Introduction

The Task Force Report of the Sustainable Communities of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development noted that, “the strength, prosperity, and vitality of our communities is a fundamental measure of our nations successes.” This conference is organized around two objectives: to engage in a critical evaluation of the theory and practice of sustainable development; and, to initiate a dialogue on the pedagogy of sustainable development in our efforts to seek the most effective means to develop curricula in higher education. The conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners from a variety of non-profit organizations around the world.

Sustainable development is a well-established concern in today’s development orthodoxy, encompassing a broad range of issues. It functions as a hegemonic ideology that guides a wide variety of societal interventions. However, it needs to be subjected to critical scrutiny in light of widening inequalities between the rich and the poor, the increasing displacement and marginalization of world populations, the intractability of environmental issues, widespread armed conflicts, and the volatility and uncertainty of future economic and political trends. We must do more than evaluate the successes and failures of sustainable development. We must place greater emphasis on the constitutive role of the discourse of sustainable development in the problems it seeks to address, and in the development of capitalism in general.

Recently the notion of sustainable communities has become more popular than sustainable development.. There is a growing recognition that “whether the United States and the other nations will achieve a sustainable future largely depends on how well the concepts and principles of sustainable development are integrated into decision making at the community level.” The community approach to the sustainability of development is thought to yield better results than a top-down national approach. While it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the former against the latter, it is also important to recognize the problematic construction of a binary between ‘community’ and ‘national’ levels of intervention in sustainable development. Greater emphasis should be given to the ways local, national, and international processes can combine together produce particular local ‘sustainable communities’ that are now considered as desirable sites of development intervention. We need to closely examine the political economy of localization of management of social, cultural and economic issues undertaken in the guise of sustainable communities.

Since the publication of the Bruntland Report in 1984, there has been an explosion of literature on sustainable development and academic programs throughout the world. Sustainable development has also become a “buzz word” that encompasses a variety of efforts that at times has made it meaningless and exploited for other interests. Within the context of emerging economic and political trends, the sustainability of autonomous institutions within the academy concerned with sustainable development is at stake.

Yet, the years of our scholarly and pedagogical efforts in sustainable development suggests that today there seems to be an impasse in the praxis of sustainable development. Praxis, according to Paulo Freire, is “the precise symbiosis between reflective action and critical theorizing where critical consciousness” functions as “the motor of cultural emancipation.” To engage with this impasse is to promote national and international pedagogical dialogue on sustainable development, including the development of curricula and methods of its delivery. It is crucial to maintain a dialogue with, and learn from the diverse experiences of various higher educational institutions concerned with sustainable development.

We greatly appreciate your participation in this conference. We are thankful to the U.S. Department of Commerce for providing us with the financial support, and we are equally grateful for the various forms of assistance provided by my colleagues at the Arizona International College of the University of Arizona. We hope you will enjoy your stay in Tucson, Arizona.

Topics and Presenters

Sustainable Development in Urban Communities

Thursday, January 31

5:30 pm: Welcome Program

6:15 - 7:15 pm

Geographies of Urban Terror: Manufacturing Nationalism and the Politics of Reconstruction in New York City.

• Neil Smith, City University of New York

Friday, February 1

9:00 - 10:00 am

Governing Cities for Development: The Problems of Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

• Colman Titus Msoka, University of Minnesota

The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Urban Housing Developmeqnt in Nigeria

• Iheanyi N. Osundu, Fort Valley State University, Georgia

10:15 - 12:15

Panel: Activist Work: Developing Sustainable Social Relations

• Paul Burkhardt, Arizona International College; Danika Brown, Zoe Hammer-Tomizuka, Caren Zimmerman, University of Arizona

12:15 - 1:15: Break for Lunch

1:15 - 2:15

Wolf Trap in Housing: An Experimental Inner-City Arts Education Initiative in Washington, D.C.

