This paper examines the science-practice interface in the complex issue of adapting society to climate change. Through analyses of science-based stakeholder dialogues with climate scientists, municipal officers and private individual forest owners in Sweden, this paper looks at how local experts in the forestry and municipal planning sectors share and integrate scientific knowledge and experience into their work strategies and practices. The results demonstrate how local experts jointly conceptualize climate adaptation, how scientific knowledge is domesticated among local experts in dialogue with scientific experts, the emergence of anchoring devices and, in a more general way, the boundary spanning functions that are at work in the respective sectors.
A polycentric governance regime that includes non-state actors has potential to increase the pace in mitigating climate change if there is concerted action among the actors involved. However, previous research has shown that climate policy directed at business firms does not always have the intended effects. Taking a polycentric perspective to climate governance, this paper contributes insight into why some firms expect that to be the case. The paper builds on qualitative interviews with firms in the Swedish construction and civil engineering industry. We apply positioning theory to analyse firms' views on their own and other actors' roles and responsibilities in climate transformation. The results suggest that governance authorities could take on a more traditional, coercive leadership role, setting clear rules and regulations, if these extend in time and space to create a market where the shared goals are ambitious, and the playing field is level for firms.
The theoretical disputes over forest nitrogen (N) fertilization constitute a difficulty for forest managers. In cases where scientists disagree it is hard for practitioners to make scientifically based decisions on what actions to take. The main objective in this study was to understand possible reasons for the scientific discussion associated with the question as to how fertilization for increased forest growth influences the forest ecosystem? Another objective was to clarify the divergent theoretical grounds within this scientific field. The study proceeded by selecting articles based on the criterion that they include field studies of fertilization for stem growth in the temperate region, and then analysing their theoretical content. Differences in theoretical grounds are among the reasons for the scientific disputes over the effects of N fertilization on forest ecosystems. © 2004 University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
This study explores the role of geographic visualization for supporting theimplementation of climate change adaptation. Interviews and group discussions withplanners and decision makers indicate that geographic visualization bears primarypotential for communicative purposes. In order to respond to analytical needs a highlevel of interactivity including the exploration of background data and the ability tolink the tools with own databases were some of the key requirements made by theparticipants. The study concludes that more than better climate predictions, awarenessand involvement may be precisely what is needed to narrow the implementation gapin climate change adaptation
Despite the urgent need to take action on climate adaptation, public engagement remains relatively low. This low engagement poses significant challenges to the effective adaptation process, highlighting the need for innovative approaches in governance. In this paper, we explore the importance of the affective dimension in enhancing citizen engagement in climate adaptation. Drawing from a review of recent literature, we identify the primary challenges of fostering citizen engagement by integrating research on climate adaptation with the exploration of the affective dimension and the conceptualization of affective practices. We aim to identify specific "affective facilitators that have the potential to enhance citizen engagement and drive actionable outcomes. We advocate for the use of Citizen Science as a means to support citizen engagement, due to its potential to harness the identified facilitators. We illustrate the practical application of our conceptual framework with the Citizen Sensing Project.
This paper presents a study of two Swedish municipalities engagement in biogas development. To analyse the drivers of such biogas development, the conceptual framing incorporates two perspectives on local biogas policy: first, policy drivers as connected to environmental goals and, second, policy as a matter of green place branding. The results indicate that biogas engagement serves as a self-governing activity with the fulfilment of environmental goals as a driver; furthermore, it is a way of expressing the mission of municipalities as engines of environmental policy. In one studied municipality, biogas engagement has an important symbolic value for green identity, meaning that green place branding is a driver. Still, interviewed actors from both municipalities lack clear long-term visions of biogas. Further studies of biofuel production should critically investigate visions of the future among central and local governments and evaluate the implications of municipalities as biofuel producers.
Recycling and reducing household waste are political goals internationally, nationally and locally. In Sweden, households in apartment buildings seem to sort their waste to a lesser extent than households in single-family houses. This paper analyses the challenges of the diffusion of a new waste management system in apartment buildings, and focuses on a municipal housing company and the actions of its area managers. It is argued that area managers can be regarded as street-level bureaucrats who act as collectors of tenants everyday practices in the studied implementation process. The study is based on interviews, document analysis and observations.
This study explores the implications of improved access to national rail and roadinfrastructure for urban planning and land use in two small Swedish towns. The promotion of sustainable mobility is considered a strategic objective at the municipal level, yet the study questions the extent to which national investments, and increased access to regional labour markets, support local efforts to increase sustainable mobility. The results indicate that municipalities struggle to adopt coherent approaches to increasing sustainable mobility and continue to develop physical plans that induce use of motor vehicles, a trend reinforced by national investments in road infrastructure in peri-urban areas.
Cities around the world constitute an emerging market for Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). For local governments, MaaS may offer opportunities to reduce ownership and use of private cars for passenger transport, thereby easing pressures on urban space, the local environment and global climate. By drawing on literature related to socio-technical transitions and the diffusion of environmental innovations, this article analyses survey results of MaaS stakeholders in the City of Stockholm, where several initiatives to facilitate development of MaaS are underway. The results illustrate what stakeholders do and consider important, which kinds of barriers, opportunities and challenges are perceived, and what type of expectations stakeholders share about the role of the City administration in the development of MaaS in Stockholm. In sum, results indicate an important, yet delicate role for local governments in facilitating MaaS, whilst suggesting the need for regional or national regulatory solutions in the longer-term, to ensure legitimacy and transparency.
The diffusion of renewable energy – particularly in transport – in cities may facilitate the transition away from fossil fuels, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Past studies on this topic have focused on system modelling of diffusion pathways, technology characteristics and also estimations of future availability of renewable energy, whilst neglecting the agency of producers and users. This article assesses barriers to the diffusion of biogas for transportation in cities from a system and actor perspective. Using document studies and interviews in the cities of Basel, Switzerland, and Odense, Denmark, we identify the presence of conflicting political priorities and shifting strategic objectives, resulting in mixed signals concerning the role and viability of biogas for transportation. This underlines the importance of public sector support and coherent design and implementation of strategy and policy enabling the diffusion of renewable energy.
This article investigates how municipalities have addressed the microplastics issue in relation to stormwater. Municipal officials in a Swedish municipality with different roles in relation to microplastics in stormwater and project managers with responsibility for plans and strategies related to microplastics were interviewed. Most measures had been introduced to limit dispersal of infill from artificial turfs, followed by measures against plastic litter. Despite the issue being prioritised by the governing politicians, and formalised in a plan, lack of resources was still a challenge to the implementation of more measures. This study gives insights into how a municipality handles a pollutant that is not subject to strict regulations. The results can be used to inform future policy for, and management of, microplastics as well as other contaminants of emerging concern, especially concerning the type of guidance needed by an actor group responsible for implementing measures.
The insurance industry is important for facilitating climate change adaptation. Insurance companies involvement is, however, influenced by national adaptation policy. The literature suggests that especially policy factors - government interventions, political priorities and public-private cooperation - and market factors - cost offset, cost mitigation, planning flexibility and business opportunities - shape private actor approaches. To increase the understanding of insurance company involvement in adaptation, this study examines how insurance companies approaches are influenced by policy and market factors in three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The study found that the policy factors tested significantly shaped the approaches of the companies assessed, while market factors currently appear less influential. This is likely due to the absence of climate risk and adaptation in political debates and among insurance policyholders. The study discusses the potential role of the insurance industry in adaptation governance and suggests how barriers facing insurance companies could be overcome.
Strategic spatial planning has been suggested as a means for environmental sustainability. However, there are significant challenges with operationalising and integrating policy-driven strategic spatial planning within the standardised and process-oriented management systems of local authorities. This aspect has motivated discussions on how implementation of strategic spatial planning with a focus on environmental sustainability is conditioned by management systems. The empirical case is local planning and management practices in a local authority in Sweden. Interviews with planners, together with planning and policy documents, make up the empirical material. The analysis proposes that the integration of environmental perspectives into strategic spatial planning processes depends on (i) the overall concerns for environmental issues in local policy, and (ii) how administrative management systems can facilitate transformative practice in planning. In conclusion, this article illustrates how environmental sustainability in strategic spatial planning is formed and conditioned through interplay between local policy and administrative management procedures.
Management by objectives is intrinsic to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Swedish environmental policy. We describe three approaches to formulating objectives via model-assisted dialogue with local stakeholders, concerning eutrophication in a coastal drainage area in south-eastern Sweden: a WFD eco-centred approach based on “natural state”, Swedish environmental policy reformulated into quantified reduction goals, and a participatory approach based on local stakeholder definitions of desirable environmental status. Despite representativity problems, we conclude that local stakeholder participation in formulating local goals could increase goal functionality and robustness when adapting and implementing national and EU WFD goals at the local level.
