Papers by Paul Michael Weaver
United Nations University Press eBooks, 1998
MATISSE (Methods and Tools for Integrated Sustainability Assessment) aims to achieve a
Sustainable Technology Development
The Importance of rural Ethiopia 5 2 Identity, modernity and sustainable rural development 12 3 C... more The Importance of rural Ethiopia 5 2 Identity, modernity and sustainable rural development 12 3 Challenges for developing rural Ethiopia
TRANSIT is an international research project that aims to develop a theory of Transformative Soci... more TRANSIT is an international research project that aims to develop a theory of Transformative Social Innovation that is useful to both research and practice. It is co-funded by the European Commission and runs for four years, from 2014 until 2017. The TRANSIT consortium consists of 12 partners across Europe and Latin America. For more information, please visit our website: .
There are numerous social innovation networks and initiatives worldwide with the ambition to cont... more There are numerous social innovation networks and initiatives worldwide with the ambition to contribute to transformative change towards more sustainable, resilient and just societies. Many of these have a specific vision on the economy and relate to alternative visions of a ‘New Economy’. This paper highlights four prominent strands of new economy thinking in state-of-the-art discussions: degrowth, collaborative economy, solidarity economy, and social entrepreneurship. Taking a perspective of transformative social innovation, the paper draws on case studies of 12 social innovation initiatives to analyse how these relate to new economies and to transitions toward new economic arrangements. The 12 cases are analysed in terms of a) how they relate to narratives of change on new economies, b) how they renew social relations, and c) how their new economy arrangements hold potential to challenge established institutional constellations in the existing economy.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for resea... more This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613169 What are the governance challenges of such networks and initiatives? How do existing governments relate to them? Next to the government of public authorities, there are broader governance processes, in which business, NGOs, research and education institutions, religious institutions and various intermediaries play their parts. As we will illustrate through several examples, social innovation certainly is not a pure 'civil society' or 'grassroots' phenomenon. Scientists, governments and business are also involved, either directly or indirectly and in various capacities (funder, expert, regulator, supporter, opponent, etc.). It is often said that social innovation is 'co-produced' and 'cocreated'. We agree that these 'co-words' are very suitable to describe how transformative social innovation is 'made' collectively. Yet, we also contend that co-production is not always a matter of harmonious collaboration or companionable co-existence. Transformative social innovation means that the social context, including its dominant institutions and power structures, is significantly challenged. This means that the 'co-production' of transformative social innovation is of a deeply political nature. Even if social innovation is an activity that can appease and combine various logics (markets and states, laypeople and experts, profit and non-profit), there are still real differences in vested interests and political opinions on what constitutes a sustainable, fair, or otherwise desirable society. This brief addresses the co-production of transformative social innovation in terms of how it generates solutions, but also the problems, setbacks, constraints and negative side-effects involved with this coproduction. We address four themes: (1) the development of 'transformative impulse', (2) the institutionalization of social innovation initiatives, (3) the hybrid nature of transformative social innovation, and (4) the relevance of different cultural and geographic contexts. Through these themes, the reader can share in the lessons on TSI governance challenges as we learn them through the 20 social networks that we study in various countries. TRANSIT Brief 3
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2016
In recent decades neoliberalism has become a powerful narrative that has shaped processes of urba... more In recent decades neoliberalism has become a powerful narrative that has shaped processes of urban economic development across the globe. Any future attempts to steer urban transitions will need to engage with and potentially challenge this dominant approach. This paper reports on four nascent 'new economic' logics which represent fundamentally different imaginaries of the urban economy. In each case, the underlying narrative informs already existing urban experiments in transformative social innovation, leading to the production of new patterns of (economic) relation and practice. Each of these experiments offers a counterpoint to conventional understandings of the neoliberal urban economy across four key dimensions: What is the purpose of economic development? What are the preferred distributive mechanisms? Who governs the economy? What is the preferred economic form of organisation? In conclusion, the emergence of these experiments and their concomitant narratives not only illustrates that cities are spaces where counter-narratives can emerge and circulate, but also that acknowledging the existence of these alternative visions opens up a wider set of possibilities for future urban transitions.
Ecology and Society, 2016
Continuing economic turbulence has fuelled debates about social and political reform as much as i... more Continuing economic turbulence has fuelled debates about social and political reform as much as it has stimulated actions and initiatives aimed at a more fundamental transition of dominant economic systems. This paper takes a transition perspective to explore, from a Western European viewpoint, how the economic crisis is actually viewed through a variety of interpretations and responded to through a range of practices. We argue that framing societal phenomena such as the economic crisis as "symptoms of transition" through alternative narratives and actions can give rise to the potential for (seemingly) short-term pressures to become game changers. Game changers are then defined as the combination of: specific events, the subsequent or parallel framing of events in systemic terms by engaged societal actors, and (eventually) the emergence of (diverse) alternative narratives and practices (in response to the systemic framing of events). Game changers, when understood in these terms, help to orient, legitimize, guide, and accelerate deep changes in society. We conclude that such dynamics in which game changers gain momentum might also come to play a critical role in transitions. Therefore, we argue for developing a better understanding of and methodologies to further study the coevolutionary dynamics associated with game changers, as well as exploring the implications for governance.
