IOER Forum

Sustainability represents the dominant paradigm for overcoming the global social-ecological crises. It is the core guiding principle of overarching policy strategies at all levels (local to UN), as well as for cross-domain spatial planning practice, development concepts of science organisations, and the inter- and transdisciplinary field of sustainability sciences.

However, since its adoption on the international policy stage back in the 1990s the concept of "sustainability" has also always been subject to fundamental criticism. This ranges from questioning its ontological premises and ethical ambiguities (e.g. dualistic human-nature relation, vague justice notion, strong/weak variations, inherent growth orientation, unclear spatio-temporal reference, etc.) to recognising its limited procedural substance for guiding the transformation of complex socio-ecological-technological systems.

In the context of the Anthropocene such criticisms have become further reinforced. In view of a rapidly declining habitability of the planet and the outstanding spatial disparities this implies, calls for a paradigm shift to guide transformations have multiplied. At the same time, the sustainability sciences have fostered the reflection on the ways in which science-society interactions and their spatial configurations affect transformations - typically requiring to deconstruct sustainability.

Against this backdrop this IOER Forum series aims to advance the critical debate on sustainability as a guiding science and policy paradigm. It strives to outline contours of much needed alternative goal concepts for the future that may help to replace "sustainability" and to shape a good Anthropocene.

Key questions to be addressed will therefore be:

• What are ontological and ethical requirements for reinventing the sustainability paradigm?
• How does space affect and become affected by the sustainability paradigm (shift)?
• What are implications of the sustainability paradigm (shift) for sustainability sciences and policy?

Concept and presentation:
Marc Wolfram