Abstract

The concept of Sustainable Development (SD) is introduced in the context of four socio-cultural paredigms. Next, a few relevant concepts and issues are discussed: "environmental use space", the delineation between SD and environmental quality, causality (or pressure-effect) chains, and the "unpterturbed" sustainable state. Simple simulation models support the analysis. Indicators for SD are reviewed and put in the context of interactive simulation models. Finally, three examples of operationalizing SD are given: the Lakeland-model, Meta-Image about greenhouse-effect, and a materials balance for Cadmium fluxes in the Netherlands.