Sustainable Futures through Democratic Design: Towards Community-led Democratic Localism in Rathlin Island

A co-authored report summarising learning from research activities that took place on or in relation to Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland, through a funded academic project exploring the island’s sustainable futures using the lens of democratic design led by Belfast School of Art, Ulster University funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Green Transition Ecosystem programme. The team carried out analysis of the current disjointed policy context and worked with island residents through a structured deliberative process, or democratic mini-public, to explore the future of the ferry service they are utterly dependent on, paying attention to how this process was designed and facilitated. The project’s learnings are firstly on the level of process – how to do democratic deliberation and policy design with a small community on an island, rooted in their world, perspectives and priorities. Secondly, the report shares policy implications relevant to Rathlin’s Island’s sustainable futures of relevance to policy officials and decision-makers with responsibility for Rathlin’s future in the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government and beyond. It concludes with recommendations related to the future ferry service for Rathlin and to democratic design towards sustainable transitions, both intended to share insights with wider publics.