DUST Trails 25: The RFLLs are underway

Exciting times are unfolding as the Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs) are officially underway in the DUST project. After months of planning, collaboration, and anticipation, our regional partners are making strong progress with a series of workshops in four of our case study regions. These regions include Norrbotten (Sweden), the Lusatian District (Germany), Katowice (Poland), and Stara Zagora (Bulgaria). Our first results are showing the unique perspectives and voices in these regions and demonstrating how a futures oriented mode of engaging citizens can produce rich insights for the development of new policy.

The RFLLs focus on engaging the least engaged communities in each of the four case study regions, such as ethnic minorities, youth groups, women, and specific sectoral workers, including miners and employees of mining-related companies. All involved in our RFLLs are directly affected by policies implemented as part of the Just Transition and all have valuable things to say.

In each of the four regions, four workshops are being held that make up the RFLLs. These workshops are designed to engage citizens, policymakers, and experts in shaping the future of regional sustainability transitions. Each workshop plays a critical role in fostering dialogue, building trust, and creating actionable policy recommendations. Read on for more info on these workshops.

Workshop 1: Citizen Awareness Raising and Building Trust

The first workshop focuses on raising awareness and building trust between citizens, policymakers, and experts. Participants will engage in open dialogues about the current and desired impacts of sustainability transitions, discussing regional sustainability assets and government policies that are shaping these changes.

Workshop 2: Citizen Anticipation of Futures

In this workshop, citizens will have the opportunity to express their expectations and aspirations for sustainable transitions in their region. Through group discussions, participants will explore both probable and preferred futures, helping to shape a collective vision for regional sustainability.

Workshop 3: Citizen Proactive Positioning

Moving into the reframing phase, citizens will work with draft policy seed statements developed from previous workshops. In this session, they will reflect on these proposals, assessing their potential impacts and refining the ideas to ensure they align with community needs and goals.

Workshop 4: Knowledge and Policy Co-Creation

The final workshop brings everything together for a collaborative knowledge co-creation process. Citizens, policymakers, and experts will work on refining policy recommendations, highlighting areas of consensus and conflict, and ensuring that local community interests are embedded in sustainability transition policies at all levels of governance.

As the RFLLs continue to unfold, we are learning from the participants about how to make the transition work for them and their region. It’s clear that this process is about more than just creating sustainable policies; it’s about building a foundation for long-term change by engaging those most affected by it.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the results of each workshop and what we have learned so far. Stay tuned for more coverage of each region’s RFLL experience!