Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Capacities for Transformative Climate Governance: A Conceptual Framework

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Transformative Climate Governance

Abstract

This chapter presents a conceptual framework to explain, evaluate and eventually to support, the capacities by which multiple governance actors accomplish transformative climate governance. The framework builds on an understanding of governance capacity as emergent and agency-driven property and is grounded in a review and synthesis of scientific literatures related to the governance of complexity, transformation and climate change, namely sustainability transitions, resilience, climate governance and meta-governance literatures. The framework consists of four governance capacities that enable to carry out distinct governance functions for adapting and responding to transformation dynamics: stewarding capacity to anticipate, protect and recover from uncertainty and risk; unlocking capacity to recognise and reduce drivers of unsustainability and mal-adaptation; transformative capacity to create and embed innovative alternatives; and orchestrating capacity to foster synergies and minimise trade-offs between multi-actor processes across scales, sectors and time. The chapter also discusses applications of and insights from the framework.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    I have opted for the term ‘stewarding’ rather than ‘adapting’ because it better signals the function—i.e. taking care of supportive social and ecological systems in an adaptive, reflexive and flexible way (cf. Folke 2016; Chapin et al. 2010)—rather than the type of change, which has caused some confusion about adaptive versus transformative capacity and incremental versus radical change (Pelling 2011; Lonsdale et al. 2015). In addition, adaptation is in climate adaptation literature often more narrowly understood in terms of adapting to climate change impacts rather than the explicitly broader understanding sought here.

References

  • Abbott, K. W. (2014). Strengthening the transnational regime complex for climate change. Transnational Environmental Law,3, 57–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abbott, K. W. (2017). Orchestration: Strategic ordering in polycentric climate governance. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2983512.

