Transition management is a governance approach that aims to facilitate and accelerate sustainability transitions through a participatory process of visioning, learning and experimenting. In its application, transition management seeks to bring together multiple viewpoints and multiple approaches in a 'transition arena'. Participants are invited to structure their shared problems with the current system and develop shared visions and goals which are then tested for practicality through the use of experimentation, learning and reflexivity. The model is often discussed in reference to sustainable development and the possible use of the model as a method for change.

Key principles to transition management as a form of governance:

seeks to widen participation by taking a multi-actor approach in order to encompass societal values and beliefs takes a long-term perspective (between 1-3 generations) creating a basket of visions in which short-term objectives can be identified focused on learning at the niche level, experiments are used to identify how successful a particular pathway could be and uses the concept of "Learn by doing, doing by learning" a systems thinking approach which identifies that problems will span multiple domains, levels and actors.

History

There have been numerous societal transitions in the past, studied examples include the transition from horse-drawn carriage to motorised cars and the change from physical telegraphy to the electric telephone. There are a number of theories that muse over how transition management evolved into being. One school of thought identifies the sociological aspect of transition as deeply rooted within population dynamics and the evolution of society from high birth rate/high death rate to low birth rate/low death rate. Other theorists consider that transition management has its basis within systems theory and the co-evolution of social and technical factors within the system. Most agree that the shift in the political landscape, from a centralised government to a more liberal, market-based structure has allowed new forms of bottom-up governance styles to rise to prominence and a break from dominant approaches. The most notable use of Transition Management can be established through its development into a practical tool by the Dutch Government to manage the radical transformation of their energy systems in the early 2000s. It was introduced into national policy in the Netherlands in the fourth National Environmental Policy Plan based on a report by Jan Rotmans, Rene Kemp, Frank Geels, Geert Verbong and Marjolein van Asselt.

Definition

Transition management is an approach for tackling the complex issue of sustainable development. Sustainable development in itself is a dynamic, multi-dimensional, multi-actor and multi-level problem that is in a constant state of flux. Critics consider that the current political system is insufficiently equipped to deal with the complexity of the issue and that incremental changes will not address the fundamental system failures that underpin the issue. As an alternative to traditional politics, Transition Management will seek to steer development in a more sustainable direction by identifying and fundamentally restructuring the unsustainable systems that underpin our society. The goal of transition management is geared towards enabling, facilitating and guiding the social, technical and political transformations required by embedded societal systems to bring about sustainability. The need for such a model of governance has arisen through the persistence of problems which have developed to span multi-actors, multi-levels and multi-domains. The inherent complexity of society (from the difference of perspectives, norms and values) added to the intricacy of modern-day issues requires a new form of governance. Therefore, transition management recognises the need to address this problem on the multiple levels and dimensions in which it manifests. The approach seeks to widen participation by encouraging bottom-up approaches that are supported in a top-down manner. The synergy gained from utilising transition management to provide a novel approach to the complex issue of Sustainable Development could be essential if progress is to be made on the issue.

Unlike traditional forms of regulation that use command and control techniques, transition management does not seek to control the uncertainties of change but steer, indirectly influence and redirect the choices of actors towards sustainability. In the long-term, transition management will seek to completely transform the system through the process of creative destruction, much of the literature considers that only the radical rebuilding of our society's systems will be able to transcend the stable lock-in to unsustainable systems which has been systematically reinforced by aspects of the landscape and regime levels.

Levels within sociotechnical systems Most literature recognises that there are three separate levels that transition management must work within; Landscape, Regime and Niche:.

Landscape (Macro) refers to the overall socio-technical setting that encompasses both the intangible aspects of social values, political beliefs and world views and the tangible facets of the built environment including institutions and the functions of the marketplace such as prices, costs, trade patterns and incomes.

