Visions for sustainable healthy futures for Norway. Citizen Involvement Workshop Executive Report

We report the results of a citizen involvement workshop on sustainable healthy futures in Norway. The workshop was held in Trondheim on November 4-5, 2023 and involved 17 citizens from mid Norway. The good life was the broad theme, and we invited the participants to consider the themes of sustainable health and society within this frame. The participants developed 4 different visions for a sustainable healthy future for Norway. We gave them a mid-term horizon (2070) to leave room for needs- and aspirations-based social imagination, not overly conditioned by the current institutional framework, and to challenge the short-termism of the dominant policy cycles and thinking. The visions developed by the citizens are remarkably consistent in emphasizing the importance of good social integration and community life, interpersonal relations, individual development and an individual’s sense of meaning, contribution, and agency. Noteworthy is also their emphasis on the need to regulate new technologies, and to reduce information overload and unsustainable choices through trusted and transparent governance. The report provides a discussion of the visions, the full text of the 4 visions and a concise background about the method and the project of which the workshop was part. The Sustainable Healthy Futures pilot was a collaboration between the Norwegian centre for responsible research and Innovation (AFINO) and NTNU Health. The main aim of the project was to rethink health in society in the attempt to imagine innovative and sustainable approaches to health in the future.