Experimentation or projectification of urban change? A critical appraisal and three steps forward
Tóm tắt
Urban experimentation has proliferated in recent years as a response to sustainability challenges and renewed pressures on urban governance. In many European cities, diverse and rapidly changing experimental forms (e.g. urban living laboratories, pilots, trials, experimental districts) are becoming commonplace, addressing ambitious goals for smartness, circularity, and liveability. Academically, there is a growing concern for moving beyond the focus on individual experiments and the insistence on upscaling their primary transformation mechanism. However, the phenomena of ‘projectification’ – whereby project-based forms of organising have become ubiquitous, shaping expectations about experimentation – is increasingly perceived as a barrier. Nevertheless, how specifically experimentation and projectification intersect remains unclear. Our theoretical perspective examines how the widespread tendency towards projectification shapes urban experimentation and the potential implications for urban transformations. It problematises the current wave of experimentation and how it contributes to the projectification of urban change processes. We present three steps to redress this issue and indicate directions for future research.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Acuto M, Parnell S, Seto KC. Building a global urban science. Nat Sustain. 2018;1:2–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0013-9.
Alberti M. Grand challenges in urban science. Front Built Environ. 2017;3:1–5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2017.00006.
Ansell CK, Bartenberger M. Varieties of experimentalism. Ecol Econ. 2016;130:64–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.05.016.
Barnes, J., Rogge, K., Nightingale, P., Martin, B., Bloom, M., 2017. User-Intermediaries and the Local Embedding of Low Carbon Technologies. SPRU Work. Pap. Ser. 15.
Barnes, J.P., 2015. The local embedding of technologies through community-led initiatives: the case of sustainable energy. University of Sussex.
Beck U. The politics of risk society. In: Franklin J, editor. The Politics of Risk Society. Cambridge: Polity Press; 1998. p. 9–22.
Berkhout F, Verbong G, Wieczorek AJ, Raven R, Lebel L, Bai X. Sustainability experiments in Asia: innovations shaping alternative development pathways? Environ Sci Policy. 2010;13:261–71.
Borgström S, Zachrisson A, Eckerberg K. Funding ecological restoration policy in practice-patterns of short-termism and regional biases. Land Use Policy. 2016;52:439–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.01.004.
Brown HS, Vergragt PJ. Bounded socio-technical experiments as agents of systemic change: The case of a zero-energy residential building. Technol Forecast Soc Chang. 2008;75:107–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2006.05.014.
Brulin G, Svensson L. Managing Sustainable Development Programmes : A Learning Approach to Change. Burlington: Routledge; 2011.
Bulkeley, H., 2019. Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions in Cities: State of the Art & Emerging Perspectives. Backgr. Pap. an OECD/EC Work. 7 June 2019 within Work Ser. “Managing Environ Energy Transitions Reg Cities.”
Bulkeley H, CastánBroto V. Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change. Trans Inst Br Geogr. 2013;38:361–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00535.x.
Bulkeley H, CastánBroto V, Edwards GAS. An urban politics of climate change: experimentation and the governing of socio-technical transitions. London: Routledge; 2015. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Bulkeley H, Coenen L, Frantzeskaki N, Hartmann C, Kronsell A, Mai L, Marvin S, McCormick K, van Steenbergen F, VoytenkoPalgan Y. Urban living labs: governing urban sustainability transitions. Curr Opin Environ Sustain. 2016;22:13–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.02.003.
Bulkeley H, Marvin S, Palgan YV, McCormick K, Breitfuss-Loidl M, Mai L, von Wirth T, Frantzeskaki N. Urban living laboratories: conducting the experimental city? Eur Urban Reg Stud. 2019;26:317–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776418787222.
Caniglia G, Schäpke N, Lang DJ, Abson DJ, Luederitz C, Wiek A, Laubichler MD, Gralla F, von Wehrden H. Experiments and evidence in sustainability science: A typology. J Clean Prod. 2017;169:39–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.164.
CastánBroto V, Bulkeley H. A survey of urban climate change experiments in 100 cities. Glob Environ Chang. 2013;23:92–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.005.
Collins B. “It’s not talked about”: The risk of failure in practice in sustainability experiments. Environ Innov Soc Transitions. 2020;35:77–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2020.02.008.
Dijk M, de Kraker J, Hommels A. Anticipating constraints on upscaling from urban innovation experiments. Sustainability. 2018;10:2796. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082796.
Ehnert F, Kern F, Borgström S, Gorissen L, Maschmeyer S, Egermann M. Urban sustainability transitions in a context of multi-level governance: a comparison of four European states. Environ Innov Soc Transitions. 2018;26:101–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2017.05.002.
Evans J. Trials and tribulations: problematizing the city through/as urban experimentation. Geogr Compass. 2016;10:429–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12280.
Evans J, Karvonen A. “Give Me a Laboratory and i will lower your carbon footprint!” - urban laboratories and the governance of low-carbon futures. Int J Urban Reg Res. 2014;38:413–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12077.
