Social tipping points and adaptation limits in the context of systemic risk: Concepts, models and governance

Physical tipping points have gained a lot of attention in global and climate change research to understand the conditions for system transitions when it comes to the atmosphere and the biosphere. Social tipping points have been framed as mechanisms in socio-environmental systems, where a small change in the underlying elements or behavior of...

Editorial: Actors and adaptive planning in water management

Operationalising the HUL Tools at Building Level: Circular Models of Adaptive Reuse

Adaptive reuse of historic buildings plays a significant role in the transition towards circular economy. The existing literature still regards heritage conservation, urban management, circular economy and sustainable development as different spheres of knowledge. The Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) provides a holistic...

Adaptive capacity of the Pearl River Delta cities in the face of the growing flood risk: Institutions, ideas and interests

Although the cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China are amongst the world’s cities most exposed to flooding due to climate change, surprisingly little is done to address this problem. This article explores the barriers to the emergence of policies adapting to the growing flood risk in two PRD cities, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, underlining...

Mainstreaming private climate adaptation: an exploration of business perspectives

Climate change adaptation is needed in response to the extreme weather events such as heat waves and rainfall-induced flooding in the Netherlands. There is a mandate from the national government to become climate- and water-proof by 2050, and the onus is on local governments to fulfill these goals. Local governments, in turn, need to activate...

The Humane Metropolis: Towards an Integrated Socio-ecological planning approach in Chennai

Chennai, one of the largest metropolitan cities on the Eastern coast of South India, has seen massive growth over the last few decades, accompanied by a majorly infrastructure-led development that has put economic prosperity over environmental value and social inclusion. The effects of this process have been witnessed during the intense climatic...

Modes of Governing and Policy of Local and Regional Governments Supporting Local Low-Carbon Energy Initiatives; Exploring the Cases of the Dutch Regions of Overijssel and Fryslân

Recent scholarly attention shows increasing involvement of local low-carbon energy initiatives (LLCEIs) in governance and policy, in particular in relation to innovations regarding low-carbon energy and energy efficiency. The future perspective of active citizenship in the production of locally generated low-carbon energy is largely dependent on...

Delivering change: Towards fit-for-purpose governance of adaptation to flooding and drought

This book addresses pressing challenges of policy makers, planners and project managers in the water sector to successfully implement adaptation action. It draws on case studies about water sensitive urban design (WSUD) in Australia and the Room for the River flood protection programme in the Netherlands. The book explains a procedure for...

Delivering Integrated Flood Risk Management: Governance for collaboration, learning and adaptation

The frequency and consequences of extreme flood events have increased rapidly worldwide in recent decades and climate change and economic growth are likely to exacerbate this trend. Flood protection measures alone cannot accommodate the future frequencies and impacts of flooding. Integrated flood risk management (IFRM) considers a portfolio of...

Business ecosystems governance: A framework for tackling complex systems

This document is the final Master Thesis Dissertation of Alexios Pagkozidis during academic year 2011-2013. It describes the findings of the research related to Business Ecosystem Innovation Governance for Smart Living platforms. The research was done with collaboration of Delft University of Technology and TP Vision B.V.. This work is part of...

Water Management on the Island of IJsselmonde 1000 to 1953: Polycentric Governance, Adaptation, and Petrification

One of the central tenets of adaptive management is polycentric governance. Yet, despite the popularity of the concept, few detailed case studies of polycentric governance systems exist. In this paper, we aim to partly fill this gap. We describe water management between the years 1000 and 1953 on the Dutch island of IJsselmonde in the...