Land Use Policy 30 (2013) 254–265 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Land Use Policy jou rn al h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol The power of the process: Co-producing a sustainability assessment toolkit for upland estate management in Scotland Jayne H. Glass a,* , Alister J. Scott b , Martin F. Price a a Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Crieff Road, Perth PH1 2NX, UK b Birmingham School of the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG, UK a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 13 April 2011 Received in revised form 25 March 2012 Accepted 27 March 2012 Keywords: Delphi technique Sustainability assessment Upland estate management Scotland Sustainable land use Participatory research a b s t r a c t This paper presents and assesses a participatory research process that employed the Delphi technique to co-produce a sustainability assessment toolkit for upland estate management in Scotland. Upland areas in Scotland have a distinct pattern of ownership, with much of the land divided into ‘estates’ that are owned predominantly by a range of private individuals and organisations, as well as public agencies and non- governmental and community organisations. Management objectives and land uses are wide-ranging and attract the interest of many different stakeholders. As a result, translating sustainability principles for generic, practical application in this context is a complex challenge that has not yet been addressed in an inclusive and participatory manner. In response, a reflective research approach engaged an anonymous, mixed group of academic and non-academic stakeholders over a four-stage, interactive Delphi process which lasted 18 months. The process produced a toolkit within which five principles for sustainable upland estate management and 12 corresponding ‘actions’ were translated into operational practice. The toolkit provided a sustainability framework for estate owners, managers and other stakeholders to assess progress towards delivering a series of practical actions on individual estates. The paper explores the implications of this toolkit for upland estate management in Scotland and reflects on the benefits and wider application of this type of research approach. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction This paper presents and assesses a participatory research pro- cess that employed the Delphi technique to translate sustainability principles into operational practice, via the development of a sus- tainability assessment ‘toolkit’ for upland estate management in Scotland. Upland areas in Scotland have a distinct pattern of own- ership, with much of the land divided into ‘estates’ that are owned predominantly by private individuals and organisations, as well as public agencies and non-governmental and community organ- isations (Warren and McKee, 2011). Upland estate management objectives and land uses are wide-ranging and attract the interest of a wide range of stakeholders – including agriculture, forestry, biodiversity conservation, property and sporting interests, tourism, and renewable energy – set within discourses of sustainability and multifunctionality. Integrating sustainability into the complexity of upland estate management presents a ‘real world’ theoretical and practical challenge, requiring reflexive and collaborative engage- ment with both academic and non-academic stakeholders in order to find novel and mutually accountable solutions. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 01738 877876; fax: +44 01738 877018. E-mail address: jayne.glass@perth.uhi.ac.uk (J.H. Glass). The successful integration of land use policy and planning into sustainability discourse requires a wide range of knowledge about natural processes, resources and interactions between planning and management systems (Berkes, 2009; Raymond et al., 2010). At the same time, the implementation of oft-conflicting plans and policies for economic growth, social progress, environmental pro- tection and wise use of natural resources remains challenging, given the differing management objectives and priorities of diverse stakeholders (White et al., 2009; Morgan-Davies and Waterhouse, 2010). In response, this research recognised that inclusive and col- laborative knowledge generation processes can be instrumental in identifying and managing incompatibilities between sustainability principles when translating them into practice (Rist et al., 2007; Ioris et al., 2008; Reed, 2008). The need to integrate many different disciplinary perspectives when translating sustainability principles for application in the ‘real world’ is emblematic of a shift towards transdisciplinary research approaches within the land use policy context (Reed et al., 2009; Pohl et al., 2010). Transdisciplinary research facilitates interactions between academic and non-academic communities in order to involve multiple actors in collaborative processes and develop novel solutions to applied sustainability challenges (Farley et al., 2009). Crucially, this type of research generates social learning as a result of reflexive communication and interaction 0264-8377/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.03.024