Human Scale Development Research Articles

The Manfred Max-Neef Thinking: A Deep Economy Rooted in the Eco-philosophical Perspective of the Deep Ecology

In this article, we advance preliminary theoretical reflections on Manfred Max Neef’s thoughts related to the human scale development. From an and transdisciplinary perspective, we argue that Max-Neef moves beyond the field of Ecological Economics towards developing a Deep Economic framework, linked to the Deep Ecology framework outlined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss. We elaborate our argument around two dimensions: a) Biocentrism, based on the conviction that ecology is not limited to reflections and actions toward a balanced and healthy environment to achieve humans´ well-being, but involves all forms of life and ecosystems. b) The intrinsic value of life, a complex idea that Max-Neef expressed in his conviction that the “reverence for life” cannot be solely subjected to human economic activity or interest. Biocentrism and the intrinsic value of life must be approached from a transdisciplinary and organic perspective that demands a dialogue between science-academics, non-combining reason with intuition, ethics, and beauty. this way, these two dimensions become principles that articulate Max-Neef´s Deep Economy, different to other critical approaches in the field of economics.

What would a human-centred ‘social’ Circular Economy look like? Drawing from Max-Neef's Human-Scale Development proposal

The Circular Economy (“CE”) has emerged as a concept to radically transform how resources are used and managed, with promise to solve the ecological turmoil of the prevailing linear economy. Circularity has since been framed as an important concept to contribute to achieving sustainable development. Thus, the CE is increasingly being adopted as key a strategy by various stakeholders, including large corporations and political institutions. Despite seemingly high interest and growing uptake demonstrated by an influx of new business models and policy guidance, there is concern amongst scholars that current interpretations fail to consider the social impacts and implications of this circular shift. There is a notable lack of theoretical contribution to address this void, and without robust theorising this can be an obstacle to effective and transformative practice. This research contributes to addressing this problematic shortcoming by utilising an existing development framework to identify a theoretically grounded direction for the formation of an alternative Social CE. We use the key features of Max-Neef's Human Scale Development (“H-SD”) proposal to illustrate how reframing the CE to take account of this perspective can provide a basis for articulating and developing a compelling social narrative. We argue that human needs satisfaction should be both the objective of a Social CE, but also embedded into the means as to how it is achieved. Grassroots initiatives that enable self-reliant communities should balance the current disproportionate influence wielded by powerful institutions and businesses. Equilibrium is required between different components and actors, including between humans and the environment, which ultimately represents a version of circularity that adheres to the limits of the biosphere.

"Food Village": An Innovative Alternative Food Network Based on Human Scale Development Economic Model.

Although the different alternative food networks (AFNs) have experienced increases worldwide for the last thirty years, they are still unable to provide an alternative capable of spreading on a large scale. They in fact remain niche experiments due to some limitations on their structure and governance. Thus, this study proposes and applies a design method to build a new sustainable food supply chain model capable of realizing a “jumping scale”. Based on the theoretical and value framework of the Civil Economy (CE), the Economy for the Common Good (ECG), and the Development on a Human Scale (H-SD), the proposed design model aims to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders in the supply chain. Max-Neef’s Needs Matrix and Design Thinking (DT) tools were used to develop the design model. Applying the design method to the food chain has allowed us to develop the concept of the “Food Village”, an innovative food supply network far from the current economic mechanisms and based on the community and eco-sustainability.

ANALYSIS OF THE BENEFITS OF LIVING WITH PETS IN TERMS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

This study aims to elucidate the human approach to development, in particular from the Human Scale Development theory, and to investigate the positive effects arising from the relationship between humans and animals in order to combine them with human development. The theory of Human Scale Development presented itself as a paradigm shift by advocating the protagonism of the human being during the development process. The natural and intuitive bond formed between people and their pets started to intrigue researchers around the world, giving rise to a series of scientific evidence that point to beneficial effects of this relationship. Pets have been found to have the ability to contribute in many ways to the well-being of their guardians. This article is part of the dissertation entitled “The interfaces of the relationship between human beings and pets from the perspective of human development”, presented to the Postgraduate Program in Local Development at Universidade Católica Dom Bosco. The research has a qualitative approach, which employs the inductive method and, as to the objectives, it is an exploratory research combined with a literature review and document analysis. In conclusion, the bond between humans and pets can represent a human development factor.

Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework

Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework

Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework

Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework

Self-reflexive practice through the human scale development approach - competencies needed for transformative science research

Self-reflexive practice through the human scale development approach - competencies needed for transformative science research

Self-reflexive practice through the Human Scale Development approach competencies needed for transformative science research

Self-reflexive practice through the Human Scale Development approach competencies needed for transformative science research

Testing the quality of transformative science methods: the example of the Human Scale Development approach

Scholars and funding bodies alike are increasingly calling for transformative research that delivers socially robust and impact-oriented outcomes. This paper argues that the Human Scale Development approach (HSDA) introduced by Max-Neef and colleagues in Latin America during the 1980s can serve as a method for transformative science (TSc). HSDA is both a theory and a participatory methodology and thus contributes toward fulfilling the objectives of TSc, which are scientific, practical and educational. In this paper, we begin by explicating how the fundamental human needs (FHN) approach of the HSDA can support scholars and practitioners alike in addressing complex sustainability challenges. We then refer to the methodological adaptations to the original proposal that we have previously developed to illustrate how Max-Neef's methodological approach might be further extended and to demonstrate how these changes can strengthen HSDA and make it even more useful for generating knowledge needed in sustainability transformations. To inform and support research that builds on the co-production of knowledge, we test HSDA with regard to TSc quality criteria and show how it adds value to the existing canon of TSc methods. To this end, we develop an analytical framework that can be deployed to assess the quality of TSc methods.

Interferences generated on the well-being of local communities by the activity of online platforms for tourist accommodation

The tourism sector can boost the economic and social development of entire cities while simultaneously triggering critical challenges to its own sustainability. Specifically, the additional stress imposed on residential neighborhoods due to the increasing number of tourist accommodations mediated online can compromise the social sustainability of tourism. This study focuses on the city of Barcelona (Spain) to shed light on crucial aspects of the impact of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms upon the well-being of its residents. A key contribution is that this work uses for the first time in tourism the Human Scale Development approach. Among the many consequential findings, of particular interest to economists and policy-makers are the fact that there is no economic sustainability without social sustainability, and that guaranteeing social cohesion and the permanence of a fixed resident population in tourist neighborhoods is essential. One additional breakthrough is the participants’ strong viewpoint that a major roadblock to any progress is the lack of adequate regulation. In their opinion, any satisfactory legal framework should use participatory mechanisms to incorporate the neighbors’ feedback over issues that affect their lifestyle. Last, the importance of establishing cooperation mechanisms between institutions, tourists, neighbors and businesses was also forcefully emphasized.

Protection as a Human Fundamental Need: Re-Conceiving Signs of Safety for Social Work in the Republic of Ireland

AbstractLarge-scale reform of statutory child protective services in the Republic of Ireland is underway, prompted by adoption of the national strengths-based and safety-organised practice approach, known as ‘Signs of Safety’ (SoS). Despite the radical change it impels, critical commentary from the academy on the conventions of SoS remains conspicuous by its absence. One reading of the ecological systems approach is that to appreciate implications of SoS for children and families at risk, we must surpass a sequestered concern with child protection and welfare alone. To substantiate this, and embed a reconceived Signs of Safety, human scale development theory is critically deployed through an augmented, rather than exclusive focus, on the axis of protection needs within the typology of fundamental human needs. To aid this, critical application of theory is partially reworked and appropriated through a life course perspective, to better account for lifespan positioning. Overall, the sustaining proposition of the paper is that academic interrogation of SoS is both a practical and ethical imperative, and a necessary complement to large-scale organisational change underway.

