Sustainability is a non-negotiable goal to be pursued in the present. The concept of sustainability has evolved and will continue to do so as practices about it get contested, experimented with, and implemented. The term got attention, mention, and definition in 1987 in the Bruntland report as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The three goals of sustainability were identified as environmental, economic, and social. Cutting across these three goals is the concern over availability and access to natural resources, discriminatory forces influencing it, right to natural resources, and right to quality life- material and non-material.
The very nature of sustainability, thus, demands an interdisciplinary as well as a disciplinary investigation. The three goals of sustainability present a broad framework and points of inquiry into the unpacking of the idea of sustainability. In addition to these three, there could also be other points of inquiry that can be explored and undertaken. The questions in this process appear to be twofold: (1) Cognizance and questioning of past and current practices and (2) Processes that might have become a barrier to sustainability and potential alternatives to these practices and processes.
Several questions that can be raised here are:
This special issue of the journal on sustainability encourages the publication of original research articles, perspectives, review articles from various disciplines as applied to sustainability. Scholars are invited to publish theoretical, experimental, applied research, documentation, or conceptual papers.
The following are some of the themes on Sustainability:
1. Evolution and changes in the dimensions and facets of the concept of sustainability
2. Waste and waste management, recycling, and upcycling
3. Design for sustainability and vernacular architecture
4. Relationship between language, ecology, and representation
5. Policy and governance and implementation concerning sustainability
6. Education for sustainability
7. Health and Sustainability
8. Livelihood and Sustainability
9. Agricultural issues of sustainability
10. New, clean, and renewable sources of energy
11. Sustainability tools: Measuring and monitoring sustainability
12. Sustainable chemical processes
13. Land and aquatic ecosystem maintenance and biodiversity preservation
14. Biomimicry and Biomimetic processes
15. Population growth and sustainable development (Computational sustainability)
