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Local Governance and Soft Infrastructure for Sustainability and Resilience

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Risk Governance

Abstract

This chapter examines the roles that local government can play in nurturing civic engagement in the process of developing policies that ensure more resilient and sustainable practices at the local level. Drawing upon recent research undertaken in both Europe and New Zealand, we argue that the successful implementation of such policies is highly dependent upon the facilitation of effective processes of citizen engagement that are linked to the development of ‘soft infrastructure’ − the institutions, networks and processes that can support and maintain the capacity to change. Soft infrastructure is, in turn, discussed in terms of four variables: the levels of institutional and social capital in local government; the existence of learning processes that foster individual and collective transformation; and processes of governance that can through learning build on, yet be determined by levels of both institutional and social capital. Finally, in support of the conceptual framework we consider a regional marine-focused case study of risk governance two decades in the making. It shows that civic engagement − the inclusion of local experience and passion − can lead to collaboration across public and private spheres; a shared understanding of the requirements of the commons; the distribution of benefits from ‘gifts and gains’ policies; and the development of a ‘soft infrastructure’ that fosters resilience and the on-going implementation of sustainability practices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although it should be emphasised that these may in turn be conditioned by the social context of class, ethnicity and life-cycle stage.

  2. 2.

    This section on commitments is informed by, and includes quotes from, the work of Innes and Booher (2010), McCoy and Scully (2002) and Baines and O’Brien (2012).

  3. 3.

    The tribal group most prominent in the South Island.

  4. 4.

    Personal communication (notes) from L. Teirney, past Fiordland Marine Guardian.

  5. 5.

    Personal communication (notes) from L. Teirney, past Fiordland Marine Guardian.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

    Bob Evans

  2. Coastal & Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, Private Bag 2, Nelson, 7042, New Zealand

    Marg O’Brien

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  1. Bob Evans
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  2. Marg O’Brien
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Correspondence to Marg O’Brien .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Urbano Fra.Paleo

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Evans, B., O’Brien, M. (2015). Local Governance and Soft Infrastructure for Sustainability and Resilience. In: Fra.Paleo, U. (eds) Risk Governance. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9328-5_5

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