IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v164y2019ic29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability and incommensurability: Narrative policy analysis with application to urban ecology

Author

Listed:
  • Lejano, Raul P.
  • Newbery, Nicola
  • Ciolino, Maegan
  • Newbery, David

Abstract

Sustainability entails considering multiple values in decision-making. However, evaluation most often devolves into thin, unidimensional interpretations of value (e.g., as market price). This article develops an alternative (narrative) mode of assessment that involves “thick” description that preserves the distinctiveness of different types of values, such as the cultural and ecological. The narrative approach combines otherwise incommensurable qualities into a coherent description of the situation, achieving integration not through commensuration but emplotment. The narrative analytic framework is described and then applied to a case study involving development around ecological habitat in Hong Kong. The article ends with a note on the applicability of narrative analytics for capturing sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Lejano, Raul P. & Newbery, Nicola & Ciolino, Maegan & Newbery, David, 2019. "Sustainability and incommensurability: Narrative policy analysis with application to urban ecology," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:164:y:2019:i:c:29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800918312126
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dietz, Simon & Neumayer, Eric, 2007. "Weak and strong sustainability in the SEEA: Concepts and measurement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 617-626, March.
    2. Robinson, John, 2004. "Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 369-384, April.
    3. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    4. Aldred, Jonathan, 2013. "Justifying precautionary policies: Incommensurability and uncertainty," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 132-140.
    5. Martinez-Alier, Joan & Munda, Giuseppe & O'Neill, John, 1998. "Weak comparability of values as a foundation for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 277-286, September.
    6. van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M., 2004. "Optimal climate policy is a utopia: from quantitative to qualitative cost-benefit analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 385-393, April.
    7. Giles Atkinson & Richard Dubourg & Kirk Hamilton & Mohan Munasinghe & David Pearce & Carlos Young, 1997. "Measuring Sustainable Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1242.
    8. Daly, Herman E., 1990. "Toward some operational principles of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wing Shan Kan & Raul P. Lejano, 2021. "How Land Use, Climate Change, and an Ageing Demographic Intersect to Create New Vulnerabilities in Hong Kong," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-8, April.
    2. Etxano, Iker & Villalba-Eguiluz, Unai, 2021. "Twenty-five years of social multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) in the search for sustainability: Analysis of case studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Naomi Robert & Tammara Soma & Kent Mullinix, 2025. "Neoliberal growth vs food system democratization: narrative analysis of Canadian federal and civil society agri-food policy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 42(2), pages 923-943, June.
    4. Halliki Kreinin, 2021. "The divergent narratives and strategies of unions in times of social-ecological crises: fracking and the UK energy sector," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(4), pages 453-468, November.
    5. Raul P. Lejano, 2019. "Relationality and Social–Ecological Systems: Going Beyond or Behind Sustainability and Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-9, May.
    6. Allain, Sandrine & Salliou, Nicolas, 2022. "Making differences legible: Incommensurability as a vehicle for sustainable landscape management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hoff, Jens V. & Rasmussen, Martin M.B. & Sørensen, Peter Birch, 2021. "Barriers and opportunities in developing and implementing a Green GDP," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    2. Garmendia, E. & Prellezo, R. & Murillas, A. & Escapa, M. & Gallastegui, M., 2010. "Weak and strong sustainability assessment in fisheries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 96-106, November.
    3. John Holmberg & Johan Larsson, 2018. "A Sustainability Lighthouse—Supporting Transition Leadership and Conversations on Desirable Futures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Ratana Chuenpagdee & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Storytelling for sustainable development in rural communities: An alternative approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1813-1826, November.
    5. J. Pillarisetti & Jeroen Bergh, 2010. "Sustainable nations: what do aggregate indexes tell us?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 49-62, February.
    6. Siarhei Manzhynski & Frank Figge, 2020. "Coopetition for sustainability: Between organizational benefit and societal good," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 827-837, March.
    7. Köhn, Jörg, 1996. "Thinking in Terms of System Hierarchies and Velocites. What makes Development Sustainable?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 04, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    8. Toman, Michael & Pezzey, John C., 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-03, Resources for the Future.
    9. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    10. Diana Tuomasjukka & Staffan Berg & Marcus Lindner, 2013. "Managing Sustainability of Fennoscandian Forests and Their Use by Law and/or Agreement: For Whom and Which Purpose?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-32, December.
    11. Ben Yu & Daigee Shaw & Tsu-Tan Fu & Lawrence Lai, 2000. "Property rights and contractual approach to sustainable development," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 3(3), pages 291-309, September.
    12. Gilbert Gillespie, 2010. "2009 AFHVS presidential address: the steering question: challenges to achieving food system sustainability," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 27(1), pages 3-12, March.
    13. Víctor-Raúl López-Ruiz & José-Luis Alfaro-Navarro & Domingo Nevado-Peña, 2019. "An Intellectual Capital Approach to Citizens’ Quality of Life in Sustainable Cities: A Focus on Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-16, October.
    14. Van de Kerk, Geurt & Manuel, Arthur R., 2008. "A comprehensive index for a sustainable society: The SSI -- the Sustainable Society Index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 228-242, June.
    15. Max Munday & Annette Roberts, 2006. "Developing approaches to measuring and monitoring sustainable development in Wales: A review," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 535-554.
    16. Hrubovcak, James & Vasavada, Utpal & Aldy, Joseph E., 1999. "Green Technologies for a More Sustainable Agriculture," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33721, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. J. Ram Pillarisetti & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, 2008. "Sustainable Nations: What do Aggregate Indicators tell us?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-012/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. DeCanio, Stephen J. & Niemann, Paul, 2006. "Equity effects of alternative assignments of global environmental rights," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 546-559, April.
    19. Mohammad Fazle Rabbi, 2025. "A Dynamic Systems Approach to Integrated Sustainability: Synthesizing Theory and Modeling Through the Synergistic Resilience Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-23, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:164:y:2019:i:c:29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.