Researchers across the Erasmus University are starting a collaboration to deepen, translate and connect knowledge and practice on just sustainability transitions. In this publication series, we explore the intersections of justice, sustainability and transformative change. Want to stay up to date about new publications? Sign up for our mailing list and/or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
Just sustainability transitions are processes of change that aim to improve the quality of life – of present and future generations, of all humans and other living beings – and enabling them not only to survive but also to thrive and flourish. As many living beings survive and thrive at the cost of other living beings, the systems that we are part of inevitably become a stage for fierce and deeply political power struggles over life and death.
Justice and sustainability are deeply contested ideas and cause for much academic debate. At the same time, there are countless initiatives that are implementing and experimenting with just sustainability in practice in their direct environment. From the right to housing movement to urban farming initiatives, basic income experiments and participatory budgeting, energy cooperatives and car-free streets, from local initiatives to global movements and networks, citizens across the world are searching for ways to make systems, cities and communities both more just and more sustainable.
Purpose and form beyond academic publications
This publication series aims to deepen, translate and connect knowledge and practice on just sustainability transitions. We strive to contribute to informed academic and public debates on (in)justice and (un)sustainability, by gathering, highlighting and celebrating the work of students, thinkers and doers across the world that strive to understand and facilitate just sustainability transitions. We aim to experiment with different forms of writing and sharing that move beyond academic journal publications, so as to make the writing more quickly accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. The formats we include are:
- Summaries (3-6 pages) of theses, articles, reports and books: we invite researchers, practitioners and especially students to share summaries of their theses, articles, reports and/or books on issues that are relevant to just sustainability transitions
- Event reports: short reports of events we organized related to just sustainability transitions and sustainable just cities.
- Blogs and interviews: we experiment with a variety of formats, from expert interviews and mini-guides, to opinion pieces and literature reviews.
Five pressing questions on the agenda
The publication series is fuelled by the following questions for action and action research:
- How do just sustainability transitions manifest in practice in cities, towns and communities across the world?
- What are synergies and tensions between ecological sustainability and social justice in specific domains like energy, food, mobility and housing?
- How do grassroots organisations, governments and enterprises strive for just sustainability through technological and social innovation?
- How do initiatives for just sustainability collaborate locally and globally in translocal networks and social movements?
- How are power relations challenged and/or reproduced in just sustainability transitions?
An international and diverse audience
We target a wide and international audience, including researchers, students, activists, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, otherwise critical thinkers and engaged citizens who are interested in the intersections between justice, sustainability and transformative change. You can follow the publication series by signing up for our mailing list and/or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
Publications
Down below, you can find an overview of summaries of theses, articles, reports and books related to this research
“Where do I belong?” Labour market practices of foreign-born women in the Netherlands and Sweden
Vaishali Joshi, MSc
Foreign-born women (refugee and family reunification migrants of non-EU origin) face high rates of unemployment and underemployment in the Netherlands and Sweden. In her master’s thesis, Vaishali Joshi uses concepts of ‘field’ and ‘capital’ from Bourdieu’s practice theory to understand labour market practices of foreign-born women. She shares her most important findings in this summary.
From “they don’t take me seriously” to “we like to shake things up”
Towards a Bourdieusian understanding of (non-)participation in citizens’ initiatives among less-educated citizens
Vivian Visser, Phd candidate
Citizens with less educational credentials are underrepresented in citizens’ initiatives. This essay summarizes the study that aims to understand this underrepresentation, drawing inspiration from the sociologist Bourdieu. The research shows the relevance of the concepts ‘feelings of entitlement’ and a ‘taste for politics’ for understanding different forms of (non-)participation among less-educated citizens. These insights may inspire governments and other actors on how to enhance the democratic potential of citizens’ initiatives.
