Abstract
Technology-focused literature on socio-technical transitions shares some of the complex systems sensibilities of social-ecological systems research. We contend that the sharing of lessons between these areas of study must attend particularly to the common governance challenges that confront both approaches. Here, we focus on critical experience arising from reactions to a transition management approach to governing sustainable socio-technical transformations. Questions over who governs, whose system framings count, and whose sustainability gets prioritized are all pertinent to social-ecological systems research. We conclude that future research in both areas should deal more centrally and explicitly with these inherently political dimensions of sustainability.
Highlights
Research into social-ecological systems recognizes technology as an important influence on resilience (e.g., Anderies et al 2004, Langridge et al 2006, Young et al 2006)
A parallel literature that focuses on transition management toward more sustainable sociotechnical systems does consider technology dynamics in depth (Rip and Kemp 1998, Rotmans et al 2001, Smith et al 2005)
We address to what extent critical issues in transition management are relevant to adaptive governance
Summary
Research into social-ecological systems recognizes technology as an important influence on resilience (e.g., Anderies et al 2004, Langridge et al 2006, Young et al 2006). These include the cultural milieu in which the technology operates, whereby social movements, lifestyle expectations, environmental stresses, behavioral patterns, and resource endowments exercise important influences on patterns of technology development and use These processes, operating beyond, but interconnected with, specific socio-technical systems, form an. The focus of socio-technical transitions research is different from social-ecological systems research in a number of respects: objects, objectives, structure or function, and resilience and transformation. The focus is on a particular setting in which material resources, ecological configurations, and environmental services may be implicated in, and affected by, the development and operation of a number of technological regimes For their part, socio-technical regimes are complex, dynamic systems. Each change implicates different patchworks of social-ecological systems through resource extraction, service consumption, and waste assimilation (Fig. 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
