Fostering Sustainability Transitions by Designing for the Convergence of Policy Windows and Transition Arenas

John Harlow, Erik Johnston, Eric Hekler and Zoë Yeh
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John Harlow: School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5603, USA
Erik Johnston: School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5603, USA
Eric Hekler: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004-0698, USA
Zoë Yeh: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004-0698, USA

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Transition arenas that do not converge with policy windows to achieve structural or institutional change often fail to achieve their stated transformative goals. For their part, policy windows often lead to only incremental change. On their own, transition management and the multiple streams approach seem inadequate to the challenges facing cities. However, in combination, they can be transformative, as exemplified by the Citizens Committee for the Future of Phoenix Transportation. In 2015, this committee in Phoenix, AZ passed a ~USD 31.5 billion 2050 transportation plan funded by a sales tax increase from 0.4 to 0.7%. This plan’s development realized a policy window in a transition arena through an instrumental boundary object workshop with innovative facilitation. This article sets out to explore, based on this in-depth, applied transition arena process, how to combine transition management and the multiple streams approach to increase the transformative potential of transition arenas. The multiple streams approach and transition management have rarely been used simultaneously or had their integration planned. However, this case from Phoenix, AZ illustrates the potential for boundary objects and facilitation processes in designing for the convergence of policy windows and transition arenas.

Keywords: transition management; transition arena; multiple streams approach; policy window; boundary object (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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