IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i7p2107-d221113.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecosocial Innovations and Their Capacity to Integrate Ecological, Economic and Social Sustainability Transition

Author

Listed:
  • Aila-Leena Matthies

    (Department: Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, University of Jyväskylä, Talonpojankatu 2b, 67700 Kokkola, Finland)

  • Ingo Stamm

    (Department: Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, University of Jyväskylä, Talonpojankatu 2b, 67700 Kokkola, Finland)

  • Tuuli Hirvilammi

    (Department: Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, University of Jyväskylä, Talonpojankatu 2b, 67700 Kokkola, Finland)

  • Kati Närhi

    (Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Opinkivi, Keskussairaalantie 2, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland)

Abstract

The article contributes to sustainability transition research by indicating the significance of transformative grassroots innovations in the context of social work research. We introduce the integrative concept of ecosocial innovation in order to demonstrate how grassroots innovations can successfully combine social, ecological and economic aspects of a sustainability transition. By ecosocial innovations, we refer to social innovations with a strong ecological orientation (e.g., recycling workshops, urban gardening, participatory unemployment projects and new local economies). The data consists of 50 examples of ecosocial innovations in Finland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the UK. We investigate how ecosocial innovations interconnect ecological, economic and social goals and study the factors of their integrative crucial capacity. On the basis of qualitative data analysis and thematic categorisation of ecosocial innovations, we identify five integrative practices: diversity of activities, successful networking, addressing new livelihood, focus on food and explicit conceptual work on sustainability. Very often these integrative practices emerge as pragmatic solutions to local needs. For the participants, the ecosocial innovations can be relevant sources for new livelihood and wellbeing beyond the conventional labour market. Foremost, ecosocial innovations are valuable as forerunners for sustainability transition in practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Aila-Leena Matthies & Ingo Stamm & Tuuli Hirvilammi & Kati Närhi, 2019. "Ecosocial Innovations and Their Capacity to Integrate Ecological, Economic and Social Sustainability Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2107-:d:221113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2107/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2107/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maarten Hajer & Måns Nilsson & Kate Raworth & Peter Bakker & Frans Berkhout & Yvo De Boer & Johan Rockström & Kathrin Ludwig & Marcel Kok, 2015. "Beyond Cockpit-ism: Four Insights to Enhance the Transformative Potential of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-10, February.
    2. José Luis Vivero-Pol, 2017. "Food as Commons or Commodity? Exploring the Links between Normative Valuations and Agency in Food Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Morone, Piergiuseppe & Sica, Edgardo, 2018. "Greening of the financial system and fuelling a sustainability transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 23-37.
    4. Daniel W. O’Neill & Andrew L. Fanning & William F. Lamb & Julia K. Steinberger, 2018. "A good life for all within planetary boundaries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(2), pages 88-95, February.
    5. Gill Seyfang & Alex Haxeltine, 2012. "Growing Grassroots Innovations: Exploring the Role of Community-Based Initiatives in Governing Sustainable Energy Transitions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(3), pages 381-400, June.
    6. Rob Lubberink & Vincent Blok & Johan Van Ophem & Onno Omta, 2017. "Lessons for Responsible Innovation in the Business Context: A Systematic Literature Review of Responsible, Social and Sustainable Innovation Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-31, May.
    7. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    8. Ian Gough, 2017. "Heat, Greed and Human Need," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 16991.
    9. Brandt, Patric & Ernst, Anna & Gralla, Fabienne & Luederitz, Christopher & Lang, Daniel J. & Newig, Jens & Reinert, Florian & Abson, David J. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2013. "A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1-15.
    10. Angela Espinosa & Jon Walker, 2011. "A Complexity Approach to Sustainability:Theory and Application," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number p699.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aila‐Leena Matthies & Jef Peeters & Tuuli Hirvilammi & Ingo Stamm, 2020. "Ecosocial innovations enabling social work to promote new forms of sustainable economy," International Journal of Social Welfare, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 378-389, October.
    2. Wenfei Xia & Baizhou Li & Shi Yin, 2020. "Identification of Influencing Factors for Sustainable Development: Evaluation and Management of Regional Innovation Performance in Heilongjiang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-55, March.
