Sustainability under negotiation
2025-01-14What happens when global and national sustainable development policies are managed in different local conditions? What agency and tools do municipalities and small local communities have in order to manage transition challenges and societal risks? These were questions on the agenda at a symposium organised by the Centre for Research on Sustainable Societal Transformation (CRS).
– This year’s CRS symposium was about how to handle big issues in a small context, says Moa Tunström, senior lecturer in human geography and director of CRS. Big issues of sustainability, justice, gender equality and risk manifest differently in the local context.
The role of civil society in a democracy
Keynote speaker was Susanne Wallman Lundåsen, docent in political science at Linköping University. She spoke about the role of civil society in building sustainable local communities and about resilience and resistance to change.
– By civil society we refer to non-profit associations and their communities, as well as different networks, says Susanne Wallman Lundåsen. They make up a central part of a democracy both nationally and internationally.
In Sweden, a large proportion of the population is involved in this type of context. It is estimated that roughly 70 percent is active in something that could be included in civil society.
– Civil society is an important resource in crises, when the public sector often has limited resources, says Susanne Wallman Lundåsen. In these situations, civil society forms a social infrastructure for mobilising resources and spreading information. It builds trust between people, which contributes to us feeling safe. There are of course challenges – especially in urban peripheries with strong segregation, trust in civil society can be weaker. The step to get involved can also be big in environments where fewer people are active. In rural areas, however, there are examples of civil society stepping in when the public sector pulls back, for example, if a preschool is closed down and people come together to create a collective solution.
Meeting place for Practitioners and researchers
The symposium gathered participants and speakers from both practice and research, and it . included a number of sessions highlighting sustainability challenges from a variety of perspectives. One of the sessions had a theme focusing on societal risks, local preparedness and the importance of collaboration when a crisis occurs, and the participants were invited to discuss crisis management and play the game Riskköping (Riskville), created by RiskLab at Karlstad University. Another session focused on climate change adaptation and planning, presenting three different examples of spatial and social planning practices for managing primarily flood risks. The examples looked at both very concrete things such as road profiles and physical barriers, but also at how slow and difficult efforts for change can be in both local municipalities and national state agencies. It is a challenge that transformation takes time, and to prioritize between local expansion and long-term climate change adaptation.
Another theme was sustainable urban planning and architectural policy. Since a few years back, Sweden has a national policy for the designed living environment and a growing number of municipalities have municipal architectural policies in place. The session included a discussion on norms and values embedded in this policy, as well as the view of what architecture is, being both art and engineering, and its role in sustainable urban planning, both preserving and developing the city.
In the programme there was also a session hosted by the Graduate School on Sustainable Societal Transformation. Linda Persson, doctoral student in risk and environmental studies, presented her thesis project, where she looks at what motivates people to become environmental activists.
– Our symposium should be a place for people to meet, network and exchange knowledge, says Moa Tunström. For researchers, the symposium is an opportunity to find out about relevant examples, and for practitioners it offers a chance to learn about new research, about local crisis management, sustainable urban planning, water-related challenges, etc. We're pleased that so many turned up to discuss these issues together.
What is negotiable?
The concluding panel discussion brought up conflicts of interest. For example, most people believe that renewable and fossil-free energy production is a very good thing. However, few people want to live next to a wind farm. It is not easy to transform the big sustainable development goals into local goals. It is about measures that contribute to increased or reduced quality of life, but that are desirable from a sustainability perspective either way. It raises the question of what is or should be negotiable, and how important the sustainable development goals truly are at different levels of society.





