Page 53 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Aytaç Yüksel - Duygu Barut

of change of a country’s gross domestic product from year to year (Biede
2015:25). The concept of development on the other hand, is distinguished from
economic growth by the phenomenon of social and cultural progress existing
in this definition. In other words, sustainable development involves more than
economic growth in terms of using less materials and energy and looking out
the environmental and social impact (Bilgili 2017:561). Thus, while economic
growth can bring along cultural regression, poverty and social problems,
development also aims at the improvement in these issues (Klarin 2018:69).
Based on these expressions, sustainable development concept, which
emerged from the combination of the concepts of sustainability and
development and arouse as a response to the destruction on the environment
caused by the traditional understanding of development, can be defined as
a model of development that is at peace with the environment and can be
continued in the future (Dryzek 1997:129, Güneş and Coşkun 2004:85).
The perception of the sustainable development concept depends on the
holistic evaluation of the economic, environmental and social aspects. The
economic aspect of the concept makes it necessary to use natural resources with
consideration of intergenerational justice and to take into account economic
principles, considering that the natural resources are scarce. Applications
such as energy efficiency, reuse of raw materials and using less materials
can be evaluated in the economic direction of sustainable development
(Bilgili 2017:563). The social aspect of sustainable development refers to the
provision of social and individual needs such as education, health, equal use
of social services, gender equality and social participation (Güneş 2021:88)
and therefore the creation of a socially sustainable system (Kaya and October
2021:81). With the social dimension of sustainable development, it is aimed
that future generations will have at least the same or more rights as current
generations in the fields such as human rights, social rights and corporate
governance. In brief, the quality of society is targeted (Bilgili 2017:565-566).
Finally, the environmental aspect of sustainable development refers to the
implementation of an economic growth model that is compatible with the
environment. In other words, sustainable development is a development model
based on the use of existing environmental values and ensuring development
in this way without endangering the healthy and balanced environment that
future generations will need, provided that the bearing capacity of ecosystems
and the ability of environmental values to renew themselves are taken into
account, or establishing a balance between environmental, economic and
social goals ensuring that present and future generations live in a healthy
environment (Güneş 2 Dec 2021:82; Bilgili 2017:565).

38 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate