Extraordinary governance to avoid extraordinary events
Johannessen, Åse LU and Wamsler, Christine LU
(2020)
p.263-263
- Abstract
- We are in the midst of a water crisis. Scarcity, pollution and flooding are some of today’s key challenges for sustainable urban development. The reasons are manifold. Preventive measures are put on the back burner, while reactive measures, siloed governance approaches and power struggles are daily business, resulting in ineffective governance. The crisis is hitting the most vulnerable urban populations the hardest and is, ultimately, a social equity issue. Against this background, we assess current water governance practice in order to identify key factors that can support social learning and enable just societal change. Taking Sweden as a critical case study, our findings highlight the potential of applying social learning theory and... (More)
- We are in the midst of a water crisis. Scarcity, pollution and flooding are some of today’s key challenges for sustainable urban development. The reasons are manifold. Preventive measures are put on the back burner, while reactive measures, siloed governance approaches and power struggles are daily business, resulting in ineffective governance. The crisis is hitting the most vulnerable urban populations the hardest and is, ultimately, a social equity issue. Against this background, we assess current water governance practice in order to identify key factors that can support social learning and enable just societal change. Taking Sweden as a critical case study, our findings highlight the potential of applying social learning theory and practice to support innovation and address the crisis. We present some key principles at three levels of resilience (socioeconomic, hazard and social–ecological), that should be considered when designing more comprehensive approaches, based on integrated learning and governance change. We conclude that an extraordinary governance approach is needed to support policy- and decision-makers in their efforts to reduce water-related risks and build resilience. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The urban water crisis, including issues of water scarcity, pollution and flooding, is one of the key challenges for sustainable urban development. Reasons are manifold. Preventive measures are for instance being put on the back burner, while re-active measures and siloed governance are daily business, resulting in power struggles and ineffective governance. As the water crisis hits the most vulnerable urban populations the hardest, this is ultimately a social equity issue. Against this background, based on a critical case study of Sweden, we assess current water governance and look for key factors able to unleash social learning for societal change. The results highlight the potential of applying social learning theory and practice to... (More)
- The urban water crisis, including issues of water scarcity, pollution and flooding, is one of the key challenges for sustainable urban development. Reasons are manifold. Preventive measures are for instance being put on the back burner, while re-active measures and siloed governance are daily business, resulting in power struggles and ineffective governance. As the water crisis hits the most vulnerable urban populations the hardest, this is ultimately a social equity issue. Against this background, based on a critical case study of Sweden, we assess current water governance and look for key factors able to unleash social learning for societal change. The results highlight the potential of applying social learning theory and practice to address the urban water crisis by supporting innovation in policy and practice. After the analysis of current governance, we present some key principles for designing more comprehensive approaches through integrated learning and governance change. These principles address three different levels of resilience i.e., socio-economic, hazard and social-ecological. On this basis, we conclude that extraordinary governance is needed to support policy- and decision makers in reducing water-related risks and building resilience. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f6e6f4ca-770a-4cc0-b274-8c138c0d3347
- author
- Johannessen, Åse
LU
and Wamsler, Christine
LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Extraordinary governance to avoid extraordinary events
- publishing date
- 2020-09-22
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Water governance, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilience, Extreme Events, Risk management, Sweden, Disasters
- host publication
- Water Resilience : Management and Governance in Times of Change - Management and Governance in Times of Change
- editor
- Baird, Julia and Plummer, Ryan
- pages
- 290 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85150548178
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-48109-4
- 978-3-030-48110-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f6e6f4ca-770a-4cc0-b274-8c138c0d3347
- date added to LUP
- 2019-10-30 13:03:13
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:26:24
@inbook{f6e6f4ca-770a-4cc0-b274-8c138c0d3347,
abstract = {{We are in the midst of a water crisis. Scarcity, pollution and flooding are some of today’s key challenges for sustainable urban development. The reasons are manifold. Preventive measures are put on the back burner, while reactive measures, siloed governance approaches and power struggles are daily business, resulting in ineffective governance. The crisis is hitting the most vulnerable urban populations the hardest and is, ultimately, a social equity issue. Against this background, we assess current water governance practice in order to identify key factors that can support social learning and enable just societal change. Taking Sweden as a critical case study, our findings highlight the potential of applying social learning theory and practice to support innovation and address the crisis. We present some key principles at three levels of resilience (socioeconomic, hazard and social–ecological), that should be considered when designing more comprehensive approaches, based on integrated learning and governance change. We conclude that an extraordinary governance approach is needed to support policy- and decision-makers in their efforts to reduce water-related risks and build resilience.}},
author = {{Johannessen, Åse and Wamsler, Christine}},
booktitle = {{Water Resilience : Management and Governance in Times of Change}},
editor = {{Baird, Julia and Plummer, Ryan}},
isbn = {{978-3-030-48109-4}},
keywords = {{Water governance; Integrated Water Resources Management; Resilience; Extreme Events; Risk management; Sweden; Disasters}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
pages = {{263--263}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
title = {{Extraordinary governance to avoid extraordinary events}},
year = {{2020}},
}