Economic Sustainability as a Post-Recession Approach to Local Economic Development

Abstract

As local and regional economies climb out of the great recession and look to the future for growth opportunities, sustainability has become the mot du jour. Many local economic development strategies and plans are addressing sustainability and focusing on economic sustainability. However, these actions suggest critical analysis because the notions of sustainability and economic sustainability are not one and the same, and the interdependent relationship creates much confusion. The paper examines the dynamics of this relationship in several communities with sustainability and economic sustainability efforts and provides a categorization of different economic sustainability approaches that guide community economic development, such as green/clean-tech (Portney 2003; Chapple 2008; Fitzgerald 2010) or local self reliance (Imbroscio 1995; Curtis 2003). The analysis reflects on whether economic sustainability is a wave (Shaffer et al. 2006) in the evolution of local economic development policy (Clarke and Gaile 1992 and 1998; Bradshaw and Blakely 1999), or if it repackages previous waves. The review offers a unique perspective on the dynamic and interdependent nature of the concepts, outlines how economic sustainability is different from social and environmental sustainability, and provides a synthesis that is missing from the economic development and sustainability policy literature.

Keywords: economic development, sustainability, economic sustainability

JEL Classification: O18