Well-being, Sustainability and Social Development

1. Introduction.- 2. Appreciations.- 3. The Dutch Case.- 4. Method and Theory.- 5. The Big Picture .- 6. Residual Issues.- 7. Suggestions for future research.

Prof. dr. ir. Harry Lintsen (1948) is professor emeritus of history of technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology and member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. He has been the chief editor of the six volume book series on the history of technology in the Netherlands in 19th century and chairman of the editing board of the seven volume book series on the history of technology in the Netherlands in 20th century. Based on these works he wrote Made in Holland a history of technology of the Netherlands 1800-2000. Other important research domains of prof. Lintsen is the historical development of the Dutch knowledge infrastructure in the twentieth century. From 2010 to 2017 he has been the project leader of the research project Historical Roots of the Dutch Sustainability Challenges, 1850-2010. The research project studies the sustainability developments of the Netherlands from a long term perspective. The book Well-Being, Sustainability and Social Development, The Netherlands, 1850-2050 published by Springer (2018) is the synthesis publication of this project.
Dr. ir. Frank Veraart (1970) is an assistant professor history of technology at the School of Innovation Sciences. He graduated in Technology and Society in 1995, and obtained a PhD in history of Technology in 2008 at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He studies the historical development of sustainability trade-offs in transnational resource chains. International trade influences well-being and sustainability (social, economic and ecologic) at places of excavation, production and consumption. Frank studies the origins and historical development of the resources chains and its local's impacts on sustainability and well-being. Furthermore Frank has expertise in history of mobility, spatial planning and computing. He was co- editor of Cycling Cities: The European Experience (Stichting Historie der Techniek, 2016) and contributed to the books Jos Arts et. al. Builders and Planners

"This work should be read as a groundbreaking model of applied history that addresses a target audience far beyond the scholarly community. Such target groups include stakeholders in the political realm, who long for sound expertise from the humanities on the seminal question, how to transition to a society that does justice to both well-being and sustainability in the broadest sense." (Helmuth Trischler, Technology and Culture, Vol. 61 (3), 2020)