Everyday Life-Environmentalism: Community Sustainability and Resilience in Asia

This book provides an introduction to the Japanese concept of life-environmentalism, Seikatsu-Kankyo Shugi, which emerged in the 1980s to study the adverse consequences of postwar industrialization on everyday life in communities. It offers a framework for understanding the agency of small communities in sustaining their lives and environments, with a variety of empirical case studies from Japan and other Asian countries. The book is suitable for upper undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and courses in environmental studies, sustainability, disaster mitigation, and regional development.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 05 December 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book offers a profound exploration into the Japanese concept of life-environmentalism, Seikatsu-Kankyo Shugi, which emerged in the 1980s as a collaborative research framework among Japanese social scientists studying the detrimental effects of postwar industrialization on daily life in communities. Life-environmentalism provides a valuable lens through which the agency of small communities in sustaining their everyday lives and living environments can be comprehended.

The book provides an in-depth overview of this approach, encompassing its intellectual foundations and core concepts, along with a diverse range of empirical case studies that examine environmental and sustainability issues in Japan and other parts of Asia. It also includes critical reflections on the approach in the context of contemporary sustainability challenges. The empirical topics covered in the book span a wide range, including local community responses to development projects, resource governance, disaster response and recovery, and historical environmental preservation. The chapters are contributed by leading researchers at the forefront of the field, offering a mere glimpse into the vast and rich literature that awaits further exploration and engagement in the future.

This book is an invaluable resource for upper undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers with a keen interest in environmental problems, sustainability, resilience, disaster mitigation and response, and regional development in Asian contexts, particularly Japan. It is well-suited for courses in anthropology, geography, sociology, urban and regional planning, political science, Asian studies, and environmental studies. By delving into the complexities of life-environmentalism, this book provides a deeper understanding of the interplay between human societies.

Weight: 725g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032027517