The ESRC STEPS Centre's Legacy Initiative: Future Natures

作为ESRC遗产中心，未来自然倡议建立在ESRC Steps Centre(STEP)过去15年围绕可持续发展途径的政治和可能性的工作基础上，并将其带向新的和令人兴奋的方向。该倡议旨在挑战关于解决气候变化、环境退化、环境不公正和日益加深的不平等和排斥的影响的途径的普遍假设。许多人认为，只有强大的领导人和占主导地位的国际机构青睐的自上而下的管理方法才能应对这些挑战。相比之下，STEPS中心的工作累积表明，没有通往可持续未来的单一途径，也没有人能“解决”我们所面临的全球挑战。相反，在不同的经历、知识(S)、历史、日常政治、生活经验、社会创造力和基层创新的基础上，向更公正和可持续的社会转型有无数的可能性。故事和从中吸取的教训越多地被分享、扩大和纳入辩论，可能性就越大，更具体的道路也就变得更可见--许多更好的未来是可能的，许多已经在酝酿中。未来自然倡议将一个前所未有的国际网络聚集在一起，这些网络由研究人员和参与实际行动的人组成，以建立超越环境和社会危机的未来。通过一个协调的活动计划，我们将与合作伙伴合作，开拓和探索政治、历史和变革潜力，以应对可持续发展的挑战。公益性是指创造、复制和捍卫当代公地的社会价值和社会财富的各种做法。未来自然的一个关键活动领域是开发关于研究证据的新的、引人入胜的交流方式，这些方式对包括研究人员、政策制定者、民间社会和公众在内的各种受众具有包容性和实用性。通过开发一个新的在线知识和学习平台来管理STEP中心的遗留材料并分享我们合作伙伴网络的变化故事，我们的目标是建立一个跨越学术学科、社会部门和研究人员与实践者之间的知识社区。通过这样做，我们的目标是扩大和开放关于可持续发展的实际途径的辩论，将STEPS中心的遗产的相关性和影响范围扩大到新的受众。小额赠款将鼓励合作伙伴之间的合作，并使从业者和早期职业研究人员受益。一系列在线讲习班将以讲故事为起点，探讨在以下六个主题上实现可持续发展的做法和挑战：农业景观；城市和城市周边环境；市政空间；经济和工作；自然和自然资源与技术、知识和文化。未来自然倡议的在线平台将主办虚拟对话和在线演讲者系列，伙伴关系成员将能够利用该平台分享在更广泛的网络中创建的博客和资源。一年两次的带有定制插图的在线杂志将以公开、引人入胜的形式收集多媒体故事、散文、博客、艺术作品和对中心活动的反思。通过这些参与不断演变的全球替代方案政治的活动，未来性质将揭示世界各地的不同倡议如何以主导机构和政策方法无法应对不断升级的社会生态危机和日益缩小的民主空间，用STEPS中心的语言创造公正、公平和可持续的可持续发展的新途径。从这些举措及其挑战中吸取经验教训，是创造更可持续未来的重要组成部分。

As an ESRC Legacy Centre, the Future Natures initiative builds on the past 15 years of ESRC STEPS Centre (STEPS) work around the politics and possibilities of pathways to sustainability and takes it in new and exciting directions. The initiative aims to challenge pervasive assumptions about pathways to addressing the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, environmental injustice and deepening inequalities and exclusions. Many people assume that these challenges can only be addressed by powerful leaders and top-down management approaches favoured by dominant international institutions. In contrast, the work of the STEPS Centre has cumulatively shown that there is no single pathway to a sustainable future and no one 'solution' to the global challenges we face. Rather, there are innumerable possibilities for transformation to more just and sustainable society based in diverse experiences, knowledge(s), histories, everyday politics, lived experiences, social creativity and grassroots innovation. The more that stories and learning from these are shared, amplified and brought into debates, the more possibilities expand, and more concrete pathways become visible - many better futures are possible and many already exist in-the-making.The Future Natures initiative brings together an unprecedented international network of researchers and people involved in practical action to build futures beyond the environmental and social crises. Through a coordinated programme of activities, we will work with partners to open up and explore the politics, histories and transformative potentials of 'commoning' for meeting sustainability challenges. Commoning refers to diverse practices that create, reproduce and defend the social values and social wealth of the contemporary commons. A key area of activity for Future Natures is to develop new and engaging ways of communicating about research evidence that are inclusive and useful to a diverse variety of audiences, including researchers, policymakers, civil society and the public. In developing a new online knowledge and learning platform to curate STEPS Centre legacy materials and share stories of change from our network of partners, we aim to build a knowledge community that cuts across academic disciplines, sectors of society and researcher vs. practitioner divides. In doing so, we aim to broaden and open up debates on practical pathways to sustainability, extending the relevance and reach of the STEPS Centre's legacy to new audiences. Small grants will encourage collaboration among partners and benefit both practitioners and early career researchers. A series of online workshops will use storytelling as the starting point to explore practices and challenges of commoning and pathways to sustainability across six themes: Agrarian Landscapes; Urban and Peri-urban Contexts; Municipal Spaces; Economy and Work; Nature and Natural Resources and Technology, Knowledge and Culture. The Future Natures initiative's online platform will host virtual dialogues and an online speaker series, and members of the partnership will be able to use the platform to share blogs and resources that have been created within the broader network. A biannual online magazine with bespoke artwork will collect multimedia stories, essays, blogs, artistic contributions and reflections from Centre events in a publicly accessible, engaging format.Through these activities that engage with the evolving global politics of alternatives, Future Natures will shine a light on how diverse initiatives around the world are responding to escalating socio-ecological crises and shrinking democratic space in ways that dominant institutions and policy approaches cannot, creating, in the language of the STEPS Centre, new pathways to sustainability that are just, equitable and sustainable. Learning from (and across) these initiatives and their challenges is a vital part of creating more sustainable futures.