Research shows that sustainability dialogues too often insufficiently link to broader policy processes. We have therefore developed a mapping tool to connect singular dialogues to other activities within a political system. This tool can be used by anyone working with sustainability dialogues in the public sector, the business community, civil society, or academia.

The sustainability transition is a contentious issue. There are differing views on how it should be carried out and what kind of society it should lead to. Dialogue between those with opposing views is an important prerequisite for the transition to be perceived as legitimate by both its advocates and its critics. Research shows that individual dialogues can play a constructive role in the transition, given that they are deliberately designed and given sufficient resources. However, research also shows that dialogues rarely connect to longer-term and more far-reaching political developments.

To address the problem of isolated dialogues, we have developed a tool for mapping dialogue systems. It can be used to describe and assess dialogues within the sustainability transition from a systems perspective. It provides support for describing the quality of communication within dialogue activities and for assessing the connections between different actions within a system. The tool also enables the identification of areas for development based on the description of the dialogue system. The tool is intended for use by those who work with, or are responsible for, dialogues within the sustainability transition.

An example of a mapping

Team

The tool has been developed by Martin Westin, Camilo Calderon and Miron Arljung, SLU.