  • Abbott, K. W., Genschel, P., Snidal, D., & Zangl, B. (Eds.). (2015). International organizations as orchestrators. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., & Tompkins, E. L. (2005). Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Global Environmental Change, 15(2), 77–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amundsen, H., Hovelsrud, G. K., Aall, C., Karlsson, M., & Westskog, H. (2018). Local governments as drivers for societal transformation: Towards the 1.5°C ambition. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,31, 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderies, J. M., Folke, C., Walker, B., & Ostrom, E. (2013). Aligning key concepts for global change policy: Robustness, resilience, and sustainability. Ecology and Society,18(2), 8. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05178-180208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderies, J. M., Janssen, M. A., & Ostrom, E. (2004). A framework to analyze the robustness of social-ecological systems from an institutional perspective. Ecology and Society, 9(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderies, J. M., Janssen, M. A., & Schlager, E. (2016). Institutions and the performance of coupled infrastructure systems. International Journal of the Commons, 10(2), 495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aylett, A. (2015). Institutionalizing the urban governance of climate change adaptation: Results of an international survey. Urban Climate, 14, 4–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bai, X., McPhearson, T., Cleugh, H., Nagendra, H., Tong, X., Zhu, T., et al. (2017). Linking urbanization and the environment: Conceptual and empirical advances. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 42(1), 215–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakir, C., & Jarvis, D. S. L. (2017). Contextualising the context in policy entrepreneurship and institutional change. Policy and Society,36(4), 465–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2017.1393589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F. (2017). Environmental governance for the Anthropocene? Social-ecological systems, resilience, and collaborative learning. Sustainability,9(7) 1232. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Folke, C. (2003). Navigating social-ecological systems: Building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F., & Folke, C. (Eds.). (1998). Linking social and ecological systems: Management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bettini, Y., Brown, R., & de Haan, F. J. (2015). Exploring institutional adaptive capacity in practice: Examining water governance adaptation in Australia. Ecology and Society,20(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-07291-200147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bettini, Y. H. (2013). Adapting institutions: Processes and instruments behind urban water transitions (PhD thesis), School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boasson, E. L., & Huitema, D. (2017). Climate governance entrepreneurship: Emerging findings and a new research agenda. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space,35(8), 1343–1361. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654417730713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bos, J. J., & Brown, R. R. (2012). Governance experimentation and factors of success in socio-technical transitions in the urban water sector. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,79(7), 1340–1353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2012.04.006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosman, R., Loorbach, D., Frantzeskaki, N., & Pistorius, T. (2014). Discursive regime dynamics in the Dutch energy transition. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions,13, 45–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosman, R., Loorbach, D., Rotmans, J., & van Raak, R. (2018). Carbon lock-out: Leading the fossil port of Rotterdam into transition. Sustainability,10, 2558. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, E., Ensor, J., Castán Broto, V., & Juhola, S. (2014). Environmentalities of urban climate governance in Maputo, Mozambique. Global Environmental Change,26, 140–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.03.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, K., & Westaway, E. (2011). Agency, capacity, and resilience to environmental change: Lessons from human development, well-being, and disasters. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 36(1), 321–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. R., Farrelly, M. A., & Loorbach, D. (2013). Actors working the institutions in sustainability transitions: The case of Melbourne’s stormwater management. Global Environmental Change,23(4), 701–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulkeley, H. (2015). Accomplishing climate governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bulkeley, H., & Betsill, M. M. (2013). Revisiting the urban politics of climate change. Environmental Politics, 22(1), 136–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burch, S., Andrachuk, M., Carey, D., Frantzeskaki, N., Schroeder, H., Mischkowski, N., et al. (2016). Governing and accelerating transformative entrepreneurship: Exploring the potential for small business innovation on urban sustainability transitions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,22, 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burch, S., Hughes, S., Romero-Lankao, P., & Schroeder, H. (2018) Governing urban sustainability transformations: The new politics of collaboration and contestation. In T. Elmqvist, X. Bai, N. Frantzeskaki, C. Griffith, D. Maddox, T. McPhearson, et al. (Eds.), Urban Planet: Knowledge towards sustainable cities (pp. 303–326). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burch, S., & Robinson, J. (2007). A framework for explaining the links between capacity and action in response to global climate change. Climate Policy, 7(4), 304–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capano, G., Howlett, M., & Ramesh, M. (2014). Bringing governments back in: Governance and governing in comparative policy analysis. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 17(4), 311–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S. R., Walker, M., Anderies, J. M., & Abel, N. (2001). From metaphor to measurement: Resilience of what to what? Ecosystems,4, 765–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, J. G., Cavan, G., Connelly, A., Guy, S., Handley, J., & Kazmierczak, A. (2015). Climate change and the city: Building capacity for urban adaptation. Progress in Planning,95, 1–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2013.08.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castán Broto, V., & Bulkeley, H. (2013). A survey of urban climate change experiments in 100 cities. Global Environmental Change,23, 92–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaffin, B. C., Garmestani, A. S., Gunderson, L. H., Benson, M. H., Angeler, D. G., Arnold, C. A., et al. (2016). Transformative environmental governance. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41(1), 399–423. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817.

  • Chaffin, B. C., Gosnell, H., & Cosens, B. A. (2014). A decade of adaptive governance scholarship: Synthesis and future directions. Ecology and Society,19(3), 56. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06824-190356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, S., Falkner, R., van Asselt, H., & Goldberg, M. (2015). Strengthening non-state climate action: A progress assessment of commitments launched at the 2014 UN Climate Summit. Centre for Climate Change Economics Policy (Working Paper No. 242). Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (Working Paper No. 216).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, F. S., III, Carpenter, S. R., Kofinas, G. P., Folke, C., Abel, N., Clark, W. C., et al. (2010). Ecosystem stewardship: Sustainability strategies for a rapidly changing planet. Trends in Ecology & Evolution,25(4), 241–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.10.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chelleri, L., Water, J. J., Olazabal, M., & Minucci, G. (2015). Resilience trade-offs: Addressing multiple scales and temporal aspects of urban resilience. Environment & Urbanization,27(1), 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247814550780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chu, E., Anguelovski, I., & Roberts, D. (2017). Climate adaptation as strategic urbanism: Assessing opportunities and uncertainties for equity and inclusive development in cities. Cities, 60, 378–387.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dąbrowski, M. (2017). Boundary spanning for governance of climate change adaptation in cities: Insights from a Dutch urban region. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 36(5), 837–855.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, M. (2017). Moving beyond the heuristic of creative destruction: Targeting exnovation with policy mixes for energy transitions. Energy Research & Social Science,33, 138–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.09.023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Haan (Hans), J., & Rotmans, J. (2011). Patterns in transitions: Understanding complex chains of change. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,78(1), 90–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • den Exter, R., Lenhart, J., & Kern, K. (2014). Governing climate change in Dutch cities: Anchoring local climate strategies in organisation, policy and practical implementation. Local Environment, 20(9), 1062–1080.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, T., Ostrom, E., & Stern, P. C. (2003). The struggle to govern the commons. Science,12(302), 1907–1912. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1091015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson, D. L., Kern, F., & Rogge, K. S. (2018). The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions. Research Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.03.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehnert, F., Frantzeskaki, N., Barnes, J., Borgström, S., Gorissen, L., Kern, F., et al. (2018). The acceleration of urban sustainability transitions: A comparison of Brighton, Budapest, Dresden, Genk, and Stockholm. Sustainability,10(3), 612. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emirbayer, M., & Miche, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology,103(4), 962–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. (2016). Trials and tribulations: Problematizing the city through/as urban experimentation. Geography Compass, 10(10), 429–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, L.-B., & Newig, J. (2016). Importance of actors and agency in sustainability transitions: A systematic exploration of the literature. Sustainability,8(5), 476. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8050476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folke, C. (2016). Resilience (Republished). Ecology and Society,21(4), 44. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09088-210444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folke, C., Carpenter, S.R., Walker, B., Scheffer, M., Chapin, T., & Rockström, J. (2010). Resilience thinking: Integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecology and Society, 15(4), 20. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art20/.

