Role of knowledge in society

1. Knowledge and Society
Promoting Sustainable
Communities in Devon and
Cornwall
Town and Parish Councils
Gregory Borne

2. Introduction
• Example- ‘Promoting Sustainable
Communities in Devon and Cornwall’
• Translating research into knowledge for
broader society
• Activity

3. Recent and Current Research
Two Significant Research projects
1. Exploring discourses of sustainable development in
governance structures (2001-2006)
• Global – United Nations Environment Programme
• Local – Carbon reduction innovation support pilot
2. Promoting Sustainable Communities in Devon and
Cornwall (2007 – 2010)

4. Promoting Sustainable Communities
in Devon and Cornwall
Research Aims:
Focus on Sustainable Development, Risk and climate change
• Understand Education and training needs for local communities
• To explore perceptions and understandings of sustainable development
and risk within local government and local community networks
• Understand the opportunities and barriers for creating sustainable
communities
• Explore the relationship between knowledge, institutions and policy
• Explore the interaction between multiple stakeholders
• Explore the opportunities and barriers for responses to risks such as
climate change
• Create effective policy synergies between global aspirations and local
needs

5. Why Town and Parish Councils?
Practical
• Closest level of government to the community
• Very little research already conducted
• Localism – TPC’s increasingly powerful in shaping local communities, total
place, community budget, presumption in favour of sustainable
development
• Urban and Rural (parish councils in London for the first time in 45 years –
town council in East London)
Conceptual
• Nexus point for multiple networks (Global and Local)
• Uniform structure whilst also being diverse and contextual (10000 TPC’s
in England and Wales)
• Access institutional, community and individual perspective
• Hybrid organisation local government/ volunteers/ community members

6. Multiple Dimensions
Sustainable
Consumption
Interconnected Perspective
and
Production
Complex, reflexive and non
linear
Participatory and action
Societal orientated
Institution Sustainable Behaviours in
and Infra- relation to
structure Communities sustainability
challenge Multi Sectoral –Govnt,
business, NGO and local
community
Global and
local
connection

7. Project Partners
Knowledge Interaction
• All TPC’s in Devon and Cornwall (614)
• Cornwall Council
• Devon County Council
• Devon Association of local Councils
• Cornwall Association of local councils
• South West Lifelong learning Network
• University of Plymouth

8. Initial Consultation
• Interaction at the research formulation stage
Consultation Questions:
• How do my research goals match the goals of
the project partners?
• What knowledge outputs would the project
partners like to see?
• Will there be compromise?
• Can we create synergies for the research
project?

9. Methodology
• Multi methodological structure
• Qualitative and Quantitative techniques
• Survey – 6000 questionnaires to all town and
parish councilors in Devon and Cornwall (70
per cent response rate)
• 200 in-depth interviews
Triangulation

10. Diverse geographical area

11. RESULTS and Primary Areas

12. How is community defined and
understood?
Community
120 Do people feel part of the
community?
100 9695
89
85
How is a sustainable community
80
65
defined?
6163
Per Cent
60 56
Community is diverse and fractured
39 Devon
40
Cornwall
Multiple Communities in a single
20
6 68 78 area
0
What elements do people feel that
constitutes a community for them?

13. Aware of Sustainable Development
•Respondents asked if they were
Aware of Sustainable aware of a number of issues that relate
Development Related Issues to sustainable development
120
100
9898 9898 96
95.5 •Relationship between knowledge an
8587 85
84.5
action
80
Per Cent
60
40 Devon
40 35.5
Cornwall
20
0

14. Perceptions of Global Warming
Global Warming What do Members of town and
90 parish councils feel about global
80
80 78 warming
70
Do they think it is actually happening
60 and if so why?
50
Per Cent
Qualitative interviews revealed that
40 Devon
Cornwall
there may be a problem with this
30 result !!!
20
10
10 8 8
6
3 4
0
Not All Natural Made Worse All
Happening Causes by Humans Humanity's
Fault

15. Global and Local Connections
Global and Local Interactions between the Local and
60 the global
53
49
50 46 47
43 How important are the issues to
40 local communities and the global
realm?
30 26
21
20 16 17
15
12
10 9 9 Local
10 8
3 Global
0

16. Mechanisms for Achieving
Sustainable Development
Awareness •Aware of mechanisms that may be
70 understood as relating to sustainable
60 61 communities
60
52
50
•Empowering local communities
40
Per Cent
34
29 Devon
30
Cornwall
20
10 10
10
0
LAA CAA Sustainable Quality
Community Parish
Strategy

17. Partnership
•Interaction between the different
stakeholders
•Interaction between other
parishes
•Interaction between the national
and local government
•TPC are a hybrid organization
so how does this effect their role
with other organizations?

18. Qualitative Component
THEMES ANALYSIS
Intra and inter Community Grounded theory
Dynamics
Structural Inertia Corpus Analysis
Risk Communication
Hybrid Knowledge ‘s Content analysis
Individual and group behaviour
Discourses of sustainable
development

19. Translating Research into Policy
Knowledge and Society
• But how did I translate the research into
outputs for broader society?
• What mechanisms did i use?
• How does broader society use my research?
• What's still left to be done?

20. Outputs
• Education and training programmes in Cornwall and Devon
(http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=17712)
• Reports for all skakeholders
• Book (2012) ‘Governance in Transition: Sustainable
Development at the Local Level in a Global Context’
• New insights into sustainable development governance and
community dynamics.
• A framework for future research
• Collaborations
• www.sustainableparish.com

21. Policy Relevant

22. The Media
•Media is an important part of
transmitting scientific knowledge to
the general public
•The general public (you and me) play
an important role in influencing policy
(cyclical relationship)
•Why is some science/knowledge
reported and others overlooked?
•How do we know what is reported is
accurate?