As DUST enters its second year, our partners are hard at work exploring the existing levels of citizen participation in just sustainability transitions, and the tools that can be deployed to increase the involvement of communities in the design of policies that impact them. We have recently released a number of important deliverables, that showcase the depth of the project and its focus on creating actionable and impactful results.
Check out our recent deliverables in here: https://www.dustproject.eu/releases
What will you find in our recent deliverables?
D2.1: The Stakeholder Engagement and Participation (STEP) Index
The Stakeholder Engagement and Participation (STEP) Index is a tool for measuring stakeholder involvement in just sustainability transition policies. It was developed collaboratively by several partners in the DUST consortium to be a user-friendly Excel-based tool designed to systematically evaluate citizen participation in just transition policies. It based on the previous work of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and University of Zurich (UZH), and encompasses 130 evaluation criteria, providing a structured framework to assess the quality and depth of participation.
D3.1: Assessment of participatory processes in sustainability transition measures in case study regions
This deliverable analyses of a selection of place-based measures in DUST case study regions, to explore how stakeholders (especially citizens) are involved in such measures. The analysis considers several different measures, ranging from EU-funded Cohesion policy programmes (including Territorial Just Transition Plans), regional development strategies, regional energy strategies, regional innovation strategies and spatial planning frameworks. The assessment suggests that place-based measures have positive potential in bringing decision-making processes to communities.
D1.1 & D1.2: DUST's theoretical, conceptual and methodological framework
From the outset of the project, it has been important to understand how our research fits into ongoing explorations of citizen participation in Europe, and beyond. D1.1 was the first deliverable drawn up in DUST and outlines the guiding concepts that influence the approach taken. Centrally presented here is the concept of ‘active subsidiarity,’ where decision-making in Europe is brought closer to citizens, to increase regional autonomy and expression. D1.2 outlines the methodological approach in DUST, exploring how the various activities over the course of the project combine to help us achieve our goals in bringing together communities and decision-makers.