  • Folke, C., Hahn, T., Olsson, P., & Norberg, J. (2005). Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annual Review of Environment and Resources,30(1), 441–473. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.energy.30.050504.144511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster-Fishman, P. G., Berkowitz, S. L., Lounsbury, D. W., Jacobson, S., & Allen, N. A. (2001). Building collaborative capacity in community coalitions: A review and integrative framework. American Journal of Community Psychology,29(2), 241–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki, N., Bach, M., Hölscher, K., & Avelino, F. (2018). Introducing sustainability transitions’ thinking in urban contexts. In N. Frantzeskaki, K. Hölscher, M. Bach, & F. Avelino (Eds.), Co-creating sustainable urban futures: A primer on applying transition management in cities (pp. 63–80). Tokyo: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki, N., Castàn Broto, V., Coenen, L., & Loorbach, D. (2017). Urban sustainability transitions: The dynamics and opportunities of sustainability transitions in cities. In N. Frantzeskaki, V. Castàn Broto, L. Coenen, & D. Loorbach (Eds.), Urban sustainability transitions. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki, N., & Kabisch, N. (2016). Designing a knowledge co-production operating space for urban environmental governance—Lessons from Rotterdam, Netherlands and Berlin, Germany. Environmental Science & Policy, 62, 90–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki, N., Loorbach, D., & Meadowcroft, J. (2012). Governing societal transitions to sustainability. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 15(1/2), 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki, N., Wittmayer, J. M., & Loorbach, D. (2014). The role of partnerships in ‘realizing’ urban sustainability in Rotterdam’s City Ports Area, the Netherlands. Journal of Cleaner Production,65, 406–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fröhlich, J., & Knieling, J. (2013). Conceptualising climate change governance. In J. Knieling & W. Leal Filho (Eds.), Climate Change Governance. Climate Change Management (pp. 9–26). Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fünfschilling, L., & Truffer, L. (2014). The structuration of socio-technical regimes—Conceptual foundations from institutional theory. Research Policy,43, 772–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galaz, V., Crona, B., Österblom, H., Olsson, P., & Folke, C. (2011). Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries—Emerging governance of climate change-ocean acidification-marine biodiversity. Ecological Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.11.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garmestani, A. S., & Benson, M. H. (2013). A framework for resilience-based governance of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 18(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Garud, R., Hardy, H., & Maguire, S. (2007). Institutional entrepreneurship as embedded agency: An introduction to the special issue. Organization Studies,28(7), 957–969. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840607078958.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels, F. W. (2014). Regime resistance against low-carbon energy transitions: Introducing politics and power in the multi-level perspective. Theory, Culture & Society,31(5), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414531627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels, F. W. (2018). Disruption and low-carbon system transformation: Progress and new challenges in socio-technical transitions research and the multi-level perspective. Energy Research & Social Science,37, 224–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.10.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels, F. W., & Schot, J. (2007). Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Research Policy,36(3), 399–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillard, R., Gouldson, A., Paavola, J., & van Alstine, J. (2016). Transformational responses to climate change: Beyond a systems perspective of social change in mitigation and adaptation. WIREs Clim Change,7, 251–265. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaas, E., Hjerpe, M., Storbjork, S., Neset, T. S., Bohman, A., Muthumanickam, P., et al. (2019). Developing transformative capacity through systematic assessments and visualization of urban climate transitions. Ambio,48, 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-018-1109-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gliedt, T., Hoicka, C. E., & Jackson, N. (2018). Innovation intermediaries accelerating environmental sustainability transitions. Journal of Cleaner Production,174, 1247–1261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González, S., & Healey, P. (2005). A sociological institutionalist approach to the study of innovation in governance capacity. Urban Studies, 42(11), 2055–2069. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980500279778.

