Ethics of sustainable participation

The PWO project Ethics of Sustainable Participation investigates how sustainable, ethical, and 
intergenerational participation with children, young people, older people, and the non-human world can be strengthened 
within urban contexts. In a society characterized by superdiversity, social 
inequality, and democratic pressure, there is a need for new forms of participation that go beyond 
mere consultation. This practice-oriented research takes a child and human rights approach 
and aims to fundamentally rethink participation processes based on plurality, 
justice, and relational connectedness.
Through the use of participatory action research (PAR), experiential research, art-based approaches, 
and Q methodology, the voices of often excluded groups are structurally involved in 
knowledge production, policy development, and social transformation. The project is supported 
by a transdisciplinary collaboration between researchers, professionals, artists, and 
policy makers, and by the active participation of children, young people, older people, and the non-human 
world as co-researchers. Four central lines of work are being developed: developing a 
living ethical framework, uncovering barriers and frictions among organizers, mapping 
the experience of participation among target groups, and designing effective methodologies and 
formats.

The project delivers concrete output in the form of a reflection framework, working tools, publications, 
learning materials, and an artistic exhibition. Dissemination takes place through workshops, study days, podcasts, 
and conferences, both locally and internationally. Within the Brussels urban fabric, special 
attention is paid to multilingualism, interculturalism, and urban practice anchoring. In this way, the 
project contributes to social and spatial justice, and to a sustainable, polyphonic 
democratic culture.