The 2030 Agenda and its SDGs call for cross-sectoral collaboration and societal transformation. Translating these indivisible goals to the local level is an important undertaking for municipalities given their wide range of responsibilities. This paper explores SDG localization in a Swedish municipal organization, providing analyses on management practice, having an integrated approach to sustainability. Based on document studies and interviews, it reflects experiences from an early phase of SDG localization. Having an integrated approach to SDG localization was shown to be dependent on aspects such as structure, leadership and coordination, yet simultaneously flexibility, organizational learning as well as time and timing. Such an integrated approach also comes with the challenge of operationalizing the SDGs into management systems, budgets and motivating employees across organizational silos and levels. The paper concludes that the SDG framework presents an opportunity for municipalities to understand and review their organizations through a broad systems perspective on sustainability.
Human actions towards land, freshwater and oceans have already caused biodiversity to decline. This study aims to investigate attitudes towards the conservation of biological biodiversity among different groups in a Swedish city, Kristianstad. An inquiry including statements measuring attitudes towards the conservation of habitats, animals and plants, to the biological diversity within selected local areas, to global and national areas, and to societal issues, was replied to by 271 persons. Deciduous forests, birds and wild flowers were given highest priority. An area categorized as wetland including lakeshore meadows with a rich bird life was prioritized as most important for conservation while a forest area was chosen as best for recreation. The experts gave lower priority to arable land, urban parks, domestic animals, agricultural and garden plants and to conifer forests compared to the other groups. Knowledge about what people in general value as important could facilitate the future planning of nature areas in the city of Kristianstad.
While strengthening public–private interplay is expected to improve the climate profile of urban planning in terms of mitigation and adaptation, less is known about the practice of such new interactive modes of governing. The paper critically examines the role, benefits and limitations of extended public–private interplay in developing a new housing district in Sweden. The developer dialogue between municipal officials and property developers confirms mutual interests, shared understandings and the added value of interacting. However, the closer the dialogue comes to settling agreements, the more difficult it gets for municipal officials to steer the process and its outcomes in favor of climate proofing. Complications with adapting to the new interactive setting means that municipal officials balance between acting as facilitators and/or regulators and property developers between acting as partners, competitors and/or defenders. Refining steering-strategies for sustaining commitments and securing formal agreements are pertinent for using public–private interplay to climate-proof urban planning.
The aim of this paper isto explore how the capacity to integrate environmental sustainability inSwedish regional development programming has evolved over time, with particularfocus on what facilitates and restricts change in different stages ofimplementation. The study builds on focus-group and individual interviews infour Swedish regions carried out in 2005 and 2011. The results suggesttemporary and partial rather than enduring and substantial environmental policyintegration (EPI). In 2005 the main challenges were to allocate support, focus and priority beyond the national policyrhetoric of regional sustainable development, to identify regional applicationsbeyond singular “pockets of good practice” and to spread ownership andengagement for EPI from specific ambassadors to organizational mainstreaming.In 2011 we find evidence of a more mainstreamed approach of regionalsustainable development but with new challenges of policy diffusion andsectorisation as well as a strong sense of projectification. There is a need todevelop arenas and processes for inter-sectoral exchange, interaction andlearning to achieve a more systematic change – which is, in essence, whatpolicy integration is all about.
Nordic agriculture must adapt to climate change to reduce vulnerability and exploit potential opportunities. Integrated assessments can identify and quantify vulnerability in order to recognize these adaptation needs. This study presents a geographic visualization approach to support the interactive assessment of agricultural vulnerability to climate change. We have identified requirements for increased transparency and reflexivity in vulnerability assessments, arguing that these can be met by geographic visualization. A conceptual framework to support the integration of geographic visualization for vulnerability assessments has been designed and applied for the development of AgroExplore, an interactive tool for assessing agricultural vulnerability to climate change in Sweden. To open up the black box of composite vulnerability indices, AgroExplore enables the user to select, weight, and classify relevant indicators into sub-indices of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This enables the exploration of underlying indicators and factors determining vulnerability in Nordic agriculture.