TY - JOUR

T1 - Making sense of sustainability transitions locally

T2 - how action research contributes to addressing societal challenges

AU - Wittmayer, Julia Maria

AU - Schäpke, Niko

AU - van Steenbergen, Frank

AU - Omann, Ines

PY - 2014/10/2

Y1 - 2014/10/2

N2 - Today’s society is facing a broad array of societal challenges, such as an unstable economic system, climate change and lasting poverty. There are no straightforward solutions, rather these challenges ask for fundamental societal changes, that is, sustainability transitions. Faced with the question of how these challenges can be understood and dealt with, we argue for action research as a promising approach. Focusing on their localized manifestations, we ask whether and how action research can support understanding and addressing societal challenges and making sustainability meaningful locally. We tackle this question on the basis of two case studies in local communities based on principles of transition management. Our main finding is that societal challenges, sustainability and sustainability transitions acquire meaning through practice and interactions in the local context. Action research can offer a space in which alternative ideas (e.g., knowledge, future visions), practices (e.g., practical experiments, transformative action) and social relations (e.g., new actors) can emerge to further a sustainability transition.

AB - Today’s society is facing a broad array of societal challenges, such as an unstable economic system, climate change and lasting poverty. There are no straightforward solutions, rather these challenges ask for fundamental societal changes, that is, sustainability transitions. Faced with the question of how these challenges can be understood and dealt with, we argue for action research as a promising approach. Focusing on their localized manifestations, we ask whether and how action research can support understanding and addressing societal challenges and making sustainability meaningful locally. We tackle this question on the basis of two case studies in local communities based on principles of transition management. Our main finding is that societal challenges, sustainability and sustainability transitions acquire meaning through practice and interactions in the local context. Action research can offer a space in which alternative ideas (e.g., knowledge, future visions), practices (e.g., practical experiments, transformative action) and social relations (e.g., new actors) can emerge to further a sustainability transition.

KW - Social Work and Social Pedagogics

KW - action research

KW - societal challenges

KW - sustainability

KW - sustainability transition

KW - transition management

KW - action research

KW - societal challenges

KW - sustainability

KW - sustainability transition

KW - transition management

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84919870987&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/19460171.2014.957336

DO - 10.1080/19460171.2014.957336

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84919870987

VL - 8

SP - 465

EP - 485

JO - Critical Policy Studies

JF - Critical Policy Studies

SN - 1946-0171

IS - 4

ER -