Introduction to the course with Bo Fritzbøger, Associate Professor in History at the University of Copenhagen. The course provides an understanding of the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ – how it emerged and which ideas, traditions, visions and challenges are embedded in the concept – in order to bring out its transformative potential. In module 1, we’ll look into the conceptual history of sustainability and sustainable development within the UN system and in a broader global context. In module 2, we’ll look into ideas about what it is to be human and how human makes societies, and how societies turn into systems of economy, politics, and so on. In module 3, we'll focus at the relation between humans and nature, between society and environment, and how that kind of imaginaries impact how we act. Finally, in module 4, we'll look into matters of time and change. Who is going to make changes and how change comes about at all?