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UK cities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

23 July 2019 

by Dr Kristina Diprose, Research Associate, Localising the Sustainable Development Goals 
 

Putting people first: Why citizens are the lynchpin to achieving urban climate action

By Ryan Bellison, PhD Student 22nd July 2019

I, like most other researchers, am passionate about the topics I investigate. So when I was recently presented with an opportunity to participate in a TV programme, I was quite excited to share my work with a new audience.

Cultural Heritage and Sacred Sites in Kisumu: Inception Meetings

By Vicky Habermehl, Urban Institute, University of Sheffield 

In April 2019 the inception meetings for the project started with a series of visits across the Kisumu region. These were organised with communities in different cultural heritage and sacred sites. At each meeting organisers, communities or elders took the group around the site and discussed the key concerns, and organising strategies, as well as future plans. This provided a context for cultural heritage in the area, as well as meeting potential research partners and allowing for broader understandings of different cultural heritage challenges across the region.

Five things we’ve learned about Localising the Sustainable Development Goals

Kristina Diprose reflects on lessons from a recent workshop on Localising the Sustainable Development Goals, co-organised by Realising Just Cities and UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development.

On changing the world: learning and reflections from Gothenburg visit

For post five in our Trans-local Learning mini-series, Fiona Bottrill, Justice and Engagement Programme Manager in West Midlands Combined Authority, reflects on her experience visiting Gothenburg Region. Fiona writes:

Co-Production: Working with Local Democracy

In this fourth post for our Trans-local Learning mini-series, GMCA officer Anne Lythgoe reflects on a visit to Gothenburg Region.

Co-production: working with local democracy

Co-production is a way of designing and delivering public services in a more democratic fashion, giving citizens control over the day-to-day decisions which affect their lives. [source]

Greater Manchester’s 2019 Green Summit: A crossroads in the city-region's path towards climate change action?

Ryan Bellinson is a postgraduate researcher embedded in Greater Manchester's Low Carbon Hub. He reports from the 2019 Mayoral Green Summit:

Thinking Sociologically in Turbulent Times

By Tim May, University of Sheffield

Thinking Sociologically in Turbulent Times

By Tim May, University of Sheffield

From Greater Manchester to Barcelona and back again: lessons on co-production and digital democracy

To exemplify co-productive design principles means challenging the idea of an ‘end-user’ who receives a final report. It means rethinking what impact looks like and how it can be achieved. Our commitment is to engage decision-makers in a collaborative learning journey through informal spaces for exchange and international networking.  Trans-local learning is an important element in opening up spaces for learning and dissemination often reserved for academics to urban decision-makers.  Trans-localism is more than just cities learning from each other across national boundaries. It points to the need for meaningful interactions between networked individuals and groups of similarly thinking people beyond the local. What is at stake is a sense of belonging through shared perspectives and concerns that transcend local boundaries. 

In this third blog for our Trans-local Learning mini-series, Action Research Collective member Alice Toomer McAlpine reflects on her experience at the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy in Barcelona in November 2018.