ABSTRACT
It is not enough to ‘want’ sustainable development; it is also necessary to have the capacities to do the kinds of things that are required to realize sustainable development. In addition to asking what sustainable development means, it is necessary to consider the procedural and organizational questions raised by a serious commitment to this path of societal development. If sustainable development is not an ‘end state’ or a set of characteristics of a ‘sustainable society’, attention has to be addressed to the process by which communities collectively decide what sustainable development means for them and how they are going to proceed in promoting such a pattern of development (Baker 2006). Consequently, not only the ‘what is’ question, but also the ‘how to’ question needs to be addressed. From this perspective, sustainable development is not a ‘thing’ but rather it is a way of doing things, which will need to become the normal and natural way of ‘arranging our “affairs” at the local level’ (Evans et al. 2005). This raises questions regarding necessary changes in the institutional arrangements and management practices of a local authority. There are a number of things that must be done (functional requirements) in order to produce the kinds of policies and actions necessary for moving a community along more sustainable paths of development. Taking these kinds of actions – both on the collective, group and individual levels – is likely to require us to adapt existing institutional arrangements (and ways of doing things) or develop new organizations and procedures, as well as ways of thinking and acting.
