Artikkelit

Julkaisun nimiMunicipal experimental policy engagements in the built environment
KirjoittajatDavid Lazarevic, Saija Mokkila, Paula Kivimaa, Jani Lukkarinen, Anne Toppinen
JulkaisijaEnvironmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
ISBN/DOIDOI:10.1016/j.eist.2024.100888
Julkaisupäivä31.7.2024

Abstract

Experimentation is a key theme in the sustainability transition literature, where cities are recognized as key intermediaries in experimentation. Whilst attention has focused on the role of the cities as intermediary actors, the ways in which municipalities engage in and support experimentation is less known. In a collective case study of four Finnish municipalities, we draw on the transformative innovation policy literature to investigate the experimental policy engagements and the types of transformative outcomes the municipalities aim to influence. The municipalities engaged in socio-technical experimentation, both as regime-based intermediaries and as innovators experimenting with internal processes and tools. Their attention was focused on building and expanding niches, with unlocking regimes seen to be something beyond their scope. We can observe an experimental culture beginning to emerge at the local governance level. Whilst projectification in the public sector has enabled this emergence, it also influences the form and continuity of experimentation.

Julkaisun nimiCircular economy policies and their transformative outcomes: The transformative intent of Finland’s strategic policy programme
KirjoittajatDavid Lazarevic, Hanna Salo, Petrus Kautto
JulkaisijaJournal of Cleaner Production
ISBN/DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134892
Julkaisupäivä27.10.2022

Abstract

This paper analyses how Finland’s circular economy policy attends not only to the promotion and acceleration of innovation, but also the reconfiguration of resource intensive systems. Socio-technical transitions research has historically focused on niche innovation processes. Yet recently, increasing attention has been placed on policy processes that seek to destabilise and disrupt incumbent systems and practices. Furthermore, the social justice aspects of system phase out policies have been brought to the fore. Our qualitative analysis of Finland’s circular economy policy programme draws upon the transformative innovation policy and sustainability transitions policy-mix literatures, extending the transformative outcome framework to include outcomes related to the repercussions of regime destabilisation, coordination and tilting the socio-technical landscape. Our analysis shows that Finland’s circular economy policy programme aims predominantly at niche stimulation and acceleration, with little emphasis on the regime destabilisation or coordination. Overall, the policy proposals aim toward a strategy of progressive system change, an orientation shaped by the country’s corporatist approach to policy making and pre-existing plans.