Negotiating sustainabilities in applied geography: treading an uneven path

Abstract

This essay examines the ways in which geographers have engaged with the concept and practice of sustainability and the lessons that we might learn from commentaries on the application of geographical ideas in the field of public policy. First, the essay highlights the need to question our academic relationship with a ‘slippery’ concept such as sustainability. Second, it examines the role of geographers in generating impact for sustainability causes and what we might expect to be our role. Third, the essay argues for a revitalized ‘scholar-activist’ approach that draws upon the vocational role of geographers in local environmental contexts.