Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sustainability research in the social sciences--concepts, methodologies and the challenge of interdisciplinarity / Henrike Rau and Frances Fahy. PART ONE: MEASURING THE IMMEASURABLE? THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences - Concepts, Methodologies and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity - Henrike Rau and Frances Fahy PART TWO: RESEARCHING LOCAL LIVES: EXPERIENCES OF (UN)SUSTAINABILITY AMONG INDIVIDUALS, HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES Household Analysis: Researching 'Green' Lifestyles, A Survey Approach - Stewart Barr and Jan Prillwitz Social Groups and Collective Decision-making: Focus Group Approaches - Anna Davies Local Lives and Conflict: Towards a Methodology of Dialogic Research - Mark Garavan PART THREE: COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON THE SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE OF CITIES, REGIONS AND NATION-STATES Sustainable Development of What? Contesting Global Development Concepts and Measures - Su-ming Khoo Biophysical Indicators of Society-Nature Interaction: Material and Energy Flow Analysis, Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production and the Ecological Footprint - Veronika Gaube, Helmut Haberl, Karl-Heinz Erb Mapping for Sustainability: Environmental Noise and the City - Enda Murphy and Eoin A King PART IV: TIME IN FOCUS Everyday Life in Transition: Biographical Research and Sustainability - Melanie Jaeger-Erben Time and Sustainability - Henrike Rau and Ricca Edmondson PART V: CURRENT DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE TRENDS Researching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Developments - Frances Fahy and Henrike Rau

Sustainability is a key word in the environmental vocabulary informing how research projects in the social sciences are framed. This book provides a systematic and critical review of the key research methods used when studying sustainable strategies and outcomes. Sustainability is a key word in the environmental vocabulary informing how research projects in the social sciences are framed. This book provides a systematic and critical review of the key research methods used when studying sustainable strategies and outcomes. It is divided into four areas: o Part I: examines the key challenges inherent to social scientific sustainability research, examining the issues involved in combining social and natural/physical research methods. o Part II: covers methodologies aimed at the investigation of attitudes and behaviour observable at the local level - from families and households to individual organizations within communities o Part III: looks at sustainability research at the regional and national level - from the link between citizens and local communities to supra-national and global organisations.

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