Our interdisciplinary research explores how pathways to sustainability, green transformations and equitable access to resources such as land, water and food can be achieved and help us meet the environmental as well as human development-related goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
Our work builds on a long tradition of critical social science engagement with environmental issues and resource politics in collaboration with partners globally. It explores how pathways to sustainability are shaped by political-economic and social processes, and understands how they are driven by technology, markets, states and citizens. Our research sheds new light on how we can achieve green transformations that move us from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from throw-away to circular economies. It addresses the politics of sustainability, and understands how transformations occur at local levels as well as global, in both rural and urban settings, and be led by citizens as well as national governments. In doing so, it shines a light on how sustainable resource use, consumption and production is shaped by issues such as gender, livelihoods and politics.
The ESRC STEPS Centre (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is an interdisciplinary global research and policy engagement centre.
The purpose of this paper is to take stock of what is known about industrial clusters in LDCs and to put forward an agenda for further research. The paper shows that clustering (sectoral and geographical concentration) is common in a wide range of countries and sectors. The way clusters are...
The discussion which follows in this paper rests heavily on an analysis of comparative data on manufacturing performance in South Africa and other countries.
To ease the process of reading, the tables and the figures which underlie the verbal discussion are produced as separate sections. The...
This Discussion Paper reports on a workshop on 'Linking Relief and Development', held at IDS, Sussex in March 1994. Development and relief often operate at cross-purposes, with different objectives, cultures and modes of operation.
Commissioned by the Strategic Planning Office of the Inter-American Development Bank, this report provides an assessment of the IDB's lending programme for the period 1979-92. It offers policy recommendations on how to improve future lending activities and addresses issues concerning the role of...
This report provides a detailed exploration of the impact of economic and institutional change on rural health services in China. It shows how the health sector's development has been influenced firstly by the command economy and, since the 1970s, by the transition to a market economy. Detailed...
The report describes a systematic household study of health care seeking behaviour and of the quality of commune health care in four rural communes in the north of Vietnam, during 1992-93.
South Africa faces a series of critical and daunting developmental challenges in the post-aparthied era. This IDS Bulletin explores the lessons of policy formation in a comparative context. Contributions cover industrial and agricultural strategy, health and education policy, regional government...
What is it like to be a woman in Bangladesh during times of socio-economic transformation? What forms of discrimination must women deal with on a daily basis? This report discusses the social, economic, political and legal status of women in Bangladesh and identifies the needs of women in...
What is the present state of gender relations in Zambia? Has economic recession and adjustment impacted differently on women and men? Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia has adopted structural adjustment and liberalisation measures in order to pull itself out of severe economic...
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).