2018 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 2018
Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different typ... more Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different types of coalitions to overcome the challenges facing our modern cities. In this paper, the particularities of these types of groups are characterised and categorised into ten different types of city makers. Generally, these types of city makers bring value to cities, but we conclude that this value could be enriched through more participatory approaches that stimulate crossovers and accelerate the transition towards sustainable futures. Therefore, we characterise the different identified types as potential 'participatory' city makers. However, these participatory approaches and the networks between them still need to be developed, while improving conditions and dynamics that can enable and enhance innovation in urban environments. Design and systems thinking could contribute valuable methods and perspectives to the development of these participatory and systemic approaches. Finally, the categorisation presented in this paper must enable a better understanding of the transformative capacity of these different types of city makers, necessary for flourishing and sustainable communities.
Today, citizens and professionals form different types of coalitions in order to overcome the cha... more Today, citizens and professionals form different types of coalitions in order to overcome the challenges arising in cities, contributing to new ways of city making. These coalitions consist of new and emerging groups that represent an innovative form of urban insurgent activism, aimed at transformation and calling for new answers to citizens’ needs. These groups are not often categorized and captured in the particular, or beyond a general description. This paper, based on data collected in the city of Rotterdam, presents a characterization of ten types emerging types of city makers in the context of urban sustainability transitions. This categorization must enable a better understanding of the transformative capacity of these new city makers, necessary for flourishing and sustainable communities. The paper concludes that these new types of city makers generally bring value to cities; however, this value could be enriched through more participatory networks that stimulate crossovers ...
FormAkademisk - forskningstidsskrift for design og designdidaktikk, 2019
Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different typ... more Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different types of coalitions to overcome the challenges facing our modern cities. In this paper, the particularities of these types of groups are characterised and categorised into ten different types of city makers. Generally, these types of city makers bring value to cities, but we conclude that this value could be enriched through more participatory approaches that stimulate crossovers and accelerate the transition towards sustainable futures. Therefore, we characterise the different identified types as potential ‘participatory’ city makers. However, these participatory approaches and the networks between them still need to be developed, while improving conditions and dynamics that can enable and enhance innovation in urban environments. Design and systems thinking could contribute valuable methods and perspectives to the development of these participatory and systemic approaches. Finally, the ca...
Citizens and urban policy makers are experimenting with collaborative ways to tackle wicked urban... more Citizens and urban policy makers are experimenting with collaborative ways to tackle wicked urban issues, such as today's sustainability challenges. In this article, we consider one particular way of collaboration in an experimental setting: Urban Living Labs (ULLs). ULLs are understood as spatially embedded sites for the co-creation of knowledge and solutions by conducting local experiments. As such, ULLs are supposed to offer an arena for reflexive, adaptive, and multi-actor learning environments, where new practices of self-organization and novel (infra-) structures can be tested within their real-world context. Yet, it remains understudied how the co-creation of knowledge and practices actually takes place within ULLs, and how co-creation unfolds their impacts. Hence, this paper focuses on co-creation dynamics in urban living labs, its associated learning and knowledge generation, and how these possibly contribute to urban sustainability transitions. We analyzed empirical data from a series of in-depth interviews and were actively involved with ULLs in the Rotterdam-The Hague region in the Netherlands. Our findings show five distinct types of co-creation elements that relate to specific dynamics of participation, facilitation, and organization. We conclude with a discussion on the ambivalent role of contextualized knowledge and the implications for sustainability transitions.
Translocal diffusion of transformative innovation, 2020
This paper develops a conceptual understanding of transformative innovations as shared activities... more This paper develops a conceptual understanding of transformative innovations as shared activities, ideas and objects across locally rooted sustainability initiatives that explore and develop alternatives to incumbent and (perceived) unsustainable regimes that they seek to challenge, alter or replace. We synthesize empirical work from two European research projects (TRANSIT and ARTS), in which initiatives and networks were empirically studied, to develop a broader conceptual understanding of the emergence of transformative innovation. The development of initiatives can occur through growing, replicating, partnering, instrumentalising and embedding. This is supported through translocal networks that connect initiatives by sharing ideas, objects and activities across local contexts. This translocal characteristic of transformative innovations harnesses an enormous potential for sustainability transitions, but requires further understanding as well as governance support. The perspective we present provides a conceptual starting point to further explore the development and diffusion of transformative innovation as well as transition governance strategies.
