Towards a governance of sustainability transitions: giving place to individuals

Abstract: Policies for sustainability transitions necessarily have three main characteristics: they are prescriptive with regard to dynamic societal processes, linked to the normativity of sustainable development, and are able to interlink both the societal and the individual levels. Taking transition management as a starting point, the paper elaborates that it cannot well address the second and third characteristic. We therefore suggest complementing transition management approaches with the individualistic capability approach and the more structural practice theory. We suggest a heuristic combination that places individuals back into the study of sustainability transitions and show with three suggestions how this might change research on and for transitions. Firstly, we propose to assess sustainability on individual, niche, and regime level; Secondly, we show that the crucial learning processes occurring in the transition processes can be better understood when interrelating the three leve

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 33 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: UFZ Discussion Papers ; Bd. 17/2013

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt
• Keyword: Nachhaltigkeit ; Systemtransformation ; Good Governance ; Entwicklungstheorie ; Heuristik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Leipzig
• (when): 2013
• Creator: Rauschmayer, Felix ; Bauler, Tom ; Schäpke, Niko
• Contributor: Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-361697
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:49 PM CET