by kultur.work | Feb 3, 2025 | News and Comment
We were very sorry to hear of the death of Malcolm Aickin in December 2024, a former long-serving and dedicated trustee of FDSD. Malcolm was one of the founders of the Environment Foundation in 1982 and joined us in transforming that into FDSD before retiring as a...
by kultur.work | Apr 7, 2023
FDSD submitted a response to Sarah Boyack MSP on the proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill on 24 March 2023. We highlighted the importance of adopting a long-term perspective in policymaking to ensure the wellbeing of current and future...
by kultur.work | Apr 3, 2023
FDSD made a collective submission to the Labour Policy Forum on 17 March 2023 together with Involve, Demos, the Sortition Foundation, IsWe and Shared Future. In it we argued that since our current democracy is failing to tackle the big challenges of our time, we need...
by kultur.work | Dec 13, 2022 | News and Comment
FDSD update: Quiet but busy… FDSD has been quiet during COVID, but not inactive. We have been rethinking how we can best contribute to the profound challenges facing democracies today. We are planning an event in 2023 to bring together the diverse and fragmented...
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 9, 2022
The Democracy Network is a “network of people and organisations working on issues of power, democracy and voice in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland”. It works to “build a stronger democracy by connecting people and supporting collaboration, increasing...
by kultur.work | Nov 21, 2022 | News and Comment
The Brussels-Capital Region has announced that it will launch a permanent Citizens’ Assembly on Climate in 2023. Each year, the assembly will bring together 100 citizens to select topics, deliberate and come to recommendations. The citizens will also have a role in...
by Ariella Shalev | Feb 21, 2022 | News and Comment
The article “Can Cities Use the Doughnut Model to Hack Liberal Democracy?” published by Olivia Lazard in Carnegie Europe in February 2022, explores some of the challenges of creating sustainable economic systems. The Doughnut Model developed by Kate...
by kultur.work | Jan 18, 2022
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 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 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 Graham Smith | Oct 1, 2021 | News and Comment
The Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University in Canada has published the report Can Public Participation Accelerate the Transition to Net-Zero?: Innovations and Challenges for Advancing the Field of Climate Engagement. The report aims to inspire...
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 kultur.work | Jun 22, 2021 | News and Comment
The European Climate Foundation has launched the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) as a ‘go to’ place for those seeking considered, rigorous and widely-sourced input on the design and implementation of climate assemblies. FDSD’s own Professor Graham...
by kultur.work | Apr 23, 2021
On May 20th 2021 FDSD held a launch event for a new book by Prof Graham Smith, Chair of FDSD and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. In Can Democracy Safeguard the Future? Graham asks why democracies repeatedly...
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 kultur.work | Oct 14, 2020
How can we nurture visions of the good life that preserve nature and protect the interests of future generations? Can new institutions help us to re-invigorate democracy? Can creativity inspire us to conserve what we love? How can we become the ‘good ancestors’ we...
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...