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 2014
ABSTRACT Various scholars have critically reflected upon transition management, some explicitly c... more ABSTRACT Various scholars have critically reflected upon transition management, some explicitly called for thinking beyond existing paradigms of institutional and deliberative democracy. Taking up this challenge, this paper seeks to explore inherent democratic tensions of managing (socio-technical) transitions. To this end, it presents a ‘post-foundational’ understanding of democratic politics, contrasting it to traditional notions of democracy that dominate transition approaches. To explore the relationship between transition management and post-foundational democracy, the paper first empirically explores how the democratic politics of an urban regeneration process play out in a Dutch delta city (Rotterdam's city ports). This case illustrates that contrary to traditional conceptions of democracy, a more ‘extra-institutional’ transition management process can create space for a different type of democratic governance. We argue that post-foundational democracy reframes our understanding of the politics of governing (socio-technical) transitions.
European Research on Sustainable Development, 2011
In this paper we present the transition approach as an integrated perspective to understand and p... more In this paper we present the transition approach as an integrated perspective to understand and possibly orient our society towards sustainable development. Transition management is based upon complex adaptive system thinking and seeks to deal with ongoing changes in society in an evolutionary manner so as to influence these ongoing changes in terms of speed and direction: towards sustainability. Since the concept of sustainability is inherently normative, subjective and ambiguous, we argue that (unlike some more traditional approaches to sustainable development) we should focus on an open facilitation and stimulation of social processes towards sustainability. Transition perspective poses novel challenges for research: there are no unequivocal answers, nor is it clear how these processes should be governed. We thus end this paper by formulating the basic research questions central to the search for governance for sustainability.
This thesis explores how to bring about change through innovation by using current power structur... more This thesis explores how to bring about change through innovation by using current power structures to move towards a more sustainable society. The type of change we are concerned with is the transformation from social structures, economic systems and institutions which diminish natural resources; to systems of production, institutions and social structures which affirm and interact productively with living systems, assuring their own sustainability. This change cannot be limited to address the social, environmental and economic consequences of the current system but should redefine the basic principles of society's design and operation.
... S. Jhagroe, DRIFT, [email protected] F. Avelino, DRIFT, [email protected] Jan Klaassen, fre... more ... S. Jhagroe, DRIFT, [email protected] F. Avelino, DRIFT, [email protected] Jan Klaassen, freelance researcher, [email protected] ... 5-6, Vol. 19, 2002, P. 91-105 Lawson, Stephanie (2008): Political Studies and the Contextual Turn: A Methodological/Normative Critique. ...
Transition management is a governance approach to influence fundamental societal changes. Origina... more Transition management is a governance approach to influence fundamental societal changes. Originally it has been applied to influence transitions in functional systems such as the energy or the transport system. In more recent applications of the approach the initial loci of transition management practices are specific local communities, which also means that frontrunners are selected based on their role in a particular community, rather than their role in a functional system. In this paper we discuss the challenges that arise when the initial locus of TM practices is a local community. We do this based on a qualitative study of two cases. We find that the there are several such challenges and we discuss the wider applications of these challenges for the transition management framework.