The Circular Economy and human needs satisfaction: Promising the radical, delivering the familiar

The Circular Economy (“CE”) is gaining momentum as an approach to addressing sustainability challenges. The CE is framed as a transformative model with economic, environmental and social benefits. Nevertheless, the degree of circularity in the global economy is low and critics highlight that current interpretations fall short in delivering promised results regarding the social dimension of sustainability. Instead economic growth is elevated above more radical socio-environmental transformation. This exploratory paper adopts a human needs approach, using Max-Neef’s Human-Scale Development proposal as an analytical lens to explore the contentious social dimension of the CE. The study revisits four seminal texts which are commonly referenced as influencing the CE’s conceptual development: The Blue Economy; Cradle to Cradle; Regenerative Design for Sustainable Development; and, The Performance Economy. These texts were analysed to identify satisfiers of human needs. This provides insight into how inclusive earlier visualisations were of encompassing human needs, and how these compare to the current CE direction. We argue that satisfiers of human needs are embedded, to differing extents, in some of the early CE depictions. Nevertheless, the CE concept has selectively developed, neglecting radical, human-centric transformational aspects and instead adheres to a familiar pathway of business-led economic growth.

Educación a Escala Humana desde artes, oficios y saberes locales en São Gonçalo Beira Rio Sao (Brasil) y el programa Trawun (Chile).

El presente trabajo se aborda desde la perspectiva del Desarrollo a Escala Humana y el enfoque pedagógico de Paulo Freire. El objetivo es vincular la satisfacción de las Necesidades Humanas Fundamentales con la generación de niveles crecientes de autodependencia, a partir de los modos de transmisión de artes, oficios y saberes locales. La metodología utilizada es el estudio de caso comparado entre las comunidades vinculadas al programa de Turismo de Base Comunitaria Trawun en Panguipulli, en el sur de Chile y la comunidad São Gonçalo Beira Rio en Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Como resultado de esta investigación, se diagnosticaron los principales desafíos y potenciales existentes en el territorio para defender, construir y vivir sus maneras de transmitir sus conocimientos. Así, se concluye que la educación será más sinérgica en la medida en que las comunidades puedan participar y ser protagonistas en la construcción de sus propios procesos educativos.

The contribution of need fulfilment to quality of life: A reflection on the relation between the needs-based model of quality of life and Max Neef’s theory of Human Scale Development

The Needs-based model of quality of life has been employed in the development of a wide range of disease-specific quality of life measures over the last 20 years. The model argues that disease prevents need fulfilment and that effective interventions enable individuals to satisfy more of their fundamental human needs. Rather than adopting an existing theoretical framework, the needs-based model developed through grounded theory techniques. Several theories of needs have been advanced during the last 70 years, many of which are well known. This article relates the needs-based model of quality of life to the major published theories of human needs. Several of the theories focus on the development of societies rather than individuals – dependent on the disciplines and interests of the authors; who include sociologists, economists and psychologists. Most theorists also believe that there is a hierarchy of needs. The needs theories suggest that there are varying numbers of fundamental needs, but these tend to overlap across the theories. Statistical analyses of data collected with the needs-based quality of life measures support the view that there is a single, fundamental need.

El análisis de las necesidades desde la Teoría del Desarrollo a Escala Humana: el caso de dos barrios vulnerables de la Comunitat Valenciana (España)

El análisis de necesidades axiológicas y sus satisfactores que se presenta a continuación, parte de los resultados obtenidos en una investigación iniciada en 2016 y que, en la actualidad, ha sido ampliada a escala internacional. El objeto del presente artículo es comparar, desde la teoría del desarrollo a escala humana de Max-Neef, Elizalde y Hopenhayn, las necesidades sociales del barrio del Xenillet (Torrent, Valencia) y el barrio de La Coma (Paterna, Valencia), proponiendo la neutralización de los satisfactores destructivos y potenciando los satisfactores reales, a partir de un análisis crítico de los resultados obtenidos. La investigación, realizada desde la perspectiva comunitaria, ofrece gran diversidad de opiniones y referencias desde los diferentes ámbitos de los agentes comunitarios: ciudadano, técnico y profesional y de la Administración Pública. En concreto, la cumplimentación de la matriz está fundamentada desde la comunidad del barrio de La Coma y del barrio del Xenillet.

Satisfactores del desarrollo infantil en contextos de interfase rural-urbana

Este artículo analiza los satisfactores del desarrollo infantil presentes en las prácticas de cuidado que padres y cuidadores implementan con sus niños entre los 0 y 8 años de edad, desde la perspectiva del desarrollo a escala humana. Los participantes, principalmente mujeres, fueron entrevistadas en grupos focales y la información recolectada se procesó con la técnica del análisis categorial de información. Los resultados mostraron que los cuidadores suelen utilizar prácticas que contienen satisfactores sinérgicos del desarrollo infantil, pero también dan cuenta de prácticas que se pueden considerar inhibidoras y pseudosatisfactoras en el proceso de cuidado y crianza de los niños.

