Work Programme

1. Project summary

1.1 Problem to be solved

During the last years both environmental organisations, politicians and the research community have concentrated on the development of sustainable cities. This is reflected in the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign. The relevance of consumption and the activity of households are also recognised in this process, and several EU-project were funded in the Fourth Framework Programme. But the development of consumption pattern and consumption level in Europe still represent a great challenge to the environmental goals both on national, European and global level.

This project will build upon the empirical results and the theoretical innovations made in the sustainable cities network process. We will expand the analysis beyond individual attitudes and the behaviour of household by including stakeholders such as: consumer organisations, environmental organisations, retailers, the local political authorities and local governments. The main innovative aspects of our project is the development of tools for a sustainable development of consumption, and the involvement of stakeholders in this process: identifying goals, develop and test various tools for sustainable consumption and the implementation of these tools in everyday life.

1.2 Scientific objectives and approach

In a multidisciplinary approach - including both natural and social sciences - the point of departure is the description of the state of art and the situation for households in selected European cities. The potential for changes will be analysed in both a short-term and a long-term perspective.

The three main objectives are divided into five research steps and work packages:

Research step: The place of households and consumption in the environmental goals in the cities
Research step: Household metabolism in the five actual cities
Analyse the possibilities and tools for significant short term changes:
· The use of consumer information, the green household budget
· The consequences for evaluation of quality of life
· Importance of stakeholder participation in the decision making process
Research step: Potential for long term changes in a back-casting approach, within the factor four perspective
Research step: Involvement of stakeholders in the implementation and dissemination phase

We will combine quantitative data and using both focus groups and qualitative interviews. The main focus within this project is the potential for environmental changes in household behaviour.

1.3 Expected impacts

We expect to give a significant contribution to the integrated product policy (IPP) of Europe. Europe’s future economic development is characterised by a tension between global economic competition and the need for green innovation. The concept of „Integrated Product Policy" is an attempt to answer this challenge. The innovation of new environmental friendly products is a vital part of the product oriented environmental policy. Significant innovative progress has been made in the car industry (catalytic converter), in the detergent industry (micro powder) and in the increasing life-span of durables in households. But the way consumers organise their everyday life, and how they use the improved products are still extremely important. If households and consumers use the new eco-friendly products in an unsustainable way, the scientific and industrialised improvement will be absorbed by the increasing consumption level and the never-changing consumption pattern of million of households. This is the best argument for an integrated product policy, for the integration of activity by industry, retail, consumption and the political authorities.

We will also emphasis the economic consequences for the stakeholders involved, especially consumers and retailers. Changes in environmental behaviour among consumers will represent crucial challenges to businesses. A special attention will be put on the role of the retail system, and to the dissemination of results. In this process one has to take into consideration that stakeholders have different needs and wants. The development of information and other tools must be able to meet the need of various groups of stakeholders. The relevance for accessing counties will also be a part of this dissemination process.

2. Scientific objectives and innovation

During the last years both environmental organisations, politicians and the research community have concentrated on the development of sustainable cities. This is reflected in the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign, and in the European Sustainable Cities Report (1996). The results have been that a large number of European cities, spread all over Europe, have given priorities to the environment in the political planning process. This has been reflected in the physical revitalisation of old city centres and in the planning of new urban and suburban areas. Cities have used large resources to improve the public transport capacity and traffic pattern, and to organise the recycling in households, retail and industry. The relevance of consumption and the activity of households are also recognised in this process, and several EU-project were funded in the Fourth Framework Programme (Proceedings from workshop, "Lifestyles, participation and environment"1998.) But the development of consumption pattern and consumption level in Europe still represent a great challenge to the environmental goals both on national, European and global level.

This project will build upon the empirical results and the theoretical innovations made in the sustainable cities network process, and in the consumer oriented projects of the Environment and Climate Programme. We will expand the analysis beyond individual attitudes and the behaviour of household by including stakeholders such as: consumer organisations, environmental organisations, retailers, the local political authorities and local governments. The stakeholders will take part in the formulation of environmental goals and in the development of tools, but their main contribution will be in the implementation phase. For all stakeholders there are crucial challenges:

The political authority: Organise cities and everyday life not only in a top-down perspective, but in a bottom-up perspective, from the perspective of consumers

The Consumer organisations: Realise that the environment is a vital part of modern consumer policy, and commit themselves to environmental goals in the consumer policy.

The environmental organisation: Understand that consumption is important in a modern environmental policy, and that the influence of attitudes and behaviour are crucial.

The retail business: Commit themselves to a sustainable development by providing consumers with eco-friendly products: organic/local food and eco-labelled product alternatives at reasonable prices.

Consumers and households: Develop reflexivity to the environmental impact of consumption, change consumption pattern and lifestyles.

In the cities of tomorrow individual consumers and households play an important part as far as sustainable development is concerned. The urban planning process must include the importance of changing attitudes and behaviour of households and consumers. Minor changes among large consumers groups will have significant environmental effects on pollution levels, energy use, use of materials, recycling and transport of goods, - because the environmental impacts of the activities of households are large, and increasing. But in some cases gradual, lasting changes among a majority can be hard to achieve, and other possibilities must then be considered. We will concentrate on consumer activities such as:

shopping of durable and non-durable household goods

the possibility for re-use of household goods,

food choices: vegetarian, local, seasonal and organic food

shopping of products that are eco-labelled ect.

waste management in households and neighbourhood

use of energy in households

transport in relation to shopping activities.

The main objective of the project:

Develop, test, improve and implement environmental tools for various groups of stakeholders concerned with a sustainable development in the city of tomorrow

The main idea behind the proposal is – in the short run - to develop, test, improve and implement tools for all relevant stakeholders to change consumer behaviour in the direction of less unsustainable consumption .In the long run, the goal is to use these tools to establish a sustainable level and pattern of consumption in modern industrialised societies. As figure 1 emphasis, the dependent variable in the proposal is potential for changes in consumer behaviour. This behaviour does not take place in a vacuum, but is dependent upon 1) the institutional framework in the cities, 2) activity from relevant stakeholders and 3) consumer values. We can use recycling as an example. The participation of consumers in the recycling process is not only dependent upon individual consumer attitudes. The way the local community has arranged the process is - probably – more important. Consumer values in the neighbourhood, and activity from stakeholders in the community will also influence consumer enthusiasm for this process

Fifth Framework Programme 1998 - 2002
Financed by the European Union