In dit artikel is een veelbelovend sturingsraamwerk gepresenteerd voor hardnekkige maatschappelij... more In dit artikel is een veelbelovend sturingsraamwerk gepresenteerd voor hardnekkige maatschappelijke problemen, gebaseerd op het concept van transitiemanagement. Dit sturingsraamwerk is gebaseerd op gemeenschappelijke noties uit de complexiteitstheorie en nieuwe vormen van governance, die gesmeed zijn tot een nieuw sturingsparadigma. Dit nieuwe sturingsparadigma gaat uit van complexiteit en onzekerheid als motor voor maatschappelijke innovatie in plaats van als moeilijke obstakels die moeten worden gecontroleerd en beheerst. Essentieel bij transitiemanagement is dat de inhoud expliciet gekoppeld wordt aan het proces zelf. De inhoudelijke analyse van de complexiteit van het maatschappelijk systeem (op basis van het geschetste conceptueel kader), is bepalend voor het transitie management proces: de sturingsmogelijkheden en sturingsinstrumenten die worden ingezet met behulp van het beschreven sturingsraamwerk. Het sturingsraamwerk omvat doelen, activiteiten, instrumenten en competenties voor het strategisch tactisch en operationeel niveau. Welke activiteiten en de daaraan gekoppelde actoren betrokken worden hangt af van de fase van de transitie.
Over the past decades, the Dutch people have been confronted with severe water-related problems, ... more Over the past decades, the Dutch people have been confronted with severe water-related problems, which are the result of an unsustainable water system, arising from human interventions in the physical infrastructure of the water system and the water management style. The claims of housing, industry, infrastructure and agriculture have resulted in increasing pressure on the water system. The continuous subsidence of soil and climate change has put pressure on the land. Hence, the nature and magnitude of water-related problems have changed. Longitudinal research of relevant national policy documents reveals that the water management regime has changed its water management style over the past 30 years from a technocratic scientific style towards an integral and participatory style. We have investigated if the historical development in Dutch Water management can be characterized as a transition. Based on longitudinal research through an integrated systems analysis, document research and expert interviews, we have reconstructed the historical narrative by using the transition concepts of multi-level and multi-phase. This research indicates that the shift in Dutch Water management can be characterized as a transition. This transition is currently in the take-off stage and near the acceleration stage. This is a crucial stage as long as the considerable gap between the strategic macro-vision and the practical implementation at the micro-level remains. As long as these levels are not compatible (modulation), the transition will not be completed successfully. Transition management as multi-level governance model should therefore be adopted to facilitate the modulation.
The Energy Transition, the inevitable shift away from cheap, centralized, largely fossil-based en... more The Energy Transition, the inevitable shift away from cheap, centralized, largely fossil-based energy systems, is one of the core challenges of our time. This book provides a coherent and novel insight into the nature of this challenge and possible strategies to accelerate and guide such transitions. It brings together prominent European scholars and practitioners from the fields of energy transition research and governance to draw attention to the current complex dynamics in the energy domain, and offer elegant and provocative explanations for current crises and lock-ins. They identify multiple energy transition pathways that emerge and increasingly compete, and emphasize the need and possibilities for novel governance. By analysing the complexity of energy transition processes and the difficulties in shifting to sustainable pathways, this text questions the extent to which actually governing energy transitions is already reality, just an illusion, or a bare necessity.
International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2012
... the nuclear renaissance case resembles the case of transition towards a High Speed Rail in Au... more ... the nuclear renaissance case resembles the case of transition towards a High Speed Rail in Australia, as described by Charles, Ryan and ... Integrated Coastal Management Pilot in Saldanha Bay in South Africa, is analysed by the contribution of Vreugdenhil, Taljaard and Slinger ...
International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2008
A fundamental transformation of our current energy system in the future is inevitable. To this en... more A fundamental transformation of our current energy system in the future is inevitable. To this end, this paper presents a 'fresh' perspective on the Dutch energy field based on transition theory. From this perspective, a number of starting points are suggested for energy transition management in order to influence the speed and direction of the energy transition. In the second part of this paper, these principles are used to reflect upon the way the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs is currently applying transition management. As such, this paper itself is part of the ongoing co-production of knowledge between science and policy, that emerged over the past few years in the Netherlands with regard to transition management.
