Speaker
Description
Transformative visons and sustainability foresight are discussed as a key factor of urban capacities for sustainability transformation (Wolfram 2016). It is not only the transition management approach that assumes that, following a systemic analysis of the initial situation, a long-term vision of wellbeing while respecting planetary boundaries is required in order to derive the necessary strategies and measures for the here and now (Loorbach 2010). Even if the results are astonishingly similar in terms of content and visual language - happy faces, lots of urban green, lots of bicycles, lots of wind turbines - the development processes, the spatial and institutional context and the effects in planning processes are very different and we know little about them.
I will present and critically reflect on two visioning processes for decarbonisation at different institutional and spatial scales. One is a process in the context of coal phase-out, energy transition and structural change at the regional level, the other a process in the course of urban climate neutrality endeavours at the local level. Both examples are characterised by contextual conditions that are – so the assumption – rather hostile to sustainability transformation: Structural weakness, shrinking dynamics, brain drain and capacity reduction in the past, negative transformation experiences in the course of deindustrialisation and socio-political upheavals.
On the basis of process monitoring I identify key factors in the initiation and emergence process of urban and regional futures as well as for implementation in urban development and structural policy, where the question of implementation is the most difficult. When is a vision implemented? If transformation pathways are described in order to relate the status quo to the future? If milestones are identified to set manageable goals? If experiments are initiated that break with standard practices? If the decision-makers have been involved in the vision development process and have identified with the vision?
References
Loorbach, D. (2010): Transition Management for Sustainable Development: A Prescriptive, Complexity-Based Governance Framework. In: Governance 23/1. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01471.x
Wolfram, M. (2016): Conceptualizing urban transformative capacity: A framework for research and policy. In: Cities 51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2015.11.011
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
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