Knowledge management in transition management: The ripples of learning

Abstract

• Our framework of learning ripples conceptualizes learning as an active and two-way process in urban transition management. • In the transition arena higher order learning is largely influenced by the quality and frequency of interactions between the transferer and receivers. • The lack of knowledge integration or a lack of conditions for reflexive learning can hinder the transition process and cause inertia in the collaboration of the different stakeholder groups. • Tacit knowledge and higher-order learning processes are more prone to lead to conflicts and resistance given their need to be embedded in particular social contexts. Despite the extensive literature on learning in urban transitions, we still have a limited understanding on how higher-order learning takes place in transition management and is spread within the transition arena. In this paper we analyze the efforts of transferring such embedded knowledge and its interrelation with learning through the examples of three Swedish municipalities engaged in urban transition management. To do so, we developed a framework of learning ripples that conceptualizes learning across social boundaries as an active and two-way process that goes beyond transferring and receiving knowledge, but also requires higher order learning that includes knowledge integration in the form of defining and formulating one's role and contributions to transitions. We found that higher order learning is largely influenced by the quality and frequency of interactions between the transferer and receivers. The further a stakeholder was located from the center of the transition arena in terms of direct interactions, the less chance occurred for higher order learning that resulted in tensions and conflicts in the collaboration. Our results show the problem as a lack of knowledge integration or a lack of conditions which allow stakeholders to articulate their views or develop an idea about their own role in the whole process.