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Join our event series on just sustainability transitions!

11 April, 2022

 
Researchers across the Erasmus University Rotterdam are starting a collaboration to deepen, translate and connect knowledge and practice on just sustainability transitions. We invite everyone that is (or wants to be) working on the intersections of justice, sustainability and transformative change, to join our international event series.
 
Upcoming events

 
#JustSustainabilityTransitions
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 enable them not only to survive but also to thrive and flourish. Our current unjust and unsustainable 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. 
 
This event 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 thinkers and doers across the world that strive to understand and facilitate just sustainability transitions.
 
Inviting an international and diverse audience 
Are you a researcher, student, activist, entrepreneur, policy-maker, otherwise critical thinker and/or engaged citizen? And do you (want to) work on the intersections between justice, sustainability and transformative change? Join our international event series!
 
Five pressing questions on the agenda 
The event series is fuelled by the following questions for action and action research:

  1. How do just sustainability transitions manifest in practice in cities, towns and communities across the world? 
  2. What are synergies and tensions between ecological sustainability and social justice in specific domains like energy, food, mobility and housing?
  3. How do grassroots organisations, governments and enterprises strive for just sustainability through technological and social innovation? 
  4. How do initiatives for just sustainability collaborate locally and globally in translocal networks and social movements? 
  5. How are power relations challenged and/or reproduced in just sustainability transitions?  

 
Not just online lectures
Learning, interacting and dialogue are central to all our events. Each event includes 1-4 speakers from diverse backgrounds who give short talks (5-30 minutes) followed by interactive discussion using break-out groups and other participatory facilitation through e.g. World Café and Art of Hosting. Specific formats will include:  

  • Action research talks – where research, action & politics meet!
  • Celebrating & sharing publications (articles, guides, books, websites etc.)
  • Movie nights with documentaries or other films
  • … and experimentation with other formats

All events are free of charge but pre-registration is required (via specific event page). 
 
Partners
We are a group of researchers across the Erasmus University of Rotterdam that share an interest in just sustainability transitions. The webinar series is a collaboration between the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Vital Cities & Citizens (VCC), Global Social Challenges (GSC) and the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (ESSB). Specific events may involve additional partners. 
 
Illustrations by Carlotta Cataldi & Menah Wellen