A leverage points perspective on social networks to understand sustainability transformations: evidence from Southern Transylvania

David P M Lam,Berta Martín-López,Andra I Horcea-Milcu,Daniel J Lang

doi:10.1007/s11625-020-00881-z

David P M Lam, Berta Martín-López + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00881-z

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Abstract

Sustainability transformations research increasingly recognizes the importance of local actors and their networks to foster fundamental societal change. Local actors have different types of relations between each other (e.g., sharing material resources, giving advice) through which they jointly intervene in different system characteristics. We conducted social network analyses of 32 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who drive initiatives to foster sustainability in Southern Transylvania, Romania. In so doing, we applied a leverage points perspective by differentiating between relations according to the system characteristic they address, such as the parameters, feedbacks, design and intent of the system. Additionally, we tested for differences of centrality metrics (i.e., weighted degree, betweenness, eigenvector) from NGOs that conduct different actions (i.e., amplification processes) to increase the impact of their sustainability initiatives. Our results reveal several NGOs that have central positions in their networks for intervening in both shallower (i.e., parameters and feedbacks) and deeper (i.e., design and intent of a system) system characteristics. We also identified NGOs that are only central for intervening in specific system characteristics. In addition, we found that specific groups of amplification processes (i.e., amplifying within and out) are associated with the NGOs’ positions in the parameters, feedbacks, and design networks. We conclude that the leverage points perspective in social network analysis has the potential to identify key actors and shed light on the attributes of local actors for intervening in shallower and deeper system characteristics to foster sustainability transformations.

Highlights

Humanity is facing fundamental sustainability challenges, such as biodiversity loss and climate change (Barnosky et al 2011; IPCC 2018)
Social networks of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on sustainability in Southern Transylvania
We created four networks that represent the relations between 32 NGOs when realizing actions to foster sustainability in Southern Transylvania (Fig. 3)

Summary

Introduction

Humanity is facing fundamental sustainability challenges, such as biodiversity loss and climate change (Barnosky et al 2011; IPCC 2018). During the last 20 years, sustainability science has emerged as a well-established field aspiring to contribute to solving these pressing challenges (Kates et al 2001; Komiyama and Takeuchi 2006) Within this field, the notion of transforming unsustainable human–environment systems has received increased interest and led to a sophisticated understanding of sustainability transformations (Loorbach et al 2017; Horcea-Milcu et al 2020; Scoones et al 2020). Sustainability transformations refer to “fundamental changes in structural, functional, relational, and cognitive aspects of socio-technical-ecological systems that lead to new patterns of interactions and outcomes” (Patterson et al 2017). Examples of these systems are mobility, energy, fisheries, agriculture, forestry, or water systems (Loorbach et al 2017). Changes in these phases can take place on multiple levels: the micro-, meso-, and macro-level of a system (Geels 2002; Olsson et al 2004, 2006; Moore et al 2014; Pereira et al 2018)

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