INCONTEXT · InContext: Individuals in Context: Supportive Environments for Sustainable Living

InContext will investigate drivers and barriers for sustainability and their interplay on an individual and collective level. InContext assumes that both individual and collective behaviours respond to an external context (like social norms, policies, and infrastructure) and an internal context (like needs, values and priorities). So far, initiatives to further sustainable development have focused mainly on external contexts. InContext argues that it is essential to address both sides and include factors like individual needs or subconscious aspects to successfully bridge the gap between awareness and action at individual and collective levels. InContext will:• Study internal and external contexts and the way individuals respond to them to identify drivers and barriers to actions advancing sustainable development.• Conduct participatory scenario development and back-casting exercises in three local communities to generate findings on innovative mechanisms for co-operation and the identification of agents for change.• Improve the understanding of the interplay between internal factors and external factors to behaviour, thereby generating results with regard to the interaction between structural and agent-based factors.• Improve the understanding of how policies at EU and local levels (as part of the external context) can help address the internal context in a way that supports sustainability-driven action.• Identify a set of innovative policy mixes for sustainability-driven action considering the roles of actors on different levels such as policy and opinion makers, business and civil society.InContext attaches great importance to the applicability and distribution of its research results. This concern is reflected in the project design by the integration of a network of local governments and the setting up of an interdisciplinary advisory board allowing for a permanent communication and reality-check by political as well as business professionals.