Evans JPM, Karvonen A, Raven R, editors. The experimental city, Routledge Research in Sustainable Urbanism. London: Routledge; 2016.
Fazey I, Schäpke N, Caniglia G, Patterson J, Hultman J, van Mierlo B, Säwe F, Wiek A, Wittmayer J, Aldunce P, Al Waer H, Battacharya N, Bradbury H, Carmen E, Colvin J, Cvitanovic C, D’Souza M, Gopel M, Goldstein B, Hämäläinen T, Harper G, Henfry T, Hodgson A, Howden MS, Kerr A, Klaes M, Lyon C, Midgley G, Moser S, Mukherjee N, Müller K, O’Brien K, O’Connell DA, Olsson P, Page G, Reed MS, Searle B, Silvestri G, Spaiser V, Strasser T, Tschakert P, Uribe-Calvo N, Waddell S, Rao-Williams J, Wise R, Wolstenholme R, Woods M, Wyborn C. Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2018;40:54–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.11.026.
Fitzgerald J, Lenhart J. Eco-districts: can they accelerate urban climate planning? Environ Plan C Gov Policy. 2016;34:364–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263774X15614666.
Fuenfschilling L, Frantzeskaki N, Coenen L. Urban experimentation & sustainability transitions. Eur Plan Stud. 2019;27:219–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2018.1532977.
Geels FW, Deuten JJ. Local and global dynamics in technological development: a socio-cognitive perspective on knowledge flows and lessons from reinforced concrete. Sci Public Policy. 2006;33:265–75. https://doi.org/10.3152/147154306781778984.
Geels FW, Raven R. Non-linearity and Expectations in Niche-Development Trajectories: Ups and Downs in Dutch Biogas Development (1973–2003). Technol Anal Strateg Manag. 2006;18:375–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537320600777143.
Gernert M, El Bilali H, Strassner C. Grassroots Initiatives as sustainability transition pioneers: implications and lessons for urban food systems. Urban Sci. 2018;2:23. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci2010023.
Hajer MA, Pelzer P. 2050—an energetic odyssey: understanding ‘Techniques of Futuring’ in the transition towards renewable energy. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2018;44:222–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.01.013.
Håkansson I. The socio-spatial politics of urban sustainability transitions: Grassroots initiatives in gentrifying Peckham. Environ Innov Soc Transitions. 2018;29:34–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2017.10.003.
Harris J, Brown VA, Russell J. Tackling Wicked Problems: Through the Transdisciplinary Imagination. London: Taylor & Francis Group; 2010.
Heiskanen E, Hyvönen K, Laakso S, Laitila P, Matschoss K, Mikkonen I. Adoption and use of low-carbon technologies: lessons from 100 Finnish pilot studies field experiments and demonstrations. Sustainability. 2017;9:847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050847.
Hodgson D, Fred M, Bailey S, Hall P. (Eds.). The Projectification of the Public Sector, 1st ed. New York and Oxon: Routledge; 2019.
Hodson M, Evans J, Schliwa G. Conditioning experimentation: The struggle for place-based discretion in shaping urban infrastructures. Environ Plan C Polit Sp. 2018;36:1480–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654418765480.
Hodson M, Geels FW, McMeekin A. Reconfiguring urban sustainability transitions, analysing multiplicity. Sustainability. 2017;9:299. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9020299.
Hoffmann, M.J., 2011. Experimenting with Cities and Technology Deployment, in: Climate Governance at the Crossroads. Oxford University Press, pp. 103–122. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390087.003.0005
Jensen AF, Thuesen C, Geraldi J. The projectification of everything. Proj Manag J. 2016;47:21–34.
Karvonen, A., 2018. The city of permanent experiments? Innov Clim Gov Mov Beyond Exp. 201–215. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108277679.014
Karvonen A, van Heur B. Urban laboratories: experiments in reworking cities. Int J Urban Reg Res. 2014;38:379–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12075.
Kronsell A, Mukhtar-Landgren D. Experimental governance: the role of municipalities in urban living labs. Eur Plan Stud. 2018;26:988–1007. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2018.1435631.
Lam DPM, Martín-López B, Wiek A, Bennett EM, Frantzeskaki N, Horcea-Milcu AI, Lang DJ. Scaling the impact of sustainability initiatives: a typology of amplification processes. Urban Transform. 2020;2:3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-020-00007-9.
Leminen S, Westerlund M, Nyström A-G. Living labs as open-innovation networks. Technol Innov Manag Rev. 2012;2:6–11. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/602.
Marvin, S., Bulkeley, H., Mai, L., McCormick, K., Palgan, Y.V., 2018. Urban living labs: Experimenting with city futures, urban living labs: experimenting with city futures. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315230641
Moss T. Intermediaries and the governance of sociotechnical networks in transition. Environ Plan A. 2009;41:1480–95. https://doi.org/10.1068/a4116.
Mukhtar-Landgren D, Kronsell A, VoytenkoPalgan Y, von Wirth T. Municipalities as enablers in urban experimentation. J Environ Policy Plan. 2019;21:718–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2019.1672525.
