by kultur.work | Jan 29, 2020 | News and Comment
FDSD has long supported the wider use of participatory and deliberative processes such as citizens’ assemblies in bringing the voice of citizens into political decision making. We are therefore delighted that the first weekend of the UK Climate Assembly has been a...
by John Lotherington | Jan 13, 2020 | News and Comment
Populism is changing the shape of democracy in a number of countries around the world, in some cases dramatically. That has an impact on international as well as domestic commitments including those supporting sustainable development. In a briefing paper publishd in...
by Graham Smith | Nov 13, 2019 | News and Comment
FDSD was delighted to host a workshop at the University of Westminster to develop the campaign for the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act being led by Lord Bird. The event attracted representatives from around 30 organisations, including UK Student Climate Network,...
by kultur.work | Oct 27, 2019 | News and Comment
Appeals for people to act now in response to the climate emergency surround us. Many of them focus on the responsibility of the individual to act: to eat less meat, to drive less, to fly less. Does this focus on the role of individuals underestimate the challenge of...
by kultur.work | Oct 14, 2019 | News and Comment
Our politics is too short-term. Our democracy seems unable to deal with long-term challenges. But change is at hand. With support from FDSD and other partners, The Big Issue founder, Lord Bird, has introduced the Future Generations Bill in the UK Parliament, and is...
by kultur.work | Oct 13, 2019 | News and Comment
“When they go short-term, we go long-term…” FDSD trustee Andrea Westall recently joined Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd for their Reasons to be Cheerful Podcast, to discuss the urgent need for representation of future generations in today’s politics....
by kultur.work | Aug 25, 2019 | News and Comment
Philosophical essay by Simon Caney on the morality of prosperity, intertemporal politics and a re-imagination of our political life. Political life is dominated by ‘presentism’ and a focus on the short-term. This political myopia is harmful in two important ways....
by Graham Smith | Jun 30, 2019 | Blog, News and Comment
Citizens’ assemblies could be vital in kick-starting the tough steps needed to respond to the climate emergency, Chair of the FDSD board of trustees, Graham Smith, argues. But the detail of how they will work is critical. (This blog first appeared on The Conversation...
by Cat Tully | Apr 8, 2019 | Blog, News and Comment
Great to see Wales continuing to lead the way on embedding long-term thinking and foresight in public policy at last week’s #FuturesCymru2019 ‘Shaping the Future’ conference. Building on its Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 and its unique appointment of a...
by kultur.work | Apr 4, 2019 | News and Comment
Together with the FDSD, the School of International Futures (an organisation that helps policy-makers, business leaders and communities make strategic choices, manage risk and become future-ready) is hosting a Round Table on Intergenerational Fairness taking place on...
by kultur.work | Feb 25, 2019 | News and Comment
In this February 2019 edition of Taking the Long View, we focus on the loudening call for citizens to lead a new approach to decision making that can steer our democracies towards a greener, fairer future.
by kultur.work | Feb 20, 2019 | News and Comment
FDSD is a London-based think tank that explores the critical links between flourishing democracy and sustainable development. Through research, advocacy and dialogue, we build the evidence and make the connections needed to secure fairness for all and a healthy...
by Peter Davies | Feb 19, 2019 | Blog, News and Comment
The 2015 Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act requires public bodies in Wales to incorporate public involvement in their decision making. The explicit emphasis on engaging the public reflects the strong views expressed in the national conversation of 2014 that...
by Graham Smith | Feb 15, 2019 | Blog, News and Comment
2018 witnessed the emergence of a dynamic, new climate change movement—Extinction Rebellion (XR). Building chapters around the UK, Europe and across the world, XR’s most visible action was its day of mass civil disobedience in November, with 6,000 activists shutting...
by kultur.work | Jan 15, 2019 | Blog, News and Comment
Bethan Smith is Goal Convenor for Involvement, Office for the Future Generations Commissioner, Wales. . . . Through the 2015 Well-being of Future Generations Act, all devolved public bodies in Wales are legally required to put sustainable development first; that is,...
by kultur.work | Jan 7, 2019 | News and Comment
Sara Parkin is Principal Associate of The Sustainability Literacy Project, and Founder-Director of Forum for the Future. Her 2010 book The Positive Deviant: Sustainability Leadership in a Perverse World has become a course book in many countries. Its sequel What Does...
by kultur.work | Dec 22, 2018 | News and Comment
Delivering the inaugural Well-being of Future Generations Commissioner for Wales’ Annual Lecture, The Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, John Bird, called for the approach to long-term thinking pioneered in Wales to be rolled out across the rest of...
by kultur.work | Dec 7, 2018 | News and Comment
In 2008, Sara Parkin wrote a provocation for the FDSD: “Are Political Parties getting in the way of the sort of collaborative democracy we need to tackle sustainability? If so, what can we do about it?” Ten years later, she revisits her thinking, “in the...
by kultur.work | Oct 3, 2018 | News and Comment
We are delighted to invite you to a joint networking event with the PSA Specialist Group Environmental Politics, GreenHouse, Policy Connect and FDSD on 26 October 2018 in London. Designed as a space for policymakers, academics and environmental NGOs to discuss...
by kultur.work | Aug 10, 2018 | News and Comment
A new paper by the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, authored by FDSD associate Victor Anderson, considers possible reforms to UK constitutional and political arrangements intended to help overcome the problem of a lack of representation of...
