Society aims at sustainable water management, which means that it is effective (meeting targets for people, planet and profi t), robust (able to cope with uncertainties) and fl exible (easily adaptable to changing conditions). The past has demonstrated that extreme weather events and their impacts are important triggers for adaptations in water management. Furthermore, societal changes or events lead to changes in perception of desired situations, goals, and valuation of costs and benefi ts. Insight into the dynamic nature of societal perspectives and responses provides information about the (non-) support and sustainability of water management strategies. The method presented here comprises the 'Perspectives method', derived from Cultural Theory to classify, analyze and explore present and future perspectives and according social response. These are presented in a so-called perspective map. We illustrate the method with a historic example of the river Meuse.

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In this article, the authors address the challenge of including societal responses, society-environment interactions, discontinuity, and surprise in environmental scenario analysis. They do so through developing and testing a perspective-based simulation game for a typical Dutch river stretch. Concepts deriving from Cultural Theory, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, and Transition Theory provide the input for the game design. Players take on the role of water managers, responding to events and developments in the water-society system under specific realizations of a climate scenario. Responses include the choice for specific river management options, changing coalition perspectives, and changes in advocacy coalition membership. A pilot case study shows that the simulation game is a useful tool to explore possible future river management dynamics. It generates relevant insights in the water management strategies that may be chosen under future conditions, the possible drivers underlying future societal perspective change, and the way advocacy coalitions may interact. As such, the simulation game offers great potential for developing and assessing policy relevant climate adaptation pathways, in which water-society interaction, discontinuity, and surprise is taken explicitly into account. The main challenges for future research Article at GEORGIAN COURT UNIV on March 31, 2015 sag.sagepub.com Downloaded from

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