Click here to download the full article
Three recommendations for translating Living Streets to your city
Isa Laurent, MSc
What if citizens, civil servants, and entrepreneurs in your city would temporarily transform their street into the social and sustainable street of their dreams? What if their Living Street would contribute to sustainable mobility, energy, or livability? The Living Street experiments originated from the city of Ghent, but have been translated into various cities across Europe. This blog aims at providing further insight into what Living Streets are, and at sharing three recommendations on how to successfully translate them to your urban context.
Local money, local food
How community currencies can contribute to more just and sustainable food systems
Magdalena Pitzer, MSc student
It is a wild idea - and an even wilder fact - that communities can make their own money: so called community currencies. Their social and economic impacts have already been widely researched, but some questions remain. Like, how are they connecting to local food systems? And what role does their design play in this?
Click here to download the full article
Fighting from within—nudging the corporate to get things done
Franco Crudi, MSc
What if large corporations, in collaboration with other actors, could challenge the current unjust and unsustainable energy systems? In order to achieve such radical changes, technological innovations are not enough, we also need new ways of doing, thinking, and organizing, or put it simply, social innovations.
Click here to download the full article.
Transnational municipal networks and their contributions to and challenges in working on sustainable urban development
Lara Hendrikx
Sustainability is a comprehensive term and covers a wide range of approaches and ideas. It offers endless opportunities to learn and exchange. But how to organize this exchange? Who gets a seat at the table? And how do you keep this exchange useful for all participants?
Click here to download the full article.
- Urban Environmental Justice & Green Gentrification with Dr. Panagiota Kotsila and Prof. Dr. Isabelle Anguelovski
- Diversifying Power! Energy & Climate Justice with Jennie C. Stephens & others
- What does a just transition to solve climate change by 2030 look like?
- Interactive webinar on Social Enterprise: Interdisciplinary Views across Erasmus University
- Interactive webinar on “Sustainable and Just Cities"
- Movie Night on #SustainableJustCities: Community stories from around the world with “Tomorrow”
- Movie Night on #SustainableJustCities: The Right to Housing with “PUSH – The Film”
- Webinar Making online meetings Just and Sustainable
- Power Literacy for Just and Sustainable Transitions
- Translocal Solidarity for Just Sustainability Transitions
- How to bring Food Justice on the menu in Urban Food Futures?
- Transforming the energy system by diversifying power - An interview with Prof. Jennie C. Stephens
- Bridging Knowledge for Sustainable & Just Cities: Sharing the UrbanA Resources
- Call for Co-creation: Wiki on Sustainable Just Cities
- The city must change: “It’s time for sustainable and just alternatives”
- Six ways to learn about creating just and sustainable cities
- The art of connecting online: 7 social innovation insights
- A bifurcated approach to labour market integration for different migrant groups in Rotterdam
- Guide for Virtual Hosting
- Climate Change Networks and City-to-City Learning by Elena Marie Enseñado
- A Just and Effective Wind Energy Transition: Six Insights from Denmark and the Netherlands by Audrey Wientjes & Lina le Pelley
- Imagining Just Transitions in Postindustrial Secondary Cities by Elena Marie Enseñado & Naomi Schrandt
Other resources
- Event series on #JustSustainabilityTransitions
- Mailing list #JustSustainabilityTransitions
Partners
We are a group of researchers across the Erasmus University of Rotterdam that share an interest in just sustainability transitions. The publication series is organised by the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) and the Vital Cities & Citizens (VCC) initiative of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, in collaboration with several other organisations and initiatives the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (ESSB) and the UrbanA project on Sustainable Just Cities.
Vital Cities and Citizens
With the Erasmus Initiative Vital Cities and Citizens, Erasmus University Rotterdam wants to help improve the quality of life in cities. In vital cities, the population can achieve their life goals through education, useful work and participation in public life. The vital city is a platform for creativity and diversity, a safe meeting place for different social groups. The researchers involved focus on one of the four sub-themes:
• Inclusive Cities and Diversity
• Resilient Cities and People
• Smart Cities and Communities
• Sustainable and Just Cities
VCC is a collaboration between Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB), Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) and International Institute of Social Studies (ISS).