A Heirarchy of Sustainability?

There is probably no modern issue more subject to misrepresentation, extremist views and non-scientific assertions than the problem of defining human sustainability (except perhaps the climate change issue). There is no doubt that the human species has reached the boundaries of the closed system known as the Earth's biosphere. However, finding long term solutions to the maintenance of human existence within this biosphere is not well served by taking non-scientific extreme positions which fail to take into account the closely linked considerations in creating a sustainable environment for future generations.

In considering the meaning of sustainability it is critical that we understand and model sustainability in terms of four main views:

• Natural Sustainability (sustainability of the planetary biosphere);
• Social Sustainability (the sustainability of social systems and structures which sustain human existence such as individual rights and responsibilities, and respecting the integrity of those constructs which maintain social resilience within the human collective)
• Economic Sustainability (sustainability of economic mechanisms which form the basis for the ongoing development of the human enterprise)
• Human Performance Sustainability (the creation and maintenance of built and natural environments which encourage and support the sustainable performance of human elements within the overall human enterprise (domestic / employment / recreation)

In looking at these views, it is evident, as suggested by Sverdrup that there is a hierarchy of these types of sustainability. Obviously, because the Earth biosphere is a closed system, this provides the ultimate boundary to sustainability. Then resilience of societal constructs becomes the next constraint, no personal or economic development can be considered to be sustainable when the underlying social environment is not. It could be argued that the economic consideration comes next, and this has often been argued to be the case, however, where human performance is not sustained then economic constructs generally do not survive in the long run. Thus the hierarchy is

Natural -> Social -> Human Performance -> Economic

This is not to belittle the role of economic sustainability, but merely to suggest that long term economic sustainability must consider the higher points in the hierarchy if they are to survive in the long term. It is also important to acknowledge and understand the role of feedback loops between these elements of sustainability.

About slade

Slade is an Enterprise Architect, Business Analyst and Project Manager with extensive experience in the Defence, National Security, Emergency Services and secure systems environment. Slade has been in the IT industry since 1988, and is experienced in systems engineering, systems architecture, systems integration, security assessment and development of sustainment frameworks for new systems. He is also a thought leader in human factors for the design of critical decision support systems and environments and the development of enterprise and solution level architecture for high information workload environments. Slade is the Director of EcoThought Pty Ltd