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Sustainable regional development the squaring of the circle or a gimmick?

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  • Alain Thierstein
  • Manfred Walser

Abstract

In 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, 179 countries agreed on three declarations including Agenda 21. The concept of Sustainable Development (SD) became a triumph in both speeches and potential concepts. The various meanings of ‘sustainable development’ led to a confusion of Babylonian proportions. The obvious overloading of the term to meet high expectations makes it much more difficult to set into practice. The clever construction of the Rio Declaration allows for opportunities that must not be squandered. The strength of SD as a concept lies in the complexity of the problem and its high degree of commitment among signing members. In this study, SD will be investigated for its applicability; the authors consider the quality of the concept of SD and the handling of the complexity of SD. A two-strategy approach is developed: the difference between the global project ‘SD’ and the short-run mastery of the SD problem. Such statements need to be investigated and measured against the global context of SD. SD can then be integrated into the concept of regional ‘sustainable development’.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Thierstein & Manfred Walser, 1997. "Sustainable regional development the squaring of the circle or a gimmick?," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 159-174, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:9:y:1997:i:2:p:159-174
    DOI: 10.1080/08985629700000008
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    1. P Allanson & J Murdoch & G Garrod & P Lowe, 1995. "Sustainability and the Rural Economy: An Evolutionary Perspective," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(11), pages 1797-1814, November.
    2. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    3. Daly, Herman E., 1992. "Allocation, distribution, and scale: towards an economics that is efficient, just, and sustainable," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 185-193, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. A Thierstein & U K Egger, 1998. "Integrated Regional Policy: Lessons from Switzerland," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 16(2), pages 155-172, April.
    2. Sabine Sedlacek & Veronika Gaube, 2010. "Regions on their way to sustainability: the role of institutions in fostering sustainable development at the regional level," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 117-134, February.
    3. Anna Maltseva, 2016. "System of dynamic norms as a basis for sustainable development management of territories of innovative development," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Marcus Wagner & Stefan Schaltegger & Erik G. Hansen & Klaus Fichter, 2021. "University-linked programmes for sustainable entrepreneurship and regional development: how and with what impact?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1141-1158, February.
    5. Thierstein, Alain & Walser, Manfred, 1999. "Sustainable regional development: interplay of topdown and bottom-up approaches," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa139, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Dara K. Dimitrov & Howard Davey, 2011. "Sustainable development: what it means to CFOs of New Zealand," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(1), pages 86-108, May.

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