Sustainability Science

Resources for research and teaching on sustainable development

Sustainable Development: A Course Linking Science with Practice

Open-access course materials exploring how peoples of an increasingly stressed planet can achieve better lives for themselves, their neighbors, and their posterity.

Capacity Building for Sustainable Development

The C4SD research project and seminar series. Exploring six strategic capacities for sustainable development through empirical research and practitioner dialogue.

The Sustainability Theorist

Essays on the conceptual foundations of sustainability science. Clarifying frameworks, untangling debates, and developing the theoretical tools the field needs.

Keeping Up with the Field

Strategies and resources for tracking new developments in sustainability science—journals, search strategies, key organizations, and active research programs.

This site is edited by Alicia C. Harley and William C. Clark as part of the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard Kennedy School.

The Sustainability Science Program began in 2006 to support research on how interactions between society and nature affect human well-being. Based at Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, it promotes university-wide, collaborative research projects that aim to meet our needs for water, energy, food, and health while also protecting the planet. For more on the program's history, initiatives, and people, visit the SSP page at Harvard Kennedy School.