By Chris Riedy

Keywords: sustainable development, definition, controversy, values, interiority, triple bottom line, holons, holarchy, quadrants, flatland, developmental levels

Sustainable development is often portrayed as the act of balancing economic, ecological, and social concerns; this “triple bottom line” approach to sustainable development is dominant in the corporate world. However, triple bottom line approaches, and most other popular approaches to sustainable development, concentrate on the exterior manifestations of development and exclude the interior dimensions of development. In other words, they focus on technological, economic, and institutional development while neglecting cultural and personal development. This paper develops a deeper and wider understanding of sustainable development, based on a more integral map of human possibilities. It argues that development is only sustainable if it integrates inner and outer development in both individual and collective forms.