Making Sense of Adaptation - The adaptation practice in a governance perspective
Project overview
Participants
More related research
Short summary
This project investigated how and why Swedish climate adaptation is enacted in particular ways and how inherent governance struggles and choices are thereby handled.
As analytical tool we used social practice theory and viewed adaptation as a social practice guided by norms and routines that are created and upheld by the actors involved. We collected additional inspiration from collaborative and interactive governance theories and thus viewed the practice as embedded in the particular Swedish adaptation governance regime.
The project was structured in three, interrelated, parts:
- zooming in on the adaptation practice to develop understanding of how it is enacted and why;
- zooming out focusing on how governance struggles and choices are handled (and which are not) and the potential implications for adaptation governance;
- looking forward by providing input for climate adaptation action.
Data was generated by exploring key sites in this regime through participant observations and semi structured interviews. In the analysis we combined a situated and sense-making approach with a contextual understanding of the governance conditions to be able to identify their relationship. Based on our findings and in collaboration with participants of the practice we suggest possible pathways for change. In this project we thus engage in research on as well as for adaptation.
Project leader was Lotten Westberg, previously Associate Professor and Researcher at Division of Environmental Communication, SLU.
Another participant was Annette Löf, previously Researcher at Division of Environmental Communication, SLU.
Published within the project