Knowledge Governance for Sustainable Development: A Review

Abstract

Sustainable development is a knowledge intensive process, but plagued by persistent concerns over our apparent inability to connect what we know with more sustainable practices and outcomes. While considerable attention has been given to ways we may better understand and enhance the knowledge-based processes that support the governance of social-ecological systems, relatively few have examined the governance of knowledge itself. The institutions-rules and norms-that govern knowledge may shed light on the persistence of 'gaps' between knowledge and action. In this review I seek to answer the question: can interdisciplinary knowledge governance literature contribute to understanding and analysing the institutional knowledge-based dimensions of sustainable development? I present and analyse the concept of knowledge governance as it is emerging in a range of disciplines and practice areas, including private sector management literature and public regulation theory and practice. I then integrate the findings from this review into a model of sustainable development proposed by Nilsson et al. [1]. I show that knowledge governance (as a scale above knowledge management) can inform Nilsson et al.'s three "nested" dimensions of sustainability: human wellbeing (through access to knowledge and freedom to exercise informed choice); resourcebase management (though enhancing regulation and innovation and transitions from exclusive to inclusive knowledge systems); and global public goods (by balancing public and private interests and fostering global innovation systems). This review concludes by presenting a framework that places sustainable development in the context of broader socio-political struggles towards more open, inclusive knowledge systems.

How Cities Think: Knowledge Co-Production for Urban Sustainability and Resilience

“…While this concept has a distinct interpretation in organizational economics as an approach to maximizing knowledge transactions to improve organizational efficiency [32], the analytical form of co-production we are discussing here is more closely aligned with the critical lens of socio-political approaches described in van Kerkhoff [33]. Specifically, like knowledge governance approaches, co-production analyzes direct attention to the formal and informal rules, conventions, and networks of actors that shape the ways we approach knowledge processes, such as creating, sharing, accessing, and using knowledge [33][34][35][36]. Similarly, knowledge governance focuses on a broader level than the project-based use of knowledge co-production through joint knowledge efforts or boundary management, to what van Kerkhoff describes as the middle layer where the institutional 'rules of the game' shape the possibilities and choices available to decision-makers and organizations.…”

Conceptualising Knowledge Governance for Development

“…Van Kerkhoff 's (2014) review of knowledge governance literature identifies the work of Grandori (2001) as a pioneering example of this private-sector, firm-centric approach, with Grandori positioning knowledge governance as a rule-setting function within firms that guides the way knowledge flows and is used (Grandori, 2001;Van Kerkhoff, 2014). This firm-focused conception of knowledge governance has also been extended into the field of organisational economics, notably in the work of Foss (Foss & Michailova, 2009;Van Kerkhoff, 2014). The focus of the business management and organisational economic approaches is on linkages between intra-firm knowledge processes and, as Van Kerkhoff writes, "creativity, innovation and ultimately, profitability" (Van Kerkhoff, 2014, p. 86).…”

Challenges in Sustainability: Another Brick in the Wall

“…A variety of quality research articles, editorials and notes have been published on a range of themes and topics, including sustainability governance [1], improved cookstoves [2,3], the potentials of 3-D printing in the global South [4], and the need for consiliences between the natural and social sciences and the humanities [5], to name just a few. Furthermore, despite the journal's short history, we are pleased with its high visibility, where numerous articles have been viewed or downloaded over 1200 times since publication.…”