  • Gordon, D. J., & Johnson, C. A. (2017). The orchestration of global urban climate governance: Conducting power in the post-Paris climate regime. Environmental Politics,26(4), 694–714. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2017.1320829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grin, J., Rotmans, J., & Schot, J. (Eds.). (2010). Transitions to sustainable development: New directions in the study of long-term transformative change. New York and London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, J., Termeer, C., Klostermann, J., Meijerink, S., van den Brink, M., Jong, P., et al. (2010). The adaptive capacity wheel: A method to assess the inherent characteristics of institutions to enable the adaptive capacity of society. Environmental Science & Policy, 13(6), 459–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedensted Lund, D., Sehested, K., Hellesen, T., & Nellemann, V. (2012). Climate change adaptation in Denmark: Enhancement through collaboration and meta-governance? Local Environment, 17(6–7), 613–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hermwille, L. (2016). Climate change as transformation challenge: A new climate policy paradigm? GAIA, 25(1), 19–22. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.25.1.6.

  • Hermwille, L. (2017). En route to a just global energy transformation? The formative power of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hildén, M., Jordan, A., & Huitema, D. (2017). Special issue on experimentation for climate change solutions editorial: The search for climate change and sustainability solutions—The promise and the pitfalls of experimentation. Journal of Cleaner Production,169, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson, M., Evans, J., & Schliwa, G. (2018). Conditioning experimentation: The struggle for place-based discretion in shaping urban infrastructures. Environment and planning C: Politics and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654418765480.

  • Hodson, M., & Marvin, S. (2010). Can cities shape socio-technical transitions and how would we know if they were? Research Policy,39, 477–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson, M., Marvin, S., & Bulkeley, H. (2013). The intermediary organisation of low carbon cities: A comparative analysis of transitions in greater London and greater Manchester. Urban Studies, 50(7), 1403–1422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, M. J. (2011). Climate governance at the crossroads: Experimenting with a global response after Kyoto. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C. S. (1986). The resilience of terrestrial ecosystems: Local surprise and global change. In W. C. Clark & R. E. Munn (Eds.), Sustainable development of the biosphere (pp. 292–317). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C. S., & Gunderson, L. H. (2002). Resilience and adaptive cycles. In L. H. Gunderson & C. S. Holling (Eds.), Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems (pp. 25–62). Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling, C. S., Gunderson, L., & Peterson, G. (2002). Sustainability and panarchies. In L. H. Gunderson & C. S. Holling (Eds.), Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems (pp. 63–102). Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hölscher, K. (2018). So what? Transition management as a transformative approach to support governance capacities in cities. In N. Frantzeskaki, K. Hölscher, M. Bach, & F. Avelino (Eds.), Co-creating sustainable urban futures: A primer on applying transition management in cities. Tokyo: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hölscher, K. (2019). Transforming urban climate governance: Capacities for transformative climate governance (PhD thesis), Erasmus University Rotterdam. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/118721.

