Eleventh International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability 21–23 JANUARY 2015 | SCANDIC HOTEL COPENHAGEN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK | ONSUSTAINABILITY.COM Sustainability Conference 1 Dear Delegate, The Sustainability knowledge community is an international conference, a cross-disciplinary scholarly journal, a book imprint, and an online knowledge community which, together, set out to describe, analyze and interpret the role of Sustainability. These media are intended to provide spaces for careful, scholarly reflection and open dialogue. The bases of this endeavour are cross- disciplinary. The community is brought together by a common concern for sustainability in an holistic perspective, where environmental, cultural, economic and, social concerns intersect. In addition to organizing the Sustainability Conference, Common Ground publishes papers from the conference at http://onsustainability.com/publications/journal. We do encourage all conference participants to submit an article based on their conference presentation for peer review and possible publication in the journal. We also publish books at http://onsustainability.com/publications/books, in both print and electronic formats. We would like to invite conference participants to develop publishing proposals for original works or for edited collections of papers drawn from the journal which address an identified theme. Finally, please join our online conversation by subscribing to our monthly email newsletter, and subscribe to our Facebook, RSS, or Twitter feeds at http://onsustainability.com. Common Ground also organizes conferences and publishes journals in other areas of critical intellectual human concern, including diversity, museums, technology, humanities and the arts, to name several (see http://commongroundpublishing.com). Our aim is to create new forms of knowledge community, where people meet in person and also remain connected virtually, making the most of the potentials for access using digital media. We are also committed to creating a more accessible, open and reliable peer review process. Alongside opportunities for well-known academics, we are creating new publication openings for academics from developing countries, for emerging scholars and for researchers from institutions that have historically focused on teaching. We are also proud to announce the launch of Scholar, created in an association between Common Ground and the University of Illinois. If the social glue that holds together Facebook is 'friends' and the stickiness of Twitter is having 'followers', then the common bond created in Scholar is 'peers' working together in knowledge producing communities. We call this a ‘social knowledge’ space. Not only can you join the Sustainability community in Scholar , you can also create your own knowledge communities and use Scholar as a learning space, with a strong focus on peer-to-peer dialogue and structured feedback. For more information, visit www.cgscholar.com Thank you to everyone who has prepared for this conference including our co-organizers and supporters, The City of Copenhagen and The Scandic Hotel Copenhagen. A personal thank you and acknowledgement goes to Amareswar Galla, Anna Ørsted Pedersenand, and everyone at The Scandic Hotel Copenhagen who helped organize this year’s conference. I’d also like to thank my Common Ground colleagues who have put such a significant amount of work into this conference: Lily Miller-Criner, Izabel Szary, and Jessica Wienhold-Brokish. We hope you will be able to join us at next year’s conference, co-hosted by the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, 21-23 January 2016, at Portland State University, USA. We wish you all the best for this conference, and hope it will provide you every opportunity for dialogue with colleagues from around the corner and around the world. Yours Sincerely, Dr. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope Director, Common Ground Publishing 2 Sustainability Conference Dear Delegate, Welcome to the Eleventh International Conference of the Sustainability Knowledge Community. This is the crunch year for finalizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) informing the UN post 2015 Development Agenda. Common Ground Publishing has been at the forefront of advocating a four pillar approach that is inclusive and holistic bringing together the social, economic, cultural, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The leadership is from the members of the Sustainability Knowledge Community. During the last decade, our Knowledge Community has collected substantial evidence illustrating the widespread consensus that sustainable development pays dividends for posterity. However, the faultlines in developmental processes call for us to rethink methods and approaches with honesty, transparency, and integrity. Deep research needs to inform the nexus between the four pillars of sustainability. New models and modalities of participation need to be scoped and developed. Integrated planning contributes effectively to policies, strategies and programs targeting inclusive social and economic development, environmental sustainability, harmony, peace, and security. It is promising to see that this progress in the discourse of sustainability underpins the UN Secretary General’s Draft Synthesis Report - The Road to Dignity by 2030 (4 December 2014). But the document does not adequately embrace the full potential of culture, despite the many UN debates and resolutions, evidence collected by universities and experts and the advocacy of a global constituency representing millions that strive to fulfil culture’s role as driver and enabler of development. Negotiations for the final draft of the agenda remain in the hands of UN Member States, during the intergovernmental process that will take place from January to June 2015. Nevertheless, it is our duty to present constructive arguments and debate the SDGs and the agenda. You will recall the mandate given to the UN General Assembly by the member states at the Rio+20 Conference, where they declared that the "SDGs should be action-oriented, concise and easy to communicate, limited in number.” These are: Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation. Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries. Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.* Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development Sustainability Conference 3 Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. * Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change Although the introduction in the Secretary General’s Draft Report affirms that people are at the centre of sustainable development and acknowledges the cultural diversity of the world and recognizes that all cultures and civilizations can contribute to sustainable development, it omits to mention culture as the fourth dimension or pillar of sustainable development. (a narrative widely embraced by the global constituency, a consensual language approved by the UN General Assembly in Resolution A/RES/68/223 of December 2013). We believe that for the world to be ‘just, equitable and inclusive’, we also need to protect and promote humankind’s diversity of cultural expressions. Research shows that there is no other way – economic, scientific, technological, or even political – to achieve peaceful and inclusive societies. Global leaders have agreed that poverty has various manifestations. Poverty is not just a lack of material conditions, resources, and income. It is also of lack of capabilities and opportunities. It is the recognition of the dignity of disadvantaged groups and their contribution to the life of the community and of their creative capacity and their right to express themselves and envisage a better future. The new agenda must be based on a commitment to further promote resilient, legitimate and inclusive national and local institutions through civil society engagement. We urge you and your colleagues to participate and contribute to the platform provided by