Diskurs Zeit und Zeitpolitik – Modernisierungsansätze zum Leitbild der nachhaltigen Entwicklung

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relevance of the "time and time politics" complex for the German Government’s sustainable development model (LNE). The LNE was decisively shaped by the Rio process of the 1990s and took the form of the national sustainability strategy in 2002.

While the four guiding principles of "intergenerational justice", "quality of life", "social cohesion" and "international responsibility" are still valid today, the discourse on sustainability has continued to evolve and become more differentiated against the background of current economic, social and technological challenges as well as persistent environmental problems. Sustainability also includes an explicit, temporal dimension in the context of the LNE. In the sense of a generational contract, long-term development is to be approached in such a way that the needs of today's generations be reconciled with the life chances of future generations (Bundesregierung 2002a, p. 1). Time as a factor in the field of design and as a process variable for time policy is indeed being increasingly discussed in the context of sustainability (see Reisch und Bietz 2014). However, it is thus far only marginally reflected in the LNE and the Federal Government's sustainability strategy (2008b; 2012a).

Discussions about the role of time as a variable in social development and design processes are manifold. At the same time, they are spread across various political and social spheres. A shared societal understanding of the role and possible need for reform of time institutions in the context of sustainability has so far been scarce. In order to bring more clarity to the debate, the following analysis aims to illuminate the opportunities and risks of the discourse on time and time politics in order to develop the model of sustainable development in the German context further.. 

Further publications

• Discourse on Vulnerability and Resilience - Sustainability 2.0 (in German only)
• Discourse on Models of Wealth and Development - Sustainability 2.0 (in German only)
• Sustainability 2.0 – Approaches to modernisation for the guiding vision of sustainable development (recommendations) (in German only)
• Sustainability 2.0 – Approaches to modernisation for the guiding vision of sustainable development (final report) (in German only)