    3. Maria Nijnik & Tatiana Kluvánková & Mariana Melnykovych & Albert Nijnik & Serhiy Kopiy & Stanislava Brnkaľáková & Simo Sarkki & Leonid Kopiy & Igor Fizyk & Carla Barlagne & David Miller, 2021. "An Institutional Analysis and Reconfiguration Framework for Sustainability Research on Post-Transition Forestry—A Focus on Ukraine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Katharina Bohnenberger, 2020. "Money, Vouchers, Public Infrastructures? A Framework for Sustainable Welfare Benefits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    5. Zdenka Gyurák Babeľová & Augustín Stareček & Dagmar Cagáňová & Martin Fero & Miloš Čambál, 2019. "Perceived Serviceability of Outplacement Programs as a Part of Sustainable Human Resource Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Baxter, Jamie Scott & Chatzichristos, Georgios & Christmann, Gabriela & Hennebry, Barraí & Kovanen, Sunna & Novikova, Marina & Olmedo, Lucas & Stoustrup, Sune W. & van Twuijver, Mara & Umantseva, Anna, 2020. "Social Enterprises in Structurally Weak Rural Regions: Innovative Troubleshooters in Action. Handbook for Practitioners," IRS Dialog 6/2020, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    7. Huayan Shen & Kexin Bi & Yu Gao & Meisha Wang, 2020. "How does the Traditional Heavy Industry Use Ecotechnology to Achieve the Ecological Innovation Goal? Analysis Based on Expert Survey in China’s Shipbuilding Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Maria Nijnik & Tatiana Kluvánková & Albert Nijnik & Serhiy Kopiy & Mariana Melnykovych & Simo Sarkki & Carla Barlagne & Stanislava Brnkaláková & Leonid Kopiy & Igor Fizyk & David Miller, 2020. "Is There a Scope for Social Innovation in Ukrainian Forestry?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Kovanen Sunna, 2020. "Collaborative Patterns of Long-Term Sustainability in Community Social Enterprises: An International Comparative Case Study," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 39(4), pages 53-63, December.
    10. Octaviano Rojas Luiz & Enzo Barberio Mariano & Hermes Moretti Ribeiro da Silva, 2021. "Pro-Poor Innovations to Promote Instrumental Freedoms: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sievers-Glotzbach, Stefanie & Tschersich, Julia, 2019. "Overcoming the process-structure divide in conceptions of Social-Ecological Transformation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    2. D. D’Amato, 2021. "Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    3. Abdulkarim Hasan Rashed & Afzal Shah, 2021. "The role of private sector in the implementation of sustainable development goals," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 2931-2948, March.
    4. Katharina Bohnenberger, 2020. "Money, Vouchers, Public Infrastructures? A Framework for Sustainable Welfare Benefits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    5. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Koch, Max, 2019. "Degrowth through income and wealth caps?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 264-271.
    6. Chad Stephen Boda, 2018. "Community as a Key Word: A Heuristic for Action-Oriented Sustainability Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Martin Fritz & Max Koch, 2019. "Public Support for Sustainable Welfare Compared: Links between Attitudes towards Climate and Welfare Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Florian Hofmann & Melanie Jaeger‐Erben, 2020. "Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2770-2788, September.
    9. Julian Kirchherr & Andrea Urbinati & Kris Hartley, 2023. "Circular economy: A new research field?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(5), pages 1239-1251, October.
    10. Tuuli Hirvilammi & Max Koch, 2020. "Sustainable Welfare beyond Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-8, February.
    11. Pascale Lehoux & Hudson Pacifico Silva & Renata Pozelli Sabio & Federico Roncarolo, 2018. "The Unexplored Contribution of Responsible Innovation in Health to Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    12. Sam Bliss, 2019. "The Case for Studying Non-Market Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-30, June.
    13. Tuuli Hirvilammi, 2020. "The Virtuous Circle of Sustainable Welfare as a Transformative Policy Idea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, January.
    14. Tadashi Hirai, 2022. "A balancing act between economic growth and sustainable development: Historical trajectory through the lens of development indicators," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1900-1910, December.
    15. Clube, Rebecca K.M. & Tennant, Mike, 2020. "The Circular Economy and human needs satisfaction: Promising the radical, delivering the familiar," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Leonhard Plank, 2021. "The Foundational Economy as a Cornerstone for a Social–Ecological Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    17. Ahmad Salman & Ali Al-Hemoud & Saja A. Fakhraldeen & Maha Al-Nashmi & Suad M. AlFadhli & Sungsoo Chun, 2020. "Research and Development as a Moderating Variable for Sustainable Economic Performance: The Asian, European, and Kuwaiti Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    18. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Ratana Chuenpagdee & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Storytelling for sustainable development in rural communities: An alternative approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1813-1826, November.
    19. Rita Nerland & Heidi Rapp Nilsen & Bjørn Andersen, 2023. "Biosphere‐based sustainability in local governments: Sustainable development goal interactions and indicators for policymaking," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 39-55, February.
    20. Kajsa Emilsson & Håkan Johansson & Magnus Wennerhag, 2020. "Frame Disputes or Frame Consensus? “Environment” or “Welfare” First Amongst Climate Strike Protesters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2107-:d:221113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.