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Sustainable development and sustainability have been fostering interdisciplinary research and policy development for two decades. Likewise, positive psychology and happiness studies are stimulating interdisciplinary research with implications for policy and practice. O'Brien (2005) defined sustainable happiness as the pursuit of happiness that does not exploit other people, the environment, or future generations. Bringing sustainability and happiness together within the concept of sustainable happiness holds significant possibilities for individual, community, and global well-being. Sustainable happiness is discussed with respect to liveable communities, child-friendly planning, and education.
Keywords: sustainable happiness, liveable communities, infrastructures of well-being
Twenty years ago, the Brundtland Commission published its report, Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), which outlined concerns regarding the trajectory of development and the harmful impact of those development patterns for all Ufe on the planet, including Ufe that was yet to be born. It coined the now famous definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (p. 24). By 1992, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit, the first United Nations (UN) conference that combined issues of environment and development. The 40-chapter Earth Summit document that emerged, Agenda 21 (UN, 1993), presented challenges and plans for action around biodiversity, trade, debt, deforestation, poverty, education, agriculture, desertification, human settlements, consumption, and much more.
There was a surge of optimism and activity in the wake of the Earth Summit. The concepts of sustainable development and sustainability became the subject of academic and political discourse, entering the rhetoric and politics of most nations, municipalities, and universities of the North and South.1 While progress has been made, shifts in policy and practice are far short of the transition required for a sustainable future.
Positive psychology and happiness studies have tremendous untapped potential for contributing to sustainability. Seligman (2002) sees positive psychology as the study of positive emotions, positive traits, and positive institutions. For the purposes of this article, happiness studies include research from positive psychology as well as other disciplines such as economics, business, health, and education that investigate happiness, subjective well-being, and life satisfaction (Diener & Seligman, 2004; Helliwell, 2005; Luthans, 2002; Noddings, 2003).
In a world...