Urban Sustainability Transitions Systems and Agency Dynamics Dr. Niki Frantzeskaki Associate Professor Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands email: n.frantzeskaki@drift.eur.nl @NFrantzeskaki 21.10.2015 Copenhagen University, Denmark
Concepts to understand today Sustainability transitions Systems Agency
Sustainability Transitions
Understanding urban complexity • Complex urban problems – persistent problems – Resist ‘incremental’ policy interventions >> temporary fixes – Ignore optimization efforts >> re-occurring & being reinforced • Current unsustainability – multiple crises << >> symptoms – Ecological crisis >> exceeding planetary boundaries – Social crisis >> not-securing justice and equity in opportunities and capacity to deal with environmental vulnerabilities – Economic crisis >> welfare state crumpling and on a retreat • Solutions mismatching – scale <<readiness >> context – Scale mismatch>> too small to deal with large-scale problems – Context mismatch >> not easy to transfer across contexts – Time mismatch >> social and technological cycles not synchronised
Radical changes are required • To break-through deep-rooted practices and ways of organising • To rethink assumptions and evaluate needs and lifestyles • To search for solutions differently>> fit-for-purpose & fit-in-context
Sustainability Transitions “radical transformation towards a sustainable society, as a response to a number of persistent problems confronting contemporary modern societies” (Grin, Rotmans and Schot 2010) “more (co-)evolution than revolution” (Rotmans et al 2001) “tipping towards sustainability with social and governance innovations” (Loorbach et al 2011) “a radical innovation in: • structures(infrastructures, ways of organisation) • cultures (assumptions, perceptions) • practices (acts, ways of operation) that unfolds in phases with different distinct dynamics” (Frantzeskaki and De Haan, 2009) 7
what are transitions? • long-term Transition • complexity • uncertainty Systeem Innovation Process Innovation Product Innovation “Innovation Cascade” (Rotmans 2005) 8
What the history shows Transitions are long-term processes; 25-50 years to structurally change. Can we afford to wait the course of history? ACCELERATION
Different transition schools >> conceptual frameworks
MULTI-REGIME DYNAMICS (Frantzeskaki, Grin and Thissen, 2016)
Definition of a Sustainability Transition Transition ≈ • long-term process (> 1 generation) • radical - fundamental - structural change • system level • high levels of complexity and uncertainty => direction: sustainability 15
Systems
Complex Adaptive Systems • The behavior of the whole (=the system) exhibits properties that cannot be traced back to the parts = complex • Memory and learning mechanisms = adapts to context and changes behavior over time • A small stimuli can result in changes of high magnitude = stimulus-response relations not linear and change over time
Complexity means… • society cannot be ‘managed’ • societal change cannot be planned • humans are part of the system >> create complexity But also… • a small intervention can make a very great difference • power of diversity => learning and experimenting • need for knowledge about the system! 19
Sustainability Transitions Studies • Understand societal systems as complex adaptive systems that learn and self-organise and are difficult to steer • Conceptualise that current unsustainability is deeply rooted to the way societal systems are organised and structured • Propose experimentation as a way to seed and enable radical changes that may progressively build into a fundamental change – a transition to sustainability-
MULTI-REGIME DYNAMICS (Frantzeskaki, Grin and Thissen, 2016)
Agency
“Frontrunner” OR Agent of Change Transformative Agency
Connectivity & Sustainability Transitions • Connections between agents • Connecting innovations to problems • Between agents: Forms of transformative agency Emerging Facilitated Transition Partnerships Action-oriented Initiatives Intermediate Transition Arenas Process-oriented Organisations Urban Living Labs
Transition Initiatives • A locally-based activity which drives transformative change towards environmental sustainability of existing societal systems in multiple dimensions across multiple domains. • multiple dimensions : infrastructure and technologies, • rules and norms, routines and practices.
POWERED BY DRIFT, ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Transition Initiatives multiplying and connecting Milan, Italy (source: Silvestri and Frantzeskaki, submitted) 2009 Predevelopment (2003-2010) 2008 Take-off (2010-2013) 2010 2012 POWERED BY DRIFT, ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Transition Initiatives - Challenges • Synergy: Trust and Social Capital; important for bottom-up transformations • Tension: Exclusivity ‘us’ versus ‘them’ ‘ strong identity’ versus ‘inclusivity’ ‘whose rights, whose dreams’
Transition Arenas • Participatory approach to bring together change agents from community, policy and business • Creating transition governance contexts : transition arenas to form visions, agendas and strategic pathways • Purposive and designed for co-creating transformative narratives and transformative agendas for sustainability action
Transition Transition Transition Transition Team Arena Experiments Networks •Problem structuring & Envisioning •Preparation •Experimentation •Partnerships •Exploration & Implementation & Broadening •Backcasting & Agenda Building MUSIC Project – Guidance Manual Download: http://www.drift.eur.nl/?p=2796
33 Illustration – Andrew Siddall; (MUSIC Aberdeen Transition Magazine, 2013)
Urban Living Labs sites devised to design, test and learn from social and technical innovation in real time
Connectivity & Sustainability Transitions • Connections between agents – Transformative agency • Connecting innovations to problems • Between agents: Forms of transformative agency Emerging Facilitated Transition Partnerships Action-oriented Initiatives Intermediate Transition Arenas Process-oriented Organisations Urban Living Labs
Transition Arenas & ULLs Challenges • Synergy: Governance and institutional synergies via challenging ways of working, thinking and relating • Tension: Openness ‘insider’ versus ‘outsider’ ‘change agency’ versus ‘connecting agency’
Intermediary Organisations Transition initiatives need mediating institutions across institutional scales that require a change in the role of local government Network of urban agriculture initiatives that mediated with the Municipality of Milan Public-private partnership with a facilitative role on realising a sustainability vision and enables the existence of transition initiatives in Rotterdam 38
Intermediary Organisations - Challenges • Synergy: Governance synergy to channel messages and lessons across scales • Tension: Temporality ‘here and now’ need/mentality ‘context’ locked
Partnerships - Challenges • Synergy: Resource synergies including knowledge • Tension: Mission-blinded
Connectivity & Sustainability Transitions • Connections between agents – Transformative agency • Connecting innovations to problems • Between agents: Forms of transformative agency Emerging Facilitated Transition Partnerships Action-oriented Initiatives Intermediate Transition Arenas Process-oriented Organisations Urban Living Labs
Cities as places for sustainability transitions • The majority of the world’s population lives in them • They consume large volumes of resources and produce equally large amounts of waste – they are therefore susceptible to efficiency policies • They play a key role in making sustainable development relevant on a local scale • They can be powerful actors in promoting sustainable development towards other scale levels – e.g. national governments – and frequently have the resources necessary to pilot small-scale initiatives • They tend to have considerable experience managing the complex systems that drive unsustainability (e.g. energy, transport), and are therefore ideally placed to enact strategies to improve them.
Partnerships create synergies Social synergy: trust creation, ideas and beliefs sharing, express concerns Governance and Institutional synergy : - create and enable integration between departments and different policies - create policy synergy by “ combining the different perspectives of each partner ” resulting in innovative solutions and arrangements - challenge and innovate ways of working Resource synergy (including knowledge resources ): - pool resources together (expertise, funds, skills) and maintain social and economic profitability - manage and maintain infrastructures on the long-term in a resource efficient and effective manner 44
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