Life cycle toolbox for regional development: episode 1

Learn more about life cycle!

Fritz Balkau, expert of LCA4regions, will share with us his knowledge on LC in a series of articles. Read the first one to get a glimpse of LC thinking for development and the many ways of planning for regional development.


“LC thinking for development”

There are many ways of planning for regional development.  Traditional methods of ‘one issue at a time’ have produced some useful immediate results but have also sometimes had unfortunate side effects, as for example when infrastructure is planned without an ‘end of life’ component built in.  A more systematic way of thinking, taking into account the entire life cycle of projects and products leads to more effective programmes, and fewer unwanted secondary impacts. Dr Klaus Töpfer, previous Executive Director of UNEP, confirmed that ordinary people as well as organisations are increasingly interested in the « world behind the product », something that life cycle methodologies based on key SDGs can reveal.  Dr.Töpfer gave a major impetus to the UN’s Life Cycle Initiative see www.lifecycleinitiative.org
Life cycle thinking is also the basis for the LCA4Regions project where learning life cycle methods from each other improves everyone’s development policies and action plans.

Interested in going deeper into LC?

Download the full presentation “From theory to practice” made by F. Balkau during the 1st Transnational Learning Journey.