2018 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 2018
Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different typ... more Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different types of coalitions to overcome the challenges facing our modern cities. In this paper, the particularities of these types of groups are characterised and categorised into ten different types of city makers. Generally, these types of city makers bring value to cities, but we conclude that this value could be enriched through more participatory approaches that stimulate crossovers and accelerate the transition towards sustainable futures. Therefore, we characterise the different identified types as potential 'participatory' city makers. However, these participatory approaches and the networks between them still need to be developed, while improving conditions and dynamics that can enable and enhance innovation in urban environments. Design and systems thinking could contribute valuable methods and perspectives to the development of these participatory and systemic approaches. Finally, the categorisation presented in this paper must enable a better understanding of the transformative capacity of these different types of city makers, necessary for flourishing and sustainable communities.
Today, citizens and professionals form different types of coalitions in order to overcome the cha... more Today, citizens and professionals form different types of coalitions in order to overcome the challenges arising in cities, contributing to new ways of city making. These coalitions consist of new and emerging groups that represent an innovative form of urban insurgent activism, aimed at transformation and calling for new answers to citizens’ needs. These groups are not often categorized and captured in the particular, or beyond a general description. This paper, based on data collected in the city of Rotterdam, presents a characterization of ten types emerging types of city makers in the context of urban sustainability transitions. This categorization must enable a better understanding of the transformative capacity of these new city makers, necessary for flourishing and sustainable communities. The paper concludes that these new types of city makers generally bring value to cities; however, this value could be enriched through more participatory networks that stimulate crossovers ...
FormAkademisk - forskningstidsskrift for design og designdidaktikk, 2019
Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different typ... more Today, citizens, professionals, civil servants, social enterprises, and others form different types of coalitions to overcome the challenges facing our modern cities. In this paper, the particularities of these types of groups are characterised and categorised into ten different types of city makers. Generally, these types of city makers bring value to cities, but we conclude that this value could be enriched through more participatory approaches that stimulate crossovers and accelerate the transition towards sustainable futures. Therefore, we characterise the different identified types as potential ‘participatory’ city makers. However, these participatory approaches and the networks between them still need to be developed, while improving conditions and dynamics that can enable and enhance innovation in urban environments. Design and systems thinking could contribute valuable methods and perspectives to the development of these participatory and systemic approaches. Finally, the ca...
Citizens and urban policy makers are experimenting with collaborative ways to tackle wicked urban... more Citizens and urban policy makers are experimenting with collaborative ways to tackle wicked urban issues, such as today's sustainability challenges. In this article, we consider one particular way of collaboration in an experimental setting: Urban Living Labs (ULLs). ULLs are understood as spatially embedded sites for the co-creation of knowledge and solutions by conducting local experiments. As such, ULLs are supposed to offer an arena for reflexive, adaptive, and multi-actor learning environments, where new practices of self-organization and novel (infra-) structures can be tested within their real-world context. Yet, it remains understudied how the co-creation of knowledge and practices actually takes place within ULLs, and how co-creation unfolds their impacts. Hence, this paper focuses on co-creation dynamics in urban living labs, its associated learning and knowledge generation, and how these possibly contribute to urban sustainability transitions. We analyzed empirical data from a series of in-depth interviews and were actively involved with ULLs in the Rotterdam-The Hague region in the Netherlands. Our findings show five distinct types of co-creation elements that relate to specific dynamics of participation, facilitation, and organization. We conclude with a discussion on the ambivalent role of contextualized knowledge and the implications for sustainability transitions.
