Mobilizing Civil Society to Construct a Socially Sustainable Future: An INSITE workshop

INSITE is convening this workshop because we believe that the way in which our society organizes its innovation processes is unsustainable, socially as well as environmentally. Moreover, we believe that neither the market nor the state can in present circumstances provide leadership to generate an alternative path of social development. Instead, civil society must be mobilized to construct a collective vision of a socially sustainable society and organize the processes (which surely will include the participation of both state and market) that can realize this vision.

The aim of the workshop is to formulate a program of research and practice that can contribute to the processes of mobilization and construction that our society needs.

Participants will share relevant ideas and experiences in order to achieve this aim.

Program

Note: each day will include an 1.25 hour lunch and a morning and afternoon coffee-and-refreshment break – 30 minutes for the morning, 15 for the afternoon. We will also host a group dinner on Jan 26. The workshop should conclude by 17:30 on Jan 27, and start at 9AM both days.

Session 1 Jan 26 AM: getting started

Moderator: Sander van der Leeuw

Setting the stage: some ideas from INSITE

Speakers: Sander van der Leeuw, David Lane, Filippo Addarii, Chris Sigaloff

Timing: 15 minutes for each speaker, after a 20 minute welcome/admin briefing

Introducing the participants and general discussion

We start with a post-coffee break grand tour of the invited participant, each of whom introduces herself and her relation to the theme of the workshop (participants should prepare an introduction of NO MORE THAN 2 MINUTES EACH). Then we can launch a general discussion on the morning talks. We’ll have a bit over an hour for this discussion, if we keep to the timing indicated.

Session 2, Jan 26 PM and Jan 27 AM: 5 key themes

Moderator: Paul Adamson

Theme 1: Philosophical perspectives on social sustainability

Speakers: Melissa Lane, Andrew Feenberg

Theme 2: Social transformation and multicentric politics

Speakers: Juliana Hoxha, Juan Jose Ibarrexte

Theme 3: The challenges of pluralism

Speakers: Nilda Bullain, Marius Jitea, Barbara Pierro and Daniele Iennaco

Theme 4: Environmental sustainability: the role of civil society

Speakers: Sander van der Leeuw, Paolo Gurisatti

Theme 5: ICT, mobilization, and processes of social transformation

Speakers: Ralph Dum, Jamal Shahin

We will allot an hour to each theme: 15 minutes per speaker, followed by a half-hour discussion led by the moderator. The first three themes will be presented the afternoon of Jan 26, and the final two the morning of Jan 27. The final two hours of the morning of Jan 27 will to be devoted to:

Taking stock: a panel, followed by general discussion

Moderator: Paul Adamson

Panelists: Gerard de Leeuw, Brigitta Jaska, Inderpaul Johar, Marco de Ponte, Marcello Palazzi, Denise Pumain

Session 3 Jan 27 PM: Formulating an agenda for research and practice

Moderator: Chris Sigaloff

A consultation to develop the INSITE agenda for the future.

Here is the plan for this session:

During dinner of the first day and lunch of the second, the organizers, based on input collected from participants, decide if we want to augment or change our list of 5 principal themes – and perhaps identify key action items associated with each theme, which have emerged from the presentations and discussion. Then, in the room where the final session will be held, different tables will be set up, each table dedicated to one of the principal themes. The discussion will take place in three rounds each lasting 30 minutes, as follows.

Round 1 - participants organize themselves around the different tables. The group at each table discusses the theme and tries to generate a first outline of relevant questions for research and practice.

Round 2 - everyone (except for one notetaker/host who stays at the same table) goes to another table. After the notetaker shares the highlights of round 1, a new discussion that builds on the previous one takes place.

Round 3 - participants return to their first table and share what they brought away from the second round discussion (and what the second rounders at their table had to say about their first round work).

At this point we convene all participants for a general discussion, beginning with a short presentation from each table of their agendas; culminating – if the process works – with commitments about follow-up activities.