STRUGGLING WITH SUSTAINABILITY - WEAK AND STRONG INTERPRETATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN LOCAL-AUTHORITY POLICY

In recent years there has been a growing interest in sustainable devel opment as a guiding principle to allow the integration of economic dev elopment and the environment within policy and strategy. At all levels of policymaking a major emphasis has been placed upon the local scale as the most appropriate for the delivery of such policies and initiat ives, with a particular stress upon local authorities as the major del ivery mechanism. Though it is often assumed that this integration is r elatively unproblematic, this paper indicates that this is not the cas e. The paper draws upon research with urban local authorities in Engla nd and Wales, which reveals that there are varying interpretations of the environment within local authorities, reflecting environmental and economic development perspectives. In each case, however, these are e ffectively interpretations which tend towards the 'weak' end of a sust ainability spectrum and it is suggested that such divergent interpreta tions of sustainability are hindering integrative activity and the pot ential for introducing 'strong' sustainability measures.