ABSTRACT
Apparently if you surf the web, you will find between 50,000 and 250,000 citations to some aspect of research or publication regarding sustainable urban development alone. There is an exploding industry of consultants and specialists in the field. Possibly as many as 50,000 individuals are involved full time in the European Union alone (Wolff 1996). This could mean almost anything. But It suggests that there are plenty of people in search of a mission, that sustainable development is a wide open arena to explore and to make a living in, and that a modern, non-sustainable economy creates sufficient spare wealth to finance research into its radical redirection. Academics jump on lucrative bandwagons, lumbering by, regardless of destiny. Urban managers, seeing Local Agenda 21 popping up on the political horizon, feel compelled to set up a small working group to puzzle it oul. Industry, faced with ecoaudits that mostly encourage good public relations and sensible housekeeping, hire consultants who are only too willing to oblige, regardless of experience. And because nobody really knows what sustainable development is, there are plenty of candidates for seminars, workshops and conferences, all of which need speakers, administrators and public relations.
