Can an academic research project be turned into a children’s story? Yes, it can! With great enthusiasm and dedication, a team of six SUSPLACE fellows (Anastasia, Alessandro, Angela, Kelli, Lorena and Marta) has been engaged in an experimental co-creation effort to translate their research insights into a Children’s Book. After two years of work, the … Read more
About two years ago we embarked on a mission to transform our research learnings into children’s stories. We wanted to write a book about hope and leadership that could inspire readers to bring positive change in their surroundings, reconnect with their environment and bond with their communities.
After a couple of training events, various rounds of writing and re-writing, dozens of meetings and fruitful collaborations with writing coaches, editors, an illustrator and a graphic designer, as well as lots of teamwork, mutual support, and hope, the book is almost finished.
This paper discusses the transformative role of people and the places which they inhabit. It advocates the richness and multiplicity of actors and understandings to drive sustainable place-shaping practices. Grounded in the interdisciplinary place-based conceptualisation of social innovation, the paper aims to progress a holistic conceptual framework which integrates the active processes of learning, experiencing, and regeneration to tackle the complex challenges of sustainability.
This article is the third to appear in the Sustain Sci. Special Feature: Exploring the Transformative Capacity of Place-Shaping Practices , edited by SUSPLACE.
everyday superhero (noun) :
1) a person that develops superpowers in order to bring change in the places she cares about
2) [becoming an ~] : the desired outcome of reading the anthology “Once Upon the Future. Everyday Adventures that Change the World”
Once out in the world, we hope that our book will inspire its young and not-so-young readers to develop and exercise the everyday superpowers needed to change their little corners of the world for the better. If, in the meantime, you want to start changing the world by making a children’s book on sustainability, here are a couple of superpowers we found useful:
Can you produce a children’s book as part of an academic research project? Yes, you can! With great enthusiasm and dedication, a team of six SUSPLACE fellows (Anastasia, Alessandro, Angela, Kelli, Lorena and Marta) has been engaged in the writing of children’s stories inspired by their research projects. After more than a year of work, they are happy to announce that they are almost done! Preliminary title of the book: Once Upon the Future: Everyday Adventures that Change the World.
The city-regional scale is increasingly being considered the most suitable level for planning and development, yet city-regions have often been established for purely economic reasons in the UK. This paper argues that city-regions are not mere socioeconomic units through which competitiveness can be achieved, but also rich, socioecological spaces. Although the progressive regionalist literature has taken significant steps in this direction, concerns remain that critical contemporary issues such as environmental sustainability, cultural viability, social exclusion or political (dis)empowerment have not been addressed in a holistic way. We attempt to advance the debate and overcome some of the shortcomings by connecting progressive regionalism with two other literature strands: collaborative governance and regenerative development. Based on the synergies found, we design a conceptual framework that can be used to study, understand and improve policy processes and practice, paving pathways towards regenerative city-regions.
What happens if you involve young people in decision-making about the areas where they live? This is the key question that guided SUSPLACE fellow Lorena Axinte during her research in the Cardiff Capital Region. Follow her footsteps and find out more in this short movie! This video is the first in a series of short … Read more
Written by Angela Moriggi Editing and inspiration: Kelli Rose Pearson, Lorena Axinte, Alessandro Vasta, Anastasia Papangelou, Marta Nieto Romero. How can we convey the value of interdependence without falling into cheesiness? How do we advocate for re-appreciation of traditional textiles without being overly didactic? How can we talk about urban regeneration with a hint of … Read more
The ideas, people and projects we get to know through SUSPLACE encourage us to embark on other bold adventures! You can think of The WasteLab as such an offshoot – one that has been ignited by the European Social Innovation Competition. This year’s call is entitled ‘Re:think local’ and seeks to find the most innovative projects that empower young people to participate … Read more
The Call for Adventure Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away… Actually in this galaxy. On this planet, in fact. Right over in a picturesque Dutch city called Utrecht… A gang of six intrepid wannabe earth warriors/ sustainability researchers*, gathered to learn how to wield a secret power (well, maybe not … Read more
Being an MSCA Innovative Training Network, SUSPLACE offers us a chance to work for short periods of time with the project partners. Since the Welsh Government is one of the non-academic partners, I was based in the Future Generations Commissioner’s Office for three months in 2017. An unexpectedly friendly environment I felt welcomed in the Future Generations … Read more
Do you believe in the power of stories and images to communicate sustainability science? We are asking for help to realise a SUSPLACE children’s book for sustainable place-shaping! Einstein once said: “If you can’t explain something to a 6 year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” In the field of sustainability science, we often face … Read more