Appropriate Technologies for Sustainable Human Development in International Cooperation

We are currently at a crucial moment in the history of sustainable human development. Innovative worldwide alliances are being forged in order to achieve the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs’ aim is to reduce inequality and ensure sustainable human development for everyone. These goals pertain to several dimensions, so a multidisciplinary approach is required to deliver the transformative change that humankind so desperately needs.

In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development’s Brundtland Report defined sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This and subsequent reports stressed how vital the preservation of the environment is for achieving sustainable development, and therefore for sustainable human development. Thus, it is necessary to study the effects that our societies’ ways of life have on the biosphere, and try to reduce the ecological footprint.

In order to achieve this, we need to think not only about clean technologies, but also about egalitarian technologies that allow sustainable development in different environments and cultural settings. Technologies that, when introduced in a specific location, generate a process of "appropriation or empowerment" that suits the needs, traditions, and capabilities of the local population, so they are able to maintain and replicate them efficiently and independently. The development of these “appropriate technologies”, carried out in a multidisciplinary way, requires a parallel process of cultural adaptation, which demands changes in formal and informal educational systems.

This Special Issue of Sustainability explores the state of the art in “appropriate technologies” and presents cutting edge research on new technologies and educational systems that aim to help to achieve the SDGs. It seeks to promote new research in technologies that address the lack of access to basic services in developing countries, to help to integrate technical, political, and social dimensions, and to stress the need for making technology a vehicle for human development.

This Special Issue will include a range of research on relevant technologies and infrastructures, such as eco-efficient materials and processes with a low carbon footprint, the use of clean energy, access to water and sanitation infrastructures, ICTs, processes of technological appropriation, training, education, and awareness.

We hope to create a platform for new lines of research and to identify critical points in local, national, and international cooperation agendas to help forge a transformative path.

Prof. Dr. Beatriz Rodríguez Soria
Prof. Dr. Marta Torralba Gracia
Guest Editors

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• appropriate technology
• sustainability development goals
• sustainable human development
• ecological footprint
• education for sustainable development
• eco-efficient materials and processes with a low carbon footprint