Report (Part 2): Sustainable Development Convention 2002

Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities: Extending a Sustainability Knowledge Base

Time: 30 October 2002, 14:30-15:30 Location: A Chair: Cheryll Gerelle Presenters/ Participants: Eric Britton, EcoPlan Reporter: Kyle Cranmer, Danielle Dalsoren (ICVolunteers) Languages: English Key words: Stockholm, partnership, public-private, knowledge base, bouquet

In the knowledge era, sustainable development has an amazing potential for progress through the transfer of ideas without regard to geography or social status. To realize this potential an informed culling of information and the extension of a knowledge base are imperative. That is exactly what the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities has set out to do. In this presentation, Dr. Eric Britton of EcoPlan discusses his role on the jury that chose the "Stockholm Bouquet" and the challenges of extending the resultant knowledge base.

In June 1972, Stockholm held the first UN conference on the environment resulting in the creation of UNEP. Then in June 2001, in preparation for Johannesburg and in celebration of the anniversary of the first conference in Stockholm, a public-private partnership was formed: Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities. The Stockholm Partnership wanted to create a "Nobel Prize" of sustainable development, and therefore appointed a group of judges for the task, of which Dr. Eric Britton was the chair. Dr. Britton resisted the Partnership's desire for a singular prize for "best practice." He urged the group to consider whether or not the idea of "best practice" is a valid concept. The judges agreed instead on presenting a "bouquet" of projects of different sizes different approaches that they felt had merit. The project and winners are documented at http://www.partnerships.stockholm.se.

The rest of the session focused on what to do with information gathered from the "Stockholm Bouquet". Dr. Britton addressed the problem of "how to marry information and action". He pointed out that most of the knowledge sources ?academic institutions, for instance? are "lovers of abstraction". He suggested that more Ph.D. thesis projects should be accessible to the general public. Similarly, he considered how the knowledge base developed from the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities should be presented.

Surprising Issues
The most challenging notion brought forth was the criticism of "best practice" as a model for sustainable development. Given the breadth of the sustainable development movement, Dr. Britton promoted the notion of a "bouquet" as a more useful concept.

Interesting Questions
An audience member referenced hierarchies that extract rather than promote knowledge. She pointed out that there are, in fact, many such organizations that extract knowledge and asked if there were any such organizations in the "bouquet". Dr. Britton reiterated the need to aid people in culling through the information that is already available.

Conclusions
The Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities has developed an award and a corresponding "knowledge base" for innovative solutions for sustainable development in metropolitan areas around the world: The Stockholm Bouquet. Making this information easily available and in a form that will aid end-users is an ongoing challenge.