The Italian energy transition in a multilevel system: between reinforcing dynamics and institutional constraints

The article analyses drivers as well as coordination mechanisms and instruments for the energy transition in Italy from a multilevel governance perspective. It addresses the structural constraints that influenced the decision-making processes and organisation of the Italian energy sector and the socio-technical challenges opened up by enhancing renewables. The current energy system is making the move from a centralised, path-dependent institutional and organisational structure to a more fragmented and pluralistic one. Renewables and decentralised patterns of production and consumption are key elements of this paradigmatic shift, which is paralleled by a multiplication of decision-making arenas and actors. These actors follow different interests, problem understandings and green growth narratives, increasing the complexity of governing the energy transition. Against this background, community-based renewable energy policy is assuming a very important role and Italy is putting efforts to establish an enabling framework in line with the requirements of the European Union. The goal of this strategy is to foster a positive link between acceptance of the energy transition and decentralised local activities. In the conclusion we address problems and barriers to new modes of governance, and discuss possible approaches to improved cooperation.

Harnessing sensing systems towards urban sustainability transformation

Recent years have seen a massive development of geospatial sensing systems informing the use of space. However, rarely do these sensing systems inform transformation towards urban sustainability. Drawing on four global urban case examples, we conceptualize how passive and active sensing systems should be harnessed to secure an inclusive, sustainable and resilient urban transformation. We derive principles for stakeholders highlighting the need for an iterative dialogue along a sensing loop, new modes of governance enabling direct feeding of sensed information, an account for data biases in the sensing processes and a commitment to high ethical standards, including open access data sharing.

Global Governance in a World of Change

Global governance has come under increasing pressure since the end of the Cold War. In some issue areas, these pressures have led to significant changes in the architecture of governance institutions. In others, institutions have resisted pressures for change. This volume explores what accounts for this divergence in architecture by identifying three modes of governance: hierarchies, networks, and markets. The authors apply these ideal types to different issue areas in order to assess how global governance has changed and why. In most issue areas, hierarchical modes of governance, established after World War II, have given way to alternative forms of organization focused on market or network-based architectures. Each chapter explores whether these changes are likely to lead to more or less effective global governance across a wide range of issue areas. This provides a novel and coherent theoretical framework for analysing change in global governance.

Gobernanza de ciudades intermedias: aprendiendo de acciones post-desastre en la zona Metropolitana de Acapulco, México

This article analyses the governance patterns of post-disaster public action carried out after Hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel hit Coyuca de Benítez in 2013, a municipality that is part of the Metropolitan Area of Acapulco, Mexico, seeking to contribute towards broadening knowledge about the modes of governance of intermediate cities, and in particular, those related to disaster risk reduction. Conceptually, the concept of adaptive governance is presented to contrast and reflect on prevailing governance patterns in Coyuca. Methodologically speaking, this work is based on the sociology of public action, to analyse the reconstruction processes of infrastructure, public services, and housing, through interviews, focus groups, and diverse written sources. This paper argues that, despite the decentralization and democratization efforts of recent decades, governance patterns are highly centralized and not very adaptive, limiting the development of participatory and articulated interventions that meet people's daily needs and improve their quality of life. In this context, public action, rather than reducing disaster risks, has increased and/or generated new risks in already precarious and vulnerable urban territories. Along the same vein, this paper questions the relevance of regulatory and conceptual frameworks, such as adaptive governance, to guide significant changes, given the distance between ideal and existing governance patterns in the territories.

Alustat paikallisen hallinnan välineenä – käsitteellinen tarkastelu

The concept of platform, its connotations and relationship with local governance The aim of this article is to shed light on the relevance of platforms in urban governance. Discussion starts with a brief description of the evolution of platform discourse and a critical view of how platforms relate to governance paradigms. As the idea of platform is often associated with openness and participation, this particular dimension is elaborated as a potentially beneficial feature of platform governance. In order to concretize the picture of platforms in the given context, this article presents a typology of urban platforms based on the most common platform functions. Our discussion reveals that while platforms have a connection with classic modes of governance, they have irreducible features worth acknowledging in the theorization of public governance. The type of platform, the level of analysis and social structures are preconditions for understanding the platform logic in urban governance.