Translocal diffusion of transformative innovation, 2020
This paper develops a conceptual understanding of transformative innovations as shared activities... more This paper develops a conceptual understanding of transformative innovations as shared activities, ideas and objects across locally rooted sustainability initiatives that explore and develop alternatives to incumbent and (perceived) unsustainable regimes that they seek to challenge, alter or replace. We synthesize empirical work from two European research projects (TRANSIT and ARTS), in which initiatives and networks were empirically studied, to develop a broader conceptual understanding of the emergence of transformative innovation. The development of initiatives can occur through growing, replicating, partnering, instrumentalising and embedding. This is supported through translocal networks that connect initiatives by sharing ideas, objects and activities across local contexts. This translocal characteristic of transformative innovations harnesses an enormous potential for sustainability transitions, but requires further understanding as well as governance support. The perspective we present provides a conceptual starting point to further explore the development and diffusion of transformative innovation as well as transition governance strategies.
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 2014
ABSTRACT Various scholars have critically reflected upon transition management, some explicitly c... more ABSTRACT Various scholars have critically reflected upon transition management, some explicitly called for thinking beyond existing paradigms of institutional and deliberative democracy. Taking up this challenge, this paper seeks to explore inherent democratic tensions of managing (socio-technical) transitions. To this end, it presents a ‘post-foundational’ understanding of democratic politics, contrasting it to traditional notions of democracy that dominate transition approaches. To explore the relationship between transition management and post-foundational democracy, the paper first empirically explores how the democratic politics of an urban regeneration process play out in a Dutch delta city (Rotterdam's city ports). This case illustrates that contrary to traditional conceptions of democracy, a more ‘extra-institutional’ transition management process can create space for a different type of democratic governance. We argue that post-foundational democracy reframes our understanding of the politics of governing (socio-technical) transitions.
European Research on Sustainable Development, 2011
In this paper we present the transition approach as an integrated perspective to understand and p... more In this paper we present the transition approach as an integrated perspective to understand and possibly orient our society towards sustainable development. Transition management is based upon complex adaptive system thinking and seeks to deal with ongoing changes in society in an evolutionary manner so as to influence these ongoing changes in terms of speed and direction: towards sustainability. Since the concept of sustainability is inherently normative, subjective and ambiguous, we argue that (unlike some more traditional approaches to sustainable development) we should focus on an open facilitation and stimulation of social processes towards sustainability. Transition perspective poses novel challenges for research: there are no unequivocal answers, nor is it clear how these processes should be governed. We thus end this paper by formulating the basic research questions central to the search for governance for sustainability.
This thesis explores how to bring about change through innovation by using current power structur... more This thesis explores how to bring about change through innovation by using current power structures to move towards a more sustainable society. The type of change we are concerned with is the transformation from social structures, economic systems and institutions which diminish natural resources; to systems of production, institutions and social structures which affirm and interact productively with living systems, assuring their own sustainability. This change cannot be limited to address the social, environmental and economic consequences of the current system but should redefine the basic principles of society's design and operation.
... S. Jhagroe, DRIFT, [email protected] F. Avelino, DRIFT, [email protected] Jan Klaassen, fre... more ... S. Jhagroe, DRIFT, [email protected] F. Avelino, DRIFT, [email protected] Jan Klaassen, freelance researcher, [email protected] ... 5-6, Vol. 19, 2002, P. 91-105 Lawson, Stephanie (2008): Political Studies and the Contextual Turn: A Methodological/Normative Critique. ...
Transition management is a governance approach to influence fundamental societal changes. Origina... more Transition management is a governance approach to influence fundamental societal changes. Originally it has been applied to influence transitions in functional systems such as the energy or the transport system. In more recent applications of the approach the initial loci of transition management practices are specific local communities, which also means that frontrunners are selected based on their role in a particular community, rather than their role in a functional system. In this paper we discuss the challenges that arise when the initial locus of TM practices is a local community. We do this based on a qualitative study of two cases. We find that the there are several such challenges and we discuss the wider applications of these challenges for the transition management framework.
