Shadow Spaces for Social Learning: A Relational Understanding of Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change within Organisations

Abstract

Abstract. Recent UK government policy on climate change, and wider policy movement within the UNFCCC, emphasise the building of adaptive capacity. But what are the institutional constraints that shape capacity to build adaptive organisations? This paper synthesises theory from social learning and institutional aspects of multi-level environmental governance to help unpack the patterns of individual and collective action within organisations that can enhance or 1 Contact author 2 restrict organisational adaptive capacity in the face of abrupt climate change. Theoretical synthesis is grounded by empirical work with a local dairy farmers group and two supporting public sector bodies that are both local actors in their own rights and also shape the operating environment for other local actors (the Environment Agency and the Welsh Assembly and Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies). Providing space within and between local organisations for individuals to develop private as well as officially sanctioned social relationships is supported as a pathway to enable social learning. It is also a resource for adaptation that requires little financial investment but does call for a rethinking of the personal skills and working routines that are incentivised within organisations.

Tipping Toward Sustainability: Emerging Pathways of Transformation

“…Shadow networks are incubators for new ideas and approaches, for example for governing and managing social-ecological systems. Pelling et al (2008) discuss the role of shadow spaces and organizations in fostering innovation and experimentation for social learning and adaptation to climate change. For example, regime change has become an issue in Hungary following repeated failures of conventional management policies to handle a series of floods on the Tisza River starting in 1997 (Sendzimir et al 2008).…”

Situating organisational learning and public participation: Stories, spaces and connections

“…These detailed ethnographic insights into processes of organisational learning build on earlier studies of organisations of participation that have relied more heavily on document analysis (e.g., Rothstein, 2013) or on shorter periods of engagement with organisations (e.g., Bickerstaff et al, 2010;Pelling et al, 2008). This has enabled this paper to focus not only on changes in discourse, but also more tacit changes in organisational practices, assumptions and categories.…”

“…These were relational spaces that formed part of broader organisational networks and allowed for forms of experimentation, imitation, communication, learning and reflection, which had not been possible within more formal structures. Pelling et al (2008) argued that these shadow spaces provided adaptive capacity for organisations involved in UK climate governance that they would not have otherwise had, with important implications for broader learning.…”

“…The in-depth empirical exploration of different kinds of organisational spaces and their links to learning here builds on earlier studies that have focused on particular kinds of organisational spaces (e.g., Pelling et al, 2008) and explored the micro-geographies of welfare institutions (e.g., Philo & Parr, 2000). This has allowed for a discussion of a broader set of characteristics of these spaces and their potential influences on learning, as well as adding a comparative dimension to the analysis, which contributes new insights on organisational learning processes.…”

“…Recent work in the field of geography has been important in challenging assumptions about the nature of and possibilities for organisational change. Space and materiality have been key themes running through these interventions, emphasising the situatedness of organisational learning processes (Amin & Roberts, 2008), exploring the potential for different kinds of organisational spaces to support different kinds of learning and change (Pelling et al, 2008), and affirming the active role played by space and materiality in organisational learning processes (Beyes & Steyaert, 2012;Conradson, 2003;McFarlane, 2011b).…”