ABSTRACT
The book is divided into six interrelated parts – Introduction, Methodologies, Implementation instruments, Regional applications, Economic sectors, and a Synthesis and Summary – giving a glimpse of how life cycle approaches can support sustainable, socio-economic development at regional level. No major attempt has been made to describe the sustainable development agenda in detail, nor has there been a lengthy description of regional frameworks and administration. These aspects are woven into the various chapters in a general way, and further details can be found in specialist literature on these subjects. Regions are very loosely defined as territorial entities that have a high degree of control over their economic, social, and environmental futures. The definition does not include clusters of nation states grouped into global regions, as in, for example, UN ‘regions’, even if some of the methodologies could be interesting also at that level.
