Introduction - CommDev

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, volume 19, number 2, June 2001, pages 90–93, Beech Tree Publishing, 10 Watford Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 2EP, UK.

Introduction Toolkits for regional sustainable development Darryn McEvoy and Joe Ravetz

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HIS SPECIAL ISSUE is dedicated to work informing the new regional agenda for sustainable development. Whichever definition is applied to sustainable development, the authors suggest that an integrated and long-term approach is an essential element of any strategy. In practice, however, they argue that the majority of policy and action is short-term and fragmented between sectors and stakeholders. To address these shortcomings, and to facilitate ‘joined-up’ thinking and action, it is increasingly clear that we need new kinds of information systems and communication channels to promote positive change. The papers in this issue were presented at the ‘Toolkits for Sustainable Development’ seminar, a research-practitioner workshop held at the Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology, Manchester, UK1 in September 2000. It aimed to bring together best practice from research and policy communities in an action-research format, reviewing the state of the art and generating tangible outputs, with a dual approach: sectoral ‘toolkits’: working on environmental themes which impinge on the mainstream regional development agenda: · · ·

climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation strategy; materials flows and resource management; infrastructure and spatial development.

policy ‘toolkits’: related methods and techniques for the various stages in the policy cycle of management, planning and decision-making: Darryn McEvoy and Joe Ravetz are at the Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology, School of Planning and Landscape, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL; E-mail: darryn.mcevoy@ man.ac.uk; [email protected]

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integrated assessments, evaluations and appraisals; future studies via models, scenarios and other visualisations; integrated frameworks — spatial or institutional. · ·

In each of these there are apparent trends of convergence. Climate studies, resources and infrastructure studies each share some of their methods, datasets and information systems. Likewise policy appraisals, models, indicators and frameworks are each involved and linked through larger policy processes. The overall goal of the workshop was to explore this phenomenon of convergence, and work towards the integration of methods and tools. Such integration revolves around the concept of ‘toolkits’ — in other words, not only a bag of tools, but also the knowledge of when and where to use them. The workshop produced a specific report which makes recommendations for the regional development research agenda, which is being circulated to relevant bodies in regional economic–environmental policy (Ravetz, 2001a). The papers here have been selected to provide comment and elaboration on current thinking and best practice on the interface between research and policy communities. The geographical focus is at the level of regional planning and management. Here, new levels of governance and organisation offer fresh opportunities for local analysis to inform policy initiatives, and to direct regional development towards a more sustainable pathway. Crucially, at this sub-national level there is often a strong linkage and ‘fit’ between physical functions, social identity, economic units and political territories. Consequently, the regional level brings opportunities to improve on the current state of fragmentation, offering new linkages for the sustainable development agenda at a level between local and national 1461-5517/01/020090-4 US$08.00 © IAIA 2001

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Alongside this basic tension there is a strong trend of convergence between the different kinds of information systems. This can be seen in technical databases, GIS (geographic information systems), indicator systems and so on; and in policy and business processes, in terms of future studies, planning, management, evaluation, monitoring and reporting. The sustainable development agenda tends to highlight the importance of the interactions between one side and the other.

Toolkits seminar The ‘toolkits’ seminar was convened in an effort to address these emerging issues. Specifically, it aimed to illustrate the diversity of approaches to regional sustainable development, including the application of the toolkits concept and the potential of an ‘information systems’ approach. It is intended that this collection of papers will demonstrate three over-arching themes which emerged from the seminar:

Figure 1. Integration in regional development

scales. At this level in many countries, notably the European Union, economic and environmental policy is often in a greater state of flux than at the national level, and there are new opportunities for increasing the ‘connectivity’ of sectors and actors, as seen in Figure 1 (Ravetz, 2000). Although there is significant academic interest in the scalar movement towards the local and regional levels of sustainable development (see, for example, McEvoy et al, 1998; Gibbs and Jonas, 1999), the reality is that the regional development agenda faces similar, if not greater, challenges to those at local and national levels. The perception in a region such as the north-west of England is that there are perennial tensions between growth and decline, consolidation and change, aspiration and practicality. Overall, a complex picture can be analysed in terms of basic tensions which often act in two opposing directions (for example, Ravetz, 2001b): ·

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The sustainable development agenda with vertical, horizontal and lateral connectivity between sectors, stakeholders, timescales, causes and effects. From this perspective, almost everything is linked to almost everything else. The public policy agenda of rational management. From this perspective, specific, efficient and accountable links are needed between the various stages of the policy cycle including goals, objectives, strategies, targets, deliverables and outcomes.

