Sustainability science asks how we can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own — and how research can actually help.
This site isn’t meant to be a comprehensive guide to that field. It’s more particular than that: it gathers a set of things we’ve built because we think the field needs them, and they didn’t yet exist in the form we wanted.
What you’ll find here
- Course — because sustainable development is best understood through systems thinking and real cases — and a full course doing that should be free and open to all.
- C4SD — because the field is better at diagnosing problems than at building and maintaining the capacities to address them.
- Theorist — because working through the underlying theory helps the field do better work together — and journals rarely make room for it.
- Keeping Up — because it’s hard to stay current in a field spread across so many research communities.
Who’s behind it
The site is edited by Alicia G. Harley and William C. Clark. It is supported by the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard Kennedy School.
About the Program
The Sustainability Science Program began in 2006 to support research on how interactions between society and nature affect human well-being. For more on its history, initiatives, and people, visit the SSP page at Harvard Kennedy School.