Mark Swilling is Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development in the School of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch, Visiting Professor at the Universities of Sheffield and Utrecht, and Bass Scholar at Yale University (2018). He is Academic Director of the Sustainability Institute (www.sustainabilityinstitute.net) and Co-Director of the Stellenbosch Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (http://www0.sun.ac.za/cst/). He co-authored with Eve Annecke "Just Transitions: Explorations of Sustainability in an Unfair World" (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2012), co-edited with Adriana Allen and Andreas Lampis "Untamed Urbanism" (New York and London: Routledge, 2016), co-edited with Josephine Musango and Jeremy Wakeford "Greening the South African Economy" (Cape Town: Juta, 2016) and was the lead author of the report "Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is Being Stolen" (Stellenbosch University and University of the Witwatersrand, 2017). He is a member of UN Environment's International Resource Panel acting as Coordinator of the Cities Working Group (http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/) and of the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. He is co-lead author of "The Weight of Cities: Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization", to be published in 2018 by the International Resource Panel, and is currently working on a book provisionally entitled "Just Transitions in a Complex World: Reflections of an Enraged Incrementalist." He was co-author with Ivor Chipkin of "Shadow State: Politics of Betrayal" published by Wits University Press in 2018.
View Mark Swilling's publications on Google Scholar
Contributed to the following reports
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The Weight of Cities
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shift future urbanization on to a more environmentally sustainable and socially just path. The Weight of Cities suggests a new approach to focus on low-carbon, resource-efficient, inclusive cities.
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City-Level Decoupling
Most resource consumption takes place in cities. How a city is designed shapes how its inhabitants use transport, energy and water, and dispose of waste. The challenge is to build vibrant cities with reduced resource use and environmental impacts.
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Assessing Global Land Use
This report examines the impacts of global trends - population growth, urbanization, changes in diets and consumption behaviours - on global land use, considering biodiversity, the supply of food, fibre and fuel, and resource security.
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Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth
We are using unsustainable amounts of the Earth’s natural resources. We need to improve the rate of resource productivity (“doing more with less”) faster than the economic growth rate. This is the notion behind “decoupling”.