IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v15y2007i2p97-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Story telling in sustainable development projects

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Bell

    (Open Systems Research Group, Systems Department, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK)

  • Stephen Morse

    (Department of Geography, University of Reading, Reading, UK)

Abstract

This paper constitutes an attempt to find a means to represent multiple stories in the strong narrative of conventional sustainable development (SD) projects. The authors' experience of such projects in various parts of the world indicates that they have a tendency to arise from and reflect a dominant mindset, placing the SD project in what can be a working environment that is inimical to the very ideals that SD is supposed to represent. Short-termism and value for money drive project formats and objectives, whilst counter-narratives and alternative stories arising from stakeholders in such projects are often ignored. Yet these alternative threads often contain strong SD messages of their own and could, if effectively utilized, enhance the SD project process. This paper sets out the case for a new field - 'project ethnography' - allied with the growing use of meta-analysis to compare project 'stories'. The analytical model applied to compare projects is based on the Kolb learning cycle and involves a (3 × 4)-fold questioning of project conceptualization and roll-out. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 2007. "Story telling in sustainable development projects," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(2), pages 97-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:15:y:2007:i:2:p:97-110
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/sd.305
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simon Bell & Amanda Lane, 2009. "Creating Sustainable Communities - A Means to Enhance Social Mobility?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 24(8), pages 646-657, December.
    2. Peter Dobers & Delyse Springett, 2010. "Corporate social responsibility: discourse, narratives and communication," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 63-69, March.
    3. Bell, Simon, 2012. "DPSIR=A Problem Structuring Method? An exploration from the “Imagine” approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 222(2), pages 350-360.
    4. Jari Lyytimäki & Ulla Rosenström, 2008. "Skeletons out of the closet: effectiveness of conceptual frameworks for communicating sustainable development indicators," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(5), pages 301-313.
    5. Kim Suzanne Alexander & Joanne Millar & Neil Lipscombe, 2010. "Sustainable development in the uplands of Lao PDR," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 62-70.
    6. Simon Bell & Judi Farren Bradley, 2012. "London’s Olympic legacy and the Imagine methodology," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(1), pages 55-67, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:15:y:2007:i:2:p:97-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.