What is sustainability and can it be measured?

摘要

Existing approaches to sustainability focus on the management and use of natural resources.Some also consider financial and human resources.However,manufactured resources such as infrastructure also have a critical role in the operation of human systems.In this paper,sustainability is considered as a characteristic of a system,and a systems approach is used as the basis for understanding,and potentially measuring,sustainability.This approach highlights some important factors relating to sustainability,including: the need for the continuing management of system resources over time;the significance of interactions among systems;the importance of planning and designing systems with regard to sustainability;and the need to re-evaluate the sustainability of a system at regular intervals.