LUCID - "Sustainability is non-negotiable"
Historically, critical research has often refused to engage in the real world by remaining as an observer, points out Prof Lennart Olsson, where the applicability of such research findings often lost focus. The new analytical framework that LUCID will represent primarily aims to bridge this gap where critical and problem solving research will be used to complement each other. Moreover, the need for a new framework that transcends beyond the market solutions to address sustainability challenges has become highly inevitable, emphasizes Olsson. For instance, the growing concerns that climate change implications can aggravate the troubled financial situations of contemporary world market have been observed.
Central to the LUCID framework will be the principles of Resilience, Cultural Theory and Transition, explains Prof Olsson. Though resilience theory is integral to natural science, resilience of social systems in the climate change debate has been increasingly critical. While cultural theory will be used to define agent behaviour, transition theory will be important in the study of structural changes and the increasing emphasis on the role of technology in social changes. Thus LUCID aims to accommodate a number of multi-faceted behaviours, beyond the market mechanism which assumes a "common behaviour" of agents. Prof Olsson envisages LUCID to pave way towards knowledge production and application that will contribute to social changes to establish that preservation of life support systems have to be imperatively implicit.
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