The global pace of transition across all relevant systems remains too slow, and in places even regresses (green backlash), despite climate urgency, ecosystem degradation, growing inequality, and rising geopolitical instability. The timeframe for transition is closing. Without acceleration, the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss will risk all nations and economic sectors. However, efforts to accelerate change often encounter resistance and contestation, frequently rooted in justice concerns and trade-offs between environmental goals: The speed-justice-environment trilemma of sustainability transition.
JustFast addresses this urgent gap in sustainability science by investigating:
- How the speed of governance processes is intertwined with justice and the environment across spatial (local-global) and temporal (intra- and intergenerational) scales.
- How polycentric governance theory can be extended by integrating the temporal dimension (speed) of governance processes.
JustFast will advance the frontier of sustainability science by having the ambitious goal to theoretically develop and empirically test the conceptualization of the speed-justice-environment trilemma through
- (i) providing the first systematic analysis of the worldwide regime shift in energy transition towards fast-track procedures for infrastructure and resource projects and identifying archetypical patterns of fast-track procedures that hold across cases,
- (ii) testing a novel approach addressing psychological and relational dynamics in participatory processes to unlock individual and collective agency, and
- (iii) co-developing transformative pathways in different socio-cultural contexts to overcome the trilemma.
Objective 1: Conceptualizing the speed-justice-environment trilemma
JustFast develops a conceptual framework to understand how speed, justice, and environmental protection interact in sustainability transitions. It examines the relationships between these dimensions, identifies potential trade-offs and synergies, and explores how they unfold across spatial and temporal scales. The framework will be continuously refined through insights from empirical research.
Objective 2: Unpacking the speed-justice-environment trilemma empirically
To empirically unpack the speed-justice-environment trilemma, JustFast will apply three complementary approaches.
First, a worldwide comparative analysis of around 60 fast-track regime shifts examines why and how governments introduce accelerated planning and approval procedures, how these reshape governance arrangements, and what consequences they have for justice and environmental protection. The analysis identifies recurring patterns and governance mechanisms across different institutional and geographical contexts.
Second, six in-depth case studies across Switzerland, Sweden, the USA, New Zealand, India, and Peru explore how fast-track regulations affect governance processes, environmental outcomes, and different dimensions of justice. Particular attention is given to the perspectives of affected communities and stakeholders, as well as to the spatial and temporal dimensions of emerging trade-offs and synergies.
Third, JustFast will improve participatory processes by testing psychological and relational interventions in six comparative case studies across Switzerland, Sweden, the USA, New Zealand, India, and Peru. Through Situated Dialogue Labs embedded in real-world socio-cultural, institutional, and ecological contexts, the project will create safe spaces for dialogue, collaboration, and reflection. These labs aim to strengthen individual and collective agency and explore new ways of navigating trade-offs and conflicts in accelerated sustainability transitions.
Objective 3: Advancing polycentric governance theory with a temporal dimension
JustFast advances polycentric governance theory by explicitly integrating the temporal dimension of governance processes. Building on theoretical synthesis and empirical findings, the project examines how acceleration reshapes governance arrangements and influences the relationships between speed, justice, and environmental protection. By identifying recurring governance patterns and the conditions under which trade-offs and synergies emerge, JustFast contributes to a better theoretical understanding of governing sustainability transitions under increasing pressure for speed.
