The potential of social innovation to shift the limits to climate adaptation

Abstract

Social innovation is a term that is being increasingly used, albeit quite superficially, in the climate adaptation field. We thus seek to develop a more consolidated approach to linking social innovation and climate adaptation, suggesting that the scholarly and practical roots of the social innovation literature can be useful in developing better understanding about how to shift the limits to climate adaptation. Specifically, we foreground three themes salient to climate adaptation. First, rather than focus on one of the sectors, much is to be gained by identifying and using the complementary competencies of state, market, and civil society. Second, social innovation foregrounds the need for change at multiple scales, requiring more careful attention to the opportunities and constraints emanating from macro-level institutional structures. And third, social innovation scholarship points to the potentially far-reaching social changes that may be catalysed by market actors, but there is a need to complement this with a democratic perspective that foregrounds the diffusion of power and agency — in line with transformative adaptation priorities.