A day of discussion held on
Saturday 27th September 2003 at
Newcastle Civic Centre
Sponsored by Peer Review for European Sustainable Urban Development
Convened by Caspar Hewett,
Dave O'Toole, Jon Bryan
and Mo Lovatt
Chair Caspar Hewett
In the last twenty years environmental thinking has become very much a part of
our every day lives. The term 'sustainable development' has entered the mainstream
and is used to guide policy in both the developed and developing world. Yet whilst
we in the West enjoy a safe, clean, pleasant environment coupled with high living
standards the developing world is being discouraged from aspiring to anything more
than basic needs. So what is sustainable development and what are its consequences?
What is current in environmental thought?
This one day conference re-evaluated the relevance of environmentalism in the 21st
century, examining the intimate links between the concepts of development, sustainability
and environmentalism and asking if development to western standards is possible for the
developing world.
An audience of 50 people dragged themselves out of bed on a Saturday morning in late
September 2003 to hear the arguments and have their say. I hope they felt it was worth it . . .