  • Hölscher, K., Frantzeskaki, N., & Loorbach, D. (2019a). Steering transformations under climate change: Capacities for transformative climate governance and the case of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Regional Environmental Change,19(3), 791–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1329-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölscher, K., Frantzeskaki, F., McPhearson, T., & Loorbach, D. (2019b). Capacities for urban transformations governance and the case of New York City. Cities,94, 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.05.037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölscher, K., Frantzeskaki, F., McPhearson, T., & Loorbach, D. (2019c). Tales of transforming cities: Transformative climate governance capacities in New York City, U.S. and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Journal of Environmental Management, 1(231), 843–857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.10.043.

  • Hölscher, K., Wittmayer, J. M., & Loorbach, D. (2018). Transition versus transformation: What’s the difference? Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2017.10.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howlett, M. (2014). Why are policy innovations rare and so often negative? Blame avoidance and problem denial in climate change policy-making. Global Environmental Change,29, 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huitema, D., Boasson, E. L., Beunen, R. (2018). Entrepreneurship in climate governance at the local and regional levels: Concepts, methods, patterns and effects. Regional Environmental Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1351-5.

  • Innes, J. E., & Booher, D. E. (2003). The impact of collaborative planning on governance capacity (UC Berkeley IURD Working Paper Series). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/98k72547.

  • IPCC. (2018). Global warming of 1.5°C. An special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. Summary for Policymakers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, B. (1997). Capitalism and its future: Remarks on regulation, government and governance. Review of International Political Economy,4, 561–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, B. (2011). Metagovernance. In M. Bevir (Ed.), The sage handbook of governance (pp. 106–123). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jhagroe, S., & Frantzeskaki, N. (2016). Framing a crisis: Exceptional democracy in Dutch infrastructure governance. Critical Policy Studies, 10(3), 348–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, A. J., Huitema, D., Hildén, M., van Asselt, H., Rayner, T. J., Schoenefeld, J. J., et al. (2015). Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nature Climate Change,5, 977–982. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, A., Huitema, D., van Asselt, H., & Forster, J. (2018). Governing climate change: The promise and limits of polycentric governance. In A. Jordan, D. Huitema, H. van Asselt, J. Forster (Eds.), Governing climate change: Polycentricity in action? (pp. 359–383). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kates, R. W., Travis, W. R., & Wilbanks, T. J. (2012). Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(19), 7156–7161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keskitalo, E., Juhola, S., Baron, N., Fyhn, H., & Klein, J. (2016). Implementing local climate change adaptation and mitigation actions: The role of various policy instruments in a multi-level governance context. Climate, 4(1), 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivimaa, P. (2014). Government-affiliated intermediary organisations as actors in system-level transitions. Research Policy,43, 1370–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimaa, P., & Kern, F. (2016). Creative destruction or mere niche support? Innovation policy mixes for sustainability transitions. Research Policy,45(1), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2015.09.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, F., Krellenberg, K., & Kabisch, S. (2016). How to achieve Urban Sustainability Transformations (UST) in real life politics? Brief for GSDR 2016 Update.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kooiman, J., & Jentoft, S. (2009). Meta-governance: Values, norms and principles, and the making of hard choices. Public Administration,87(4), 818–836.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koop, S. H. A., Koetsier, L., Doornhof, A., Reinstra, O., van Leeuwen, C. J., Brouwer, S., et al. (2017). Assessing the governance capacity of cities to address challenges of water, waste and climate change. Water Resource Management,31, 3427–3443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1677-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lebel, L., Anderies, J. M., Campbell, B., Folke, C., Hatfield-Dodds, S., Hughes, T. P., & Wilson, J. (2006). Governance and the capacity to manage resilience in regional social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 11(1), 19. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art19/.

  • Lebel, L., Foran, T., Garden, P., & Manuta, B. J. (2009). Adaptation to climate change and social justice: Challenges for flood and disaster management in Thailand. In F. Ludwig, P. Kabiat, H. van Schaik, & M. van der Valk (Eds.), Climate change adaptation in the water sector (pp. 125–141). London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonsdale, K., Pringle, P., & Turner, B. (2015). Transformative adaptation: What it is, why it matters & what is needed. UK Climate Impacts Programme, Oxford, UK: University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach, D. (2010). Transition management for sustainable development: A prescriptive, complexity-based governance framework. Governance: An International Journal of Policy Administration and Institutions, 23(1), 161–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01471.x.

