A Technological Scenario for a Healthier, More Equitable and Sustainable Europe in 2040: Citizen Perceptions and Policy Implications

Abstract

This article aims at exploring, understanding and comparing European citizens' insights and perceptions towards "My life between realities", a positive future scenario which depicts a narrative of reaching healthier, more equitable and sustainable societies by 2040 with the support of technology and technological solutions. It responds to the need for gathering and incorporating more citizen insights into future policy developments and strategic actions to tackle the global challenge of unsustainable development. Citizens of five European countries-the Czech Republic, Germany, North Macedonia, Spain and the United Kingdom-have been consulted through focus groups. The exercise has uncovered citizens' preferences and attitudes towards four main lifestyle areas; namely, green spaces, energy efficient housing, active mobility and (food) consumption. The technological attributes of the scenario led to citizens expressing diametrically opposed and critical perceptions and attitudes. Given the prospects of technology in driving sustainable development, based on these insights, policy recommendations for the better integration and acceptance of technological advances by the public are discussed herein.

How to Achieve a Healthier and More Sustainable Europe by 2040 According to the Public? Results of a Five-Country Questionnaire Survey

“…People in all the countries surveyed tend to prefer real green spaces and spending leisure time outdoors over virtual reality. This corresponded to the qualitative results of focus groups [ 13 , 14 ]—where some noted the benefits for those who could not access green spaces, but felt they themselves would prefer the real world experience. The most favoured was the ‘Our circular community’ scenario (from 35% of Czechs to 45% of Latvians), which put the focus on most parks and some popular spots in nature being equipped with outdoor gyms.…”

“…The questionnaire was prepared based on a pre-survey, which took the form of 27 one-on-one semi-structured interviews, intensive pretesting, and a pilot survey (for details see [ 34 ]). One part of the questionnaire related to the scenarios was developed based on findings from a qualitative survey, which included 15 focus groups in five European countries and explored citizens’ perceptions of the same triple win scenarios [ 11 , 14 ].…”

“…In this subchapter, we briefly describe the main characteristics of the scenarios (see Table 1 and Figure 1 ). The scenarios and the process of their development is described in detail in two studies [ 11 , 14 ]. The four scenarios differ in the way the society is organized (individualistically versus collectively) and in the driving sector (public versus private).…”

“…The research questions stem from previous literature ( Section 1.2 ) and results of qualitative focus group research on these scenarios—giving an in depth perspective on the preferences of people in certain income groups for the INHERIT scenarios in selected countries [ 13 , 14 ]. There is need to extend this work by using a quantitative approach—so see if similar findings to those in the focus groups hold for wider samples.…”

Encouraging and Enabling Lifestyles and Behaviours to Simultaneously Promote Environmental Sustainability, Health and Equity: Key Policy Messages from INHERIT

“…There is also evidence that the longer people live in a place and/or feel connected to community, the more likely they are to adopt environmentally and socially conscientious behaviours [ 46 ]. While the illustrative nature of INHERIT’s four future scenarios makes it difficult to draw real conclusions in relation to people’s preferences, it is notable that participants in all five countries were most attracted to those elements that give people more control over the factors shaping their lives by, for example, localising food and energy production processes and stimulating social interaction [ 47 , 48 ].…”