Project Background
CO-SUSTAIN is a European project addressing the Horizon Europe call “The climate imperative and its impact on democratic governance”. It brings together 8 partners from 7 EU countries to conduct research on democratic governance, and enhance its capacity to address complex long-term challenges, mobilize and engage citizens, and craft policies that address climate imperatives in a manner supported by citizens.
Goals & Impact
Specific objectives
Understand how latent and manifest forms of political participation linked to the climate imperative and other political and societal imperatives have arisen, interacted with institutions, and impacted governance in the past through historic examples.
Use the lessons from the historic examples to establish new resilient pathways for latent and manifest forms of political participation, supported by government and with the capacity to change the socio-technical system.
Assess the environmental, social, and economic outputs and implications of these new pathways in 4 complementary case studies across Europe.
Create a European network of local authorities who can share knowledge, implement the project outcomes and reach out to other levels of governments.
How we reach these objectives
The CO-SUSTAIN project empowers citizens for more democratic transition policymaking by analysing activism, civic engagement, formal political participation and involvement in Europe and defining democratic pathways for civic participation.
System mapping
Institutional ethnography
Social network analysis
Gamification
Participatory Action research
Theory of Change
System map
Drawing synthetic representation showing in one single frame all the different variables of a system and their causal links.
Institutional ethnography
Employing a critical qualitative methodology to explicate how peoples' every activities are coordinated or ruled by different institutions.
Social network analysis
Investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory by mapping the relationships that connect them as a network, and then trying to draw out key individuals, groups within the network ('components'), and/or associations between the individuals.
Gamification
Applying typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity.
Participatory Action research
Using systematic inquiry in direct collaboration with those affected by an issue being studied for the purpose of action or change.
Theory of Change
Employing a methodology based on a diagram with multiple actions to describe the path to specific changes.
Impactful Results
Best and worst practices from historic examples on the management and support of various forms of political participation
Cross-case analysis of system maps for various forms of political participation
Assessment of deliberation panels for various forms of political participation
Policy recommendations and practical guidelines for a sustainable and democratic transition
Long-term Outcomes
Enhance the ability of democratic governance to address complex and long-term challenges, through a better understanding of the socio-political dimension of the climate crisis and its impact on democratic governance, participation, and social cohesion.
Enhance the capacity of democratic governance to mobilise and engage citizens through participation.
Improve policymaking approaches at all levels of government through recommendations to address the climate imperative in a democratic manner supported by citizens, balancing it with other policy imperatives.
Encourage international cooperation through better understanding of the European challenges of the climate crisis.
Historic examples and case studies
18 historic examples
4 case studies
Project partners
The CO-SUSTAIN consortium is composed of six universities (UNITO, BOKU, UGR, UT, LUT, and IGSMiE), one non-profit organization (ECO), and one SME (EQY) from seven different European Union countries. It is coordinated by UNITO.
EQY
Euroquality is a consultancy firm specialized in innovative collaborative European projects.
University of Turin (UNITO)
The University of Turin (UNITO) is today one of the largest Italian Universities, open to international research and training. It carries out scientific research and organizes courses in all disciplines (except for Engineering and Architecture). It coordinates the CO-SUSTAIN project and brings its expertise in participatory democracy, participatory action research and the theory of change to the consortium. It will lead the research for the Italian historic examples and case study.
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU)
The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU) is Austria’s leading sustainability university. BOKU will coordinate the investigation of the latent and manifest forms of political participation in the historical examples. It brings its knowledge of transition theory and its expertise in system mapping and social network analysis to the consortium. It will lead the research for the Austrian historic examples and case study.
University of Granada (UGR)
The University of Granada (UGR) is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. It is a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria. The UGR stands out, among other fields, in Education & Educational Research and Psychology. It brings its knowledge of gamification and participatory action research to the consortium. It will lead the research for the several Spanish historic examples and co-lead the Spanish case study.
University of Tartu (UT)
The University of Tartu (UT) is the oldest and largest higher education institution in Estonia, including a Faculty of Arts and Humanities, a Faculty of Social Sciences, a Faculty of Medicine, and a Faculty of Science and Technology. It brings its knowledge of institutional ethnography and impact assessment to the consortium. It will lead the research for the Estonian historic examples and case study.
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT)
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT) is a pioneering science university in Finland, bringing together the fields of science and business since 1969. It brings its knowledge of the just transition to the consortium. It will lead the research for the Finnish historic examples and case study.
Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute (IGSMIE)
Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute (IGSMiE) is an important research and development institution, contributing to scientific and research progress in the field of mineral and energy management in Poland and abroad. It brings its knowledge of the just transition to the consortium. It will lead the research for the Polish historic examples and case study.
Ecoserveis (ECO)
Ecoserveis is a non-profit strategic innovation energy consultancy. They bring valuable insights on the energy transition from citizens’ perspectives. It will lead the research for the several Spanish historic examples and co-lead the Spanish case study.
Euroquality (EQY)
Euroquality is a consultancy firm specialized in innovative collaborative European projects. It will lead the project's communication and dissemination activities.