Social sustainability

Starting from the Nineties, the sustainability paradigm has been conceived as the achievement of a balance among the ecologic, economic and social dimensions of the development, through a process of equal redistribution of resources in an intra-and post-generational perspective. However, in recent times, the paradigm of the “green economy” seems to have gradually “colonized” the concept of sustainable development, marginalizing the social dimension or limiting the attention to environmental participation and education. This conceptual shift has deprived the sustainable development paradigm of an important value, also triggering tensions and trade-offs between environmental protection and social equity.

Within this general framework, the Laboratory of Social Policies has promoted two research programs: the first project focuses on the promotion of healthy and ecologically friendly lifestyles among the most vulnerable social groups; the second project focuses on health inequality, as a consequence of the unequal access to the social, economic and environmental resources.

Working paper – convegni e seminari:

d’Ovidio M. (2011), (Un)sustainable exclusion: social vulnerability and lifestyles in the Lombardy Region, in preparazione per la 10° Conferenza della European Sociological Association nella sessione  Environment and Society, Ginevra, 7-9 Settembre.