Transforming Well-Being in Wuppertal—Conditions and Constraints

Abstract

Conventional welfare production is unsustainable. A societal emphasis on (green) economic growth may therefore be superseded by an extended concept of well-being. Taking a transformative approach, science may take part in catalysing this challenging transformation of both the understanding and the level of well-being. Instead of economic growth at the expense of sustainability, we aim to cooperatively refocus on integrating economic, social and ecological perspectives into a more holistic, sustainable approach to individual and municipal well-being in Wuppertal (Germany). Therefore, the research team investigates and develops concepts of local sustainable well-being production, e.g., by employing a new indicator system and the real-world laboratory approach. What are the conditions and constraints of transforming well-being in Wuppertal and most particularly of the role of scientists in this endeavour? Answering this research question with a comparative case study approach, we have analysed our resources, processes, contexts and normativity. The results show that the role of 'transformative scientists' in Wuppertal faces constraints of timing and funding, as well as challenges from the different demands of science and practice. Hampered co-design interacts with role conflicts. Open-minded stakeholders are crucial for local well-being transformation, as is the awareness that urban residential districts have bottomed out. However, the normative sustainability claims of the transformative research project are not fully shared by all of its stakeholders, which is both necessary and challenging for transformative research.

Collaboration between Heterogeneous Practitioners in Sustainability Research: A Comparative Analysis of Three Transdisciplinary Programmes

“…The literature suggests that the success of this collaboration will depend both on the characteristics of the practitioners involved and on the way their interactions are organized. Regarding practitioner characteristics, a balanced team composition in terms of cognitive and normative backgrounds contributes to the success of TD projects [11], and the inclusion of open-minded stakeholders, forerunners, and out-of-the-box thinkers is important to successfully cope with ill-defined problems [40,41]. Moreover, the skills and capacity of TD researchers to pay attention to the friction and tensions provoked by TD collaboration and to reveal what is relevant to their practitioners have been found to be valuable for fruitful interactions [12,42].…”

Transformative learning as societal learning

“…On the one hand, individual transformative growth can lead to societal transformation. In this case, the person contributes to reshaping societies or communities and is a pioneer of change: the research focuses then on how individual experiences can translate from the individual to the collective level (Rose et al., 2017; Singer‐Brodowski, 2016). On the other hand, changes in societal structure can happen due to other factors, and individuals need to catch up in their own transformative learning.…”