Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences

Dr Frances Fahy is the Head of Geography and Senior Lecturer in National University of Ireland, Galway. Dr Fahy specialises in sustainable consumption, environmental governance and planning at all scales. She has published widely and led a number of research projects exploring sustainable consumption, environmental governance, innovative methods for public participation in planning and the development of collaborative planning tools including community derived indicators and community mapping. Her publications include two edited volumes – Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences (with Prof Henrike Rau, Sage, 2013) and Challenging Consumption (with Prof Anna Davies and Prof Henrike Rau, Routledge, 2014) – and peer reviewed articles in Global Environmental Change, Area, Nature and Culture, and Journal of Consumer Policy.   Frances is the Past President of the Geographical Society of Ireland (2012-2014). She is a past Chair of the Planning and Environment Research Group (PERG) of the Royal Geographical Society (2007-2012). Frances was the recipient of the 2013-14 Fulbright Scholar Award and during her research leave in the US she explored the experiences of academics involved in policy-relevant research in the field of sustainability. Dr Henrike Rau is a lecturer in Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

• PART ONE: MEASURING THE IMMEASURABLE? THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCESSustainability Research in the Social Sciences - Concepts, Methodologies and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity - Henrike Rau and Frances FahyPART TWO: RESEARCHING LOCAL LIVES: EXPERIENCES OF (UN)SUSTAINABILITY AMONG INDIVIDUALS, HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES Household Analysis: Researching ′Green′ Lifestyles, A Survey Approach - Stewart Barr and Jan PrillwitzSocial Groups and Collective Decision-making: Focus Group Approaches - Anna DaviesLocal Lives and Conflict: Towards a Methodology of Dialogic Research - Mark GaravanPART THREE: COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON THE SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE OF CITIES, REGIONS AND NATION-STATESSustainable Development of What? Contesting Global Development Concepts and Measures - Su-ming KhooBiophysical Indicators of Society-Nature Interaction: Material and Energy Flow Analysis, Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production and the Ecological Footprint - Veronika Gaube, Helmut Haberl, Karl-Heinz ErbMapping for Sustainability: Environmental Noise and the City - Enda Murphy and Eoin A KingPART IV: TIME IN FOCUSEveryday Life in Transition: Biographical Research and Sustainability - Melanie Jaeger-ErbenTime and Sustainability - Henrike Rau and Ricca EdmondsonPART V: CURRENT DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE TRENDSResearching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Developments - Frances Fahy and Henrike Rau

Methods of Sustainability Research fills a large gap in the literature of sustainability and green issues from a social science perspective. While there is a lot of work on what un/sustainability is... what we have less of is the varieties of methodological approaches to researching un/sustainability... An important book demonstrating the further maturation of the social science study of un/sustainability.Dr John BarryQueens University Belfast, author of The Politics of Actually Existing Unsustainability