‘Thematic toolkits’ workshops covered a selection of major environmental themes which impact on regional sustainable development: ‘policy toolkit’ papers covered modelling and visualisation; integrated assessments and appraisals; and integrated policy frameworks

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An information systems approach can be a significant aid to promoting and enabling integrated planning for sustainable development. The ‘toolkits’ approach highlights the convergence and potential for synergy between many activities in future studies, strategic planning, appraisals and indicator systems. The regional level presents a major opportunity to advance theory and practice in sustainable development. Thematic toolkits The ‘thematic toolkits’ workshop session covered a selection of major environmental themes which impact on the regional sustainable development agenda. Although not an exhaustive selection, they represent a sample of important issues where it is felt that a ‘toolkits’ approach can offer practical benefits. The first theme addressed was energy and climate change. It is argued that the policy response to climate change is one of the most important factors to be accounted for in any integrated strategy, operating at levels from local through to global. It also provides a clear demonstration of the challenge in achieving practical solutions which combine uncertain science, inter-generational and inter-regional effects, high economic stakes, institutional inertia and consumer self-interest. The author of the first paper (George, University of Manchester) provides discussion on the sustainability appraisal process for sustainable development, with the inclusion of climate change issues to highlight a simplified, but more focused, criterionbased approach. The second thematic session concentrated on resource management. Here, the demand (and subsequent impacts) of material flows, in particular the physical relation between cities and their 91

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hinterlands, was explored. An important issue debated was the ‘sustainable’ balance of renewable versus non-renewable resources, which rests on uncertainties such as technological substitution, inter-generational equity, and the ratio of reserves to regeneration capacity. While clear targets have been suggested in the form of ‘factor 4’ or ‘factor 10’ programmes (von Weizsäcker et al, 1997), responsibility for integrated resource management generally falls between sectors and agencies. It is suggested that the institutional agenda poses as great a challenge, if not greater, than that associated with technological barriers. The second paper, selected as representative of this theme, focuses on a component-based variation of the ‘Ecological Footprint’ — an aggregated methodology for assessing the ecological sustainability of a region/place (Barrett, York University). The third thematic session was physical infrastructure. While infrastructure models and assessments traditionally fall within the domain of urban and environmental planners, the very nature of spatial structure and development is changing rapidly. Trends include the shift from producer-based hierarchies to consumer-based networks, the role of images and perceptions in location and investment choices, and the combination of globalisation, liberalisation and information technology. Each of these tends to shift fixed targets for ‘sustainability’ towards a more dynamic and pluralist approach. Because of the depth and breadth of this agenda, two papers from this session have been selected for inclusion within this journal volume. Based on three city case studies, an integrated transport assessment (Ward, University of Sussex) investigates the role of public participation within the transport planning process, where the common rhetoric is translated into a complex reality. A cross-cutting approach is seen with a conceptual framework that identifies a multiplicity of pathways and social constructions which each aspire towards a ‘sustainable’ urban future (Guy, University of Newcastle; and Marvin, University of Salford). Policy toolkits ‘Policy toolkit’ papers were similarly broken down into three sessions which attempted to match the different kinds of information systems which operate at various points in the policy process: modelling and visualisation, integrated assessments and appraisals, and integrated policy frameworks. Again, we have selected papers to provide a sample of crosscutting themes which highlight a trend of convergence, and where the ‘toolkits’ approach may well offer new insights and synergies. The first session relating to policy toolkits was dedicated to modelling and visualisation. Modelling is generally applied to bounded and well-defined systems, but for systems which are more complex and open, with more qualitative factors, such as a whole Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal June 2001

