Print Email Facebook Twitter The role of crises in transformative change towards sustainability Title The role of crises in transformative change towards sustainability Author Pahl-Wostl, Claudia Odume, Oghenekaro Nelson (Rhodes University) Scholz, G. (TU Delft Energy and Industry) De Villiers, Ancois (Universiteit Leiden) Amankwaa, Ebenezer Forkuo Date 2023 Abstract Path-breaking transformative change is needed in human-environment relations to move towards more sustainable development trajectories at local, national and global scales. Crises may trigger transformative change and learning in the short and in the long term. However, in particular, a short-term response to crises may also be reactive, strengthening established unsustainable practices and further perpetuating vulnerability and inequality rather than supporting transformative change towards a more sustainable path. To understand the nature and response to a crisis in the context of sustainability transformations, this paper elaborates on the following aspects of a crisis: What are the characteristics of a crisis? What and who shapes the narrative(s) of a crisis? What and who shapes the nature of the response to a crisis? Do responses to crises trigger higher levels of learning? Conceptual synthesis is complemented with an exploratory comparative analysis of the Cape Town water crisis and of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. To this end the paper analyzes the interplay between mobilizing individual, collective and relational agency and navigating and transforming power relations to challenge and profit from already weakened unsustainable structures. This approach proves to be promising to understand the role of crises in catalysing and supporting transformative learning to eventually replace unsustainable structures. Subject Cape TownCOVID-19 pandemiccrisesdroughtMatthew Weaversustainability transformationTransformational learning To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:df213e01-e644-4a9a-98d0-07d13cd38a6a DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2023.2188087 ISSN 2639-5908 Source Ecosystems and People, 19 (1) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Oghenekaro Nelson Odume, G. Scholz, Ancois De Villiers, Ebenezer Forkuo Amankwaa Files PDF The_role_of_crises_in_tra ... bility.pdf 1.1 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:df213e01-e644-4a9a-98d0-07d13cd38a6a/datastream/OBJ/view