  • Loorbach, D. (2014). To transition! Governance panarchy in the new transformation. Inaugural Lecture, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach, D., Frantzeskaki, N., & Avelino, F. (2017). Sustainability transitions research: Transforming science and practice for societal change. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 42(1), 599–626. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102014-021340.

  • Loorbach, D., Frantzeskaki, N., & Huffenreuter, R. L. (2015). Transition management: Taking stock from governance experimentation. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 2015(58), 48–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, S., Hardy, C., & Lawrence, T. B. (2004). Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada. Academy of Management Journal,47, 657–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markard, J., Raven, R., & Truffer, B. (2012). Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects. Research Policy,41(6), 955–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, N. A., Park, S. E., Adger, W. N., Brown, K., & Howden, S. M. (2012). Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity. Environmental Research Letters, 7(3), 034022.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matyas, D., & Pelling, M. (2015). Positioning resilience for 2015: The role of resistance, incremental adjustment and transformation in disaster risk management policy. Disasters, 39(s1), s1–s18.

    Google Scholar 

  • McPhearson, T., Andersson, E., Elmqvist, T., & Frantzeskaki, N. (2015). Resilience of and through urban ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services, 12, 152–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • McPhearson, T., Iwaniec, D., & Bai, X. (2017). Positive visions for guiding urban transformations toward sustainable futures. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,22, 33–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadowcroft, J. (2009). Climate change governance. Background paper to the 2010 World Development Report (Policy Research Working Paper 4941), The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meerow, S., Newell, J. P., & Stults, M. (2016). Defining urban resilience: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning,147, 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.11.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meijer, A., & Rodríguez Bolívar, M. P. (2015). Governing the smart city: A review of the literature on smart urban governance. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 82(2), 392–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moloney, S., & Horne, R. (2015). Low carbon urban transitioning: From local experimentation to urban transformation? Sustainability, 7(3), 2437–2453.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. L., & Westley, F. (2011). Surmountable chasms: Networks and social innovation for resilient systems. Ecology and Society, 16(1), 5. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art5/.

  • Nevens, F., Frantzeskaki, N., Gorissen, L., & Loorbach, D. (2013). Urban transition labs: Co-creating transformative action for sustainable cities. Journal of Cleaner Production,50, 111–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norgaard, K. M. (2018). The sociological imagination in a time of climate change. Global and Planetary Change,163, 171–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.09.018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, K. (2012). Global environmental change II: From adaptation to deliberate transformation. Progress in Human Geography,36(5), 667–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, P., Galaz, V., & Boonstra, W. J. (2014). Sustainability transformations: A resilience perspective. Ecology and Society,19(4), 1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06799-190401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, P., Gunderson, L. H., Carpenter, S. R., Ryan, P., Lebel, L., Folke, C., et al. (2006). Shooting the rapids: Navigating transitions to adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 11(1), 18. doi:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art18.

  • Pahl-Wostl, C., Becker, G., Knieper, C., & Sendzimir, J. (2013). How multilevel societal learning processes facilitate transformative change: A comparative case study analysis on flood management. Ecology and Society, 18(4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pahl-Wostl, C., & Knieper, C. (2014). The capacity of water governance to deal with the climate change adaptation challenge: Using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to distinguish between polycentric, fragmented and centralized regimes. Global Environmental Change,29, 139–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, J., Schulz, K., Vervoort, J., van der Hel, S., Widerberg, O., Adler, C., et al. (2016). Exploring the governance and politics of transformations towards sustainability. Environmental Innovation and Social Transitions. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2016.09.001.

  • Pelling, M. (2011). Adaptation to climate change: From resilience to transformation. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pereira, L., Karpouzoglou, T., Doshi, S., & Frantzeskaki, N. (2015). Organising a safe space for navigating social-ecological transformations to sustainability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12, 6027–6044. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph12060602.

