A Triptych Software Development Paradigm - Correct System Design: Recent Insights and Advances - page 32

Quotation 2 Sustainable development is currently a \catch-word" 2 ,andassuch,
is often used and abused. Therefore, before we can examine an issue of sustain-
able development, it is necessary to examine the concept itself. Some parameters
for dening the concept are given here, and a number of competing visions are
oered in the spirit of pluralism.
The concept of, as opposed to the term of, \sustainable development" is not
new; the profound and complex problems subsumed by the term can be traced back
to the earliest human civilizations and the perennial tension between population
growth and economic development, on the one hand, and the use of natural re-
sources and ecosystems on the other. There is strong evidence suggesting that
sustainable development constituted a challenge to our earliest societies, dating
back to the ancient Sumerian, Mayan and Mediterranean civilizations [19]. The
term \sustainable development", however, is a recent invention, coming into
common usage following the publication of the Brundtland Report [11], although
even the term's origins may be traced back to before the 1972 United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment [20]. The Brundtland Commission is
also responsible for the most frequently cited denition of sustainable develop-
ment: to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs . As this section emphasizes, such a denition

can be interpreted to have various meanings and is of little use if it is not placed
within a specic context, or if the assumptions lying behind it are not clear. In-
deed, as the following paragraphs will show a central point of this chapter is that
the concept of sustainable development has multiple meanings, and that each is
equally legitimate.
It is noteworthy that a universally accepted denition does not exist for many
basic concepts used by society, even for those which are seen to concern our well
being. For example, it is often argued that the concept of security is useful pre-
cisely because its remains contested. This is why sustainable development, with-
out a commonly accepted denition, appeals to virtually all groups who choose to
participate in the environmental debate. Under such conditions, being \pro" sus-
tainable development entails no risk or commitment to a specic set of goals or
conditions since none are agreed upon [21]. Almost any group can nd their own
interest somewhere within the concept, and it is therefore hard to be against it in
general. This allows the banner of sustainable development to be used by compet-
ing groups toward dierent or even contradictory ends. A number of these con-
tradictions have been identied, and included among these are issues no less stark
than \growth versus limits", \individual versus collective interests", \intergen-
erational versus intragenerational equity" and \adaptability versus resistance"
[22]. However, these contradictions are part and parcel of human institutions
and therefore, no less of Sustainability.
Further complication occurs because the concept of sustainable development
can be broken into two parts. On the one hand, \Sustainability" relates to the
question of the \carrying capacity" of the earth, while giving no attention to social
issues, particularly those concerning equity and social justice. \Development", on

2 The use of double quote: \. . . " is Paul Samson's