Human Flourishing: An Integrated Systems Approach to Development Post 2030
Andrej Zwitter / George Ellis / Ariel Macaspac Hernandez / Wakanyi Hoffman / Karma Ura / Richard Hecht
Human Flourishing: An Integrated Systems Approach to Development Post 2030
Chapter in Edited Volume | 2026
Abstract
This chapter explores the foundational shifts required to reconceptualize future principles and goals in anticipation of the renegotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) beyond 2030. Moving beyond incremental reform, it argues for a deeper normative and conceptual transformation of the development paradigm itself.
Drawing on insights from a multi-stakeholder consultation process and workshop-based focus groups, the chapter highlights the need to integrate non-material dimensions of human flourishing, including cultural, psychosocial, relational, spiritual, and community-based aspects, alongside the SDGs’ prevailing focus on material conditions and measurable outputs. While the SDGs have significantly advanced global coordination around poverty reduction, health, education, and environmental protection, they remain limited in their capacity to capture the qualitative and experiential dimensions of human well-being.
Given regional, cultural, religious, and socio-political specificities, these non-material dimensions must be translated into context-sensitive goals and indicators rooted in local realities while remaining anchored in shared global principles. The chapter therefore proposes the development of a multi-level governance framework that captures the full spectrum of societal health and human experience. Such a framework combines principle-based global orientation with bottom-up processes of goal formation, indicator development, and participatory evaluation.
Key implications include strengthening localized implementation by systematically engaging local and Indigenous knowledge systems, fostering adaptive and plural development pathways, and enabling governance models that remain responsive to diverse cultural and epistemic contexts.
By advancing a flourishing-based development approach, this chapter seeks to harmonize material conditions with non-material dimensions of human well-being through a process-oriented, integrated systems perspective. It ultimately invites a rethinking of development beyond metrics alone toward a more holistic and relational understanding of collective futures.
In an age of polycrisis and moral disorientation, this chapter reframes religion as a source of meaning, care, and ethical restraint. Through the concept of the Sacred Ordinary, it explores how everyday experiences of connection can resist malignant normality and reorient society toward human and planetary flourishing.
In response to the polycrisis, this chapter introduces Homo Curans—the caring human—as a vision for sustainability and human flourishing. It argues for re-centering care across social institutions, challenging dominance-based paradigms and proposing care as an ethical foundation for just and resilient futures.
As 2030 nears, the SDGs fall short. This article calls for a shift beyond material metrics, integrating mental, cultural, and community well-being into global development. Can we redefine progress? Discover a bold roadmap for a future where humanity truly thrives.
Organiser: Leuphana University of Lüneburg
PD Dr. Dr. Ariel Macaspac Hernandez (Speaker)
Keynote at Leuphana PhD Opening Days: from Omelas to Ubuntu Futures. With 80+ doctoral researchers, we turned a keynote into a living lab asking what futures we accept, refuse, and commit to. A powerful start to Embracing Transformation.
In an age of polycrisis and moral disorientation, this chapter reframes religion as a source of meaning, care, and ethical restraint. Through the concept of the Sacred Ordinary, it explores how everyday experiences of connection can resist malignant normality and reorient society toward human and planetary flourishing.
In response to the polycrisis, this chapter introduces Homo Curans—the caring human—as a vision for sustainability and human flourishing. It argues for re-centering care across social institutions, challenging dominance-based paradigms and proposing care as an ethical foundation for just and resilient futures.
As 2030 nears, the SDGs fall short. This article calls for a shift beyond material metrics, integrating mental, cultural, and community well-being into global development. Can we redefine progress? Discover a bold roadmap for a future where humanity truly thrives.
Organiser: Leuphana University of Lüneburg
PD Dr. Dr. Ariel Macaspac Hernandez (Speaker)
Keynote at Leuphana PhD Opening Days: from Omelas to Ubuntu Futures. With 80+ doctoral researchers, we turned a keynote into a living lab asking what futures we accept, refuse, and commit to. A powerful start to Embracing Transformation.
In an age of polycrisis and moral disorientation, this chapter reframes religion as a source of meaning, care, and ethical restraint. Through the concept of the Sacred Ordinary, it explores how everyday experiences of connection can resist malignant normality and reorient society toward human and planetary flourishing.
In response to the polycrisis, this chapter introduces Homo Curans—the caring human—as a vision for sustainability and human flourishing. It argues for re-centering care across social institutions, challenging dominance-based paradigms and proposing care as an ethical foundation for just and resilient futures.
As 2030 nears, the SDGs fall short. This article calls for a shift beyond material metrics, integrating mental, cultural, and community well-being into global development. Can we redefine progress? Discover a bold roadmap for a future where humanity truly thrives.
