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An index to measure the sustainability of place-based development pathways

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  • Topf, Julie
  • Schultz, Leonardo A.
  • Silva, José Maria Cardoso da

Abstract

One of the main goals of modern sustainability science is to generate knowledge that societies can use to move toward more sustainable development pathways; however, there are few quantitative methods available to assess such pathways. This paper proposes a new index (the Sustainable Development Pathway Index, SDPI) that uses the Euclidean norm to measure the distance between the ideal and the actual development pathways of any geopolitical unit in a determined time frame. We test the new index by evaluating the development pathways of the 517 municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon, one of the world's last economic frontiers, from 1991 to 2010, by simultaneously analyzing indicators of ecological and socioeconomic infrastructures. We show that the region can be described as a mosaic of geopolitical units following distinct development pathways in response to the economic activities and extensive land transformations advancing from the region's southern and eastern borders to its center. This general pattern aligns well with the region's recent history. We outline a research agenda for using the SDPI to document the broad patterns of development pathways and the processes that make them sustainable or unsustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Topf, Julie & Schultz, Leonardo A. & Silva, José Maria Cardoso da, 2023. "An index to measure the sustainability of place-based development pathways," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:204:y:2023:i:pa:s0921800922003068
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107645
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