Practical Recommendations for Policy Makers and Practitioners for the Governance of Urban Sustainability Transitions

Abstract

With increasing complexity, societal issues cannot be managed using the classical “rules and regulations” associated with traditional government. Rather, they require more subtle, network-oriented arrangements such as transition management, in which policy makers are not the only partners, and not necessarily the leading partner either. This chapter takes stock of the experiences with five urban sustainability challenges from Japan and Europe to draft recommendations for practitioners to more effectively handle such issues. It also reflects on examples of when and why to use transition management specifically based on these experiences. These examples show the importance and potential of network hybridisation, in the broadest sense; network hybridisation has sectoral, administrative, niche/regime, and grassroots/incumbent dimensions, all of which can provide opportunities for transition. Regarding transition management, we learnt that information provided by scientists can act as a common starting point in arenas with diverse participants, who can use it to connect their own context and practice to the arena issue at hand. Furthermore, these cases suggested that striving for shared actions and connecting different problem orientations is more fruitful for transitions than striving for consensus.