Identifying and Evaluating the Mechanisms and Modes of Governance of Ecosystem Services – The Case of Bulgarian Agriculture

This article presents the results of a large-scale study on the mechanisms and modes of governance of diverse ecosystem services in Bulgarian agriculture. Firstly, it identifies the type, amount, and importance of various ecosystem services maintained and “produced” by the Bulgarian farms. The study has found out that country’s farms provide a great number of essential ecosystem services among which provisioning food and feed, and conservation of elements of the natural environment prevail. Secondly, it identifies and assesses the efficiency and complementarities of specific modes and mechanisms of governance of ecosystem services used by agricultural holdings. The study had found out that a great variety of private, market, collective, public and hybrid modes of governance of farm activity related to agroecosystem services are applied. There is significant differentiation of employed managerial forms depending on the type of ecosystem services and the specialization of agricultural farms. Furthermore, the management of agroecosystem services is associated with a considerable increase in the production and transaction costs of participating farms as well as big socio-economic and environmental effects for agricultural holdings and other parties. The factors that mostly stimulate the activity of agricultural producers in Bulgaria for protection of (agro)ecosystems services are participation in public support programs, access to farmers’ advice, professional training, available information, and innovation, received direct subsidies from EU and national government, personal conviction and satisfaction, positive experience of others, long-term and immediate benefits for the farm, and integration with suppliers, buyers, and processors.

COVID-19 Responses of South Korea as Hybrids of Governance Modes

The countries worldwide have adapted diverse governance approaches to the pandemic to suit their contexts. While the diversity of the country-specific governance responses has been widely discussed, the hybrids nature of those governance practices has been explored less. This study analyses the responses toward COVID-19 in South Korea as responsive dialogues of different modes of governance, i.e., consensus-based hierarchy, state-sponsored market, and principle-based network. This study aims to remind us that pandemic governance needs to enable organic and responsive processes for all actors in society. This conceptual discussion of the governance modes illustrates that the pandemic allowed the emergence of the hybrids of governance modes to cope better with the complex realities of the diverse sectors and actors in South Korea. The characteristic of the responses diverges from the conventional governance classification of or market-based. It is a responsive and evolving dialogue of different modes of governance. It would be productive to think beyond the oversimplified understandings of governance modes and embrace flexible and different hybrids of governance modes to be more responsive, effective, efficient, and equitable.

Are Academics Driven by Managerialism? Governance and the Changing Role of Academics on the Way Towards a Knowledge Society

Changes in the governance system have been viewed as one of the key issues of higher education since about the 1990s. In many countries, the “managerial university” emerged accompanied by a controversial discourse about its strengths and about dangers implied. As academics are key actors performing key functions in higher education and as governance reforms increased the power of university management to steer academics, the academics’ perception of and response to the “managerial university” is crucial for its successes and failures. International comparative surveys of academics undertaken in the early 1990s and during the years 2007-2010 indicate that the modes of governance and the responses to these modes by academics vary more substantially across countries than the convergent international discourse suggests. Altogether, scholars’ views and behavior seem to have changed to a lesser extent than expected. The third comparative survey of that kind addresses similar issues, but additionally raises the question of whether strong footprints can be observed of the move toward a “knowledge society” with regard to the governance of higher education and academics’ views and activities.

Transformation of Tribal Hinterlands into Urban Spaces in India’s Fifth and Sixth Schedule Areas: Emerging Issues and Contestations

Extensive literature exists on the way tribal land has been acquired for industrial, irrigation, power and mining projects. However, there is limited research on the procurement of land in the context of urban development which has been spreading in tribal areas. This article explores the modalities and mechanisms through which land is being procured in the context of urban development, specifically with reference to the emerging capital townships of Greater Ranchi and the New Shillong Township which fall in the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas of the Indian Constitution. Using a comparative perspective, this study examines the implications of such development on affected people especially in the context of their constitutional and legal rights, entitlements, their modes of governance and the way they have been articulating and addressing these issues.