An approach to studying urban sustainability from within an ecological world view

Du Plessis, C

Abstract

This dissertation engages with the proposition that one of the reasons current efforts at
improving sustainability are failing is because solutions are sought from within the same
paradigm of thought that threatens sustainability in the first place, and that what is
needed is a new 'ecological' worldview or paradigm. Using a transdisciplinary
philosophy, and building on the idea of partial validities of knowledge, the dissertation
explores the roots and attributes of the emerging new worldview and its relationship
with the sustainability discourse through a series of narratives.
Historical narratives of the concepts of sustainable development and urban
sustainability highlight the flaws in current approaches to studying sustainability, and
illustrate that the understanding of sustainability is not based on a fixed set of laws, but
continuously evolves in response to larger system drivers, including individual and
social worldviews. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that an ecological
worldview would spawn its own version of sustainability. However, this worldview has
not yet been coherently defined or structured.
Differentiating between 'worldview' as the descriptive narrative of the world and
behaviour within this world, and 'paradigm' as the practices for organizing and studying
the world, the study attempts to map the ecological worldview onto a pre-existing
worldview framework developed by the Centre Leo Apostel. This worldview was
developed from common patterns found in new developments in the different branches
of science, wisdom traditions ranging from indigenous knowledge sources to the great
religious traditions, and ancient schools of philosophy. The result presents a coherent
and internally consistent conceptual narrative of the ecological worldview, including
theories of value, action and knowledge, which is then used to describe the associated
social and scientific paradigms. The resultant worldview complex is then used to frame
an exploration of the changes this worldview would bring to the practices of studying
urban sustainability and future research agendas.

Citation

Du Plessis, C. An approach to studying urban sustainability from within an ecological world view. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2009