News

Cross-thinking about sustainability

Together with the newspaper Trouw, the project IT IHDP and the NGO HIVOS, KSI organises a series of lectures followed by debates with the public, called "Cross-thinking about sustainability".

The first lecture was about whether globalisation could be a driver of sustainability. The transcript of prof. Sachs' words can be found here.

The second lecture will be about Hypermobility and the challenge it poses to governance. We tend to spend more and more time travelling, and we go always faster and further. Mobility is felt as something positive, a desire, ensuring independence and self-expression. At the same time negative side effects appear, like congestion, pollution and health problems. Prof John Adams (University College London) will discuss whether we are condemned to live in hyper mobile societies, whether there is any chance for sustainability, and what governance could do.

The lecture will be held on May 11, 20:00, at Felix-Meritis (Amsterdam). It is recommended to make reservations (020 623 13 11), as demand may exceed supply.

KSI meets VROM

On March 23, KSI had been invited to present its work to the so-called Bestuursraad of the Ministry of VROM. Secretary-General Marianne Sint and her director-generals paid sincere attention to a presentation by Jan Rotmans on the activities undertaken by KSI over the past year. Following that, there was a rather intense discussion between them and Jan Rotmans and John Grin, in which VROMs leadership showed significant interest in the substance of our work. It was especially interesting to see that not only the DG Environment, who is officially responsible for KSI, but also the other DGs observed important relations between KSIs work and their policies. At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that KSI would organise some evening sessions with them and their staff to discuss the proceedings of various testing grounds in which KSI is involved.

KSI involved in the transition of water management policy

KSI (Lydia Sterrenberg, UvA) is involved in a reorientation trajectory of the Directorate General (DG) Water of the ministry of Traffic and Water management. Among two other external advisers, she will help the people in the organisation this year to implement the necessary transition in the Dutch water management policy.

Several shifts in paradigm have been identified by the DG (Waterkoers II). The main shift is to go with the flow and anticipate instead of to control and to block water flows (“Van reageren met water keren en beheersen, naar met water meebewegen en anticiperen”). Other desired changes in perspective are:

• From water as a natural, self-evident good to water as a scarce economic good;
• From government as regulator to a supporting agent, one that sets the frames (defines conditions);
• From values and standards to integral catchment area (water) quality;
• From water policy being a result towards a being a condition for physical planning;
• From a government that protects against water towards clear choices about living with water

When speaking of transitions, the Dutch Water management is often mentioned as an example. But due to climate change, a dense population, a variety of water claims, problems like the subsidence of soil, the traditional, technical water management has to change further. Realising the changes in practice however is a tough and time-consuming process.

KSI meets CCT

The KSI board of directors and the core staff of the Competence Centre for Transition management (CCT) held their annual two-day meeting on 27^th and 28^th March.

The aim of this meeting was to strengthen the cooperation between KSI and CCT in co-developing competence kits (see Practice) and protocols for monitoring transition processes. A pilot version of an alphabet game for communicating and discussing concepts on transitions and system innovations has been tested.

A draft version of the essay Competences for System innovations and Transitions (Weterings et al.) has been discussed in detail. Research related to these competences was sought and relevant research groups identified. The discussion resulted in an agreement on the division of competences for transition professionals in several clusters, and the priority in elaborating these in competence kits for the coming years.

In different BSIK-programs and in KSI Testing Grounds monitoring projects are carried out by KSI in cooperation with CCT. Jan Rotmans gave an overview of the work on developing and testing protocols for monitoring transition processes, followed by a discussion about different types of monitoring. They range from a quantitative evaluation of transition programs based on performance indicators to reflexive monitoring aimed at continuously improving quality. In some cases a helicopter view is advisable, but in others an actor view seems more appropriate. CCT will organise a meeting ('De Vijfde Verdieping') in June on this subject.

Science

PhD defence

On May 15, Enza Lissandrello, post-doc at the University of Amsterdam for KSI project III.3, will defend (at Radboud University, Nijmegen) her dissertation THE UTOPIA OF CROSS-BORDER REGIONS; Territorial Transformation and Cross-Border Governance On Espace Mont-Blanc. It discusses new forms of governance, beyond the physical and conceptual boundaries of the nation state, exploring the transition to a new relationship between territoriality and governance.

