Pub Date : 2022-01-05DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022467
L. Pellizzoni, Laura Centemeri
ABSTRACT Human material dependency is hardly questioned as such. However, there are different understandings of humans’ connection with their biophysical milieu. In this paper, we discuss four basic accounts, which differ according to whether dependency and agency are assumed to be strong or weak. Though these accounts, which we label as Cartesian, Kantian, Spinozian and Adornian, are ideal-typical, we argue they express a cognitive path dependency that can be detected in the diverse ways the transition to sustainability is pursued. To show the heuristic value of the typology we focus on agriculture, as a field of major relevance in this regard. The first three rationales, respectively underpinning industrial agriculture, ecosystem services and earth restoration programmes, see material dependency as a problem to which the reply is mastering the world, though such mastery is understood differently. The fourth one, which underpins peasant agroecology, sees dependency as a constitutive – that is, unavoidable and formative – limitation, pointing to a caring, friendly attitude. We argue this outlook is crucial to a sustainability transition, and give a clue to the governance approach that may help support it.
{"title":"Tackling material dependency in sustainability transition: rationales and insights from the agriculture sector","authors":"L. Pellizzoni, Laura Centemeri","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022467","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022467","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Human material dependency is hardly questioned as such. However, there are different understandings of humans’ connection with their biophysical milieu. In this paper, we discuss four basic accounts, which differ according to whether dependency and agency are assumed to be strong or weak. Though these accounts, which we label as Cartesian, Kantian, Spinozian and Adornian, are ideal-typical, we argue they express a cognitive path dependency that can be detected in the diverse ways the transition to sustainability is pursued. To show the heuristic value of the typology we focus on agriculture, as a field of major relevance in this regard. The first three rationales, respectively underpinning industrial agriculture, ecosystem services and earth restoration programmes, see material dependency as a problem to which the reply is mastering the world, though such mastery is understood differently. The fourth one, which underpins peasant agroecology, sees dependency as a constitutive – that is, unavoidable and formative – limitation, pointing to a caring, friendly attitude. We argue this outlook is crucial to a sustainability transition, and give a clue to the governance approach that may help support it.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"120 1","pages":"355 - 366"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85228320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-05DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022465
Eva De Vrij, T. Vanoutrive
ABSTRACT For many years, the literature has pointed to the difficulties with the development of transport policy measures which meet both social and environmental policy objectives. Low Emission Zones (LEZ) offer an interesting example of measures that aim to decrease traffic-related air pollution, but which might have significant social effects by reducing the mobility of vulnerable, car-dependent groups. The Antwerp LEZ (Belgium) is used as a case. The assumptions and views in policy documents were compared with the experiences of some affected persons. The research challenges the assumption that only households with a non-compliant vehicle living in the LEZ are impacted by the measure since the LEZ may have a social impact well beyond the delimited zone. Some people with their residence in the LEZ expressed the feeling that they put a burden on friends and relatives from outside the zone who want to visit them. Furthermore, the LEZ affects low-income car owners with an older, damage-prone vehicle that is allowed to enter the zone, by making replacement vehicles less affordable. In general, the case reveals how the views and experiences of those most likely affected by the policy measure are not fully taken into account.
{"title":"‘No-one visits me anymore’: Low Emission Zones and social exclusion via sustainable transport policy","authors":"Eva De Vrij, T. Vanoutrive","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022465","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT For many years, the literature has pointed to the difficulties with the development of transport policy measures which meet both social and environmental policy objectives. Low Emission Zones (LEZ) offer an interesting example of measures that aim to decrease traffic-related air pollution, but which might have significant social effects by reducing the mobility of vulnerable, car-dependent groups. The Antwerp LEZ (Belgium) is used as a case. The assumptions and views in policy documents were compared with the experiences of some affected persons. The research challenges the assumption that only households with a non-compliant vehicle living in the LEZ are impacted by the measure since the LEZ may have a social impact well beyond the delimited zone. Some people with their residence in the LEZ expressed the feeling that they put a burden on friends and relatives from outside the zone who want to visit them. Furthermore, the LEZ affects low-income car owners with an older, damage-prone vehicle that is allowed to enter the zone, by making replacement vehicles less affordable. In general, the case reveals how the views and experiences of those most likely affected by the policy measure are not fully taken into account.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"12 1","pages":"640 - 652"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74350747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-05DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2019575
Johan Niskanen, H. Rohracher
ABSTRACT Buildings are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. A transition to low-carbon housing requires the introduction of very energy-efficient buildings on a global scale and effective policy measures to support such a transformation. In this article, we study one such radical solution for energy-efficient buildings – the passive house – through a national case study in Sweden. We identify three societal domains where passive houses increasingly become embedded in the building sector: Firstly, the framing of passive houses in the public debate shifted from being presented as a radical alternative for a future low-carbon housing sector to being perceived as a specific low-energy building market segment. Secondly, passive houses have become part of a broader regional institutional and political context rather than a niche. Finally, passive houses have become a driving force for stricter building regulations but in a way that rather led to the assimilation of selected passive house features into existing sectoral structures. We conclude that the dynamics of change we find is rather a ‘mainstreaming’ process of gradual adaptation of construction sector structures and passive houses than a radical transformation of the built environment or the diffusion of new building technology.
