Climate Action and Public Policy - Knowledge and Institutional Innovation
29 Abril 2023, 09:00 • João Morais Lavadinho Mourato
In this session we start from how the current form of global capitalism became ecologically and socially unsustainable. We examine how so much depends on a shift in human values. Human values can change; they are not natural laws. This session debates this value change. In society as a whole and in institucional settings in particular. The gateway to this debate is through the role of learning, the process through which information becomes knowledge. In fact the creation of knowledge in social networks is a key characteristic of the dynamics of culture. In the face of climate change challenges, and to thrive under conditions of accelerating change you have to be learning all the time. We look into how this is affected by the emergence of alt-knowledge and post-truth politics. We critically examine how knowledge brokerage is a fundamental part in helping public policy play a much needed role in shaping the directionality of sustainability transitions.
Reading List
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Chapman, J. (2002). System failure: why governments must learn to think differently. Demos, London, UK. ISBN: 978-1-8418-0123-0
Feola, G. (2014). Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: a review of emerging concepts. AMBIO, 4(5): 376–390.
Göpel, M. 2016. The Great Mindshift. Vol. 2. Springer Verlag.
Kingdon, J.W. (1995). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. 254pp. Longman, New York, USA. ISBN: 978-0-2050-0086-9
Köhler, J., Geels, F. W., Kern, F., Markard, J., Onsongo, E., Wieczorek, A., … Wells, P. (2019). An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 31, 1–32.
Mourato, J., Bussler, A., & Wit, F. (2020). Interweaving knowledge systems through sustainability governance. Partnerships for the Goals. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 1-12.
Mourato, J.M., de Wit, F. (2022). The Geography of Urban Sustainability Transitions: A Critical Review. In: Leal Filho,
W., Vidal, D.G., Dinis, M.A.P., Dias, R.C. (eds) Sustainable Policies and Practices in Energy, Environment and Health Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham.
O’Riordan, T., & Jordan, A. (1999). Institutions, climate change and cultural theory: towards a common analytical framework. Global Environmental Change, 9(2), 81-93.