Rethinking theories of change in the light of enactive cognitive science: Contributions to community-scale local sustainability initiatives.

open access articleSocial innovation projects commonly refer to operationalized theories of change to inform strategy and to deliver intended outcomes. Community based sustainability campaigns, as one example, emphasize the elicitation of pro-environmental activities and decision-making among members of a host community, drawing on mainstream psychological theories of behaviour, motivation and cognitive (mental) processes. Locating an argument within the neurobiological base of structure determinism, this paper explores how theories of change for sustainability campaigns might be reimagined through the lens of enactive theory. Following a brief introduction to the enactive model of embodied cognition, implications associated with trying to operationalize the model to inform how theories of change are mapped out and used in sustainability initiatives are discussed. The paper concludes by drawing on insights from approaches to psychotherapy, which also endeavoured to apply this model of mind, and considers these within the strategic context of sustainability initiatives and public engagement

Car Sharing and Local Sustainability: Exposing the Implications of Assumption-Based Sustainability Initiatives in Minneapolis

As the sharing economy proliferates, so does the assumption that all sharing is inherently sustainable. Discourse analysis of car sharing in Minneapolis reveals that this assumption has driven the development of partnerships with two car share programs, one nonprofit and the other for-profit, in the city. Empirical analysis, however, exposes that the two programs, while consistently equated in city policy, have significantly different impacts on local sustainability, especially in terms of public transit usage and social equity. This study highlights powerful implications for the dangers of assumption-based public-private partnerships created within local sustainability initiatives

The institutionalisation of sustainable practices in cities: how initiatives shape local selection environments

The ways in which institutions are reconfigured to change mainstream selection pressures to favour sustainability is central to research on sustainability transitions but has only recently begun to receive more attention. Of this existing work, empirical attention has mainly focused on the national level with less attention to local dynamics. Attending to this gap, we mobilise theory on institutionalisation processes and insights from the politics of transitions literature and take an actor perspective to investigate the agency of local sustainability initiatives to navigate local governance processes and reconfigure selection environments at the urban scale. Our work subsequently demonstrates the importance of diverse actor tactics, of networking for advocacy and of networking for the creation of informal, ad hoc governance arenas

Reflecting on Measured Deliberations

“Environmental law is essential for the protection of natural resources and ecosystems and reflects our best hope for the future of our planet”. This declaration, made by participants at the Rio+20 World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability, reflects the maturing of environmental law around the world. Usually implicitly, but often explicitly, the deliberations at Rio+20 in June 2012 addressed the dual needs for more effective implementation of existing environmental norms and enacting further laws to stem global degradation of the environment. Rio+20 recommended that, in the autumn of 2012, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) act to restructure international systems of governance for environmental sustainability. Rio+20 highlighted the growing vigour of national and local sustainability initiatives worldwide. This essay recounts the environmental law deliberations at Rio+20 and explores the issues that the UNGA will debate

Contested modelling

We suggest that the role and function of expert computational modelling in real-world decision-making needs scrutiny and practices need to change. We discuss some empirical and theory-based improvements to the coupling of the modelling process and the real world, including social and behavioural processes, which we have expressed as a set of questions that we believe need to be answered by all projects engaged in such modelling.  These are based on a systems analysis of four research initiatives, covering different scales and timeframes, and addressing the complexity of intervention in a sustainability context. Our proposed improvements require new approaches for analysing the relationship between a project’s models and its publics.  They reflect what we believe is a necessary and beneficial dialogue between the realms of expert scientific modelling and systems thinking.  This paper is an attempt to start that process, itself reflecting a robust dialogue between two practitioners sat within differing traditions, puzzling how to integrate perspectives and achieve wider participation in researching this problem space.&nbsp

Intensification and Sustainability in South African Rooibos: exploring the conditions for market-led sustainable development in a biodiversity hot spot

The Fynbos biome in the Cape region in South Africa is currently the only production location of Rooibos tea in the world. In addition, biodiversity in the Fynbos biome is very large and unique for the world. This makes Rooibos tea a unique product, the availability of which strongly depends on the dynamics in a bounded territory. Rooibos is sometimes harvested from the wild, but up to 99% of all Rooibos is cultivated. 95% of all Rooibos is produced on large farms or plantations. Such farms, which also exist for potatoes and grapes in the Fynbos biome have a large impact on the ecosystem, especially because large areas have been cleared in the past for their establishment. For instance, ‘an average of 2.7 hectares of virgin land has been cleared for farming every day in the past 15 years’, in the Northern Sandveld

