Understanding sustainable prosperity — Towards a transdisciplinary research agenda

Jackson, Tim, Burningham, Kate, Catney, Phil, Christie, Ian, Davies, Will, Doherty, Brian, Druckman, Angela, Hammond, Marit, Hayward, Bronwyn, Jones, Aled, Lyon, Fergus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6275-4102, Molho, Nick, Oakley, Kate, Seaford, Charles and Victor, Peter (2016) Understanding sustainable prosperity — Towards a transdisciplinary research agenda. Working Paper. The Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity. . [Monograph]

Abstract

Understanding sustainable prosperity is an essential but complex task. It implies an ongoing multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research agenda. This working paper sets out the dimensions of this task. In doing so it also establishes the foundations for the research of the ESRC-funded Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP).

Our guiding vision for sustainable prosperity is one in which people everywhere have the capability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet. CUSP’s work will explore not just the economic aspects of this challenge, but also its social, political and philosophical dimensions. It will address the implications of sustainable prosperity at the level of households and firms; and it will explore sector-level and macro-economic implications of different pathways to prosperity. It will pay particular attention to the pragmatic steps that need to be taken by enterprise, government and civil society in order to achieve a sustainable prosperity.

The work programme itself is split into five themes – the MAPSS framework – which is described in more detail in this working paper. Theme M explores the moral framing and contested meanings of prosperity itself. Theme A explores the role of the arts and of culture in our society. Theme P addresses the politics of sustainable prosperity and explores the institutional shifts that will be needed to achieve it. Theme S1 explores the social and psychological dimensions of prosperity. Theme S2 examines the complex dynamics of social and economic systems on which sustainable prosperity depends.

This working paper explores the conceptual foundations for the MAPSS themes. It also sets out a portfolio of research and describes a strategy for cross-sector engagement involving government, business, academia and civil society. The overall aim of CUSP is to explore the economic, ecological, social and governance dimensions of sustainable prosperity and to make concrete recommendations to government, business and civil society in pursuit of it.

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