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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ICT INTERPRETED IN A NATURAL SCIENCE CONTEXT
The resulting research questions for the social sciences
- DOI:
- 10.1080/13691180903322805
pages 7-22
Available online: 10 Feb 2010Abstract
Sustainable development (SD) is a political concept with a strong normative component. In this article, we show which implications follow from this normative component if it is interpreted in a natural science context. We conclude that from a natural science point of view, a far-reaching dematerialization of consumption is a necessary condition for SD. We further conclude that information and communication technologies can only support SD if they are applied as enablers of dematerialized (less material-intensive) types of consumption. Macro-level data on consumption shows, however, that average material flows per capita are still increasing. In this problematical situation, we see a need for framework conditions that provide incentives for dematerialization and specialized research on the psychosocial conditions on the basis of which consumption patterns could evolve towards a more dematerialized economy.
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- Available online: 10 Feb 2010
Author affiliations
- a Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Lerchenfeldstr. 5, St.Gallen, CH-9014, Switzerland
- b Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, St. Gallen, Switzerland E-mail:
Author biographies
Lorenz M. Hilty is Head of the Technology and Society Lab (TSL) at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, and professor of informatics at the University of Zurich. From 1998 to 2005 he was professor of information systems at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. In parallel to that, he has lead Empa's research programme ‘Sustainability in the Information Society’ (funded by the ETH Board), from which the Technology and Society Lab emerged in 2004. Lorenz Hilty chairs the working group 9.9 ‘ICT and Sustainable Development’ of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). His latest book, published in 2008, is Information Technology and Sustainable Development (ISBN 9783837019704).
Thomas F. Ruddy is with the Technology and Society Lab (TSL) at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research. Thomas Ruddy taught International Political Economy at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and Webster University Geneva Campus, Switzerland. Since 2002 he has been working on a part-time basis at Empa, where his research has focused on the nexus of international trade and sustainable development, especially with regard to the European policy-making arena. Thomas Ruddy also works on a pro bono basis for the Sustainable Europe Research Institute, a non-profit association in Vienna, and documents this work on www.wsis.ethz.ch/seri.htm.
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