Transport and Mobility
Discover how low-traffic neighbourhoods and active travel schemes, like Exeter’s Active Streets, have sparked both support and resistance.
Welcome
Governing Sustainable Futures (GSF) is a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) that seeks to uncover why certain environmental topics spark controversy and how we can improve discussions around these pressing issues.
Delivering sustainable transitions requires modifications in governance structures, regulatory frameworks, and fundamental changes to how we live and work. Communities, organisations, interest groups, businesses, and the public often approach environmental challenges from diverse viewpoints. The outcomes of sustainability interventions can be either advantageous or adverse depending on their perspectives, altering current norms and challenging both individual and collective identities which may contribute to ongoing disputes, disagreements, and conflicts.
The project seeks to better understand through a place-based lens the moments when local debates become heated (so-called – ‘flashpoints’).
The research focuses on four recent, ongoing, or anticipated controversies in Devon:
- Transport and Mobility
- Renewable Energy Sites and Associated Infrastructure
- Food and Farming
- Coastal Erosion and Sea-Level Rise
The project further explores how these locally rooted issues influence and are in turn shaped by national conversations and policies regarding the pursuit of sustainable futures.
To understand these challenges, GSF brings together social scientists, strategic stakeholders and community partners in Devon and beyond to evaluate new, fairer ways of working through disagreements about sustainability and environmental challenges.
The team works closely with community groups, councils, and national organisations to develop and test practical approaches that respect everyone’s voice.
GSF works with social scientists, strategic, and community partners in Devon and beyond to test and evaluate fairer approaches to understanding disagreements that respect all perspectives.
By focusing on local ‘flashpoints” the project aims to create practical guidance that will support governments and communities across the UK to have more constructive discussions and explore protentional approaches that could be applied to other challenges, respecting the uniqueness of place. We intend these lessons to guide better policies and practices locally and nationally for a more sustainable future.
Renewable Energy Projects and Associated Infrastructure
Unpack tensions around the deployment of renewable energy and associated infrastructure — where renewable energy meets environmental and community concerns.
Food and Farming
Exploring how plans for healthy and sustainable eating are generating extensive levels of socio-political contestation.
Coastal Erosion and Sea-Level Rise
Explore how rising seas and coastal erosion are reshaping communities, landscapes, and local debates — with a focus on Sidmouth and the Jurassic Coast.
