The ISOCARP Institute is an international research centre serving as an “Urban Think Tank” that facilitates the generation and dissemination of knowledge for better cities. Based in the Hague, the institute participates in a variety of external projects under different research and development programmes (UN-Habitat, European Union) and focuses on knowledge brokerage between stakeholders. They draw on over five decades of accumulated knowledge and expertise, collaborating frequently with the member base of the International Society of City and Regional Planners.
The institute operates in a number of Horizon Europe projects, facilitating cross-border collaboration and bringing expert knowledge to working areas relating to urban development, citizen engagement, nature-based solutions, energy transitions, decarbonisation and sustainable land use. The ISOCARP Institute also runs programmes related to capacity building and technical assistance across the world, deploying novel methods such as storytelling and digital co-creation to bring together experts and communities and facilitate learning between countries, communities and sectors.
In DUST, the ISOCARP Institute is the leader of Work Package 6, spearheading the Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation tasks. Through the many tasks in this work package, the Institute facilitates the development of novel communication methods, particularly focusing on communities in the DUST case-study regions. They deploy an approach of affective communication in the project, combining factual information with reflections on emotive consequences and impacts on cultural identity, encouraging audiences to connect their own experiences to the project.
The ISOCARP Institute also explores several direct connections with communities in case-study regions, developing storytelling activities with digital tools in cooperation with civil society actors and local stakeholders. Working with storytellers, reflections are made on the positionality of the project and the identities within case-study regions, to explore and understand the societal impacts of the project. This work is crucial in supporting DUST’s primary goals of co-creating and engaging with the least engaged communities in the study areas.
To support existing initiatives and empower local community leaders, the Institute organises a campaign across the case study regions to appoint and work with ‘Community Champions’. Assisted by civil society partners and the members of the Stakeholder Advisory Board, connections are made to organisations and initiatives in case-study regions to develop spaces to share information and organise capacity building activities. This task is fundamental to DUST’s objective of citizen engagement, as it closely works with local stakeholders and bridges the academic, practice and policy components of the project.
We are excited to be working with the ISOCARP Institute to drive forward the collaboration in DUST, and work towards discovering new narratives and modes of engagement within just sustainability transitions. Together we drive forward the creation of knowledge and collaboration in projects advancing the future of urban regions.