Exploring Intergenerational Equity in Context: a Conversation with Residents of the Botkyrka Municipality
On May 28th, our project team from Södertörn University, in collaboration with the Department of Youth Affairs of the Botkyrka Municipality (Sweden), hosted a workshop titled “Intergenerational Equity in Urban Contexts.” Held at Hans Stahles v.15, plan 1, in the Konferensrum Stora Dialogen, this event brought together demographically diverse groups of local residents to discuss an intergenerational perspective.
Understanding Intergenerational Equity
Intergenerational equity is a concept that emphasizes fairness and justice in the distribution of resources, benefits, and burdens across different generations — both present and future (Lumer, 2009). It necessitates long-term planning and decision-making that considers the needs of future generations, ensuring that our actions today do not compromise their ability to thrive.
In the context of urban governance and spatial planning, this means creating cities that are sustainable, resilient, and inclusive for all age groups (García-Antúnez et al., 2023; Nelischer and Loukaitou-Sideris, 2023). The urgency of undertaking research on intergenerational equity in urban environments is accentuated by ongoing environmental challenges, such as climate change, and the rapid growth of urban populations.
Yet, while there is now a growing interest in intergenerational equity at the level of international policymaking, particularly at the level of United Nations, which could be connected to the last wave of young activists asking hard questions about the future that will be left for them, there is still limited research into how this topic is appearing and being discussed at the local level of planning and city-making.
In our project, as part to Workign Package Four, we set to study how planners and other practitioners consider questions of intergenerational equity as part of their day-to-day work. Team members were busy with semi structured interviews with Swedish planners and also have undertaken a narrative review of literature. The outcomes that emerge from that work are summarized into a framework that brings together some of the key aspects of interest that ammered to matter most at a local level of planning.
Aligned with our aim to develop inquiry with consideration of current social issues and in close contact with social actors who shape and are influenced by such real-world circumstances, we set out to organize a workshop with local actors. During that we sought to use the framework developed under the working package four to discuss locally relevant topics around intergenerational equity. Specifically, we collaborated with the Department of Youth Affairs to discuss intergenerational equity in the context of the Botkyrka municipality. The conversation, facilitated by our colleague Sofia Lundmark, involved selected groups of residents during a 2-hour workshop.
The Importance of Cross-Sector Collaboration
The outcomes that emerged from the workshop highlight the critical need for collaboration across various sectors, from urban planning to youth affairs, and for these collaborations to have a long-term perspective on locally relevant matters. Participants agreed that cooperation is essential for addressing the multifaceted challenges of intergenerational equity. This, however, is not always smooth since public officers operate under different circumstances and have varying opportunities to set up cross-sectoral collaborations. These include varying degrees of political support, access to resources, and opportunities for training
Workshop Highlights
During the event, we reflected on the specific challenges faced by Botkyrka as a multi-cultural urban area with a specific socio-demographic structure, and considered further contextual aspects that characterize this municipality. Participants engaged in discussions that sought to:
- Understand ongoing challenges with intergenerational equity in Botkyrka.
- Reflect on the reasons behind these challenges.
- Consider actionable steps the municipality can take to address these issues.
- Test an intergenerational equity framework for use in urban planning.
The workshop successfully distilled core themes and questions that require further research to advance our understanding of contemporary environmental governance. These are summarized in the event report that will be published on this site here:
Ensuring intergenerational equity is not only a moral imperative but also a practical necessity for the well-being of future urban populations. The workshop was very insightful and a step towards refining a citizen-centric intergenerational equity framework and it helped to see into the steps that could be taken by the local government in their efforts to work on some of the municipality’s main challenges. We look forward to continuing this important work and invite others who share this interest to get in touch and join the debate on how cities can best address the needs and rights of both present and future generations.
If you are interested to have more information please contact the project coordinator Romina Rodela at romina.rodela@sh.se
Acknowledgements
This collaboration was made possible thanks to the Department of Youth Affairs of the Botkyrka Municipality whom we want to tank very much for thier time and efforts. We want to express our appreciation to members of the Unga Stadsutvecklare project; Enes Bayar, Sofia Aucapina Hernandez, Fatima Bulduk, and Maria Mankaryous for joining and collaborating with us on the hands-on activity. We also greatly appreciate the collaboration of unit manager and project manager from the municpality Public Works Unit (Samhällsbyggnadsförvaltningen) who joined us at the workshop.
References
García-Antúnez, O., Maurer, M.L., Gulsrud, N.M., Lundmark, S. and Rodela, R., 2023. The contradictions of youth participation for intergenerational justice in urban environmental planning. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 5, p.1250830
Lumer, C. (2009). Climate change, intergenerational justice and development. Int. Just. Rev. 3, 28. doi: 10.24357/igjr.3.3.491
Nelischer, C., & Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (2023). Intergenerational Public Space Design and Policy: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Planning Literature, 38(1), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/08854122221092175
