Social Sustainability: Linking Research to Policy and Practice
Dr Andrea ColantonioOxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD)
Oxford Brookes University
'Sustainable Development - a Challenge for European Research' , 26-28 May 2009, Brussels
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Today’s presentation
1. Background
2. Social Sustainability Theory and Definition
3. Theory-Policy Linkages
4. Assessment Methods and Practice
5. Metrics
6. Conclusions
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Background
The paper draws upon our EIBURS (European Investment Bank University Research Sponsorship Programme) study
Three year research project examining ‘best practices’ to measure and monitor socially sustainable urban regeneration (e.g. assessment methods, metrics etc.)
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/be/oisd/sustainable_communities/
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Why is social sustainability important?
• Emerging concept although least studied and often overlooked dimension of Sustainable Development
• At the heart of the sustainable communities agenda (Bristol Accord, 2005)
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• the social preconditions for sustainable development or the need to sustain specific structures and customs in communities and societies? (Sach, 1999)
• the finality of development whilst economic and environmental sustainabilities are both goals of sustainable development and instruments to its achievement (Assefa and Frostell, 2007)?
• Is it an end state? or a socio-economic process?
What is Social Sustainability?
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• Fuzzy understanding of the concept and no general agreement over its definition
Definitions of Social Sustainability
… how individuals, communities and societies live with each other and set out to achieve the objectives of development models, which they have chosen for themselves taking also into account the physical boundaries of their places and planet earth as a whole…
Our definition:
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Social Sustainability Key Themes and Domains
EmergingTraditional
Basic needs, including Housing
Education and skillsEquityEmployment Human rights PovertySocial justice
Demographic change (ageing and international migration)
Empowerment, Participation and AccessIdentity, Sense of Place and CultureHealth and SafetySocial mixing and cohesionSocial CapitalWell being, Happiness and Quality of life
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Theoretical Research Approaches to Social Sustainability
Approach Main Authors Timeline
Equity and Human Rights (e.g. poverty studies and unequal development)
Sen (1985, 1992), Sachs (2001) Since mid-1980s
Capital Stock(e.g. Social Capital, Environmental capital equity and cities’ footprint)
Coleman (1988), Putnam (1993), Rees and Wackernagel (1996)
Since late 1980s
Institutional Theory and Governance (e.g. participation and stakeholder analysis)
Chambers (1992)Healey (1992)
Since early 1990s
Business and Corporate studies(e.g. Triple Bottom Line, Corporate Social Responsibility)
Elkington (1994) Since mid-1990s
Behavioural and Social Sciences(Well-being, health and happiness perspective)
Layard (2005)
Since late 1990s
Transition Theory Rotmans, Loorbach et al. (2006) 2000s
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Theory-Policy Linkages
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The linkages between theory and policy depend on
•Level of abstraction of the theory
•Feasibility and implementation costs
•Complexity and sophistication
•Nature of the dialogue and communication channels existing between researchers and policy-makers
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Social Sustainability Assessment
There is paucity of specific social sustainability assessment (SSA) methodologies
The assessment is often conducted
(i) through social impact assessment (SIA), which is extended to include other sustainability pillars
(ii) by ‘stretching’ Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to incorporate social issues
(iii) by broadening the definition of environment, and hence the thematic coverage of theme-specific assessment such as SIA Hacking and Guthrie (2007)
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The scope of SIA content has widened since the 1990s, however,
• limited methodological information
• there is insufficient analysis of the links between socio-economic components
• quantification is limited and mainly focused on demographics, employment, services and facilities provision, and
• limited community engagement and reduced involvement of a wide range of stakeholders (Glasson and Wood, 2008)
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• Environmental Impact Assessment, since 1985 through Directives 85/337/EEC and 97/11/EC
• Strategic Environmental Assessment since mid 1990s and formally adopted in 2001 through the SEA Directive 2001/42/EC
• Sustainability Impact Assessment, introduced by DG trade in 1999
• EU Impact Assessment System introduced in 2003 to enhance the quality of the Commission regulatory activity
Recent Sustainability Assessment-Related Legislation in the EU
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Social Sustainability Metrics
• Early emphasis on basic needs vs recent attention towards governance, representation and other institutional factors
• Trade-offs: technical weights vs recent emphasis on ‘sound judgement’, as well as leadership and communication skills (Egan, 2004).
• Reemergence of ‘community’ and the ‘local level’
• Shift from purely statistics-based indicators toward hybrid sets of indicators that mix quantitative data and qualitative information
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Social Sustainability Indicators
EmergingTraditional
StaticMainly QuantitativeProductDescriptiveMono-dimensionalTarget orientedTop down selection
Intergenerational with uncertaintyHybridProcessStrategicMulti-dimensionalPrinciples and Objectives drivenDeliberative and reiterative selection
Housing &Environment
Sustainability Assessment
Uncertainty Principle
Equity and Human Rights
Capital Stock
PracticeMethods, Themes and Indicators
PolicyPrinciples and Objectives
TheoryApproaches
Institutional Theory and Governance
Business and
Corporate studies
Behavioural and Welfare
Economics
Transition Theory
Intra- and inter-Generational
Equity
Protection and Promotion of Health and
Safety
Recognition and
Preservation of Diversity
PrecautionaryPrinciple
Education Employment DemographyHealth and
Safety
Social mixing/
cohesion
Identity,Image,
Heritage Well-being
Empowerment,Participation,
Access
Social Sustainability
Social Sustainability Assessment Framework (SSAF)(not included in the paper)
Draft of © Colantonio (2009)
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Conclusions
Emerging ‘soft’ themes are becoming central to the social sustainability debate, together with traditional ‘hard’ themes
Future growing importance of softer themes as societies become more affluent and less worried about basic needs
Importance of principles, objectives, themes and indicators for policy-making
Need for a systematic study of the linkages between theory, policy and practice at EU level
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Contacts
Dr Andrea ColantonioEmail: [email protected]
Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD)Oxford Brookes University
United Kingdom