Where we live next
A new sustainability blog series from the British Academy
“Places matter to people. They shape the way we live our lives, feel about ourselves and the relationships we have with others. Moreover places — not least because of their history, character and physical form — contribute significantly to personal and societal wellbeing.”
– from the British Academy Where we live now report
The UK has the potential to be a global leader on environmental sustainability, having set ambitious targets for net zero carbon emissions. But getting there will require a place-based approach that incorporates more wide-ranging questions about community, health and wellbeing, justice and equality, education and skills, housing, public services, and employment, among others.
To address this, the British Academy’s public policy team is embarking on a new programme of work that focuses on factors necessary to ensure a truly sustainable future for the UK. It will explore how a place-sensitive approach to sustainability policy could more effectively and equitably transition society towards a sustainable way of living.
The importance of place in policymaking is not unfamiliar to the Academy — in 2016 we published ‘Where we live now’, a set of reports on place-based policymaking. The series looked at what we can learn from research in the humanities and social sciences in understanding what place means to people and assessed whether policymaking could better take into account how people feel about where they live. Our new sustainability programme will build on this work, examining people-powered environmental sustainability policy solutions, to answer the question “Where do we live next?”
To amplify a range of diverse voices and perspectives in the environmental policy space, the British Academy has created an accompanying blog series to serve as a discussion hub for ideas, challenges and new perspectives on sustainability. The series aims to provide a compelling collection of voices from community and youth leaders, researchers, policy experts and more, to explore the subject of sustainability through the lens of place-based policymaking. Contributors will delve into topics relevant to the core themes of:
· the social, cultural, and educational factors affecting just transition
· the voices, spaces, and scales of environmental governance
· multidisciplinary insights on the delivery of a sustainable economy
If you would like to get involved, please register your interest to Charise Johnson at c.johnson@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
