Pillars and Circles. Wellbeing at the Core of Sustainability

In the last few decades, the notion of sustainable development has acquired a wide assortment of meanings. Appropriated and exploited, it has become ubiquitous, high-sounding and formulaic. Mentioned de rigueur as the primary goal for ensuring the future of humankind, it serves rhetorical and instrumental purposes as well as arouses criticism. Definitions of sustainability have been affected by constraints deriving from a tripartite model, in which economics stands out as the chief domain, while the environment and society are forever engaged in confrontation. The Circles of Sustainability have introduced a broader and more balanced view by presupposing a quadripartite structure that includes economics, ecology, politics and culture (Hawkes, The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability; James et al.). While the production, use, and management of resources is still a major object of enquiry, over the last decade increasing attention has been directed towards the role of humans as producers, users and custodians of cultures which demand to be sustained (UNESCO). The claim that sustainability and wellbeing should be integrated within a cultural discourse presupposes a view of humans as makers and consumers in a post-human age. This very view has generated an interdisciplinary dialogue between the authors, a literary scholar and an ecological economist who share the assumption that sustainable development and wellbeing are interrelated because they comprehend the duties as well as the rights of humankind to sustain and enjoy nature and culture. We support cross-fertilisations between positivist and interpretivist methods of enquiry and propose a methodological framework formed by three parts: theoretical and historical approaches; discussion of policies and institutions; presentation of a wide range of case studies across the world and from diverse disciplinary fields.