Transformation in urban systems begins at small spatial scales with the potential to scale up, if transformation manifests at small scales. Transformation can occur via transformative governance, drawing from adaptive governance. A central aspect of adaptive governance is a learning process that can help communities achieve environmental objectives. Adaptive governance is a framework for managing social-ecological systems, and is the precursor to transformative governance. Adaptive governance accounts for spatial and temporal scale in order to minimize cross-scale effects of management actions, and can manifest into transformative governance if environmental conditions necessitate transformation.
Results/Conclusions
Transformative governance has the capacity to accommodate tradeoffs between stakeholders and scale, and foster transformation of social-ecological systems to more desirable conditions. In this presentation, I will discuss a case study on transformation in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. While more research is needed, transformative governance has tremendous potential for urban social-ecological systems.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.