The HORIZON EUROPE project Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST) will develop and operationalise novel participatory instruments for proactive and strategic citizen engagement in sustainability transitions.
The project combines design-led territorial tools with digital tools for citizen deliberation at scale. It addresses a defining societal and democratic challenge for Europe, which is to hear the voices of least engaged communities, especially in structurally weak regions dependent on energy-intensive industries. Building on the concept of ‘active subsidiarity’, the project will employ an innovative mix of research methods, and experimental citizen participation, to understand the determinants of participation in decision-making on sustainability transitions at different levels of government, and to develop effective policy recommendations for inclusive engagement of civil society.
Nordregio is responsible for Work package 5 ‘Regional Futures Literacy Labs: Testing design-led territorial instruments for participation’ which focuses on the development and implementation of place-based citizen engagement strategies in sustainability transitions. This shall be implemented through a series of experiments or workshops in four selected case study regions eligible for the EU’s Just Transition Fund. Nordregio is responsible for the Swedish case study region of Norrbotten, where citizen engagement experiments will be developed in close collaboration with the partner Hela Sverige Ska Leva Norrbotten as well as national, regional and local governance bodies and other civil society organisations.
