STEPS COLLOQUIUM
Date: 10 October 2018
Time: 12.30 - 14.00 hrs
Venue: Ravelijn, RA 1315
Speakers: prof. dr. ir. Harry Lintsen & dr. ir. Frank Veraart
ABSTRACT:
Well-being, sustainability and social development The Netherlands 1850-2050
In our book Well-being, sustainability and social development, The Netherlands 1850-2050 we rewrite the history of the Netherlands from the perspective of well-being and sustainability. Such a complex project requires a tightly structured design of the research. First of all, we used a new instrument from Statistics Netherlands, namely the monitor well-being. We have applied this to four reference dates (1850, 1910, 1970 and 2010). In the second place, we gathered for these reference years statistical data of all material flows in the Netherlands. Thirdly, we analyzed the institutional context of the changes in well-being of the major material flows (i.e. bio-materials, minerals and fossil fuels). In the analysis we focused on the tradeoff processes between well-being and sustainability. This approach led to a new picture of Dutch history since 1850. The historical insights were used to assess the leeway for future sustainable transitions in agriculture and food industries (bio-materials), energy and chemical industries (fossil fuels), and building industries (minerals).
Harry Lintsen and Frank Veraart, also on behalf of Jan Pieter Smits and John Grin
Well-being, sustainability and social development. The Netherlands 1850-2050 (Springer 2018; open access)
De kwetsbare welvaart van Nederland 1850-2050. Naar een circulaire economie (Prometheus 2018)