by Derek Walker | Mar 1, 2024 | Blog, News and Comment
Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act is about improving lives now, next year, in 25, 50, 100 years into the future—and beyond. By Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner, Wales Imagine the youngest person you know. Now picture the quality of...
by kultur.work | May 21, 2023 | Blog, News and Comment
The following is an extract from ‘Can Democracy safeguard the Future’—By Graham Smith, Polity Press, 2021. Participatory democracy would appear to be a counterintuitive approach to long-term governance. The short-sightedness of the public is widely viewed...
by kultur.work | Dec 12, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
By Hanne Bastiaensen and max stearns, Democratic Society Who we are Hanne Bastiaensen is trained as a sociologist and has worked in the field of democratic innovation for over a decade, mainly in designing and implementing projects and processes. More recently she is...
by kultur.work | Dec 12, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
By Lukas Kübler, Giulia Molinengo, and Monika Arzberger Lukas Kübler, Giulia Molinengo and Monika Arzberger work at the Collaborative Governance Lab (Co:Lab), a public sector innovation lab of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) in...
by kultur.work | Dec 12, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
Jake Ainscough (pictured on the left) is a Senior Research Associate on the Climate Citizens project at Lancaster University. Climate Citizens is a research project exploring options for opening up climate policy making to the public. He interviewed Chris Stark...
by John Lotherington | Feb 2, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
Regional disparities have haunted policy makers in the UK for generations – regional economic agencies have come and gone, motorways were built to reconnect economic centres, subsidies were tried and then more market forces. But, as we emerge from the pandemic,...
by Andrea Westall | Jan 18, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
As we move ever closer to 2030 – the arbitrary endpoint for the collectively agreed UN Sustainable Development Goals – and in a year when the commitments of the climate negotiations at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26 will need to be further strengthened,...
by Graham Smith | Jan 5, 2022 | Blog, News and Comment
If the recent COP26 tells us anything, it’s that different ways of making hard decisions about our shared futures are needed. Too often critical decisions are made through last minute compromises, hammered out amongst small groups of negotiators behind closed doors,...
by Peter Davies | Dec 8, 2021 | Blog, News and Comment
The Wellbeing for Future Generations (Wales) Act became law in 2015. A previous FDSD blog reflected on development of the Act from my perspective as Sustainable Futures Commissioner for Wales from 2011-16, setting out its genesis in the devolution process. This is now...
by Paul Bradley | Nov 18, 2021 | Blog, News and Comment
Living in Glasgow has been a somewhat surreal experience in recent weeks. The sounds of megaphones, police horses, and helicopters have been prominent in daily life. World leaders have come and gone, having spent an evening at my local museum. Hundreds of police lined...
by Andrea Westall | Jul 28, 2021 | Blog, News and Comment
The SDGs have only 9 more years to go, but they are still not integrated into local government strategy and delivery in England. To help explore why, and share good practice, FDSD worked with UN Global Compact Network UK, Bristol City Office, and the All-Party...
by John Lotherington | Dec 18, 2020 | Blog, News and Comment
This blog is drawing on a conversation between Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation with FDSD trustees Peter Davies, John Lotherington, Graham Smith, and Andrea Westall. The views contained in this blog are however those of the author alone. A...
by Graham Smith | Sep 28, 2020 | Blog, News and Comment
Ordinary British people proposes bolder climate measures than anything politicians have so far dared to suggest. In this blog, FDSD chair Prof Graham Smith shares some reflections. (This blog first appeared on The Conversation website.) . . . The climate crisis is a...
by Andrea Westall | Aug 17, 2020 | Blog, News and Comment
One positive outcome of our current situation, is probably a greater awareness of the importance of the places in which we live, FDSD trustee Andrea Westall writes. For three areas in Wales, this reconnection started back in summer 2018 when Friends Provident...
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 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 | Jun 15, 2018 | Blog, News and Comment
The Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development has proposed that the House of Lords establish a Committee for Future Generations to review legislation. It is hoped that such a body would reduce the short-termism that can creep into legislative and executive...
