What the research is about

Research Objective

Infrastructure promotes human well-being at the price of biodiversity by depleting natural resources. Both people and biodiversity have rights to well-being, and this enquiry studies how natural and social well-being might coexist.

In this research, futures studies are used to examine infrastructure. Futures studies anticipate how people might live based on social, technical, and environmental developments. The technique imagines alternate futures.

As buildings are long-lasting, today's infrastructure choices influence human futures. Considering those future humans and environment in infrastructure discussions could improve human outcomes. Yet infrastructure depends significantly on resource conversion, and humans have extracted natural materials for growth purposes since Neolithic times. Modernity also encourages resource exploitation and glasshouse gas emissions, causing sustainability challenges.

This study examines how infrastructure might become socially sustainable beyond the natural capital extraction – economic development paradigm.

Research Aims and Questions

The study has two aims: (i) to determine the contribution of present infrastructure strategies to social sustainability, and (ii) to comprehend how we may conceive the development and implementation of socially sustainable infrastructure such that human and environmental welfare are both considered. Two questions relate to these aims:

1. how effective are current infrastructure planning approaches in creating a sustainable approach between human and natural well-being, using the criteria outlined in the third proposition above?

2. How might we imagine the planning and delivery of socially sustainable infrastructure so that human and natural wellbeing are both brought into planning consideration?

Method

The primary methodology for responding to these research questions and to achieve the research aim is through participatory futures research. Exploring social sustainability via infrastructure through what is known as the Popp approach involves describing present and desired states through an iterative process until participants agree on each state. The planned method is described in more detail here.