Attempting to develop processes for the formulation of sustainable development policy is imperative in contemporary society. Ecological economics offers the opportunity to consider the integration of economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects of problems in sustainable development policy processes. Practical engagement in the integration of these various facets of a problem requires a release from disciplinary and institutional rigidity. To enable this release requires an enhanced understanding of our cultural referents that have historically promoted these divisions and hierarchys in knowledge claims. This paper proposes that more effective sustainable development processes can be sought by collectively considering the key ecological economic concepts of sustainability, transdisciplinary and methodological pluralism. These concepts facilitate the critique of conventional policy processes, which then give way to a reformulated sustainable development policy process, termed the ‘discursive community’. Through genuine stakeholder collaboration, based on learning processes, the ‘discursive community’ is able to articulate strategy for sustainable development.