7c. Advocacy and public participation
Track Chairs:
Simon Bell. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Faculty, Open University, UK. simon.bell@open.ac.uk
Henrikke Baumann. Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Henrikke.Baumann@chalmers.se
Goals and objectives of the track
Change for sustainability requires 'All hands on deck' but things are not straightforward. Who's hands and which deck? Facts are contested and in the ‘post-truth' world confusion abounds.
Of course, at this time advocacy, activism and related forms of engagement are even more critical, but remain under-researched (e.g. Khoo 2012, Seyfang & Longhurst 2013, Yanacopolous 2015). Actions for sustainability in this 'political space' and 'public sphere' can be conflictual and at times even dangerous (cf. The fate of Honduran environmentalists).
People reach out for ‘fixes' and Public Participation is often put forward as the preferred means for public engagement. But, in practice public participation is often difficult to achieve, ambiguous in process and questionable in terms of outputs. Clearly we need to keep on working on it.
What is sought? Truth in a post truth world? A deeper science of and by the citizen? The development of New Civics? Public sector engagement? NGO leadership? All can end up with the public seen as passive recipients of laudable efforts on the part of social activists. Does this work?
This year track 7c seeks to mine this rich vein. Among other things we are interested in receiving papers that:
- Seek clarity in the role and impact of public agency
- Evidence the organization of social action
- Demonstrate results of the science of the citizen, e.g. environmental monitoring
- Provide outcomes from the development of New Civic forms
- Yield critical reflections on the results of facilitation"
References:
Khoo, Su-ming. "Re-interpreting the citizen consumer: Alternative consumer activism and the rights to health and development." Social Science & Medicine 74.1 (2012): 14-19.
Seyfang, Gill, and Noel Longhurst. "Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development." Ecological Economics 86 (2013): 65-77.
Yanacopulos, Helen. "Political Spaces of INGOs." International NGO Engagement, Advocacy, Activism. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015. 21-34.
You may submit your abstract by visiting the Ex Ordo abstract submission system (you will be required to setup an account first): http://isdrs2017.exordo.com
Simon Bell is Professor of Innovation and Methodology at the Open University in the UK. Prior to this he was Director of the Bayswater Institute in London. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has held Visiting Professor positions in Japan and the UK and was for a while Visiting Professor at Capgemini Management Consulting group. Simon has a life long fascination with ideas and his career has progressed from ICT to Management to Measurement and Metrics to Sustainability Indicators to Sustainable Development to Social Participation to Psychodynamics to the study of Fear and Climate Change. He is currently studying the systemic nature of consciousness. With 11 books on his CV Simon has a keen interest in longer forms of output but he has also contributed to various pod casts, videos and graphic forms of output including (currently) a comic (graphic novel) on Project Fear.
Henrikke Baumann is Associate Professor at Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. She has an interest in flows and all things 'life cycle', as these cross boundaries and escape disciplinary categorization. Product flows cross both sector and national boundaries, enabled by people far and apart without them knowing much about each other's worlds. She is the author of international best-selling textbook 'Hitch Hiker's Guide to LCA' and also an adept videographer. Her latest research video is 'Reversing the flows' about a clean-up of marine debris on beaches up in the Arctic. To her institutional achievements count the founding of the professional organization International Industrial Ecology Professionals.
