. "Review of optimal methods and algorithms for sizing energy storage systems to achieve decarbonization in microgrid applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Viniece Jennings & Omoshalewa Bamkole, 2019. "The Relationship between Social Cohesion and Urban Green Space: An Avenue for Health Promotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, February.
    17. Ãœnal ARSLAN & Tuba YILDIZ, 2022. "Political Orientations of Governments and Renewable Energy," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, November.
    18. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Kester, Johannes & Noel, Lance & de Rubens, Gerardo Zarazua, 2019. "Income, political affiliation, urbanism and geography in stated preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in Northern Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 214-229.
    19. Stefano Ghinoi & Bodo Steiner, 2020. "The Political Debate on Climate Change in Italy: A Discourse Network Analysis," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 215-228.
    20. Brännlund, Anton & Peterson, Lauri, 2024. "Power politics: How electric grievances shape election outcomes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:8825-:d:610031. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.