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Institutional navigation for polycentric sustainability governance

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Lubell

    (University of California, Davis)

  • Tiffany H. Morrison

    (James Cook University)

Abstract

Sustainability in the Anthropocene requires social cooperation and learning against a backdrop of increasingly complex, polycentric governance. Here, we introduce an institutional navigation framework emphasizing how individuals pursue their policy goals within polycentric sustainability governance. We illustrate the utility of the framework by exploring how actors navigate institutional complexity to increase collective welfare and adaptive capacity in California’s San Francisco Bay, in contrast with protecting self-interest and constraining adaptive capacity on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Our analysis provides: (1) a normative perspective on how institutional navigation may or may not support sustainability; (2) initial theoretical hypotheses about understudied strategies used by policy actors to advance or constrain sustainability; and (3) some practical ideas for policy actors seeking to strategically achieve complex sustainability goals in polycentric systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Lubell & Tiffany H. Morrison, 2021. "Institutional navigation for polycentric sustainability governance," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 664-671, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:4:y:2021:i:8:d:10.1038_s41893-021-00707-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00707-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Gilles Desthieux & Florent Joerin, 2022. "Urban planning in Swiss cities has been slow to think about climate change: why and what to do?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(4), pages 692-713, December.
    2. Grimley, Matthew & Chan, Gabriel, 2023. "“Cooperative is an oxymoron!”: A polycentric energy transition perspective on distributed energy deployment in the Upper Midwestern United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    3. Adams, Kweku & Attah-Boakye, Rexford & Yu, Honglan & Chu, Irene & Ishaque, Maria, 2023. "Competence and enterprise of management as drivers of early foreign listing of medium-sized emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) from Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

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