  • Pickett, S. T. A., Boone, C. G., McGrath, B. P., Cadenasso, M. L., Childers, D. L., Ogden, L. A., et al. (2013). Ecological science and transformation to the sustainable city. Cities, 32, S10–S20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer, R. (2013). Can adaptive comanagement help to address the challenges of climate change adaptation? Ecology and Society,18(4), 2. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05699-180402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pulver, S., Ulibarri, N., Sobocinski, K. L., Alexander, S. M., Johnson, M. L., McCord, P. F., et al. (2018). Frontiers in socioenvironmental research: Components, connections, scale, and context. Ecology and Society,23(3), 23. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10280-230323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rama, D., Milano, B. J., Salas, S., & Liu, C.-H. (2009). CSR implementation: Developing the capacity for collective action. Journal of Business Ethics,85, 463–477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9737-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauschmayer, F., Bauler, T., & Schäpke, N. (2015). Towards a thick understanding of sustainability transitions—Linking transition management, capabilities and social practices. Ecological Economics,109, 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.11.018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raven, R., Sengers, F., Spaeth, P., Xie, L., Cheshmehzangi, A., & de Jong, M. (2017). Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements. European Planning Studies, 27(2), 258–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1393047.

  • Raven, R., van den Bosch, S., & Weterings, R. (2010). Transitions and strategic niche management: Towards a competence kit for practitioners. International Journal of Technology Management,51(1), 57–74. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.2010.033128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockström, J., Gaffney, O., Rogelj, J., Meinshausen, M., Nakicenovic, N., & Schellnhuber, N. H. J. (2017). A roadmap for rapid decarbonization. Science,355(6331), 1269–1271. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah3443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotmans, J., Kemp, R., & van Asselt, M. (2001). More evolution than revolution: Transition management in public policy. Foresight,3(1), 15–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotmans, J., & Loorbach, D. (2010). Towards a better understanding of transitions and their governance: A systemic and reflexive approach. In J. Grin, J. Rotmans, & J. Schot (Eds.), Transitions to sustainable development: New directions in the study of long-term transformative change (pp. 105–222). New York and London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Runhaar, H., Wilk, B., Persson, A., Uittenbroek, C., & Wamsler, C. (2018). Mainstreaming climate adaptation: Taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide. Regional Environmental Change, 18(4), 1201–1210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schewenius, M., McPhearson, T., & Elmqvist, T. (2014). Opportunities for increasing resilience and sustainability of urban social–Ecological systems: Insights from the URBES and the cities and biodiversity outlook projects. AMBIO, 43(4), 434–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sengers, F., & Raven, R. (2015). Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: The case of bus rapid transit. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 17, 166–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seto, K. C., David, S. J., Mitchell, R. B., Stokes, E. C., Unruh, G., & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2016). Carbon lock-in: types, causes, and policy implications. Annual Review of Environment and Resources,41, 19. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smink, M., Negro, S. O., Niesten, E., & Hekkert, M. P. (2015). How mismatching institutional logics hinder niche-regime interaction and how boundary spanners intervene. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,100, 225–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.07.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., & Raven, R. (2012). What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability. Research Policy,7, 41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.12.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., & Stirling, A. (2010). The politics of social-ecological resilience and sustainable socio-technical transitions. Ecology and Society,15(1), 11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, E. (2006). Metagovernance: The changing role of politicians in processes of democratic governance. The American Review of Public Administration, 36(1), 98–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074005282584.

  • Sperling, J. B., & Ramaswami, A. (2018). Cities and “budget-based” management of the energy-water-climate nexus: Case studies in transportation policy, infrastructure systems, and urban utility risk management. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, 37(1), 91–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffen W., Rockström, J., Richardson, K., Lentonet, T. M., Folke, C., & Liverman, D., et al. (2018). Trajectories of the earth system in the Anthropocene. PNAS. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1810141115.

