"Dominant governance approaches are too focused on technology as a silver bullet solution, and the idea that complex systems can be 'controlled'. Transition management can politicise this by asking: What is good governance in transitions? and How can we deal with uncertainty and complexity?" In this interview Tessa de Geus discusses insights from her recently published article on transition management and how it might become 'captured' by incumbent actors, which she co-authored with Julia Wittmayer and Giorgia Silvestri.
Hi Tessa, thanks for sharing your article with me. Can you briefly summarise what the article is about?
For this article, we collaborated with policy actors from six cities in Europe: Brasov, Brest, Dublin, Mouscron, Nis and Valencia, in a transdisciplinary research. Through the EU-Horizon project TOMORROW, we worked with these cities to implement and develop transition management strategies aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Transition management is a governance approach based on principles from transition studies, such as using long-term perspectives and systems thinking.
Our paper looks at the dilemmas and issues that come up when trying to implement transition management together with cities in current energy transition dynamics. This paper is the 'sister' to another that we wrote on the democratic legitimacy of transition management in which we discussed how transition management relates to how we organise our democracy, particularly as its impact on public institutions and budgets increases.
In our new paper, we take a broader look at the tensions that emerge throughout the transition management process. We specifically focused on how the cities translated the process they had started with us to their own organisations.
The article mentions transition management in relation to "reflexive governance as radical change" - why are those radical governance alternatives so important in transitions?
The word 'radical' refers to doing something differently 'from the root up'. So, that means governing based on fundamentally different principles. In our case, for instance, that meant adapting your plans as you go along and embracing the idea that it's key to work with social innovation or thinking more long-term rather than 4-year cycles. It's about expressing such fundamental principles in practice.
What is interesting to highlight here is that radicality in transition management, to an extent, is also contextual. With the cities, we started with systems analyses of the status quo to determine what needs to happen in these cities to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. For the city of Mourscron, that meant setting up a strategy to work on Sustainable Development Goals across government departments because, previously, everyone was used to working on these in their own bubble. As a transdisciplinary researcher - and this is a part that I struggle with – you want to respect people's process and context and simultaneously try and challenge people by asking: is this intervention really transformative? Another example comes from a participant who had to change a tender process in their city. I have a lot of respect for them having to create this condition for their work, but at the same time, it was taking up all their time: is this the best way to spend it? This is impossible to judge as an outsider because what is 'radical' for a city is so contextual. So, how can you, as a researcher with your own perspective, challenge people to be radical in a respectful way? That is a very interesting tension for researchers at the EUR and beyond who want to have a societal impact.
Can you tell us something about the tensions of trying to foster radical change through transition management?
In the paper, we discuss three key tensions:
The first tension concerns a tendency for municipalities to focus on issues in their own organisation, while transition management is fundamentally about collaboration across actors. After all, achieving climate neutrality isn't something government can fix on its own. This collaboration involves sharing power and often exploring a different role, for which we noticed some trepidation in practice.
The second tension concerns holding actors accountable. It appears that while many activities were initiated, the focus was primarily on starting the activities up, and less on arranging structures to make sure that actors could be held accountable for their pledges and commitments. For example, in Brest where actors from different sectors formulated performance agreements for themselves, they were also responsible for monitoring themselves and reporting on this. This makes it difficult to know whether actors are actually following up on their commitments and to take action in case they aren't.
Finally, the third tension relates to how, on the one hand, you want the process to be reflexive, meaning that you can change and adapt goals and actions based on evolving insight. Still, on the other hand, people seem to have a desire for clarity on timelines and goals. You ask people to put in their (sometimes unpaid) time, while in transition management it is not always clear from the start what you are going to do, and what people will get out of it. Getting people's commitment to the process is key, but you also want to be able to pivot based on the system needs that emerge as you gain more insights. The difficulty in coping with this reflexiveness and expectation management might be inherently human or a result of how we are educated and shaped by dominant of project management. I think we can really learn a lot more about that within transition management: how do you keep 'opening up' options and insights, and when and how do you create momentum to 'close down' to initiate concrete projects and activities? Because if you're determined to pursue a certain intervention from the get-go without realising that the chosen activity does not fit the system needs you identified earlier, then you're likely to miss out on the impact you want to make. Meanwhile, you also have to decide to make a move and organise activities, knowing that reality will never be perfect.
What are the key takeaways from the article according to you?
That it's OK for transition management to become captured by incumbent actors, needed even to make an impact, as long as you keep your 'eyes open'. It's crucial to organise your own sort of critical counterpoint to deal with the tensions you encounter, such as the ones described earlier, and to try and see how you are balancing between being 'radical' and being 'captured' by the mainstream. It's easy for that to be pushed off the agenda, while essentially, that should be at the heart of the discussion.
New forms of governance are urgently needed to accelerate energy transitions, and these will clash with existing expectations, structures and interests. I think action researchers, such as us at the EUR, have a role to play in supporting and collaborating with practitioners by creating spaces for reflexivity and critical discussions on how to stay radical.
About
Tessa de Geus is a researcher at the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) in Rotterdam. She specialises in conducting action research on transition governance and social innovation for just energy transitions.
Author: Naomi Schrandt (Researcher) and Fiona Sosnowski (Intern), Vital Cities and Citizens
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Vital Cities and Citizens
With the Erasmus Initiative Vital Cities and Citizens (VCC) Erasmus University Rotterdam wants to help improve the quality of life in cities. In vital cities, the population can achieve their life goals through education, useful work and participation in public life. The vital city is a platform for creativity and diversity, a safe meeting place for different social groups. The researchers involved focus on one of the four sub-themes:
- Inclusive Cities and Diversity
- Resilient Cities and People
- Smart Cities and Communities
- Sustainable and Just Cities
VCC is a collaboration between Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB), Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) and International Institute of Social Studies (ISS).