Building sustainability through collaborative planning

Abstract

Collaborative planning can influence efforts to build social capital and make consensus towards sustainability and sustainable development. The present study attempts to demonstrate the crucial role of social capital and capacity building as 'tools' and 'targets' of the sustainability journey. This paper briefly reviews the sustainability literature related to planning. Considering the collaborative approach to planning and the associated concepts, the present study aims to make a link between collaborative planning and sustainability. Finally, this paper suggests two conceptual models to explore and explain the interaction and implications of social capital and sustainability. The first model considers sustainability through an integrated dynamic system and explores how collaborative planning can generate sustainability through capacity building. The second model will present a framework of thinking and acting for collaborative sustainability. © 2012 WIT Press.