• Robert I. Goler, American University

Sustainability or Suffocation?: One Law Clinic’s Attempt to Cultivate Grassroots Priorities in the Face of Culture of Community Economic Development

• Dan Shah, Temple University

2:30-3:30

Poverty Reduction, Organisational Culture and Sustainability: Preliminary Findings from an NGO Research Project in Bangladesh

• David Lewis, Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics

Paper title to be announced

• Bishwapriya Sanyal, Department of Urban Studies and Regional Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3:45 - 4:45

Linking Graphic Design to Community Development through Service-Learning

• Arnold Holland, Cal State Fullerton

Internal and External Analyses of the Roles of the Non-Profit Sector in Urban Sustainable Development

• David Shiller, Green Neighborhood Manager, Conservation Consultants, Inc.

5:00-6:00

Workshop: Developing an Antiracist Consciousness in Community Activist Organizations

• Kali Tal, Arizona International College; Beatrice Brown, University of Arizona

6:00 - 7:00

Sustaining a Culture of Inclusiveness: A Critical Ethnographic Consumer Perspective of Twin Cities Resources in the Arts and Education

• Jan Jackson, Independent Scholar, Poet, Activist

Integrated Development Plan for Urban in dealing with Reconstruction & Development in South Africa: Dealing with Intercultural Public Participation in a Historical White Dominated Town.

• Clayton Lillienfeldt, Mediation & Transformation Practice, Sanlamhof, South Africa

7:00 - 8:30

Discussion and Daily Summation

• Dinner provided

Saturday, February 2

9:00 - 11:00 am

Secession Theme: Religious Organizations: Issues Raised by "Charitable Choice

Congregations and Social Services: What They Do, How They Do It, and With Whom.

• Mark Chaves, University of Arizona,

Race Differences in Congregations' Social Services.

• William Tsitsos, University of Arizona.

Charitable Choices: The Consequences of Making Religion Salient.

• Jessica Brown Nancy Martin Tiffiny McKeon and Rebecca Sager, , University of Arizona.

Sacred Sources of Food: Opinions of the Homeless Regarding Faith-Based Social Services.

• Laura S. Stephens, Rebecca E. Sager, University of Arizona.

11:15 - 12:15

Environmental Activism and Social Networks: Campaigning on transport issues in West London

• Simon Batterbury, University of Arizona

Suburban Growth and the Creation of Privileged Spaces: Fire Hazard and Challenges for Sustainable Communities in Southern California

• Cynthia Leigh Sorrensen, Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona, Tucson.

12:15 - 1:15: Break for Lunch

1:15 - 2:45

Neoliberalism and Nature: The Case of the WTO

• Richard Peet, Clark University and Elaine Hartwick, State College

Politics of Sustainable Development in the Shadow of Capital: Perils and Prospects of Sustainable Development

• Jude Fernando, University of Arizona

From Hands to Mouths: All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) and the Politics of Foreign Funding

• Elisabeth Armstrong, Smith College, Northampton, MA

3:00 - 4:30

The dynamics of socio-environmental conflict over water resources in Jordan: In times of growing scarcity, can we afford the luxury of practicing political ecology?

• Salma Nims, Development Planning Unit, University College, London

The Role of Community Philanthropy in Stimulating Nonprofit Capacity

• Dana Burr Bradley, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

A Town-Gown Venture in Planning for a Sustainable Future

• Gerald Burns, Monadnock Institute of Nature, Place and Culture; Joni Doherty, New England Center for Civic Life, Franklin Pierce College

4:45 - 5:45

Volunteerism and young people in Great Britain: Community provision of volunteer opportunities and reciprocal community service by young people

• Diann S. Eley and David Kirk, Institute of Youth Sport, Loughborough University

Strategic Leadership: Increasing the Power and Influence of Activists and Leaders in Sustainable Development: The Creation of a Learning Community Model

• Siobhan Riordan, Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Institutional Studies, University of East London

The Role of Fundraising in Sustaining an NGO: a New Zealand Case Study

• Tim O’Donovan, Auckland University of Technology

5:45 - 6:45

Sustainable Community Development: A Challenge for Governance and Resource Management

• Ambreen Iqbal Malik, Leadership for Environment and Development – Pakistan