國立高雄大學圖資館 |

Language: English

Back

Signatures of sustainability :A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Signatures of sustainability :
Reminder of title:	A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas.
Author:	Schiller, Andrew.
Description:	251 p.
Notes:	Chief Instructor: Roger E. Kasperson.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-02, Section: A, page: 0713.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International62-02A.
Subject:	Urban and Regional Planning.
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3003109
ISBN:	0493119604

Signatures of sustainability :A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas.
Schiller, Andrew.

Signatures of sustainability :A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas.[electronic resource] - 251 p.

Chief Instructor: Roger E. Kasperson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Clark University, 2001.

The concept of sustainable development focuses on meeting the needs of societies, while simultaneously maintaining environmental conditions that support these societies. Sustainable development is underpinned by the notion that human development is circumscribed by environmental limitations, and that society can affect the environment in ways that may limit society's current or future development capacities and options. However, besides isolated environmental catastrophes wrought by people, the ability to make connections between the effects of human impacts on the environment and changes in human welfare is not well developed. Sustainable development theory itself is thin and little tested. Complex interactions in human-environment systems likely complicate searches for causality that could further sustainable development theory. Yet an immediate need exists to understand better relationships among desired conditions, so that potential tradeoffs that may exist between societal development and environmental protection can begin to be identified and causal links further studied. This investigation explores relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions in U.S. metropolitan areas, focusing on conditions drawn from the core of the current sustainability literature. Surprisingly, no broad associations between environmental degradation and social or economic conditions were evident. Studied social and economic conditions were highly intercorrelated. Environmental conditions, however, were found to be consistently and significantly worse in metropolitan areas with larger populations. Striking geographic patterns also emerged. Metropolitan areas with the best overall sustainability conditions were almost exclusively in the north, whereas the worst performing ones were almost entirely in the south. Causal reasons for this geography are likely complex. However, statistical associations revealed that American metropolitan areas that have most closely achieved conditions that analysts identify as important environmentally, socially, and economically are metropolitan areas that are principally small in population, middle to upper-middle class, and white. Correlations suggest that inequalities in the living conditions of blacks and Hispanics versus non-Hispanic whites may potentially be a larger obstacle to achieving desired levels of human development in U.S. metropolitan areas than is environmental degradation currently. These findings suggest shifting priorities to include social inequalities, and not only environmental degradation, to advance sustainable development goals in American metropolitan areas today.

ISBN: 0493119604Subjects--Topical Terms:

212416
Urban and Regional Planning.

Signatures of sustainability :A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas.
LDR:03827nmm 2200313 450 001 155030
005 20021105151514.5
008 230530s2001 ||||||||||||||||| ||eng d
020 $a 0493119604
035 $a 00087555
035 $a 155030
040 $a UnM $c UnM
100 0 $a Schiller, Andrew. $3 212666
245 1 0 $a Signatures of sustainability : $b A framework for interpreting relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions for United States metropolitan areas. $h [electronic resource]
300 $a 251 p.
500 $a Chief Instructor: Roger E. Kasperson.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-02, Section: A, page: 0713.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--Clark University, 2001.
520 # $a The concept of sustainable development focuses on meeting the needs of societies, while simultaneously maintaining environmental conditions that support these societies. Sustainable development is underpinned by the notion that human development is circumscribed by environmental limitations, and that society can affect the environment in ways that may limit society's current or future development capacities and options. However, besides isolated environmental catastrophes wrought by people, the ability to make connections between the effects of human impacts on the environment and changes in human welfare is not well developed. Sustainable development theory itself is thin and little tested. Complex interactions in human-environment systems likely complicate searches for causality that could further sustainable development theory. Yet an immediate need exists to understand better relationships among desired conditions, so that potential tradeoffs that may exist between societal development and environmental protection can begin to be identified and causal links further studied. This investigation explores relationships among environmental, social, and economic conditions in U.S. metropolitan areas, focusing on conditions drawn from the core of the current sustainability literature. Surprisingly, no broad associations between environmental degradation and social or economic conditions were evident. Studied social and economic conditions were highly intercorrelated. Environmental conditions, however, were found to be consistently and significantly worse in metropolitan areas with larger populations. Striking geographic patterns also emerged. Metropolitan areas with the best overall sustainability conditions were almost exclusively in the north, whereas the worst performing ones were almost entirely in the south. Causal reasons for this geography are likely complex. However, statistical associations revealed that American metropolitan areas that have most closely achieved conditions that analysts identify as important environmentally, socially, and economically are metropolitan areas that are principally small in population, middle to upper-middle class, and white. Correlations suggest that inequalities in the living conditions of blacks and Hispanics versus non-Hispanic whites may potentially be a larger obstacle to achieving desired levels of human development in U.S. metropolitan areas than is environmental degradation currently. These findings suggest shifting priorities to include social inequalities, and not only environmental degradation, to advance sustainable development goals in American metropolitan areas today.
590 $a School code: 0048.
650 # 0 $a Urban and Regional Planning. $3 212416
650 # 0 $a Geography. $3 174760
650 # 0 $a Environmental Sciences. $3 212393
650 # 0 $a Economics, General. $3 212429
650 # 0 $a Sociology, Social Structure and Development. $3 212432
690 $a 0366
690 $a 0501
690 $a 0700
690 $a 0768
690 $a 0999
710 0 # $a Clark University. $3 212665
773 0 # $g 62-02A. $t Dissertation Abstracts International
790 $a 0048
790 1 0 $a Kasperson, Roger E., $e advisor
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2001
856 4 0 $u http://libsw.nuk.edu.tw/login?url=http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3003109 $z http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3003109