RCN-SEES: Integrated Network for Social Sustainability: Concepts, Language, and Assessment

可持续发展通常被解释为在设计产品或过程时必须共同优化的三个交叉领域：社会、环境和经济。环境和经济可持续性的概念比社会可持续性的概念得到了更深入的讨论，因此它们得到了更好的定义和更一致的应用。尽管学术界、专业人士和政策制定者对社会可持续性有着共同的兴趣，但他们对什么是社会可持续性，以及如何实施和评估社会可持续性，往往持有不同的观点。从广义上讲，可持续发展的社会方面考察影响和受可持续发展影响的社会关系、相互作用和制度。这个项目的目的是促进和促进关于社会可持续性的意义的讨论，在其与可持续性的一般概念之间的关系，以及在各种情况下的应用和测量。该项目将利用各种面对面和虚拟会议以及虚拟通信技术，吸引政策、实践和学术部门的广泛参与，以确定社会可持续性，确定研究需求，并加强合作。来自合作院校的学生将参与并综合会议讨论，出席会议，并通过学生交流和实习经验建立网络。项目成果包括制定研究议程、手稿、专题期刊、建议和会议研讨会，以定义、理解和衡量社会可持续性。对RCN成就的评估将包括研究我们的网络互动（以了解语言因素影响网络对话和进展的程度），并确定面对面和在线互动如何影响成员满意度和沟通频率。在最基本的层面上，关于社会可持续性的概念清晰度至关重要，因为它有助于我们理解人类活动如何影响环境和经济可持续性，以及如何受其影响。例如，性别平等、社会正义和宗教自由等问题与经济发展和稳定密切相关。该项目提供了一种方法，将这些主题联系起来，重点关注几个关键的早期概念和案例，并为与社会可持续性相关的概念和问题带来急需的清晰度。汇集来自不同学科、机构和其他积极致力于社会可持续性问题的团体的不同观点，将使我们能够理解所谓社会可持续性的不同要素，并就如何研究、整合到规划和政策中以及评估社会可持续性展开对话。

Sustainable development is often explained in terms of three intersecting domains that must be co-optimized when designing a product or process: society, environment, and economy. The concepts of environmental and economic sustainability have been addressed in much greater depth than has social sustainability, and as a result, they are better defined and more consistently applied. Despite a shared interest in social sustainability, academics, professionals and policymakers often hold varying perspectives about what social sustainability is, and how it can be implemented and assessed. Broadly speaking, the social aspect of sustainability examines the social relationships, interactions, and institutions that affect, and are affected by, sustainable development. The purpose of this project is to promote and facilitate discussion about the meanings of social sustainability in its relation to general ideas about sustainability and in its application and measurement in a variety of contexts. The project will use a variety of in-person and virtual conferences and virtual communication technologies to engage broad participation from the policy, practice, and academic sectors to characterize social sustainability, determine research needs, and increase collaboration. Students from partner institutions will participate in and synthesize conference discussions, present at conferences, and develop networks through student exchanges and internship experiences. Project outcomes include developing research agendas, manuscripts, thematic journal issues, recommendations, and conference workshops for defining, understanding, and measuring social sustainability. Assessment of the achievements of the RCN will include the study of our network interactions (in order to understand the degree to which linguistic factors affect network dialogue and progress), and determination of how in-person and online interactions affect member satisfaction and communication frequency. At the most fundamental level, conceptual clarity regarding social sustainability is crucial because it helps us understand how human activity affects, and is affected by, environmental and economic sustainability. For example, issues of gender equity, social justice, and religious freedom are intimately bound to economic development and stability. This project provides a means to connect topics such as these to provide focus on a few, key, early-stage concepts and cases, and bring much-needed clarity to the concepts and concerns related to social sustainability. Bringing together diverse perspectives from a variety of academic disciplines, agencies, and other groups who are actively working on issues related to social sustainability will allow us to understand the different elements of what might be called social sustainability, and to start a conversation about how social sustainability can be studied, integrated into planning and policies, and assessed.