Intermediaries and learning in sustainability-oriented urban transitions: a transdisciplinary case study from Stellenbosch Municipality

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY: This thesis explores the role of intermediaries and learning in sustainability transitions at the urban scale and deploys a particular transitions perspective in a transdisciplinary case study of the Rector-Executive Mayor Forum in Stellenbosch, a major town in Stellenbosch Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.The Rector-Executive Mayor Forum is an evolving governance arrangement between Stellenbosch University and Stellenbosch Municipality and demonstrates a joint response to various development- and sustainability-related challenges in the greater Stellenbosch region. A transdisciplinary methodology shaped a period of extensive embedded research as the researcher participated in the Rector-Executive Mayor Forum and its substructures, the Infrastructure Innovation Committee and the Integrated Planning Committee. The case study tracks the progression of the IIC and the IPC between August 2013 and April 2015.The perspective on sustainability transitions framing this research is formulated around the strategic centrality of cities and stresses the importance of the conceptual notions of space, intermediaries and learning therein. The concept of space refers to the geography of sustainability transition and the necessity for transition efforts to be deployed at the urban scale. The concept of intermediaries points to the appropriate structuring of governance arrangements to support socio-technical transitions. Finally, the recognition of learning stresses the importance of transformative social learning processes in orienting sustainability transitions. Overall, a comprehensive analysis of the sustainability transitions literature with special reference to space, intermediaries and learning motivates a more detailed exploration of intermediation and learning processes in particular and therefore advances a framework of urban learning to enhance this perspective. The conceptual framework of urban learning combines transition management, the Learning City and Assemblages approaches.The sustainability transitions perspective and the accompanying framework of urban learning is used to analyse the development of the Infrastructure Innovation Committee and Integrated Planning Committee's guiding strategic documents. The outcome of this research investigation is the development of a unique sustainability transitions perspective that is complemented by a comprehensive framework of urban learning. Through the transdisciplinary case study in Stellenbosch, this is shown to be helpful in a attaining a deeper understanding of the particularities of how urban transitions unfold and how these might be stimulated, facilitated or steered towards sustainability.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University