These processes occur within the wider political, cultural and economic background termed the socio-technical landscape. The landscape is an external backdrop to the interplay of actors at the regime and niche level. Changes can occur in the landscape but much more slowly than regime level. One such change is the increase in environmental awareness.Smith, A., Vob, J.P., and Grin, J., 2010. Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges. Research Policy. 39 pp. 435-448 This socio-cultural process is leading to pressure on numerous regimes (aviation, agriculture etc.) whilst providing openings for new technologies to establish themselves.

Regime (Meso) refers to the dominant practices, rules and technologies that provide stability and reinforcement to the prevailing socio-technical systems.

Technological regimes are defined as a set of rules embedded in an engineering community's institutions and infrastructure which shape technological innovations.Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G., 1982. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge (MA); Bellknap PressRip, A. and R. Kemp., 1998. Technological change. In S. Rayner and E. Malone(eds.) Human Choices and Climate Change, Vol. 2, 327-399. Battelle, Columbus, Ohio. GeelsGeels, F. W., 2002. Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case study. Research Policy 31 pp. 257-1273 expanded the focus from engineers to include a wider of range of social groups such as policy makers, financiers and suppliers. This web of inter-linking actors, following a set of rules was termed 'socio-technical regime', in effect, the established practices of a given system. Drawing on evolutionary economics; socio-technical regimes act as a selection and retention mechanism, filtering out the unsuccessful while incorporating more worthy innovations into the existing regime.Evans, J., to be published 2012. Environmental Governance. Abingdon: Routledge The regime sits at the meso-level, sandwiched between the micro-level of the niche and the macro-level of the landscape.Berkhout, F., Smith A. and Stirling, A. (2003). Socio-technological regimes and transition contexts. SPRU Electronic Working Paper. Change occurs at the regime level incrementally and is geared to achieving optimization. Radical change is potentially threatening to the vested interests of the established regime. The inertia of key industries is seen as an explanation of the difficulties in achieving transitions to sustainability.Geels, F.W., 2010. Ontologies, socio-technical transitions (to sustainability), and the multi-level perspective. Research Policy 39 pp. 495-510

Niche (Micro) is the level or 'area' at which the space is provided for radical innovation and experimentation. This level is less subject to market and regulation influences and can facilitate the interactions between actors that support product innovation.

Radical innovations occur in niches, which act as safe environments in which breakthrough developments can grow, sheltered from the selection process that occurs at regime level. A regime may host a range of niches which generate innovations to challenge the status-quo. The military is seen as a primary niche for major technologies of the last century, supporting the development of radio, aircraft, computers and the internet. The framework of support provided can be financial (most early ventures being commercially unviable); establishing learning processes and facilitating the social networks that lead to growth.

Multi-level Perspective Geels presents the interplay between regime, niche and landscape concepts as a multi-level perspective depicting technological transitions. The model is heuristic rather than ontological, and is an aid to better understand the process.

Figure 1: A Dynamic multi-level perspective on Technological transition at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Van_Waart2/publication/283256188/figure/fig1/AS:300427296952329@1448638857873/A-dynamic-multilevel-perspective-on-technological-transitions-Geels-2011_W640.jpg Geels and Schot: 2007Geels, F.W. and Schot, J.W., 2007, 'Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways, Research Policy, 36 (3), pp.399-417

Ongoing processes at the regime and landscape level present 'windows of opportunity' for new technologies to exploit and become established. These breakthroughs tend to occur gradually through niche-accumulation. As innovations are used in multiple applications they build until achieving a critical mass. The model proposed by Geels shows how the success of a new technology requires developments across all levels to support the processes occurring within the niche (figure 1). Such an alignment is the basis of a regime shift.

Actors

Each level has its own set of actors that interact in different ways, broadly they can be defined into the following categories:

Government which creates top-down pressure from regulation, and the use of market incentives, while also encouraging the 'collective learning process' by supporting innovation financially and providing access to information provided by advisory boards Market-based actors, who interact both vertically through the supply chain and horizontally with other industry leaders to share best practice and create innovative ideas. Civil society which is both the user of the end product provided by the market but also non-governmental organisations which can also provide pressure for change and space for innovation

Power and relationships