On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Dr. Samantha Mosier presented at the Second Annual Johnston Coastal Sustainability Symposium held by the Bald Head Island Conservancy. The talk, titled “Sustainability – Challenges in Policy and Planning with a Moving Target Concept”, focused on the challenges in having a singular definition for sustainability and resiliency that can be used as a launching point for public policy and planning.
Research to date has demonstrated considerable variation in how sustainability is defined, and it is important to consider how the language is defined surrounding policy action given the variation sustainability perceptions and the emergence of resiliency planning. Of related importance, less than half of all U.S. local governments have established sustainability plans and policies, and most communities that have adopted plans do not include performance measurements, a key dynamic to identifying progress.
Given the low number of communities that have adopted sustainability plans and included performance measurements, it is important to concept how these sorts of policies are geared to address long-term challenges.
