Going beyond growth: The green economy as a sustainable economic development strategy

Abstract

Planners and policymakers in the urban context often face very difficult decisions around the development process. Namely, what should the future development of a city be and according to what metrics should this outcome be evaluated? Given the economic trajectory forward, planners and policymakers often must consider growth in terms of production, skills, wealth, and how the pursuit of progress improves or impedes the true quality of life on the ground. And, they often face trade-offs between policies that favor aggregate growth over equity considerations that evaluate the way in which this aggregate growth is distributed. They must often define the path forward based upon an evaluative metric that incorporates values of both efficiency and equity for any number of potential stakeholder groups in the pursuit of a better quality of life.