Sustainable development through aesthetic expertise?

Results and reflection of an experimental case study on arts-science policy intervention.

Abstract

This article presents an innovative prospect for arts-social science collaboration in the context of sustainable development. Based on the conceptual and methodological perspectives of sensory, arts-based sustainability science on the one hand and on artistic inquiry and intervention on the other hand, a new approach for collaboration between arts, social science and policymaking is explored. Beyond traditional scientific expertise in social science-policy interfaces, the suggested model of arts-social science-policy intervention aims at providing aesthetic expertise by co-creating scientific and artistic insights and developing creative options for sustainable development at the local level. First the novel approach is introduced, then an experimental case study in a German rural municipality, its course of action and the results are presented and discussed. The article ends with an outlook on the potential and challenges for aesthetic expertisethrough policy-oriented arts-social science collaboration.