Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations

DOI
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Co-production, the collaborative weaving of research and practice by diverse societal actors, is argued to play an important role in sustainability transformations. Yet, there is still poor understanding of how to navigate the tensions that emerge in these processes. Through analyzing 32 initiatives worldwide that co-produced knowledge and action to foster sustainable social-ecological relations, we conceptualize ‘co-productive agility’ as an emergent feature vital for turning tensions into transformations. Co-productive agility refers to the willingness and ability of diverse actors to iteratively engage in reflexive dialogues to grow shared ideas and actions that would not have been possible from the outset. It relies on embedding knowledge production within processes of change to constantly recognize, reposition, and navigate tensions and opportunities. Co-productive agility opens up mul- tiple pathways to transformation through: (1) elevating marginalized agendas in ways that maintain their integrity and broaden struggles for justice; (2) questioning dominant agendas by engaging with power in ways that challenge assumptions, (3) navigating conflicting agendas to actively transform interlinked paradigms, practices, and structures; (4) exploring diverse agendas to foster learning and mutual respect for a plurality of perspectives. We explore six process considerations that vary by these four pathways and provide a framework to enable agility in sustainability transformations. We argue that research and practice spend too much time closing down debate over different agendas for change – thereby avoiding, suppressing, or polarizing tensions, and call for more efforts to facilitate better interactions among different agendas.
Date Issued
2022
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Subjects
Co-production Transformative processes Social-ecological relations Tensions
Power relations
Impact
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Chambers, Josephine M.
Wyborn, Carina
Klenk, Nicole L.
Ryan, Melanie
Serban, Anca
Bennett, Nathan J.
Brennan, Ruth
Charli-Joseph, Lakshmi
Fernández-Giménez, María E.
Galvin, Kathleen A.
Goldstein, Bruce E.
Hill, Rosemary
Munera, Claudia
Nel, Jeanne L.
Österblom, Henrik
Reid, Robin S.
Riechers, Maraja
Spierenburg, Marja
Tengö, Maria
Bennett, Elena
Brandeis, Amos
Chatterton, Paul
Cockburn, Jessica J.
Cvitanovic, Christopher
Dumrongrojwatthana, Pongchai
Paz Durán, América
Green, Jonathan M.H.
Gruby, Rebecca
Guerrero, Angela M.
Horcea-Milcu, Andra-Ioana
Montana, Jasper
Steyaert, Patrick
Bednarek, Angela T.
Curran, K
Fada, Salamatu J.
Hutton, Jon
Leimona, Beria
Pickering, Tomas
Rondeau, Renee
Additional Credits
Journal
Global environmental change
Publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
0959-3780
Access(Rights)
open.access
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