Understanding Governing Sustainable Futures: Our Research Approach

Posted by Candice

What’s the project all about? 

How do we make decisions about the future of our communities, especially when it comes to sustainability? From transport systems to food choices and energy use, changes designed to address climate and environmental challenges often spark disagreement and sometimes even conflict. The Governing Sustainable Futures (GSF) project studies how, when, and where these conflicts arise within local areas and how different processes can help resolve them fairly. 

Efforts to create more sustainable ways of living, such as new transport policies or land-use decisions, can sometimes lead to perceived or real benefits for some groups while disadvantaging others. These tensions can lead to so-called “flashpoints”, moments when debate becomes heated and divisions can become entrenched. The GSF project focuses on understanding these flashpoints: why a specific issue becomes controversial in different places, how different people understand and view an issue, and when an issue generates conflict. It is our hope that this knowledge then provides a foundation for developing better, more inclusive ways to govern sustainability transitions. 

How are we going about it? 

So, how do we go about “creating” this knowledge? To explore these questions, the project is organised into several interconnected work packages, each with its own set of aims and tools. Think of these as strands of research that draw on different tools and that each focus on a specific aspect of the problem but together build a bigger picture. One key strand involves studying real examples of sustainability conflicts across Devon. By looking closely at four geographically specific examples that also speak to wider national debates (the flashpoints), namely debates around transport, food and farming, coastal adaptation, and renewable energy infrastructures, our research aims to uncover how disagreements develop and what drives them.  

A key part of our project is to explore how different people and groups think about and experience sustainability-related issues in their places – and how we can disagree better. How do people from different parts of society experience these issues? What values or beliefs shape people’s perspectives? How would people like to be involved in decision-making processes? How could these disagreements be governed with empathy and sensitivity? These are just some of the questions we ask. To answer them, rather than treating different parts of society as passive subjects of research, the project works in partnership with them. Local, regional, and national organisations, policymakers, and residents help shape the research, including the examples selected for the flashpoints, and its outcomes. 

What have we done so far and what’s next? 

In practical terms, we started with extensive desk-based research, where we reviewed newspaper articles, and then conducted several interviews with a range of stakeholders on our key flashpoint themes. The aim was to learn more about how these flashpoints have emerged, how they are evolving, and where the lines of controversy lie. Next, we are taking this learning into a series of events, both with members of the public and with key stakeholders in each flashpoint topic. There will be reflection and learning between each flashpoint case. To start with, we are currently exploring conflicts around mobilities, focusing on low traffic neighbourhoods. This part of our research consists of two different components that we repeat for each flashpoint example:  

1. One component is a group-based discussion, what is called a focus group in research, the first one around the theme of low traffic neighbourhoods. Here, we are interested in hearing about the experiences and views of people in local communities who have been affected in some way by the controversial issue or who have views on it that they would like to share.  
2. The second part is an exploratory workshop series with a wide variety of stakeholders, from public bodies, private industry, and civil society and activism, that are in some way or another actively involved in the controversial issue. In this workshop series, we explore how such controversies could be approached in empathetic, constructive, and power-sensitive ways. We will be exploring a range of tools and methods that have been designed to help address conflict in group settings, and will be evaluating these as we go, and sharing this learning through this blog and other means.  

Working together 

As might already become clear, a defining feature of the GSF approach is “co-production”, using a so-called participatory approach. This means that we are working in close consultation with community partners, two community-group organisations that know Devon and its diverse people (Devon Communities Together and Resource Futures: Devon Community Action Group), and a wide range of public bodies. While doing so, we pay close attention to whose voices are heard and whose are often left out. In this way, we want to ensure that our research is relevant, considers different perspectives, and is developed collaboratively rather than imposed from above.  

Importantly, we do not think that, as academic researchers, we can create or uncover knowledge on our own. This collaborative approach helps ensure that findings are grounded in place-based lived experience and can be translated into practical guidelines. Eventually, the project will link these local experiences of the four examples with national policy discussions. Insights from specific places, such as Devon, can then be used to inform broader debates about how to govern sustainability across the UK. 

Author: Dr Magdalena Rodekirchen and the GSF Project Team