Munck af Rosenschöl J. Inducing institutional change through projects? Three models of projectified governance. J Environ Policy Plan. 2019;21:333–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2019.1606702.
Munck af Rosenschöld J. Projectified environmental governance and challenges of institutional change toward sustainability. 2017.
Munck af Rosenschöld J, Wolf SA. Toward projectified environmental governance? Environ Plan A. 2017;49:273–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16674210.
Naber R, Raven R, Kouw M, Dassen T. Scaling up sustainable energy innovations. Energy Policy. 2017;110:342–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.056.
Nevens F, Frantzeskaki N, Gorissen L, Loorbach D. Urban Transition Labs: co-creating transformative action for sustainable cities. J Clean Prod. 2013;50:111–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.001.
Packendorff J. Inquiring into the temporary organization: New directions for project management research. Scand J Manag. 1995;11:319–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/0956-5221(95)00018-Q.
Packendorff J, Lindgren M. Projectification and its consequences: Narrow and broad conceptualisations. South African J Econ Manag Sci. 2014;17:7–21. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v17i1.807.
Pollitt C. Institutional amnesia: a paradox of the “Information Age”? Prometheus. 2000;18:5–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109020050000627.
Potjer, S., 2020. Experimental Governance: from the possible to the doable to the new mainstream. Utrecht
Raven R. Niche accumulation and hybridisation strategies in transition processes towards a sustainable energy system: an assessment of differences and pitfalls. Energy Policy. 2007;35:2390–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2006.09.003.
Raven R, Sengers F, Spaeth P, Xie L, Cheshmehzangi A, de Jong M. Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements. Eur Plan Stud. 2019;27:258–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1393047.
Raven R, Sengers F, Spaeth P, Xie L, Cheshmehzangi A, de Jong M. Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements. Eur Plan Stud. 2017;27:1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2017.1393047.
Rittel HWJ, Webber MM. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sci. 1973;4:155–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405730.
Ryghaug M, Ornetzeder M, Skjølsvold TM, Throndsen W, 2019. The role of experiments and demonstration projects in efforts of upscaling: An analysis of two projects attempting to reconfigure production and consumption in energy and mobility. Sustain. 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205771
Sattlegger, A., 2020. Paradoxical promise or promising paradox? Learning from practices of experimentation and their transformational potential in government institutions by Antonia Sattlegger Final dissertation for the master ’ s programme in Research in Public Administratio. Utrecht University.
Savini, F., Bertolini, L., 2019. Urban experimentation as a politics of niches. Environ Plan A Econ. Sp. 0, 0308518X1982608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19826085
Schön DA. The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books; 1983.
Sengers F, Turnheim B, Berkhout F. Beyond experiments: embedding outcomes in climate governance. Environ Plan C Pol Space. 2021;39(6):1148–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420953861.
Sengers F, Wieczorek AJ, Raven R. Experimenting for sustainability transitions: a systematic literature review. Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2019;145:153–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.08.031.
Sjöblom S, Löfgren K, Godenhjelm S. Projectified politics – temporary organisations in a public context. Scand J Public Adm. 2013;17:3–12.
Smith A, Raven R. What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability. Res Policy. 2012;41:1025–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.12.012.
Stark A, Head B. Institutional amnesia and public policy. J Eur Public Policy. 2019;26:1521–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2018.1535612.
Swyngedouw E, Moulaert F, Rodriguez A. Neoliberal Urbanization in Europe: large-scale urban development projects and the new urban policy. Antipode. 2002;34:542–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00254.
Torrens J, Johnstone P, Schot J. Unpacking the formation of favourable environments for urban experimentation: the case of the bristol energy scene. Sustainability. 2018;10:879. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030879.
Torrens J, Schot J, Raven R, Johnstone P. Seedbeds, harbours and battlegrounds: on the origins of favourable environments for urban experimentation with sustainability. Environ Innov Soc Transitions. 2019;31:211–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2014.04.024.
Turnheim, B., Kivimaa, P., Berkhout, F. (Eds.), 2018. Innovating Climate Governance. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108277679AQ
van den Bosch S, Rotmans J. Deepening, broadening and scaling up: a framework for steering transition experiments. 2008.
van Lente H, Hekkert M, Smits R, van Waveren B. Roles of systemic intermediaries in transition processes. Int J Innov Manag. 2003;07:247–79. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1363919603000817.
van Mierlo B. Convergent and divergent learning in photovoltaic pilot projects and subsequent niche development. Sustain Sci Pract Policy. 2012;8:4–18.
von Wirth T, Fuenfschilling L, Frantzeskaki N, Coenen L. Impacts of urban living labs on sustainability transitions: mechanisms and strategies for systemic change through experimentation. Eur Plan Stud. 2019;27:229–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2018.1504895.
Voytenko Y, Mccormick K, Evans J, Schliwa G. Urban living labs for sustainability and low carbon cities in Europe : towards a research agenda. J Clean Prod. 2016;123:45–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.053.