The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth discussion of the concept of sustainability in a historical and current perspective, which has been broadly used in the last two decades. It can be said that the concept of sustainability has undergone constant change over time, and that the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, in 1987 has substantially played an important role in this change. With this report, sustainability which is mainly focused on the protection of natural resources has left its place to sustainable development. Along with sustainable deve¬lopment, the concept of sustainability has become multidimensional. In fact, besides the environment, a wide range of areas from corporate sustainability in companies to tourism, to public finance, to finance has been of interest to sustainability. However, the multi-dimensi¬onal nature of sustainability has, at the conceptual level, made the concept overly complex. Nowadays, sustainability within the context of sustainable development has firstly been inst¬rumental in the integration of economic growth/development and environment, and it has also mediated the harmonization of economic life and environment. The fact that qualitative dimension, as well as the quantitative dimension of economic growth/development, is important has been also brought up to the agenda by sustainability. However, with the Brundtland report, attributing a multi-dimensional meaning to sustainability has formed a basis for everyone to make a different sense of their own from the concept. This has, in turn, made sustainability one of the most controversial concepts of our time.
Key words: Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Economic Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Fiscal Sustainability, Debt Sustainability.
JEL Codes: Q01, Q56, R11. Article Language: EnglishTurkish
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