Sustainability Transformations: Agents and Drivers across Societies

250 Pages·2019·2.66 MB·English

by  Björn-Ola Linnér, Victoria Wibeck

SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATIONS
Societal transformations are needed across the globe in light of pressing environ-
mental issues. This need to transform is increasingly acknowledged in policy,
planning, academic debate, and media, whether it is to achieve decarbonisation,
resilience, national development plans, or sustainability objectives. This volume
providesthefirstcomprehensivecomparisonofhowsustainabilitytransformations
are understood across societies. It contains historical analogies and concrete
examples from around the world to show how societal transformations could
achieve the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals through governance, innovations, lifestyle changes, education, and new
narratives.Itexamineshowsocietalactorsindifferentgeographical,politicaland
cultural contexts understand the agents and drivers of societal change towards
sustainability, using data from the academic literature, international news media,
laypeople’s focus groups across five continents, and international politics. This is
a valuable resource for academics and policymakers working in environmental
governanceandsustainability.
bjo¨rn-ola linne´r is Professor of Environmental Change at Linköping
University,Sweden.Heleadsinternationalresearchontransnationalclimategov-
ernanceandgeopoliticsofsustainabilitytransformations.Heisexperiencedasan
advisorininternationalclimategovernanceandsustainabledevelopmentresearch
policy. He is the author of The Return of Malthus and co-author of The Political
EconomyofClimateChangeAdaptation.
victoria wibeck is Professor of Environmental Change at Linköping
University, Sweden. Her research focuses on communication studies. She is
a recognised authority on sense-making of complex sustainability challenges,
social representations of climate change, and communicative aspects of environ-
mental management by objectives. She has internationally unique expertise in
methodologyforcross-countryfocusgroupresearch.
TheEarthSystemGovernanceProjectwasestablishedin2009asacoreprojectoftheInternational
Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change. Since then, the Project has
evolvedintothelargestsocialscienceresearchnetworkintheareaofsustainabilityandgovernance.
TheEarthSystemGovernanceProjectexplorespoliticalsolutionsandnovel,moreeffectivegovern-
ancemechanismstocopewiththecurrenttransitionsinthesocio-ecologicalsystemsofourplanet.
Thenormativecontextofthisresearchissustainabledevelopment;earthsystemgovernanceisnot
onlyaquestionofinstitutionaleffectiveness,butalsoofpoliticallegitimacyandsocialjustice.
TheEarthSystemGovernanceserieswithCambridgeUniversityPresspublishesthemainresearch
findingsandsynthesisvolumesfromtheProject’sfirsttenyearsofoperation.
SeriesEditor
FrankBiermann,UtrechtUniversity,theNetherlands
Titlesinprintinthisseries
BiermannandLövbrand(eds.),AnthropoceneEncounters:NewDirectionsinGreen
PoliticalThinking
vanderHeijden,BulkeleyandCertomà(eds.),UrbanClimatePolitics:Agencyand
Empowerment
LinnérandWibeck,SustainabilityTransformations:AgentsandDriversacrossSocieties
SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATIONS
Agents and Drivers across Societies
BJÖRN-OLA LINNÉR
LinköpingUniversity,Sweden
VICTORIAWIBECK
LinköpingUniversity,Sweden
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CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108487474
DOI:10.1017/9781108766975
©Björn-OlaLinnérandVictoriaWibeck2019
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2019
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyClaysLtd,ElcografS.p.A.
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ISBN978-1-108-48747-4Hardback
ISBN978-1-108-72037-3Paperback
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accurateorappropriate.
Toourrespectivechildren
Alva,Emil,Saga,andLove
EbbaandIsak
andtheworldthatwillbetheirs

