Stimulating Learning through Policy Experimentation: A Multi-Case Analysis of How Design Influences Policy Learning Outcomes in Experiments for Climate Adaptation

Abstract

Abstract:Learning from policy experimentation is a promising way to approach the "wicked problem" of climate adaptation, which is characterised by knowledge gaps and contested understandings of future risk. However, although the role of learning in shaping public policy is well understood, and experiments are expected to facilitate learning, little is known about how experiments produce learning, what types of learning, and how they can be designed to enhance learning effects. Using quantitative research methods, we explore how design choices influence the learning experiences of 173 participants in 18 policy experiments conducted in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2016. The experiments are divided into three "ideal types" that are expected to produce different levels and types of learning. The findings show that policy experiments produce cognitive and relational learning effects, but less normative learning, and experiment design influenced three of six measured dimensions of learning, especially the cognitive learning dimensions. This reveals a trade-off between designing for knowledge development and designing for normative or relational changes; choices that experiment designers should make in the context of their adaptation problem. Our findings also show the role leadership plays in building trust.

Transformative Urban Living Labs: Towards a Circular Economy in Amsterdam and Turin

“…In the field of CE, urban governance constantly needs to find flexible partnerships and to learn how to improve policies by testing new patterns of action through experiments [38,39]. According to McFadgen [40], the practice of governing cities can benefit from experiments if it constitutes a learning feedback loop between the experimental practices and the policy making arenas at other levels of scale. This learning includes assessing the public's response to new ideas, which can shape the policy agenda by pointing out clear results of a new policy solution.…”

It’s Time To Learn About Learning: Where Should the Environmental and Natural Resource Governance Field Go Next?

“…Researchers have attempted to overcome these limitations. Some have established quantitative approaches to measure learning and connect learning processes to outcomes (Schmid et al 2016;McFadgen and Huitema 2017;Armitage et al 2018). Others have tried to improve how the field conceptualizes the complexities of learning environments.…”

Adaptation Strategies for Water Resources: Criteria for Research

“…McFadgen and Huitema (2017) wrote an interesting paper on the opportunities offered by the policy experimentation [8]. The authors implemented a survey from 173 people involved in a set of policy experiment which assessed new policy initiatives relevant to climate adaptation in the Netherlands (where climate change is a national priority).…”

“…The parties affirmed that "adaptation must be addressed with the same priority as mitigation" [1,2]. Under this framework, the COP invited "all Parties to enhance action on adaptation" [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] by "planning, prioritizing and implementing adaptation actions, including projects and programs" [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. The Paris agreement (COP21) provided numerous indications and details about adaptation, mainly in Article 7 [2].…”

“…McFadgen and Huitema (2017) present an experimentation technique of "adaptive management" applied to the science-polity interface in a context of initiatives relevant to climate adaptation in the Netherlands [8]. A good proposal to identify solutions that work, as suggested generally in the "adaptive management" context.…”