{"title":"Mainstreaming passive houses: more gradual reconfiguration than transition","authors":"Johan Niskanen, H. Rohracher","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2019575","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2019575","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Buildings are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. A transition to low-carbon housing requires the introduction of very energy-efficient buildings on a global scale and effective policy measures to support such a transformation. In this article, we study one such radical solution for energy-efficient buildings – the passive house – through a national case study in Sweden. We identify three societal domains where passive houses increasingly become embedded in the building sector: Firstly, the framing of passive houses in the public debate shifted from being presented as a radical alternative for a future low-carbon housing sector to being perceived as a specific low-energy building market segment. Secondly, passive houses have become part of a broader regional institutional and political context rather than a niche. Finally, passive houses have become a driving force for stricter building regulations but in a way that rather led to the assimilation of selected passive house features into existing sectoral structures. We conclude that the dynamics of change we find is rather a ‘mainstreaming’ process of gradual adaptation of construction sector structures and passive houses than a radical transformation of the built environment or the diffusion of new building technology.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"49 1","pages":"612 - 624"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86086754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-30DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022464
Guillaume Lessard
ABSTRACT This paper analyzes recent developments within the tiny house niche from a sustainability transition perspective through a case study in Quebec, Canada. The methods include documentation of tiny house developments and semi-structured interviews. The main findings are that most tiny houses in Quebec are being built as conventional, single-use, low-density, single-family detached home developments on greenfield in remote locations. Thus, recent developments in the tiny house niche resulted in incremental rather than radical changes to the housing regime practices. Furthermore, rural municipalities facing devitalisation are more prone to accepting greenfield development for their short-term benefits, while medium cities and municipalities in metropolitan areas are only planning to authorise tiny houses as accessory dwelling units as part of an infill development strategy. This suggests that tiny houses are contributing to a pattern of uneven geographical development. Interviews point at two systemic barriers that explain why tiny houses are developed in this way: the political economy of housing and sustainable urban planning policies and regulations. In the discussion, we suggest actions at the municipal, provincial and federal levels to use the enthusiasm for tiny houses to further an urban sustainability transition agenda.
{"title":"The scaling up of the tiny house niche in Quebec – transformations and continuities in the housing regime","authors":"Guillaume Lessard","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2022464","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper analyzes recent developments within the tiny house niche from a sustainability transition perspective through a case study in Quebec, Canada. The methods include documentation of tiny house developments and semi-structured interviews. The main findings are that most tiny houses in Quebec are being built as conventional, single-use, low-density, single-family detached home developments on greenfield in remote locations. Thus, recent developments in the tiny house niche resulted in incremental rather than radical changes to the housing regime practices. Furthermore, rural municipalities facing devitalisation are more prone to accepting greenfield development for their short-term benefits, while medium cities and municipalities in metropolitan areas are only planning to authorise tiny houses as accessory dwelling units as part of an infill development strategy. This suggests that tiny houses are contributing to a pattern of uneven geographical development. Interviews point at two systemic barriers that explain why tiny houses are developed in this way: the political economy of housing and sustainable urban planning policies and regulations. In the discussion, we suggest actions at the municipal, provincial and federal levels to use the enthusiasm for tiny houses to further an urban sustainability transition agenda.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"18 1","pages":"625 - 639"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90205936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2020631
Irmak Karakislak, J. Hildebrand, P. Schweizer-Ries
ABSTRACT The deployment of wind energy projects (WEP) within the process of energy transition changes energy landscapes and daily living environments. With regard to social acceptance as one social response towards WEP, the role of different aspects of justice (i.e. procedural, distributive, recognition) has been discussed. This study highlights the importance of social norms and their influence on perceived justice regarding WEP, which has been neglected in the literature so far. The relationship between social norms and perceived justice is explored as a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review and expert interviews. This framework aims to explain how social norms and their relationship with justice are defined, interlinked and how they affect perceptions of WEP. The results argue that social norms surface in situations where all the key elements of a project are decided without public impact. Thus, norms of fairness emerge under uncertain situations with the influence of similar emotions within groups. Moreover, social norms and perceived justice would explain several responses, such as local conflicts, or the motivation to further develop WEP. This study concludes by discussing the applicability of the framework, which needs further analysis as an analytical tool and deeper empirical investigation.
{"title":"Exploring the interaction between social norms and perceived justice of wind energy projects: a qualitative analysis","authors":"Irmak Karakislak, J. Hildebrand, P. Schweizer-Ries","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2020631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2020631","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The deployment of wind energy projects (WEP) within the process of energy transition changes energy landscapes and daily living environments. With regard to social acceptance as one social response towards WEP, the role of different aspects of justice (i.e. procedural, distributive, recognition) has been discussed. This study highlights the importance of social norms and their influence on perceived justice regarding WEP, which has been neglected in the literature so far. The relationship between social norms and perceived justice is explored as a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review and expert interviews. This framework aims to explain how social norms and their relationship with justice are defined, interlinked and how they affect perceptions of WEP. The results argue that social norms surface in situations where all the key elements of a project are decided without public impact. Thus, norms of fairness emerge under uncertain situations with the influence of similar emotions within groups. Moreover, social norms and perceived justice would explain several responses, such as local conflicts, or the motivation to further develop WEP. This study concludes by discussing the applicability of the framework, which needs further analysis as an analytical tool and deeper empirical investigation.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"43 1","pages":"155 - 168"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85891498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-13DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015305
J. Baldy, Basil Bornemann, D. Kleinschmit, S. Kruse
ABSTRACT Policy integration (PI) is needed for sustainable food system transformation. But PI is challenging, especially at the local level, where actors only begin to develop food policies and food-related discourses and institutions are only emerging. How does PI unfold in such contexts? In this paper, we employ a practice-theoretical perspective to analyze the early phase of food-related PI in two medium-sized cities in southern Germany to find answers to this question. Based on participant observation and interviews, we analyze how three dimensions of practice – doings, sayings and things – relate to the (dis-)integration of policy problems, goals and means. We find that practice dimensions play an important role in the shaping of integrative and disintegrative policymaking dynamics. We conclude that a practice-theoretical perspective on PI is an important complement to policy integration research as it allows for early identification of practical potentials and obstacles to integrated food policymaking.
{"title":"Policy integration from a practice-theoretical perspective: integrated food policy in the making in two German cities","authors":"J. Baldy, Basil Bornemann, D. Kleinschmit, S. Kruse","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015305","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Policy integration (PI) is needed for sustainable food system transformation. But PI is challenging, especially at the local level, where actors only begin to develop food policies and food-related discourses and institutions are only emerging. How does PI unfold in such contexts? In this paper, we employ a practice-theoretical perspective to analyze the early phase of food-related PI in two medium-sized cities in southern Germany to find answers to this question. Based on participant observation and interviews, we analyze how three dimensions of practice – doings, sayings and things – relate to the (dis-)integration of policy problems, goals and means. We find that practice dimensions play an important role in the shaping of integrative and disintegrative policymaking dynamics. We conclude that a practice-theoretical perspective on PI is an important complement to policy integration research as it allows for early identification of practical potentials and obstacles to integrated food policymaking.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"150 1","pages":"598 - 611"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79852180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-13DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015684
Ching Leong, Michael Howlett, Theodore Lai
ABSTRACT Policy mixes come in many shapes and sizes. This poses many challenges to policy design, especially when mixes extend across sectors and have multiple levels. This is the case with the Water-Forest-Energy-Climate (WFEC) nexus, a complex policy mix that involves not only significant cross-sectoral linkages and the potential complementarities and conflicts which are examined in other articles in this special issue, but also deals with sectors which involve significant national and trans-national elements. This complex multi-sector, multi-level policy assemblage also lacks the cohesion provided by a treaty-based international regime which allows multi-level co-ordination and integration of policy designs in areas such as trade or finance. In such policy non-regime or weak regime complexes, regional agreements and the negotiated nature of interactions within such agreements (which we see as a form of ‘policy bricolage’) are critical but overlooked factors affecting policy success.
{"title":"Governing complex environmental policy mixes through institutional bricolage: lessons from the water-forestry-energy-climate nexus","authors":"Ching Leong, Michael Howlett, Theodore Lai","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015684","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2015684","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Policy mixes come in many shapes and sizes. This poses many challenges to policy design, especially when mixes extend across sectors and have multiple levels. This is the case with the Water-Forest-Energy-Climate (WFEC) nexus, a complex policy mix that involves not only significant cross-sectoral linkages and the potential complementarities and conflicts which are examined in other articles in this special issue, but also deals with sectors which involve significant national and trans-national elements. This complex multi-sector, multi-level policy assemblage also lacks the cohesion provided by a treaty-based international regime which allows multi-level co-ordination and integration of policy designs in areas such as trade or finance. In such policy non-regime or weak regime complexes, regional agreements and the negotiated nature of interactions within such agreements (which we see as a form of ‘policy bricolage’) are critical but overlooked factors affecting policy success.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"82 1","pages":"540 - 552"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85970814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-03DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2008235
Carla De Laurentis, R. Cowell
ABSTRACT This paper investigates how a regional perspective can offer an insightful frame to examine the distribution of agency in energy transitions, with particular reference to the widespread problem of restructuring electricity grid networks to accommodate the expansion of renewable energy. Understanding governance and agency in this sphere requires a conceptual framework that can capture the layered nature of infrastructure and the functional and territorial mismatches between network governance and other governmental arenas. Thus, this paper adopts Barry’s concept of ‘technological zones’ and uses it to examine grid capacity challenges and prospective solutions in two Italian regions. The paper investigates how regional governments can exploit the techno-economic opportunities and fixities to develop energy network solutions in their administrative territories and shows the nature (albeit partial) and reach of regional-level agency. The findings highlight that regions should not only be seen as a layer of governance but as sites of problems – and action – which spark innovations. We argue that while the regional-level has had a modest influence in the regulation of network infrastructure in the chosen cases, regions have had a role in rendering their territory, directly or indirectly, available for infrastructural investment and in mediating potential constraints.
{"title":"Reconfiguring energy flows: energy grid-lock and the role of regions in shaping electricity infrastructure networks","authors":"Carla De Laurentis, R. Cowell","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2008235","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2008235","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper investigates how a regional perspective can offer an insightful frame to examine the distribution of agency in energy transitions, with particular reference to the widespread problem of restructuring electricity grid networks to accommodate the expansion of renewable energy. Understanding governance and agency in this sphere requires a conceptual framework that can capture the layered nature of infrastructure and the functional and territorial mismatches between network governance and other governmental arenas. Thus, this paper adopts Barry’s concept of ‘technological zones’ and uses it to examine grid capacity challenges and prospective solutions in two Italian regions. The paper investigates how regional governments can exploit the techno-economic opportunities and fixities to develop energy network solutions in their administrative territories and shows the nature (albeit partial) and reach of regional-level agency. The findings highlight that regions should not only be seen as a layer of governance but as sites of problems – and action – which spark innovations. We argue that while the regional-level has had a modest influence in the regulation of network infrastructure in the chosen cases, regions have had a role in rendering their territory, directly or indirectly, available for infrastructural investment and in mediating potential constraints.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"5 1","pages":"433 - 448"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81857412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2009333
H. Nielsen, A. B. Pedersen
ABSTRACT Many policy issues are interdependent, while much policy making occurs in sector silos, involving sectoral networks each dominated by their own policy ideas and interests. Such parallel policy-making increases the risk of incoherent policy mixes across policy sectors. However, when new policy issues emerge that cut across existing sectors, opening a new policy field, it presents opportunities for a reconfiguration of actors in new networks. Such network reconfigurations could lead to more coherent policies for interdependent policy issues. This paper examines the Danish policy framework to promote biogas, focusing on the consistency of the policy mix with regards to sustainable development of biogas, and how reconfigurations of actor networks across policy sectors have affected the policy mix. We find that the policy mix is coherent, integrating policy objectives across sectors, and show that this owes in part to a policy community type network that evolved over time. The paper contributes to research on policy instrument mixes by showing how certain types of policy networks may contribute to developing consistent policy mixes. We also identify important coordinating roles of two new intermediary actors, including a government task force, suggesting that procedural policy instruments may contribute to developing consistent policy mixes.
{"title":"Biogas at the intersection of agricultural, environment and energy governance: (potentially) conflicting interests and consistent policy framework?","authors":"H. Nielsen, A. B. Pedersen","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2009333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2009333","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Many policy issues are interdependent, while much policy making occurs in sector silos, involving sectoral networks each dominated by their own policy ideas and interests. Such parallel policy-making increases the risk of incoherent policy mixes across policy sectors. However, when new policy issues emerge that cut across existing sectors, opening a new policy field, it presents opportunities for a reconfiguration of actors in new networks. Such network reconfigurations could lead to more coherent policies for interdependent policy issues. This paper examines the Danish policy framework to promote biogas, focusing on the consistency of the policy mix with regards to sustainable development of biogas, and how reconfigurations of actor networks across policy sectors have affected the policy mix. We find that the policy mix is coherent, integrating policy objectives across sectors, and show that this owes in part to a policy community type network that evolved over time. The paper contributes to research on policy instrument mixes by showing how certain types of policy networks may contribute to developing consistent policy mixes. We also identify important coordinating roles of two new intermediary actors, including a government task force, suggesting that procedural policy instruments may contribute to developing consistent policy mixes.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"60 1","pages":"472 - 485"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89008831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-29DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.2007762
S. Greenhalgh, K. Müller, Steve Thomas, Marsha L. Campbell, T. Harter
ABSTRACT Agencies are increasingly developing evidence-based policies to manage natural resources. However, the influence of science in policy is not straightforward nor guaranteed. Critiques based on literature meta-analyses or policy-maker interviews suggest deficiencies in science production and delivery with some studies highlighting the importance of human dimensions. In interviews with decision-makers in freshwater policy in New Zealand and California, we investigated barriers to using science in complex and contested policy contexts. Findings highlighted the importance of the science, scientist, decision-maker, and the decision maker’s relationship with the scientist, for improving the influence of science on policy decisions. The influence depended more on the scientist delivering the information and the audience receiving it, than on the nature of the science itself. Frameworks like CRELE (credibility, relevance, legitimacy) and ACTA (applicability, comprehensiveness, timing, accessibility) are essential but outweighed by the human dimensions of policy development. With greater public, industry and NGO oversight of policy debates related to highly contested resources like water, the volume and quality of science for policy has greatly improved, meaning CRELE and ACTA factors have less prevalence. We give three categories of recommendations for improving the use of science in decision-making – science communication, science production and policy processes.
{"title":"Raising the voice of science in complex socio-political contexts: an assessment of contested water decisions","authors":"S. Greenhalgh, K. Müller, Steve Thomas, Marsha L. Campbell, T. Harter","doi":"10.1080/1523908X.2021.2007762","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.2007762","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Agencies are increasingly developing evidence-based policies to manage natural resources. However, the influence of science in policy is not straightforward nor guaranteed. Critiques based on literature meta-analyses or policy-maker interviews suggest deficiencies in science production and delivery with some studies highlighting the importance of human dimensions. In interviews with decision-makers in freshwater policy in New Zealand and California, we investigated barriers to using science in complex and contested policy contexts. Findings highlighted the importance of the science, scientist, decision-maker, and the decision maker’s relationship with the scientist, for improving the influence of science on policy decisions. The influence depended more on the scientist delivering the information and the audience receiving it, than on the nature of the science itself. Frameworks like CRELE (credibility, relevance, legitimacy) and ACTA (applicability, comprehensiveness, timing, accessibility) are essential but outweighed by the human dimensions of policy development. With greater public, industry and NGO oversight of policy debates related to highly contested resources like water, the volume and quality of science for policy has greatly improved, meaning CRELE and ACTA factors have less prevalence. We give three categories of recommendations for improving the use of science in decision-making – science communication, science production and policy processes.","PeriodicalId":15699,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning","volume":"61 1","pages":"242 - 260"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83836904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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