Sustainable future scenarios for seven Chinese settlements are the main objective of SUCCESS.
In the case-studies, we will assess the potential in the selected villages and describe pathways into the future from the ecological, economic, socio-cultural and architectural point of view.
SUCCESS starts from the knowledge of the dwellers in these settlements and develops ways for combining this knowledge with the expertise of the consortium.
SUCCESS will find answers to the basic research questions:
What to maintain? SUCCESS will show existing valuable socio-economic and architectural patterns in the selected settlements.
What to change? How can a better living come about, at the same time respecting environmental demands.
Activities
The study will be carried out in intensive intercultural and interdisciplinary meetings that include fieldresearch in the Chinese settlements. In particular, the following activities will be undertaken:
- Survey of existing potential in the settlements
- Development of highly innovative participatory methods like PRA – Participatory Rural Apraisal method, visual sociology - photo-interview or participatory film-making
- Development of critical reference groups in the settlements
- Developing an integrative research-design
- Systemic assessment of the process outcomes (sustainable area budget)
- Developing concepts for activities in the villages that carry the characteristics of sustainability
- Developing a thesaurus of sustainability
Expected outcome
The outcome of SUCCESS lies in three levels
- Research: Better understanding of existing proto-sustainable profiles in Chinese villages
- scenarios for their sustainable future
- Policy making: Input from the findings to Chinese governmental agencies
- Local level: A sustainability process in 7 Chinese settlements based on local and expert knowledge
