The global market economy is built on a political institutional arrangement promoting free and open trade. The existing natural and human resources make up the basis for all productive activities. The dominating economy strive to reach efficient use of human and natural resources, by enhancing processes of spatial expansion and time-compression.   The conceptual argument in this paper takes its starting point in Hägerstrand´s traditional time-space model. It illustrates two conflicting perspectives the global market economic horizontal norm (expansion in space, compression in time) and the environmental sustainable vertical processes (expansion over time in limited spaces). These two norms head in different directions and environmental sustainability is therefore conflicting with the common meaning of economic development.   In a time-spatial perspective, a sustainable use of resources is spatially limited, and extended over time. A development process, in terms of environmental sustainability, relies on local resource use and extension in time, to limit the use of external input of energy. This process is the opposite to what today is seen as economic development (growth) that compresses time and expands in space, to reach the most favourable comparative advantages.    The monetary market economy is a political construction. What activities and resources that are given a price on the market depend on the istitutional arrangements of property rights, prices and legal structures. Our conceptual conclusion is that the current political construction of the economy is "in-complete" and thus creates and fosters a mis-match with environmental pre-conditions. The political system can have the capacity to use the tools and power to harmonise economic development with environmental sustainability, locally, nationally and globally.