Sustainability here and now : The governance of urban transformation in Oslo and Addis Ababa

For at det skal være mulig å handle opp mot klimaendringer, må problemet ses som relevant for beslutningene som tas her og nå. Tradisjonelt sett har klimaendringer blitt rammet in som et globalt problem i fjern fremtid. I samfunnsgeografien har den relasjonelle tenkingen artikulert klimapolitikken på lokalt og regionalt nivå og slik løftet frem og kontekstualisert politiske praksiser som lokalt og organisatorisk situerte. Når det gjelder tidsaspektet, derimot, er klimaendringer fremdeles rammet inn som et abstrakt spørsmål i en fjern fremtid. Videre har toneangivende retninger innen forskningen på bærekraftsomstilling generelt ansett sosiale systemer som avgrensede og sammenhengende, noe som utvisker betydningen av geografiske relasjoner og lokalt handlingsrom. Denne avhandlingen tar for seg forskningsspørsmålet: «Hvordan gjør lokale aktører det mulig å agere opp mot klimaendringer her og nå?» Den utvikler et analytisk rammeverk for å analysere lokale aktørers praktiske arbeid med å handle lokalt og i nåtid. Gjennom flerlokalisert, kvalitativt feltarbeid som undersøker bærekraftig mobilitet og klimaplanlegging i Oslo, Norge og Addis Abeba, Etiopia, viser avhandlingen at vellykket klimapolitikk avhenger av (a) aktørenes evne til å oversette ideer og ressurser som er fjerne i tid og rom til umiddelbart relevante handlingspunkter, og (b) lokale aktørers kapasitet til å koordinere initiativ, institusjoner, og ressurser og dermed skape sammenheng og kontinuitet i omstillingsinitiativer. I avhandlingen konseptualiseres dette arbeidet som relasjonell mobilisering av omstilling. Fremfor å implementere globale løsninger og avtaler ovenfra og ned, fremhever dette perspektivet lokalt forankrede praksiser som mobiliserer og oversetter endring mellom og innenfor steder og skalaer ved å artikulere, skape sammenheng mellom, og forhandle omstillingsveier og holde dem ved like over tid. Slik setter avhandlingen analytisk fokus på praksisene som kan gjøre bærekraft relevant her og nå. Avhandlingen består av fem artikler. Den første artikkelen tar for seg relasjonelle perspektiver på urbanisering i lys av Parisavtalen og identifiserer muligheter for raske endringer i styresett, infrastruktur, og hverdagsliv. De neste fire artiklene utvikler perspektivet på endring som relasjonell mobilisering i fire dimensjoner, med fokus på relasjonelle forhold mellom steder (artikkel 2), innenfor geografiske kontekster (artikkel 3), mellom tidshorisonter (artikkel 4) og innenfor den tilblivende nåtid (artikkel 5). Et viktig forskningsbidrag i denne avhandlingen er således å systematisk knytte sammen romlige og tidsmessige dimensjoner i analysen av bærekraftsomstillingens geografi. Avhandlingen når følgende konklusjoner: For det første at artikulering av lokalt ansvar krever aktivt arbeid for å oversette fjerntliggende ideer og ressurser i både tid og rom. For det andre at aktører lykkes med bærekraftsendring gjennom aktivt arbeid for å skape sammenhenger mellom tiltak innenfor og mellom fragmenterte bylandskap. For det tredje at relasjonalitet i tid og rom skapes aktivt gjennom lokalt arbeid forankret i bestemte steder og materielle kontekster. Ved å analysere omstillingens relasjonelle fotarbeid – nemlig praksisene som aktualiserer det fremtidige i nåtiden og skaper sammenheng i bærekraftsløsninger – viser avhandlingen at bærekraftsinitiativer alltid vil være kontekstuelle og pragmatiske. Når bærekraftsinitiativer utvikles med en økende forståelse av at det haster, kan dette perspektivet både åpne opp nye handlingsrom og muliggjøre kritisk analyse av foreslåtte løsninger og politikk.To act on climate, we need to establish its relevance for decisions here and now. Climate change has traditionally been constructed as a global problem concerning the long-term future. Relational thinking in geography has articulated the local and regional levels of climate governance, hence foregrounding the practices through which the climate is situated in concrete local and organisational contexts. However, in time climate change has largely remained an abstract issue concerning the far future. Moreover, dominant approaches to sustainability transition and transformation generally treat societal systems as bounded and coherent, which blurs the role of geographical interconnectivity and local agency. Examining the main research question “How do local actors make climate change actionable here and now?”, this thesis develops an analytical framework to assess the practices of local actors to make climate change actionable locally and in the present. Based on multi-sited qualitative fieldwork examining sustainable mobility projects and strategic climate governance in Oslo, Norway, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it shows that succeeding with climate governance depends on (a) the ability of situated actors to translate spatially and temporally distant ideas and resources to make them immediately relevant, and (b) the capacity of local actors to align and coordinate initiatives, institutions and resources, thereby cohering and routinising transformation. In this thesis, this work is conceptualised as the relational mobilisation of transformation. Rather than the top-down implementation of global agreements and solutions, this perspective highlights the locally situated but spatially interconnected work involved in mobilising and translating transformation across and within contexts and scales: both in articulating, aligning, and negotiating pathways and in sustaining them over time. As such, the perspective of relational mobilisation brings analytical attention to the practices through which sustainability might be made relevant here and now. This thesis consists of five papers. The first paper reviews relational perspectives on urbanisation in light of the Paris Agreement, identifying opportunities for rapid transformation in the spheres of governance, infrastructure, and everyday life. The next four papers develop the perspective of transformation as relational mobilisation in four dimensions, respectively focusing on the role of relations across places (Paper 2), within geographical contexts (Paper 3), across time horizons (Paper 4) and within the emerging present (Paper 5). Therefore, a core contribution of this thesis is to systematically bring together spatial and temporal dimensions in the analysis of the geographies of sustainability transformation. This thesis provides the following conclusions: First, that articulating local responsibility requires active efforts of translation of distant ideas and resources in space as well as in time. Second, that situated actors accomplish sustainability transformations through active efforts of cohering in and across fragmented urban domains. Third, that spatial and temporal relationality is actively produced through local work which is grounded in particular places and material settings. By examining the relational footwork of transformation – namely the practices through which the distant is made present and sustainability pathways are cohered – this thesis shows that sustainability interventions will always be contextual and pragmatic. As pathways to sustainability are developed with increasing urgency, this perspective may both open up new spaces for agency and intervention and allow for critical assessment of proposed policies and solutions.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Sowing Seeds and Promising a Harvest: Learning from the Delivery and Evaluation of a Local Sustainability Transition Initiative in the UK

