Abstract
This article discusses the theoretical evolution of
the debate on economic growth, development, and sustainability in the social
sciences, particularly in sociology. This discussion covers multiple
approaches, from those inspired by classical economics since the 18th century,
to the debate over the alternatives proposed by dependency theory in the 20th
century. It is in this debate and in various social and theoretical movements
that the concept of sustainability has emerged more recently, highlighting its
social and sociological aspects at the expense of its original basic link to
the strict domains of the environment and environmentalism, with fundamental
consequences for urban sociology and urban policies. It is the path to
strengthening and affirming the sociology of sustainability as a specific field
of sociology, treating the social issues as a “total social phenomenon”, and
focusing on articulating its interdisciplinary dimensions.
The consequences of these
debates have nowadays, more than ever, a decisive impact on the construction of
city models and (new) urban policies, new organizational strategies, new models
of governance, and new theoretical approaches. Also, it has significant impacts
on citizens’ participation and ways of life. Examples of these consequences
include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which we treat as a decisive
contribution to the organization of cities, ways of life, institutional
structures, and social, cultural, and economic relations.
Also, the recent UNESCO
model, the MIL City model, which poses new challenges for Sociology in general
and for the Sociology of Sustainability in particular, must be explored in a
subsequent discussion. As this is not the setting for a more extended, more
intensive theoretical debate, we propose an analytical synthesis capable of
generating fundamental new insights, more robust, and with an impact on
sociological analysis, reinforcing the sociology of sustainability and its
contributions to social intervention.