sector or region, there are often too many variables and too few boundaries. A more integrated and ‘postnormal’ style of modelling may take an explorative ‘what if’ approach, by extending the scope of technical modelling to visualisations which use a variety of media (Ravetz, 1998). This may involve technical facilities in multi-media, GIS, and decision-support, and then extend to ‘social processes’ such as focus groups, vision workshops and simulations, enabling users to engage with deeper and more complex issues. The ‘regional interactive sustainability atlas’ (Lindley, University of Manchester) provides a good example of this new generation of modelling work, with interactive modelling and visualisation used to explore processes operating at the regional scale. The penultimate session involved integrated assessments and appraisals. It is interesting that attempts to gain future ‘foresight’ raise the question of whether, and how, the sustainability of complex policies or programmes can be evaluated. The conflicting tensions indicate a ‘paradox’ of sustainability appraisal, with cross-boundary linkages making assessments more difficult in technical terms, whilst being more urgent in policy terms (Ravetz, 2000). Current appraisals assume a ‘Fordist’ paradigm with good information and expertise, while the reality for many appraisals shows complexity, conflict and uncertainty. One possible response is to put the assumptions back in the hands of the users, and shift the focus from a ‘forecasting’ approach to more of an ‘exploration’ centred on human interactions. A very practical application of the search for sustainability appraisal frameworks is presented for the case of minerals development at the County level (James, WS Atkins Wessex Consultancy). Finally, the aspiration of putting together modelling, monitoring, appraisal and implementation into one overall ‘sustainability framework’ is a formidable challenge, and one that the seminar attempted to deal with in the last session, integrated policy frameworks. Paradoxically, an environmental framework based on material flows may be different from a spatial framework based on physical development, and different again from an institutional framework for organisational synergy. Each of these is a partial solution suggesting further integration, recognising that any written framework is likely to be out-of-date before printing. The framework concept opens up new agendas in social and institutional connectivity, for example ‘management frameworks’, ‘enabling frameworks’, and ‘learning frameworks’, which continuously innovate and generate neural-type networks between a range of stakeholders. A unique analysis of the incentives and discourses between regional actors (Devine-Wright, Fleming and Chadwick, De Montfort University), introduces a socio-psychological perspective to regional sustainable development and provides the final offering from the workshop. 92

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Conclusion The agenda for research in the ‘regional sustainable development’ arena needs to account for an evolutionary and multi-disciplinary subject area. In the context of the theme of integrated planning, the workshop has put forward components of both hardware and software, together with glimpses of what may surround them — the data-ware, the ‘org-ware’ of institutional learning, and the ‘use-ware’ of social interaction with information systems. We hope that this exploration of emerging trends and agendas in research for regional sustainable development will serve to stimulate debate and discovery. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the paper authors, the referees for their comments and advice, and the many seminar attendees. Ironically, the seminar was held in the week of the UK fuel crisis, when refineries and distribution lines were blockaded by protests about fuel prices. This produced a city and a region which was ‘car-free’ for all the wrong reasons, but raised debate as to how information systems could and should play a part in bringing together many conflicting interests for a more sustainable development pathway.

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, is our home page.

References D C Gibbs and A Jonas (1999), “Regional governance, regional development agencies and the environment”, paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society, Leicester, January. D McEvoy, D C Gibbs and J W S Longhurst (1998), “Urban sustainability: problems facing the ‘local’ approach to carbon reduction strategies, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 16, pages 423–432. J Ravetz (1998), “Integrated assessment models: from global to local”, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 16(2), June, pages 147–154. J Ravetz (2000), “Integrated assessment for sustainability appraisal in cities and regions”, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 20, pages 31–64. J Ravetz (2001a), “Toolkits for sustainable regional development: a workshop report”, Departmental Working Paper, Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology, available at www.art.man.ac.uk/ planning/cure/seminar.html. J Ravetz (2001b), “An information systems approach to sustainable development in cities and regions”, Futures Journal (forthcoming). E Von Weizsäcker, A Lovins and L H Lovins (1997), Factor Four: doubling wealth, halving resource use (Earthscan, London).

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