Conceptualizing urban transformative capacity: A framework for research and policy

Wolfram, Marc

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2015.11.011

Cited by 223 publications

(267 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Urban experiments are being mobilised not merely to study the city but also to probe diverse urban futures, harness innovations to transform the city and its various sociotechnical systems [4][5][6] and contribute to developing the capacities required for transformation [7]. Proponents of urban experimentation have devised and implemented a variety of experimental spaces, such as urban living laboratories, transition arenas, platforms, and experimental districts, which are the object of a thriving body of literature [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

2018

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Urban experimentation with sustainability has been gaining prominence in policy and academic discourses about urban transformations, spurring the creation of urban living laboratories and transition arenas. However, the academic literature has only begun examining why experimentation flourishes in particular cities, and why it conforms to place-specific styles. Meanwhile, the strategic niche management (SNM) tradition has extensively explored how protective spaces for experimentation emerge but has dealt only tangentially with why this happens in particular places. In this paper, we develop an approach for unpacking the formation of favourable environments for experimentation in specific places. We adopt an abductive research design to create a dialogue between distinct theoretical positions and one in-depth case study. Our case examines the formation of the Bristol energy scene, which hosts a variety of experimental initiatives concerning civic energy alternatives. Based on our findings, we refine the understanding of the processes shaping this experimental setting. There is value in characterising the 'genealogy' of experimental spaces and acknowledging their antecedents, path-dependencies and place-specificities. Efforts to foster urban transformation demand nuanced accounts of how places become experimental because they are not static backgrounds for experimentation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

2018

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“…Different kinds of institutional synergies, as well as possible trade-offs, must be explored despite the large degree of uncertainty derived from a world going beyond 2 • C. In the case of transboundary river basins, cross-border organizations can play a major role in co-ordinating complex national and regional institutional structures, which often involve various types of actors at different scales. For this reason, cross-border organizations-including Euroregions and Working Communities (WC)-have long been considered to have an important transformative power [46], with the potential not only for improving co-ordination across spatial scales but also for enhancing the local capacity of agents to better respond to increasing climate change risks [48][49][50][51][52].…”

Section: Discussion: the Role Of Cross-border Co-operationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Institutional Transformations to Address High-End Climate Change in Iberia

et al. 2018

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Abstract:Either meeting the UNFCCC Paris agreement to limit global average warming below the 2-1.5 • C threshold, or going beyond it entails huge challenges in terms of institutional innovation and transformation. This research describes a participatory integrated assessment process aimed at exploring the options, opportunities, necessary capacities and implications for institutional co-operation and innovation in the Iberian Peninsula under High-End Climate Change (HECC). Using in-depth interviews and a novel participatory research approach, different scenario narratives and pathways about the future of Iberia have been identified using Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). Special attention is given to the knowledge and policy options needed to implement cross-border organizational changes and co-operation mechanisms that would support the Integrated Climate Governance of the Tagus and Guadiana river basins. We show that a wealth of institutional innovation pathways and specific options and solutions exist not only to reduce GHG emissions (mitigation) and the negative impacts of climate change (adaptation), but, above all, to generate new forms of social-ecological system interactions aligned with sustainability (transformation). In particular, and depending on which scenario contexts unfold in the future in Iberia, different kinds of institutional and governance capacities and clusters of solutions may be needed in order to achieve transformation.

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“…Wiek et al (2006) investigate the role of foresight in transition processes, focusing mostly on the possibilities of foresight for the imagination of transition, for capacity development, and for offering recommendations to policy makers. Similarly, Wolfram (2016) describes foresight as a key capacity in the context of (urban) transformations. What needs to be addressed, however, is how foresight is affected by and affects the broader conditions of transformation processes.…”

Section: The Impacts Of Foresight On Transformation Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imagining transformative futures: participatory foresight for food systems change

Hebinck¹,

Vervoort²,

Hebinck³

et al. 2018

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Transformations inherently involve systems change and because of the political nature of change, are subject to contestation. A potentially effective strategy to further transformative change that builds on interdisciplinary, multiactor, and multiscalepractices and values is the use of foresight. Foresight covers a wide range of methods to systematically investigate the future. Foresight exercises offer collaborative spaces and have the potential to conceptualize and even initiate transformative change. But there is no clear understanding of the possibilities and limitations of foresight in this regard. This explorative paper builds on foresight and sociology and interrogates the role of foresight in transformative change, building on four cases. These cases are embedded in different contexts and characterized by different organizational approaches and constellations of actors. Nevertheless, they share the common goal of transformative food systems change. By reflecting on the processes that play a role in foresight workshops, we analyze what created conditions for transformative change in these four empirical cases. We have operationalized these conditions by distinguishing layers in the structuring processes that influence the impact of the foresight process. Based on this analysis, we conclude that there are three roles, ranging from modest to more ambitious, that foresight can play in transformative change: preconceptualization of change; offering an avenue for the creation of new actor networks; and creation of concrete strategies with a high chance of implementation. Furthermore, contributing to future design of foresight processes for transformative change, we offer some crucial points to consider before designing foresight processes. These include the role of leading change makers (including researchers), the risk of co-option by more regime-driven actors, and the ability to attract stakeholders to participate.

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Conceptualizing urban transformative capacity: A framework for research and policy

Cited by 223 publications

References 40 publications

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

Exploring Institutional Transformations to Address High-End Climate Change in Iberia

Imagining transformative futures: participatory foresight for food systems change

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