DEMETRA – Democratic Governance, Environmental and Climate Challenges, and Societal Transformation: Deliberation, Inclusiveness, and Citizen Empowerment for Sustainable Food Systems
DEMETRA aims to demonstrate means to alleviate tensions between democratic governance and sustainability transitions through an analysis of new deliberative participatory processes (DPPs) in seven European countries:
DEMETRA combines macro- (institutional), meso- (organizational), and micro-level (individual) explanatory factors; a crossnational comparative design; and an integrated mixed methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods. In view of the climate imperative and environmental challenges, DEMETRA seeks to provide tools for a democratic governance of the sustainability transformation.
DEMETRA analyses the micro-, meso-, and macro-level opportunities for DPPs supporting sustainability transitions, focusing on the food system as a crucial study field to identify best practices for citizens’ democratic engagement and the co-construction of sustainable societies.
DEMETRA has the following objectives:
DEMETRA aims to create impact across society through targeted communication and dissemination strategies, project policy briefs/roundtable, a blueprint on “Deliberative Democracy and Food Systems” and the participation of alternative food organisations and social enterprises active in DPPs at the local level; scientific impact through conference and workshop participation, (open-access) publications, and an international scientific conference; and impact on citizens through an interactive learning module, online video magazines, an international film festival, and new experimental tools that involve citizens in the production of knowledge.
The project is constructed around four building blocks:
First building block
Second building block
What are the opportunities and constraints for DPPs that are both inclusive and empowering? How can DPPs foster the transformation towards sustainable and carbon neutral food systems?
Third building block
How do different types of DPPs compare in terms of quality of deliberation, reflected in the degrees of inclusiveness and empowerment realised at each stage? What are the substantive outcomes of DPPs on sustainability transformations of the food system?
Fourth building block
How can popular and effective solutions emerging from DPPs be scaled up to facilitate sustainability transformations?
DEMETRA undertakes the following research activities:
More about DEMETRA's Work packages