Practice

Competences for System innovations and Transitions

This month the Competence Centre for Transition management (CCT) will publish its first essay on Competences for System innovations and Transitions (in Dutch). Practice shows that the success of transition programs strongly depends on the competences (skills, knowledge, network and attitude) and performance of the professionals that initiate, design or facilitate them. Of course, there is not one recipe for guaranteed success in transitions. Nevertheless, a review of practical experience and of the growing body of knowledge does show that transition professionals need to be competent in a number of processes and roles in different stages in transition processes. CCT-staff members interviewed experienced transition professionals active in various fields of work. The analysis resulted in an overview of vital competences, compiled in the essay Competences for System innovations and Transitions (Weterings et al.). It is meant for discussion with practitioners and scientists and will be used to develop competence kits, that will be developed in close cooperation between CCT-staff members and KSI-researchers.

Competences for transition management

Weterings & Andringa describe clusters of competences that enable transition professionals to support and manage transition processes, e.g. in creating a transition-arena or organizing and connecting processes for problem structuring, visioning, making alliances work, and monitoring. But also the ability to anticipate to the interaction between different scale levels and the creative tension between science, policy and practice.

Competence kits

These are means to make competences transferable to others, such as written information (handbooks, cd-roms), teaching modules (courses e.g.) and training (on the job or coaching). A competence kit discloses insights, methods and skills, and the ability to use these at the right time in the right way. It contains descriptions of: (i) methods and skills and guidelines for their use (ii) underlying scientific insights and scientific notions, (iii) learning histories about the use in specific practices.

Bottom up

The PhD's of project III.3

Interviews with Erica ter Haar - van Twillert, Suzanne van den Bosch and Johanna Ulmanen

Erica, Suzanne and Johanna are PhD students part of the KSI network, and involved in project III.3. Erica (III.3a) works at the Amsterdam School of Social Science Research at the University of Amsterdam, Suzanne (III.3b) at the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, and Johanna (III.3c) at the section of Technology & Sustainability studies, part of the department Technology Management at the Technical University of Eindhoven.

These three researchers have quite a different background. Erica's background is in healthcare, after studying occupational therapy she worked for six years as an occupational therapist. However, this world was too small for Erica. As a result she took a degree in political science at the University of Amsterdam and caught an interest for research.

Contrary to the more social background of Erica, Suzanne started her career in the hard sciences at Delft University of Technology, where she studied industrial design engineering. She developed an interest in sustainability and system innovation and graduated in innovation management with a special focus on sustainable development. After her studies she worked as an environmental consultant for one year before starting her PhD.

Johanna's background relates both to that of Erica and Suzanne since it has both social and technical elements. Johanna took her bachelor in sociology in Sweden and complemented it with an international master in Science and Technology Studies at Maastricht University. She worked for two years in this field as a research assistant before she started her PhD.

With regard to research, Erica is interested in how strategic action and power influences the impact of an innovative project. Impact refers to long-term changes in society (e.g. follow-up projects, changes in rules, behaviour) that have been influenced by the project. Erica aims to bring in more agency and power in system innovation and transition theory by complementing the Multi Level Perspective with the 'arrangement approach'.

The focus of Suzanne's research lies on transition experiments. She is particularly interested in how experiments on a local (micro) level contribute to regime (meso level) change. According to her, higher order learning within experiments and interaction between different experiments play a key role in the way local processes are scaled-up to large scale change. Suzanne intends to translate her findings into hands-on policy tools.

Johanna's research explores the role of niche protection for technological transitions. Niches play a central role in theories on transitions toward sustainable technologies, however, there is little known about their central function: protection.
The ideal protection measure is to facilitate early development and thus the fair evaluation of novel technology promises. By exploring the phenomenon of niche protection through the case of biofuel in the transport sector, Johanna aims to contribute to related theory and policy.

While the research focuses are slightly different, these three researchers share the idea that transitions as a necessary element in sustainable development. They also share the ambition to understand how this complex phenomenon of transitions comes about and how it can be managed.

Publications

PhD dissertation (defence 15/05) by Enza Lissandrello:
The Utopia Of Cross-Border Regions ;
Territorial Transformation and Cross-Border Governance On Espace Mont-Blanc
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

Jan-Peter Voß, Dierk Bauknecht, René Kemp, (eds.) Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development
Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. 480 pp., EUR 79,95.
N.B. This book comprises contributions from the editors Ulrich Beck, Arie Rip, and KSI researchers John Grin, René Kemp and Derk Loorbach

  Agenda