Speaker: William Clark, PhD, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development in the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School.
Amartya Sen once said that “we need a vision of mankind not as patients whose interests have to be looked after, but as agents who can do effective things—both individually and jointly.” The former concept of people has long dominated discourses of sustainable development. But recently, frameworks for understanding sustainable development have begun to treat “people” in more nuanced and multi-dimensional ways. In this seminar, Dr. William Clark will sketch the state of play in this conceptual progress, discuss its implications for policy and research, and highlight some of the most problematic questions that remain about the role the people should play in our thinking about sustainability.
Dr. William Clark's research focuses on sustainability science: understanding the interactions of human and environmental systems with a view toward advancing the goals of sustainable development. He currently co-directs the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard. Clark is a member of the National Academy of Science. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize, the Humboldt Prize, the Kennedy School's Carballo Award for excellence in teaching, and the Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
