Lecture
Liveable planet lunch meeting - The value of conflict in sustainability transitions
- Date
- Thursday 24 February 2022
- Time
- Series
- Liveable communities – Liveable Planet
- Location
- Online in MS Teams
You are invited to join us for the tenth lunch meeting of the Liveable Planet programme lunch series. This lunch meeting will be online (see Teams link at the bottom of this page).
Programme
12:00
Short introduction | all webcams on
12:05
Prof. Dr. Eefje Cuppen will take the stage for a short presentation, followed by an opportunity to discuss:
The value of conflict in sustainability transitions
Social conflicts such as controversies over the siting of renewable energy infrastructures are often perceived by policymakers as barriers to implementation, and opposition from citizens as Not-In-My-Backyard behavior. Such understandings are not only incorrect but also unproductive.
I will argue that there is value in social conflict in sustainability transitions, because of the inherent normative diversity and uncertainties of such transitions. Social conflict can be regarded a form of societal assessment: it articulates what is at stake for different stakeholders. In other words, it articulates public values. Such societal assessment interacts with formal assessment methods such as cost-benefit analyses or environmental impact assessment, which also assesses public values as to include these in decision-making. By approaching conflict as informal assessment, it can be used to make decision-making more inclusive.
Based on the notion of social conflict as a form of ‘self-organized participation’, I will discuss the limitations of invited participation. Asmaa Khadim, from the Faculty of Law, will reflect on Eefje Cuppens talk. Asmaa works as a postdoctoral researcher on socio-environmental conflicts in the context of the “institutions for conflict resolution” project. After this reflection we open up the discussion to the audience.
Liveable communities – Liveable Planet
The Liveable Planet programme is one of the eight interdisciplinary programmes that were launched at Leiden University in 2020
Leiden’s Liveable Planet programme aims to combine scientific, policy, socio-cultural and historical/archaeological research at Leiden University into coherent research with which we can tackle the major challenges of a transition to a habitable planet with ecological sustainability. The programme will serve as a hub for the wide range of relevant research carried out within Leiden University and welcomes interaction with colleagues interested in contributing to the initiative within as well as outside of Leiden University.
