The Problems of Success Reconciling economic growth and quality of life in the South East

Article

This second working paper for the Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East focuses on the natural resource use and environmental problems that tend to emerge from the pursuit of 'unsustainable' economic growth.

This paper focuses on the environmental problems that tend to emerge from the pursuit of 'unsustainable' economic growth. Using the term 'sustainable' in its environmental rather than macroeconomic sense, the paper focuses on some of the issues that are perceived as representing the 'problems of success' - housing, transport, water and flood management and the environment (including pollution and access to green spaces and the countryside).

Julie Foley uses original research to show that if the South East continues its current rate of economic growth, quality of life will become increasingly difficult to maintain, and she recommends practical policies to overcome this problem.

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