Is it possible to improve human health and life quality in an ageing European society while at the same time reducing current levels of energy, transport and resource use? Social innovation and significant changes in consumption patterns and lifestyles will be vital to achieve long-term economic prosperity for all within the bio-capacity of our planet. Knowledge on sustainable lifestyles is scattered as are sustainability projects and initiatives. There is an immense potential for advancement through bringing together current knowledge, experience and relevant stakeholders in a dialogue process to articulate and clarify the challenges that society faces in achieving the goal of sustainable lifestyles.

 

Mobilize current knowledge to mainstream lifestyle changes

By mobilizing the existing knowledge, experience and best practices, the SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 project aims to develop a vision for future sustainable lifestyle models. To this end, the project first aims to better understand the underlying dynamics of lifestyle changes that could trigger the dissemination of best practices and enable sustainable lifestyles to become truly mainstream ways of living. Thematically, sustainable living, consuming, moving as well as health, welfare, equity and ageing will be the focus of SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050.

 

Building future scenarios to discover how to reach Sustainable Lifestyles 

Creating alternative future scenarios of sustainable lifestyles for 2050, including social and behavioural innovation, will help identify necessary changes in society. Interactive scenario-building and the visualisation of concepts, visions, ideas and actions for new models of sustainable living are techniques used within the project. By backcasting from the future 2050 vision of sustainable living the project will develop a roadmap of action strategies for individuals, businesses, civil society, the research community, and policy makers.   

 

Engage the whole society trough a multi-stakeholder approach and a wide communication platform

An interactive multi-stakeholder dialogue will bring together representatives of civil society organisations, business, research and policy to collaboratively work towards developing a better understanding of how to enable more sustainable lifestyles. An analysis of promising sustainability practices will take into consideration the surrounding context and the various perceptions and viewpoints of stakeholders through interactive live platform meetings and online discussions. Through a People’s Forum everyday citizens will also take part in the visioning process. This process will guarantee a strong contact to the realities of everyday people.

 

Working groups will analyse the topic areas of sustainable consumption, sustainable living, sustainable mobility and a sustainable society. The working groups will participate in the common discussion on different visions of the future. This interactive process will provide alternative future scenarios for sustainable lifestyles which will in turn point to social and behavioural innovation and related opportunities for business innovation.

 

Background 

The SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 project is implemented by an experienced consortium coordinated by the CSCP. The consortium includes: Ashoka France; Demos Helsinki, Finland; Ecoinstitut Barcelona (ECOI), Spain; Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), The Netherlands; EuroHealthNet; Lund University (ULUND), Sweden; The Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED); Politecnico di Milano (Polimi), Italy; Regional Environmental Center for CEE Countries (REC), Hungary.

 

The project is kindly funded by the 7^th Research Framework Programme of the European Commission (EU FP7).

 

Select representatives from government, education and civil society organisations, as well as private sector organisations (Autostadt, Ferrero, Henkel, IKEA, Kraft Foods Europe GmbH, NOKIA, Turkish Business Council for Sustainable Development, Unilever) fulfil the role of external advisors throughout the project.