Introduction to “Zooming in and out: Special issue on local transition governance”
Introduction
Initial research on sustainability transitions and governance was focused on dynamics and processes at the national level (Markard et al., 2012). Since then, transitions research has paid increasing attention to the spatial dimensions of transitions (Coenen et al., 2012; Coenen & Truffer, 2012; Hansen and Coenen, 2014). This literature not only points to the fact that transitions take place at specific places but also distinguishes spatial scales to analyse both their interdependence and interaction. Simultaneously, cities were recognised as critical to sustainability transitions (Bulkeley et al., 2011; Hodson and Marvin, 2010; Frantzeskaki et al., 2017; Loorbach et al., 2016). This move towards more localised analysis and action has a predecessor in global sustainability action: the Local Agenda 21-process, rooted in a UN conference in 1992. This triggered charters and guidelines for sustainability on a local level, instigated networks and subsequent processes using different framings (ICLEI, 2012; Wittmayer et al., 2016). This followed the argument that concrete actions that initiate and develop transitions are implemented in a local context. Building on this, the question raised by this special issue is whether and how fundamental changes in structures, cultures and practices can be addressed at such local scales, such as the district or municipality level, or which interactions and networks are needed at this level.
Section snippets
Setting the scene: the importance of zooming in and out
While much attention is given to the level of the city, smaller administrative or geographical structures are relatively neglected (Wittmayer et al., 2014; Schäpke et al., 2017 provide examples of analysis of these smaller structures). Cheung & Oßenbrügge (2020) also argue that city-driven transitions should further expand from the translation of ‘global problem, local solution’, to a more local-oriented focus. Similarly, in studying three Swedish municipalities, Gustafsson & Mignon (2020)
Contributions to this special issue
This Special Issue builds on this literature and its contributions critically engage with potentials and limitations of local configurations for furthering sustainability transitions. Together, they enrich our understanding of the role of communities and local governance institutions through both conceptual and empirical contribution on three cross-cutting topics: 1) local governance and networks of actors, 2) dynamics of transitions and 3) impact and limitations. In the following, we present
Conclusions
This special issue addresses issues of governance for sustainability transitions enacted at scales ‘closest to people’ or at a more local level than a city or region. It does so through building on and extending existing literature that considers the particular features of local transition initiatives and local policy. Three main observations across the contributions stand out.
Firstly, theories can be developed or applied to explain sustainability transitions processes at a local level. The two
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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