Sustainable Development in the Asian Century: An Inquiry of Its Understanding in Phuket, Thailand

Sustainable development in the context of international policy is influenced by western values, with few critical evaluations of its application in Asian contexts. This paper presents the interpretation of sustainable development by businesses, civil society, government at various levels and a selection of graduate students in Phuket, Thailand. In all, 78 hours of observations in public meetings, 70 hours of interviews and 10 hours of sectorally arranged workshops were conducted over a period of two years. Data were transcribed and analysed using established qualitative methods. The paper reports how Thai value systems relate to sustainable development concepts and proposes that a culturally appropriate model is needed for understanding the path to a sustainable future in Phuket. Understanding cultural and social values is the key to sustainability. This will require appropriate network‐building that creates change towards a culturally sustainable society. We propose that similar cultural adjustment will be necessary for sustainable development to become effective as an organizing concept in Asia. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment