I think there is considerable work on the terms sustainability and sustainable development much than there is on resilience and transformation.
I think as you say that the problem with the "sustainability" term is that it has been over used for too many things forgetting the original meaning which was Sustainable Development... in most of the contents where we can find sustainability there is a kind of "greenwashing" with no consideration on social or economical issues, and therefore incomplete.
Kind regards,
I think the "sustainability" term as previous answer suggest has its origin in sustainable development that was introduced in WCED/Brundtland commission’s report “Our common future”. Sustainability is ambiguous and dependent on the research field and the authors perception of sustainability, therefore you have to opportunity to build and state what you mean by sustainability using appropriate references as foundation. A common thing I have seen is the lack of acknowledgement of the complexity and dynamics of sustainability that is necessary to grasp the full scope. I have seen in business papers a tendency towards "low hanging fruit" approach and solutions and in IT/IS papers there is a focus on energy saving. A step in the right direction could perhaps be to use Elkington’s ‘triple bottom line’ or Walker's the "quadruple bottom line" that acknowledges the multiple dimensions (personal, economic, social, and environmental) that needs to be considered in reaching sustainability.
Best regards!
References:
Elkington, J. 1994. Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development. California Management Review, 36(2), 90-101.
Elkington, J. 1997. Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of Twenty-First Century Business. Capstone, Oxford.
Elkington, J. 2004. Enter the Triple Bottom Line. In The Tripple Bottom Line: does it all add up?, Henriques, A. and Richardson, J. (eds.). Earthscan, London.
Walker, S. 2011. The Spirit of Design: Objects, Environment and Meaning. Routledge, London.
World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, London.
Chapter World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future
Article Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century...
Article Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business St...
Book The Spirit of Design: Objects, Environment and Meaning
Thanks Tobias a excellent input there. In other words, there is fragmentation among disciplines in defining sustainability.
Thanks Natalia - I like the keywords - greenwashing and complexity which many tend to ignore as is clear from the contribution of our friend - Tobias. Nice debate
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