Maximising the Degree of User Choice. A Simple Tool to Measure Current Levels of Quality of Life in Urban Environments

In this article, we present a simple methodology based on Max-Neef, Elizalde and Hopenhayn (1991) “human scale development” paradigm to measure current levels of Quality of Life (QoL) for urban environments. In this procedure, fundamental human needs form the study domains. We assess their fulfilment with a set of questions reflecting the subjective dimension of QoL. We sort questions into needs after two consecutive processes: a qualitative one involving local communities and/or expert groups, and a quantitative one involving the definition of weights for each question and per need. Complementarily, we add objective indicators to reflect the objective dimension of QoL. This way, we make possible a comparison between the two dimensions and a definition and computation of an integrative QoL. We argue that this method can be used to define more holistic urban quality indexes to improve decision making processes, policies and plans. It can also be seen as a tool to enhance bottom-up approaches and processes of urban analysis to create more liveable places for the dwellers.

Desarrollo a escala humana de los inmigrantes venezolanos en San José de Cúcuta

El presente estudio determina las diferencias entre las condiciones de vida de los inmigrantes venezolanos de la ciudad fronteriza de Cúcuta, Colombia, y su visión de desarrollo desde el enfoque del desarrollo a escala humana (DEH). Se usa una metodología cualitativa, con entrevistas focales, que permitieron la construcción de la matriz de necesidades axiológicas y existenciales con el software Atlas Ti, se elaboraron las redes semánticas de su condición actual y visión de desarrollo. Los resultados sugieren que: i) existen pobrezas en cada una de las necesidades estudiadas, ii) la visión del desarrollo está determinada en mayor medida por la estabilidad económica, iii) no existe un DEH en la sociedad de acogida, truncando la posibilidad de mejorar su calidad de vida.

Occupational justice and human scale development: A theoretical integration approach

ABSTRACTOccupational justice and injustice are concepts introduced by occupational science to explain occupational participation issues that go beyond the individual and the unidirectional perspective of the environmental adaptation approach. Theoretical development, however, has been restricted by a dearth of scholarly discussions and by a theoretical position ascribed to neo-positivist epistemology. This article aims at contributing to the development of occupational justice and injustice concepts by informing and broadening their understanding, mainly based on the theoretical stances of Sousa Santos and Max-Neef, who, by questioning the way in which knowledge is built, suggest different options to understand social phenomena. Topics such as epistemic dependence, monoculturalism, counterhegemonic economy, human scale development and fundamental human needs are a contribution to problematizing the interpretation of life situations faced by people and communities, stemming from a critique of neo-positivist epistemology. Taking advantage of theories from other fields of knowledge—such as sociology and economics within a critical epistemology— to further the development of occupational science can help expand the assumptions beneath occupational scientists’ understanding of reality, promoting the development of people and communities with more certainty and broadening the horizons of research and practice.

Una mirada al desarrollo a escala humana en Loma Linda en Soacha, Colombia: ideas para la implementación de un consultorio social

Este artículo es el resultado de la investigación titulada “Consultorio Social de Trabajo Social” realizada en el año 2017, que tuvo como propósito evidenciar las necesidades y problemáticas sociales, comunitarias, grupales y familiares de los habitantes del barrio Loma Linda en la comuna cuatro del municipio de Soacha, con base en el Enfoque de Desarrollo a Escala Humana expuesto por Max-Neef, Elizalde y Hopenhayn. Para ello, se aplicaron grupos focales cuyos resultados arrojaron la importancia de satisfacer las necesidades de afecto, participación, subsistencia, entendimiento y protección de manera interconectada, lo que permite evidenciar la posibilidad de desarrollar una propuesta de Consultorio Social que realice procesos de acompañamiento para su satisfacción. Lo anterior se convierte en una apuesta para la formación ciudadana sobre la identificación de sus problemáticas, el reconocimiento de su dignidad y la articulación de esfuerzos por la satisfacción de las necesidades humanas, lo cual atraviesa los escenarios individual, familiar, comunitario y social.