ABSTRACT
The chapters in this book have highlighted some of the issues that surround the use of life cycle approaches for sustainable development at the regional level. Their potential application is anchored in long-standing practical experience with the life cycle management (LCM) toolbox that is currently applied to products and materials. They also reflect some of the more recent organisational management procedures that take the longer-term development perspective so fundamental to sustainability. The book has attempted to stay close to the ongoing evolution of life cycle approaches, incorporating recent developments such as organisational LCA, social LCA, and life cycle costing (LCC). Some of these come under the recently coined title of ‘life cycle sustainability assessment’ (LCSA), a more holistic, multi-criteria approach to assessment. The applicability of such varied approaches is very much influenced by the characteristics of a region – its social, environmental, and economic fabric, as well as its political vision. Regions do not all have the same resource bases, nor the same demo ‐ graphic and trade profiles, nor do their authorities have the same opportunities for action within a national or global policy framework. Each region will have to choose the most appropriate instruments from the available toolbox.
