BRINGING THE SOCIAL BACK IN SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

At the turn of the new millennium, Moulaert et al. published the book Globalization and Integrated Area Development in European Cities (Moulaert, 2000). One major conclusion discussed in this book was the significance of ‘grassroots democracy and the empowerment of local communities in delivering a social, economic, and cultural renaissance which meets the needs of the local population more effectively than the market-forces creed’ (Moulaert et al., 2010: back cover). Social innovation was in this book portrayed as a condition sine qua non of alternative local development (Moulaert, 2000: 66). This book and other contributions on social innovation and territorial development were generous in offering a variety of perspectives from which the decline and renaissance of neighbourhoods and cities could be examined (see other contributions to this book). We noted that, among all these perspectives, nature, environment, and sustainability concerns were being relegated to the backdrop.