International Journal of Social Quality

In the editorial of the previous issue of this journal a start was made to position the contemporary “social quality perspective” (SQP) in relation to the suppositions and elaboration of the “social development approach,” as extensively applied in circles of the United Nations (Van der Maesen et al. 2024). This latter approach became the decisive point of departure of the UN's Second World Summit in November 2025, as published last year (UN 2025a). In UN circles it may function as an orientation to enhance the daily circumstances of millions of people (and workers) on earth. In the previous editorial, the question was raised of whether this orientation is helpful to really address serious challenges that will imminently further reduce the quality of most people's daily circumstances; see also the first article of this issue. Because this “social development approach” lacks responsible substantiation, theoretical or practical, it does not provide a real understanding of the causes of these challenges. It is hypothesized that the UN's presentation of “social development” does not rise above an eclectic array of specific facts. Since the UN's First World Summit in 1995 a start has been made with an alternative approach, resulting in the past decade in the social quality perspective. This was discussed during a conference in Rome on 1 July 2025 with the aim of presenting a proposal to the Presidium of the Second World Summit, to pave the way for an orientation to the required “societal transformations” based on this new perspective (see the first article in this issue).

In 2024 three academic institutes took the initiative to organize a conference in Rome, inspired by the social quality perspective. The conference's purpose was to prepare a contribution to the upcoming UN Second World Summit for Social Development, to be held in November 2025. This conference took place on 1 July 2025. The current article covers development before, during, and after the conference. The overarching proposal of the Rome Conference for the UN is to adopt the principles of “societal transformation” based on the “social quality perspective”, next to the proposals for “social development.” The authors invite the various UN networks to support the start of an International Academic Forum in Rome, aimed at applying the social quality perspective to their work.

This article considers how South African society has been transformed to reach its current state, as it embarks on a new National Dialogue. Deploying the Four Worlds/GENE (FW/GENE) framework, the societal transformations are interpreted as processes of re-GENE-ration, traced back to the Nelson Mandela era and the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This approach indicates how orientations from four distinct worlds (Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Western) may enhance processes of comprehensive development. The Southern orientation entails a strong foundation for Indigenous re-GENE-ration. It has led to the country emerging as a global beacon for “covenantal” restorative development. This framework, ontologically and epistemologically, is combined with the social quality perspective (SQP). Integral re-GENE-ration has become mired in internecine and external political economic tendencies. South Africa holds great potential as a “case” of the “humanization” of urban transformation, in particular in the BRICS context.

This article examines the main aspects of the social quality perspective in relation to the recovery phase of the Ukrainian military-economic cycle, in a global geopolitical context. It presents a brief historical account of the formation of the military-economic cycle, the geopolitical role of Ukraine, and their impact on social quality; it analyzes the current state of social quality in Ukraine, including the consequences of the local-global conflict on its territory; and it substantiates the need to introduce the social quality perspective into societal consciousness. The results presented are relevant because the upcoming recovery phase of the cyclical development of the Ukrainian political-economic system, after the crisis stage, which is natural in cyclical development, is the key period in which a more egalitarian and comprehensively balanced societal structure can be realized.

This policy article explores the challenges of waste management in the Global South, with a particular focus on India. It examines how waste management functions across various Indian cities and their distinct ecosystems, involving both formal and informal participants and their roles. The research highlights the structural transformations in the sector driven by changes in local and hyperlocal policy paradigms. Additionally, it addresses the systemic marginalization faced by informal waste worker communities in India, who have historically been an essential part of the waste management system. With increasing emphasis on capital-intensive technological solutions and privatization, these informal workers face a growing risk of marginalization. In the conclusion, the article considers the connection with the overarching theme of the “social quality perspective” as an inclusive approach to waste management in India.

This article investigates the rise of citizen science in the context of global efforts to protect the environment, explored via an online survey to determine the perspectives of citizen scientists regarding the effectiveness of various sectors in society in protecting the environment. Respondents saw nongovernmental organizations and universities as the most effective, and were less positive toward government, business, and religious organizations. A case study focusing on citizen science efforts to ensure the sustainability of plantation management on the New South Wales Mid North Coast demonstrates that judicious application can have a positive, albeit limited, impact on protecting the environment. These observations, because of the complexity and the governance aspects of the policy field at stake, are interpreted via the social quality perspective's “configuration of frameworks” and concept of the “Agora.”

In the Netherlands there is a growing awareness of the significance and potential of the social quality approach (SQA) for social work: its practice, its research, and the education of social workers. With this article we aim to encourage social workers, educational professionals, social work agencies, and researchers to delve into the SQA, to apply it through social quality-based interventions and practices, and to use it as a theoretical basis for research into social work and the education of social workers. This article describes “the social” as the core concept of the SQA and how it relates to social work, the SQA architecture, the current applications of the SQA in social work practice in the Netherlands, and the value and potential of the SQA for social work practice, education, and research.