Tittel på avhandlingen:
Small steps in all directions. Exploring localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Norway
Tittel på prøveforelesningen:
Tittel på prøveforelesning offentliggjøres 14 dager i forkant.
Tid for prøveforelesning: 10:15 – 12:15
Tid for disputas: 12:15 – 15:30
Sted: Auditorium Stein Rokkan (A2), Bodø og digitalt
Disputasleder: Prodekan Cecilie Høj Anvik
Bedømmelseskommisjon:
- Professor Hilde Bjørkhaug, NTNU
- Professor Håvard Haarstad, UiB
- Professor Olof Stjernström, Nord universitet
Veiledere:
- Hovedveileder: Førsteamanuensis Håkan Sandersen, Nord universitet
- Medveileder: Professor Timothy Richardson, NMBU
Prøveforelesning og disputasen er åpen for alle interesserte tilhørere. Avhandlingen blir tilgjengelig for gjennomsyn ved å kontakte Anneli M. Watterud, e-post: anneli.m.watterud@nord.no.
Om avhandlingen:
With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the United Nations created a new framework for collective action towards sustainable development. In the years since, there have been numerous calls to "localise" the SDGs. This puts pressure on local governments to find ways to meaningfully engage with the SDGs as part of their planning and policy-making.
This thesis critically examines localisation of the SDGs in Norway and discusses the implications for Norway’s progress on the 2030 Agenda. The thesis analyses how localisation has been formulated and justified as a strategy at the national level, as well as the practises that aim to make the SDGs appear relevant in local planning. To do this, the thesis develops a theoretical framework based on concepts from the policy mobilities literature, centring on the tensions that arise when global ideas, expressed in the SDGs, need to be anchored in local contexts. The empirical material comes from interviews with 41 planners and other key policy actors at local, regional and national government levels, as well as from analyses of municipal plans and national policy documents.
The findings are presented in four empirical papers. The findings show, among other things, that while the SDGs are generally appreciated by municipalities as a framework for local planning, local planners demand clearer guidance and clarifications about what implementation should entail. The thesis finds that the national government appeals to notions of local autonomy when justifying localisation as a strategy of implementation, which, in turn, leaves little room for defining national criteria for what progress should look like, given the tradition of strong local autonomy in Norway. One consequence of localisation is as such that the national effort to achieve the 2030 Agenda has little overall direction. In practice, progress on the SDGs becomes largely what municipalities make of it.
