The project addresses the urgent call for implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the regional and local level. The point of departure is how context-specific dimensions to societies and natural systems must be at the core when implementing these global standards. The complexity connected to balancing environmental, economic and social values in societal planning, pose several challenges to planners, authorities and businesses.

The overall ambition of the project is to develop a framework for implementing the SDG in local and regional planning. This framework will be based on lessons learned from Local and Regional Agenda A21 and output from workshops and focus groups where relevant SDG goals and targets will be contextualized with the help of regional scenarios and indicators. Specifically, the project will:

Assess the former and current position of sustainable development in regional and local planning

Explore regional and local pathways (procedures) for contextualizing the SDGs, with the help of regional scenarios and indicators

Test the pathways and wider framework in practical planning and provide policy guidelines based on these experiences

Integrate the SDGs in study programmes for societal and spatial planning

Strengthen the concept of sustainable development in regional and local planning through coproduction of knowledge and social learning across sectors and stakeholder groups, as well as ambitious plan for public outreach and engagement.

The project is led by Nordlandsforskning (Aase Kristine Lundberg), and is a cooperation with regional and local planning authorities in two Norwegian regions (Nordland and Vestland), four educational institutions, and representatives from the wider society. Through workshops and focus groups, stakeholders and planners will contribute to co-production of knowledge and social learning to the wider community.