Lifestyles typology report "A framework for shaping Sustainable Lifestyles – determinants and strategies"
This publication will help policy makers, individuals and other stakeholders understand more about what influences people's decision-making and what a holistic approach to lifestyle means. It demonstrates that different contexts require different lifestyle solutions. This publication does not set out to define what "the" sustainable lifestyle looks like. Instead, it can help inform and guide a range of initiatives that enable lifestyle choices that contribute to sustainability.
Research has highlighted five key lifestyle areas, or domains, where people spend most of their disposable income and where the greatest potential for sustainability improvements exists. These domains are food, mobility, housing, consumer goods and leisure (consumer goods and tourism). Though 'green' initiatives for each of these domains are becoming more and more common, it is important to take a holistic approach across all domains to truly harness the power of our decision-making to achieve a sustainable lifestyle. This is the first publication that illustrates what makes up our lifestyles and how they are influenced by and interact with personal situations, social technical conditions, and physical and natural boundaries that surround us. It is the premier research of the Sustainable Lifestyles sub-programme of the 10YFP. Partners have multiplied the reach of this publication through their networks. The key to this publications use and success is to have a broad range of partners in the implementation of the publications, from research and educational institutions to civil society and NGOs. This broadens the reach of the research, and therefore increases its utility. This research is integral to the design of Sustainable Lifestyles initiatives and communication efforts and is useful in addressing particular lifestyle segments on a local level to facilitate knowledge uptake on how to reduce resource consumption and environmental impact while maintaining a middle class level of human well-being and supporting national economic progress. One key issue in developing the typology was segregating lifestyle activities into separate domains. Lifestyles are holistic and many lifestyle activities overlap, such as our housing choice impacting our access to transportation. The solution to this issue was to define as best as possible the domains in separate categories and then address lifestyles as a holistic, overarching collection of all of the domains. Each consumer segment then addresses lifestyles and individual well-being, all informed by social norms. This publication reviews the current knowledge about what factors influence lifestyles and proposes strategies for assessing policies and developing necessary actions. The Refuse, Effuse, Diffuse (REDuse) framework, for example, facilitates individual actions and bottom-up initiatives. The Attitudes-Facilitators-Infrastructure (AFI) framework enables policymakers to assess policies and initiatives to develop sustainable lifestyles policies. Worksheets and examples illustrate how these approaches can be used to improve decisions related to the core lifestyle areas of food, mobility, housing, consumer goods and leisure. It will help policymakers, businesses, individuals, and other stakeholders understand what a holistic approach to lifestyle means and how different contexts require different lifestyle solutions (policies and actions that provide more sustainable goods and services). Sustainability is relative and varies depending on geography and local conditions. As a result, this publication does not set out to define what "the" sustainable lifestyle looks like. Instead, it can help guide a range of initiatives that better enable lifestyle choices that contribute to sustainability.
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207-876b7f9342378673701634b3a707778a_A_framework_for_Shaping_SL_deteminants_and_strategies.pdf
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