Sustainability has become a master concept in economic policies in Europe and around the world. The objective of this project is to analyze the discourse and practices of sustainability that different social agents have developed in the last decade in order to assess the efficacy and coherence of the sustainability programme. Moreover, the project seeks to critically unpack the concept of “sustainability”, questioning its capacity as an analytical concept. We will approach sustainability from different angles: 1) as a concept that often holds contradictory or ambivalent meanings for different stakeholders, social groups and institutions, 2) as a practice that implements policies defined by their ‘sustainable’ aim in widely different and local contexts, and 3) as a framing argument that engages civil society actors in various ways in response to ongoing political economic transformations.

The hypothesis we seek to explore is that there are substantial contradictions and ambivalences between different social actors’ understandings of, and practices toward, ‘sustainability’ (various policy makers, large firms, civil society groups and ordinary citizens). This in turn is a potential basis for conflict and becomes a real obstacle toward the aim of social and territorial cohesion and towards an integrated objective of economic, environmental and social reproduction.

This comparative study based on ethnographic, documentary and secondary statistical material seeks to make a major theoretical contribution by transforming the concepts and hierarchies for thinking about economic and social sustainability, through the emphasis on individual, institutional and collective actors’ understandings of social justice.

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