A State of the Art of Governance Literature on adaptation to climate change. Towards a research agenda

This report provides a state-of-the-art overview of governance literature on adaptation strategies. What has recent research taught us on adaptation from the perspective of governance and to what research agenda does this lead? This report is structured as followed. Firstly, it will be argued why adaptation is a matter of governance. Secondly, the research methods for the literature study will be outlined. Thirdly, the results of the literature study will portray the findings in terms of the themes and foci with, respectively, environmental studies, spatial planning and development studies, and public administration studies. Finally, a comparative analysis of these findings will lead to a research agenda for future research on governance of adaptatio

Future scenarios to inspire innovation

In recent years and accelerated by the economic and financial crisis, complex global issues have moved to the forefront of policy making. These grand challenges require policy makers to address a variety of interrelated issues, which are built upon yet uncoordinated and dispersed bodies of knowledge. Due to the social dynamics of innovation, new socio-technical subsystems are emerging, however there is lack of exploitation of innovative solutions. In this paper we argue that issues of how knowledge is represented can have a part in this lack of exploitation. For example, when drivers of change are not only multiple but also mutable, it is not sensible to extrapolate the future from data and relationships of the past. This paper investigates ways in which futures thinking can be used as a tool for inspiring actions and structures that address the grand challenges. By analysing several scenario cases, elements of good practice and principles on how to strengthen innovation systems through future scenarios are identified. This is needed because innovation itself needs to be oriented along more sustainable pathways enabling transformations of socio-technical systems

Australia cultural built heritage:Stakeholders' perceived conservation barriers and motivations

Stakeholders are recognised as drivers of effective conservation of cultural built heritage. Yet, as stakeholders have eclectic views in terms of their interest in, knowledge of and perceptions about the management of historic fabric, their practices are often diverse. The objective of this paper is to gain an understanding of the stakeholders' views drawn from relevant professional field on the issues that act as barriers to conservation and identify the factors that motivate built heritage management in Australia. Using a qualitative research design, two focus groups were conducted in Queensland and New South Wales with purposely selected key informants (N=14) working in the Australian heritage sector. The study presents stakeholders' interest in managing built heritage and the perceptions concerning the application of conservation policy and practices in the Australian built heritage sector, as influenced by the interdisciplinary backgrounds of participants. The paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the conservation barriers and motivators and their implications for policy and practices in the management of Australian built heritage. The study is based on the perceptions of key informants with diverse interests and knowledge about the conservation of cultural built heritage; this makes the research analysis and implications inclusive and influential from both theoretical and practical points of view.</p

Geoweb 2.0 for Participatory Urban Design: Affordances and Critical Success Factors

In this paper, we discuss the affordances of open-source Geoweb 2.0 platforms to support the participatory design of urban projects in real-world practices.We first introduce the two open-source platforms used in our study for testing purposes. Then, based on evidence from five different field studies we identify five affordances of these platforms: conversations on alternative urban projects, citizen consultation, design empowerment, design studio learning and design research. We elaborate on these in detail and identify a key set of success factors for the facilitation of better practices in the future

A Funder Journey: Scaling Up the Stone Family Foundation

This report follows the journey of one foundation from its inception to the present day. It highlights the work of an effective funder, and shares lessons that can be applied to funding more widely. The Stone Family Foundation is an example of how a relatively new and mid-sized foundation has looked to scale up and develop how it works and what it funds. The lessons learned from implementing the major grants program influenced the shape of its subsequent WASH funding. While this exact journey may be specific to the Stone Family Foundation, the general process -- starting out, planning, delivering, learning and then adapting -- will be relevant to other funders grappling with the same questions about how to become an effective funder

Sustainable Participation? Mapping out and reflecting on the field of public dialogue on science and technology

The field of public participation in issues relating to science, technology and the environment is booming. To date much effort has gone into developing new participatory approaches and their evaluation, while most of what we know comes from individual case studies of engagement. This report builds on one of the first ever studies of public participation experts, their networks, roles and relations, to present a broader analysis of the UK public dialogue field as a whole. It draws on a recent project that involved 21 of the UK’s leading thinkers, practitioners, and policy makers in this area reflecting on the following critical questions. • What is the nature of participatory governance networks and the roles and relations of different actors within them? • Who counts as an expert on public participation and how are these meanings changing over time? • What are the implications of increasing institutionalisation, commercialisation and professionalisation of public dialogue? • To what extent are UK science and policy institutions learning about and learning from public dialogue? Taken together, these insights indicate that the field of public dialogue on science and technology has reached a critical moment and highlight a series of challenges and recommendations for its future sustainability

Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism

Strategic planning remains one of the most popular management tools, but theoretical and empirical developments in the academic literature have been a slow burn. This paper addresses this gap and provides an up-to-date review of hospitality and tourism strategic planning research. We review strategic planning research from 1995 to 2013 in seven leading tourism academic journals, and adopt a modern and broad conceptualization of strategic planning. While there is some awareness of effective tourism strategic planning processes, academic research has not kept pace with practice. To stimulate a resurgence of research interest, we provide future research directions. We observe a methodological introspection and present some new research methodologies, which are critically important in researching the turbulent, chaotic and nonlinear tourism environment