Network governance in urban sustainability transitions

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-28
Author(s):  
Timea Nochta
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Sustainability Transitions

scholarly journals Lost in Transition? Directions for an Economic Geography of Urban Sustainability Transitions

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Fastenrath ◽  
Boris Braun
Keyword(s):  
Economic Geography ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The City

Socio-technical transitions towards more sustainable modes of production and consumption are receiving increasing attention in the academic world and also from political and economic decision-makers. There is increasing demand for resource-efficient technologies and institutional innovations, particularly at the city level. However, it is widely unclear how processes of change evolve and develop and how they are embedded in different socio-spatial contexts. While numerous scholars have contributed to the vibrant research field around sustainability transitions, the geographical expertise largely has been ignored. The lack of knowledge about the role of spatial contexts, learning processes, and the co-evolution of technological, economical, and socio-political processes has been prominently addressed. Bridging approaches from Transition Studies and perspectives of Economic Geography, the paper presents conceptual ideas for an evolutionary and relational understanding of urban sustainability transitions. The paper introduces new perspectives on sustainability transitions towards a better understanding of socio-spatial contexts.

Urban Sustainability Transitions

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niki Frantzeskaki ◽  
Vanesa Castán Broto ◽  
Lars Coenen ◽  
Derk Loorbach
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Transitions

scholarly journals Political Leadership as Meta-Governance in Sustainability Transitions: A Case Study Analysis of Meta-Governance in the Case of the Dutch National Agreement on Climate

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Menno Ottens ◽  
Jurian Edelenbos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Theoretical Assumption ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
Governance Strategies ◽  
Governance Processes

Sustainability transitions are of an inherently political nature. In particular, discussions on climate policy are dominated by national and international politics. Furthermore, sustainability transitions involve network governance in which both private, public, and societal actors are involved. These governance processes call for closely scrutinizing their performance in terms of democratic legitimacy. To study and assess the democratic quality of governance processes regarding climate policy, this article focuses on the role of political leadership, conceptualized as political meta-governance, in enhancing the democratic legitimacy in the field of sustainability transitions. In doing so, it examines the case of the Dutch National Agreement on Climate (“Nationaal Klimaatakkoord”). The findings of this study underline the theoretical assumption that governments seek to use network governance to address climate change and develop policies. Seeking to address the application of political meta-governance, this study finds that political leaders struggle to bring about a fully-fledged, deliberative, and integrative meta-governance approach. However, disparate meta-governance strategies are reported. Although democratic legitimacy concerning the Dutch Agreement on Climate in terms of accountability can be regarded as high, values concerning voice (inclusiveness) and due deliberation (transparency) score comparatively low. As such, this study further justifies the close attention governance scholars and practitioners pay to the democratic values at stake when governing through governance networks.

scholarly journals Unravelling the role of green entrepreneurs in urban sustainability transitions: A case study of China’s Solar City

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (14) ◽  
pp. 2901-2917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Yu ◽  
David Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Solar Water Heater ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Water Heater ◽  
Solar Water ◽  
Institutional Contexts

This paper aims to understand the role of green entrepreneurs in urban sustainability transitions. We propose an analytical framework combining transition approaches and green entrepreneurship from a relational lens. It includes four processes: emergence of green entrepreneurs, multi-scalar interest coordination, empowering through anchoring, and struggling with the regime at the urban scale. This framework is illustrated through an empirical analysis of the role of green entrepreneurs in the development of the solar water heater industry in China’s Solar City. The analysis unravels how the local institutional contexts and multi-scalar relations empowered local green entrepreneurs to become system builders for urban transitions.

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