Abstract
Abstract: Sustainability transitions require societal change at multiple levels ranging from individual behavioral change to community projects, businesses that offer sustainable products as well as policy-makers that set suitable incentive structures. Concepts, methods and tools are currently lacking that help to initiate and design transition governance processes based upon an encompassing understanding of such diverse interactions of actors and intervention points. This article presents a methodological framework for the initiation and design of transition governance processes. Based upon a conceptualization of sustainability transitions as multilevel learning processes, the methodological framework includes participatory modeling, a systematic literature review and governance system analysis to identify social units (learning subjects and contexts), challenges (learning objects) and intervention points (learning factors) relevant for initiating case-specific transition governance processes. A case study on sustainable food systems in Ontario, Canada is provided to exemplify the application of the methodological framework. The results demonstrate the merit of combining stakeholder-based and expert-based methods, as several learning factors identified in the participatory process could not be found in the general literature, and vice versa. The methodological framework allowed for an integrated analysis of the diversity of existing initiatives in the case study region and specific intervention points to support place-based sustainability innovations. Initiators of transition governance processes can use the results by designing targeted interventions to facilitate and coordinate existing initiatives or by setting new impulses through purposeful action.
Highlights
Broad societal transformation processes towards sustainable development require actions at different societal levels comprising individual, group, organizational and policy levels [1]
We use the term “transition governance”, which builds upon reflexive governance [6], transition management and adaptive management [8] and is understood to embrace the full complexity of multi-actor processes in societal transformations towards sustainable development
Endogenous learning factors are in the following termed ‘intervention points’, as they can be actively addressed in the transition governance process
Summary
Broad societal transformation processes towards sustainable development require actions at different societal levels comprising individual, group, organizational and policy levels [1]. We use the term “transition governance”, which builds upon reflexive governance [6], transition management and adaptive management [8] and is understood to embrace the full complexity of multi-actor processes in societal transformations towards sustainable development (see Halbe [15] for more details). Learning contexts are defined by an agency perspective, i.e., whether an individual, a group, an organization or policy actors are becoming active to address a sustainability issue [15] As another preparatory step to the development of the methodological framework, a systematic literature review has been conducted to identify supportive and impeding factors of learning in the. Further participation methods, such as stakeholder interviews and surveys, can complement the participatory modelling approach to interrogate stakeholders’ visions as well as perceived intervention points
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