Contents
Preface pagexi
Acknowledgements xv
ListofAbbreviations xvii
PartI MakingSenseofTransformations 1
1 HowDoWeChangetheWorld? 3
1.1 TheCallforTransformation 3
1.2 TransitionsandTransformations 5
1.3 ExploringTransformations 7
1.4 ResearchonandforSustainabilityTransformations 8
2 Sense-MakingAnalysis 10
2.1 ADialogicalApproachtoSense-Making 10
2.2 Sense-MakinginAction:Narrative,Framing,Categorisation,and
Metaphor 13
2.2.1 Narratives 13
2.2.2 FramesandFraming 14
2.2.3 Categorisation:AnalogiesandDistinctions 15
2.2.4 Metaphors 16
2.3 SitesforSense-MakingonSocietalTransformations 17
2.4 EmpiricalFoundationsoftheStudy 17
2.4.1 Peer-ReviewedResearchLiterature 17
2.4.2 PolicyDocuments 18
2.4.3 InternationalMedia 18
2.4.4 LaySense-Making 19
2.5 VariationsandCommonalitiesinSense-MakingonSustainability
Transformations 20
2.6 RationalefortheSelectionofEmpiricalDataandCaseStudies 21
vii
viii Contents
3 HowSocietiesChange:TheoriesofTransformation 22
3.1 HistoricalTransformations 23
3.1.1 CollapseorAmalgamation 23
3.1.2 Scale 25
3.1.3 DriversofChange 25
3.1.4 Scope:MegaandParticularTransformations 27
3.1.5 Periodisations 27
3.2 TheIndustrialRevolution 28
3.3 Modernity 32
3.4 TheSelf-RegulatingMarket 35
3.5 AFourthIndustrialRevolutionorSecondModernity? 36
3.6 Automobilisation 40
3.7 AbolitionofSlavery 44
3.7.1 TheUnendingStruggleforEmancipation 53
3.7.2 TheAbolitionofSlaveryasAnalogoustoSocietal
TransformationstowardsSustainability 54
3.8 ImplicationsforSustainabilityTransformations 56
PartII VarietiesofTransformationstoSustainability 61
4 GlobalArenasofTransformations 63
4.1 SocietalTransformationsintheResearchLiterature 64
4.2 SocietalTransformationsinInternationalNewsMedia 66
4.2.1 TransformationScale,Scope,andApproaches 72
4.2.2 TransformationGoals 74
4.2.3 ActorsandDriversofChange 75
4.3 TransformationAspirationsinGlobalSustainabilityGovernance 77
4.3.1 TheTransformative2030Agenda 77
4.3.2 TheParisAgreement 81
4.3.3 TransformationScale,Scope,andApproaches 82
4.3.4 TransformationGoals 83
4.3.5 AgentsandDriversofChange 86
4.4 ImplicationsforSustainabilityTransformations 91
5 LocalisingTransformations 94
5.1 CaboVerde:TheBridgeBuilder 95
5.1.1 CaboVerdeFocusGroups 98
5.1.2 VarietiesofTransformationinCaboVerde 100
5.2 Guangzhou,PearlRiverDelta,China:AChineseModel 101
5.2.1 GuangzhouFocusGroups 104
5.2.2 VarietiesofTransformationinGuangzhou,China 106
Contents ix
5.3 Fiji:LeadershipoftheVulnerable 107
5.3.1 FijiFocusGroups 110
5.3.2 VarietiesofTransformationinFiji 112
5.4 Sweden:TowardsaFossilFreeWelfareState 112
5.4.1 SwedishFocusGroups 113
5.4.2 VarietiesofTransformationinSweden 114
5.5 Boulder,Colorado,USA:AUSFrontrunner 115
5.5.1 BoulderFocusGroups 117
5.5.2 VarietiesofTransformationinBoulder,Colorado,USA 119
5.6 ImplicationsforSustainabilityTransformations 120
6 TransformationNarratives 123
6.1 TransformationasaJourney 124
6.2 TransformationasaBuildingProcess 130
6.3 TransformationasaWar 134
6.4 TransformationasCo-creation 136
6.5 TransformationasRecuperation 139
6.6 ImplicationsforSustainabilityTransformations 141
PartIII ManoeuvringinaMulti-transformationalWorld 145
7 GoverningTransformations 147
7.1 GuidingChange 147
7.2 WhatTransformationIsBeingGoverned? 150
7.2.1 UnderstandingtheTargetSystem 151
7.2.2 UnderstandingtheDepthofTransformation 154
7.2.3 IntendedOutcomesofTransformation 156
7.3 WhatFactorsEnableandRestrictTransformation? 157
7.3.1 CriticalConditions 157
7.3.2 JustTransformations 159
7.3.3 IncrementalChangevsDisruptiveInnovation 160
7.3.4 NicheDevelopmentvsIntegratedApproaches 163
7.3.5 MechanismsofGovernance 163
7.3.6 ThePowerofNarratives 165
7.3.7 ChangingtheWayWeChange 167
7.4 WhatRolesDoDifferentActorsPlay? 169
7.4.1 KeyActorsinTransformations 169
7.4.2 NarrativesofTransformationPathways 170
7.4.3 Interventions:Co-creation,TransformativeCapacity,
andSocialInnovations 171