Social sustainability and the development process: what is it, why does it matter, and how can it be enhanced?

Few dispute that development processes should be both economically and environmentally sustainable. Many also call for development to be socially sustainable, yet the contours, distinctiveness, and implications of this concept remain largely unspecified, certainly as it pertains to understanding and engaging with development processes. Development is socially sustainable, we argue, when all people feel part of the development process and believe that they and their descendants will benefit from it. Social sustainability’s analytical distinctiveness inheres in its status as a ‘club’ (as opposed to a private or public) good, i.e. one wherein development outcomes are sought through the actions of groups whose membership is excludable but non-rival, yet whose identity, purpose, and status may shift over time. Ensuring that social groups nonetheless retain an enduring sense of cohesion, inclusion, and resilience – and accord legitimacy to development’s inherently disruptive change processes – is crucial. Initiatives consistent with this approach are profiled.