In dit artikel is een veelbelovend sturingsraamwerk gepresenteerd voor hardnekkige maatschappelij... more In dit artikel is een veelbelovend sturingsraamwerk gepresenteerd voor hardnekkige maatschappelijke problemen, gebaseerd op het concept van transitiemanagement. Dit sturingsraamwerk is gebaseerd op gemeenschappelijke noties uit de complexiteitstheorie en nieuwe vormen van governance, die gesmeed zijn tot een nieuw sturingsparadigma. Dit nieuwe sturingsparadigma gaat uit van complexiteit en onzekerheid als motor voor maatschappelijke innovatie in plaats van als moeilijke obstakels die moeten worden gecontroleerd en beheerst. Essentieel bij transitiemanagement is dat de inhoud expliciet gekoppeld wordt aan het proces zelf. De inhoudelijke analyse van de complexiteit van het maatschappelijk systeem (op basis van het geschetste conceptueel kader), is bepalend voor het transitie management proces: de sturingsmogelijkheden en sturingsinstrumenten die worden ingezet met behulp van het beschreven sturingsraamwerk. Het sturingsraamwerk omvat doelen, activiteiten, instrumenten en competenties voor het strategisch tactisch en operationeel niveau. Welke activiteiten en de daaraan gekoppelde actoren betrokken worden hangt af van de fase van de transitie.
Over the past decades, the Dutch people have been confronted with severe water-related problems, ... more Over the past decades, the Dutch people have been confronted with severe water-related problems, which are the result of an unsustainable water system, arising from human interventions in the physical infrastructure of the water system and the water management style. The claims of housing, industry, infrastructure and agriculture have resulted in increasing pressure on the water system. The continuous subsidence of soil and climate change has put pressure on the land. Hence, the nature and magnitude of water-related problems have changed. Longitudinal research of relevant national policy documents reveals that the water management regime has changed its water management style over the past 30 years from a technocratic scientific style towards an integral and participatory style. We have investigated if the historical development in Dutch Water management can be characterized as a transition. Based on longitudinal research through an integrated systems analysis, document research and expert interviews, we have reconstructed the historical narrative by using the transition concepts of multi-level and multi-phase. This research indicates that the shift in Dutch Water management can be characterized as a transition. This transition is currently in the take-off stage and near the acceleration stage. This is a crucial stage as long as the considerable gap between the strategic macro-vision and the practical implementation at the micro-level remains. As long as these levels are not compatible (modulation), the transition will not be completed successfully. Transition management as multi-level governance model should therefore be adopted to facilitate the modulation.
The Energy Transition, the inevitable shift away from cheap, centralized, largely fossil-based en... more The Energy Transition, the inevitable shift away from cheap, centralized, largely fossil-based energy systems, is one of the core challenges of our time. This book provides a coherent and novel insight into the nature of this challenge and possible strategies to accelerate and guide such transitions. It brings together prominent European scholars and practitioners from the fields of energy transition research and governance to draw attention to the current complex dynamics in the energy domain, and offer elegant and provocative explanations for current crises and lock-ins. They identify multiple energy transition pathways that emerge and increasingly compete, and emphasize the need and possibilities for novel governance. By analysing the complexity of energy transition processes and the difficulties in shifting to sustainable pathways, this text questions the extent to which actually governing energy transitions is already reality, just an illusion, or a bare necessity.
International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2012
... the nuclear renaissance case resembles the case of transition towards a High Speed Rail in Au... more ... the nuclear renaissance case resembles the case of transition towards a High Speed Rail in Australia, as described by Charles, Ryan and ... Integrated Coastal Management Pilot in Saldanha Bay in South Africa, is analysed by the contribution of Vreugdenhil, Taljaard and Slinger ...
International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2008
A fundamental transformation of our current energy system in the future is inevitable. To this en... more A fundamental transformation of our current energy system in the future is inevitable. To this end, this paper presents a 'fresh' perspective on the Dutch energy field based on transition theory. From this perspective, a number of starting points are suggested for energy transition management in order to influence the speed and direction of the energy transition. In the second part of this paper, these principles are used to reflect upon the way the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs is currently applying transition management. As such, this paper itself is part of the ongoing co-production of knowledge between science and policy, that emerged over the past few years in the Netherlands with regard to transition management.
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