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: acolantonio@brookes.ac.uk

Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD)Oxford Brookes University

United Kingdom