  • Tábara, J. D., Frantzeskaki, N., Hölscher, K., Pedde, S., Lamperti, F., Christensen, J., et al. (2018). Positive tipping points in a rapidly warming world. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,31, 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.01.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanner, T., Mitchell, T., Polack, E., & Guenther, B. (2009). Urban governance for adaptation: Assessing climate change resilience in ten Asian cities (IDS Research Summary 315). Brighton: IDS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Termeer, C. J. A. M., Dewulf, A., & Biesbroek, G. R. (2017). Transformational change: Governance interventions for climate change adaptation from a continuous change perspective. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management,60(4), 558–576. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2016.1168288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torabi, E., Dedekorkut-Howes, A., & Howes, M. (2018). Adapting or maladapting: Building resilience to climate-related disasters in coastal cities. Cities,72, 295–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turnheim, B., & Geels, F. W. (2012). Regime destabilisation as the flipside of energy transitions: Lessons from the history of the British coal industry (1913–1997). Energy Policy,50, 35–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Rosenzweig, C., Dawson, R. J., Sanchez Rodriguez, R., Bai, X., Barau A. S., et al. (2018). Locking in positive climate responses in cities. Nature Climate Change, 8, 174–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Asselt, H., Huitema, D., & Jordan, A. (2018). Global climate governance after Paris: Setting the scene for experimentation? In B. Turnheim, P. Kivimaa, & F. Berkhout (Eds.), Innovating climate governance: Moving beyond experiments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Buuren, A., & Loorbach, D. (2009). Policy innovation in isolation? Conditions for policy renewal by transition arenas and pilot projects. Public Management Review,11(3), 375–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030902798289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Bosch, S. (2010). Transition experiments: Exploring societal changes towards sustainability. Erasmus University Rotterdam. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/20714.

  • Walker, B. H., Abel, N., Anderies, J. M., & Ryan, P. (2009). Resilience, adaptability, and transformability in the goulburn-broken catchment, Australia. Ecology and Society, 14(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, B., Holling, C. S., Carpenter, S. R., & Kinzig, A. P. (2004). Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society,9(2), 5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wamsler, C. (2015). Mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation: Transformation toward sustainability in urban governance and planning. Ecology and Society, 20(2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Westley, F., Olsson, P., Folke, C., Homer-Dixon, T., Vredenburg, H., Loorbach, D., et al. (2011). Tipping toward sustainability: Emergent pathways of transformation. Ambio,40(7), 762–780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0186-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westley, F. R., Tjornbo, O., Schultz, L., Olsson, P., Folke, C., Crona, B., & Bodin, Ö. (2013). A theory of transformative agency in linked social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 18(3). https://doi.org/10.5751/es-05072-180327.

  • Wilson, S., Pearson, L. J., Kashima, Y., Lusher, D., & Pearson, C. (2013). Separating adaptive maintenance (resilience) and transformative capacity of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society,18(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05100-180122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wise, R., Fazey, I., Stafford Smith, M., Park, S., Eakin, H., Archer Van Garderen, E., et al. (2014). Reconceptualising adaptation to climate change as part of pathways of change and response. Global Environmental Change,28(4), 325–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmayer, J., & Hölscher, K. (2017). Transformationsforschung – Definitionen, Ansätze, Methoden. Bericht des AP1. Dessau-Roßlau: Umweltbundesamt. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/transformationsforschung. Accessed October 4, 2018.

  • Wittmayer, J. M., van Steenbergen, F., Loorbach, D., Mock, M., Omann, I., & Kirner, B. (2014). Exploring the transformative potential of communities. In J. M. Wittmayer, C. Roorda, & F. van Steenbergen (Eds.), Governing urban sustainability transitions-inspiring examples. Rotterdam: DRIFT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram, M. (2016). Conceptualizing urban transformative capacity: A framework for research and policy. Cities,51, 121–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram, M. (2019). Learning urban energy governance for system innovation: An assessment of transformative capacity development in three South Korean cities. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning,21(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2018.1512051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram, M., Frantzeskaki., N., & Maschmeyer, S. (2017). Cities, systems and sustainability: Status and perspectives of research on urban transformations. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 22, 18–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.01.014.

  • Wurzel, R. K. W., Liefferink, D., & Torney, D. (2019). Pioneers, leaders and followers in multilevel and polycentric climate governance. Environmental Politics,28(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2019.1522033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yohe, G. W. (2001). Mitigative capacity – The mirror image of adaptive capacity on the emissions side. Climatic Change, 49(3), 247–262.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Katharina Hölscher

Authors
  1. Katharina Hölscher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katharina Hölscher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    Katharina Hölscher  & Niki Frantzeskaki  & 

  2. Centre for Urban Transitions, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

    Niki Frantzeskaki

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hölscher, K. (2020). Capacities for Transformative Climate Governance: A Conceptual Framework. In: Hölscher, K., Frantzeskaki, N. (eds) Transformative Climate Governance. Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49040-9_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49040-9_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49039-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49040-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation