Social learning towards a more adaptive paradigm? Reducing flood risk in Kristianstad municipality, Sweden
(2013) In Global Environmental Change 23(1). p.372-381- Abstract
- Social learning is often treated as an intervention, a designed process facilitated or even initiated by a third party. We investigated how a social learning process emerged spontaneously from inside Kristianstad, one of the most flood-prone municipalities in Sweden. Twenty key persons were interviewed over 8 years, many of them several times, to assess the process. A small action oriented group of technical professionals perceived the flood risk and were key drivers providing strategic innovative capacity. We identified the process attributes that fostered the learning, the knowledge generated and other learning outcomes adapting a model by Schusler et al. (2003). Despite some elements of double loop learning, this process was not able to... (More)
- Social learning is often treated as an intervention, a designed process facilitated or even initiated by a third party. We investigated how a social learning process emerged spontaneously from inside Kristianstad, one of the most flood-prone municipalities in Sweden. Twenty key persons were interviewed over 8 years, many of them several times, to assess the process. A small action oriented group of technical professionals perceived the flood risk and were key drivers providing strategic innovative capacity. We identified the process attributes that fostered the learning, the knowledge generated and other learning outcomes adapting a model by Schusler et al. (2003). Despite some elements of double loop learning, this process was not able to change the prevailing stationary principle/paradigm, feeling safe behind the embankments and continuing building on low lying land. We argue that building resilience and adaptive capacity would require a mind shift to a paradigm of flood proofing/living with floods and preparing for the unexpected, acknowledging that water cannot be controlled at a certain level. We conclude that knowledge development is inhibited by the Swedish decentralisation approach and we call for a multilevel learning strategy including learning from international experience and emphasising more active coordination at the national level. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/13e5c988-e4fe-491f-9252-1c1db70cd3a8
- author
- Johannessen, Åse LU and Hahn, Thomas
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Innovation, Adaptability, Multilevel governance, Flooding, Triple-loop learning, Social learning, Adaptive governance, climate change, river basin management, sweden
- in
- Global Environmental Change
- volume
- 23
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 372 - 381
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84872604536
- ISSN
- 0959-3780
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.009
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 13e5c988-e4fe-491f-9252-1c1db70cd3a8
- date added to LUP
- 2020-03-10 11:13:29
- date last changed
- 2022-04-18 21:18:59
@article{13e5c988-e4fe-491f-9252-1c1db70cd3a8,
abstract = {{Social learning is often treated as an intervention, a designed process facilitated or even initiated by a third party. We investigated how a social learning process emerged spontaneously from inside Kristianstad, one of the most flood-prone municipalities in Sweden. Twenty key persons were interviewed over 8 years, many of them several times, to assess the process. A small action oriented group of technical professionals perceived the flood risk and were key drivers providing strategic innovative capacity. We identified the process attributes that fostered the learning, the knowledge generated and other learning outcomes adapting a model by Schusler et al. (2003). Despite some elements of double loop learning, this process was not able to change the prevailing stationary principle/paradigm, feeling safe behind the embankments and continuing building on low lying land. We argue that building resilience and adaptive capacity would require a mind shift to a paradigm of flood proofing/living with floods and preparing for the unexpected, acknowledging that water cannot be controlled at a certain level. We conclude that knowledge development is inhibited by the Swedish decentralisation approach and we call for a multilevel learning strategy including learning from international experience and emphasising more active coordination at the national level.}},
author = {{Johannessen, Åse and Hahn, Thomas}},
issn = {{0959-3780}},
keywords = {{Innovation; Adaptability; Multilevel governance; Flooding; Triple-loop learning; Social learning; Adaptive governance; climate change; river basin management; sweden}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{372--381}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Global Environmental Change}},
title = {{Social learning towards a more adaptive paradigm? Reducing flood risk in Kristianstad municipality, Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.009}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.009}},
volume = {{23}},
year = {{2013}},
}