Policymakers, practitioners and researchers increasingly understand sustainability transitions as requiring change within complex socio-technical systems. In parallel in recent years, many community-led initiatives sharing this systemic view of change, have sought to enhance sustainability on a local scale. Despite this alignment of understandings, many evaluations of local sustainability initiatives focus on measuring short term impacts, such as energy savings, rather than longer term shifts towards sustainable social practices. This paper uses the case study of a sustainable food, energy, and water project delivered by a team of staff and other partners in a UK market town to explore the impacts that such projects can achieve and how they can be effectively evaluated. We draw upon in-depth participant observation over four years, project documentation and the reflections of project stakeholders. We analyse the project impacts through three lenses: the process of project delivery; progress towards project-defined outcomes and indicators; and the concept of capacity building for sustainable living. Our findings point to building social capital to enable action for sustainable living as being the project’s key impact. As a result, the capacity building lens was the most appropriate framework to evaluate this initiative. Our findings suggest that a professionally delivered approach to enable sustainable living has value when it aligns well with qualities of the local community. We suggest that future evaluation work of such initiatives could focus on issues of process, indirect impacts and capacities for sustainable living. Future research could seek to put these ideas into practice, enabling evaluation to better reflect processes of community engagement and social change

Stakeholder Engagement in Implementation of Youth-Led SDG-related Programmes in Malaysia

Academics have discussed stakeholders engagement in attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This study deliberates stakeholder’s engagement in the execution of youth-led SDG-associated initiatives in Malaysia. Twenty-five youth leaders from different youth drives were interviewed, and their stakeholder’s engagement was analysed. This study encapsulates that in youth-led programmes, Malaysian youth movements have engaged with global and national-level SDG stakeholders as emphasised by the United Nations (UN). However, there is limited engagement with the international entities, governments, and private sector. The findings of this study provide insight into the country’s SDG governance and its stakeholder’s engagement from the youth movement perspective. Keywords: SDG ; Stakeholders Engagement ; Youth Movement ; Malaysia eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.3214

Transformative innovation and translocal diffusion

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 a