Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how and to what extent creative dialogue processes can have an impact on regional political planning processes in Norway. Politicians at Nordland County invited representatives from six different regions in Nordland to participate in café dialogues. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical material is collected from café-dialogues in Northern Norway in which representatives from civil society, business organizations, local government, and NGOs participated. The data processing is based on triangulation of hermeneutic interpretation, frequencies, and factor analysis. Findings – The findings indicate that most people want a “greener” future; this can be described as sustainable societies based on ecological production, distribution, consumption, and redistribution. People take on a more radical position in their ideas about the future than most politicians. The factor analysis grouped the participants into the following categories; “Ecological economics”, “Small is beautiful”, “Entrepreneurs”, and “Growth and control”. A large number of the participants are categorized either as “Circulation economics” or “Small is beautiful”. Practical implications – To solve the challenges of modern society politicians can instigate more radical solutions than they are in the habit of doing. The participants in the café dialogues describe fundamental changes in order to attain viable local societies per 2030. Originality/value – In this paper the authors demonstrate that cultural creatives in the USA give a relevant context for interpreting attitudes to change in small societies in Northern Norway.
Highlights
In this paper we describe and discuss how and to what extent creative dialogue processes can have an impact on regional political planning processes in Norway
According to Nelson, the market economy has soul-destroying effects; “Our economic theory tells us that the heart of our lives, our soul, our substance [...] is caught up in goods and services [...] we evaluate everything by how well it delivers goods and services
Conclusion and political implications It is interesting to notice that many of the ideas presented in the café dialogues are found in the Regional Plan for Nordland (2013-2025)
Summary
In this paper we describe and discuss how and to what extent creative dialogue processes can have an impact on regional political planning processes in Norway. Politicians at Nordland County invited representatives from six different regions in Nordland to participate in café dialogues. The project was a cooperation between Nordland County and Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics at University of Nordland. The Regional Plan Strategy for Nordland County (2012-2016) indicates that; “the main driving forces in society today are globalization, knowledge/technology, climate/environment, and demographics” The politicians wanted to gain knowledge relevant for coping with some of the main challenges we face today. The time we are at present living in can, on the one hand, be described by; “amazing scientific
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