This working paper presents a set of propositions about the agency and dynamics of transformative... more This working paper presents a set of propositions about the agency and dynamics of transformative social innovation (TSI) that have been developed as part of an EU-funded research project entitled “TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory” (TRANSIT; 2014-2017). These TSI propositions represent first steps towards the development of a new theory of TSI, taking the form of proto-explanations of the agency and dynamics of TSI, based on the bringing together of our empirical observations on TSI and the project's theoretical reviews and theoretical framings. Ideally this working paper should be read in conjunction with the working paper entitled “A framework for transformative social innovation” (Haxeltine et al 2016) which presents in skeletal terms the theoretical and conceptual framing of TSI developed in the TRANSIT project. This TSI framework builds on sustainability transition studies, social innovation research, social psychology studies of empowerment and other several other a...
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2017
This article responds to increasing public and academic discourses on social innovation, which of... more This article responds to increasing public and academic discourses on social innovation, which often rest on the assumption that social innovation can drive societal change and empower actors to deal with societal challenges and a retreating welfare state. In order to scrutinise this assumption, this article proposes a set of concepts to study the dynamics of transformative social innovation and underlying processes of multi-actor (dis)empowerment. First, the concept of transformative social innovation is unpacked by proposing four foundational concepts to help distinguish between different pertinent 'shades' of change and innovation: 1) social innovation, (2) system innovation, (3) game-changers, and (4) narratives of change. These concepts, invoking insights from transitions studies and social innovations literature, are used to construct a conceptual account of how transformative social innovation emerges as a co-evolutionary interaction between diverse shades of change and innovation. Second, the paper critically discusses the dialectic nature of multi-actor (dis)empowerment that underlies such processes of change and innovation. The paper then demonstrates how the conceptualisations are applied to three empirical case-studies of transformative social innovation: Impact Hub, Time Banks and Credit Unions. In the conclusion we synthesise how the concepts and the empirical examples help to understand contemporary shifts in societal power relations and the changing role of the welfare state.
Our societies experience challenges of inclusion and cohesion and suffer (evidently) from multipl... more Our societies experience challenges of inclusion and cohesion and suffer (evidently) from multiple problems associated with exclusion across economic, social, political and many other dimensions. The challenge of building more inclusive societies is recognized at highest policy levels. The Europe 2020 Strategy (EC, 2010) has smart, inclusive and sustainable growth as its overarching aim, for example. Yet, against the backdrop of a widening and intensifying set of inclusion challenges, conventional inclusion policies, until now based heavily around economic growth,skilling and full employment, struggle to make our societies more inclusive. In this context, it is insightful to look toward social innovation movements, several of which organize around agendas of inclusion and are critical of mainstream systems and policies, to see what they bring to societal discourse and action on the issues of in/exclusion. This is important especially in relation to mainstream systems that are under ...
Solutions to the grand societal challenges faced by the knowledge society of the early 21st centu... more Solutions to the grand societal challenges faced by the knowledge society of the early 21st century will necessarily involve systemic change. This in turn implies a need to understand the ways in which social innovation can be ultimately transformative (creating the conditions for systemic change). This paper addresses the question “how can social innovation be analysed in relation to systemic change and grand societal challenges?” Social innovation is re-conceptualised in relation to systemic change, drawing upon a transitions perspective and emphasizing the important roles of: empowerment, transformative discourses and game-changing developments. This provides a broad conceptual framework, suitable for critically evaluating the hypothesis that social innovation is able to bring about new forms of social interaction that empower people to undertake strategies and actions which, under certain conditions, lead to transformative, systemic change. We propose a methodology for the devel...
This paper describes the participatory process of developing and implementing a prototype model a... more This paper describes the participatory process of developing and implementing a prototype model aimed at supporting the Integrated Sustainability Assessment of water resources and policy options at different scales. The model - called the World Cellular Model (WCM) focuses on the representation of agents’ behaviours and their systemic relationships with their environment. This is achieved by examining the interests, motives, cultural beliefs and structural resources that drive agents’ actions with regard to the use of stocks and flows of water, by looking at the impact of such water behaviours on the environment and on the natural ecosystems at different scales, and by examining in a coevolutionary way the impact of such environmental changes on the behaviours of agents. The WC model takes a ‘total system’, multi-scale, agent perspective. That is, agents operate in a single interrelated system in which each individual or collective agent responds to the availability and use of a set...
Environ Resour Econ, 1997
In this paper, we propose a methodology, based on materials accounting and operational research t... more In this paper, we propose a methodology, based on materials accounting and operational research techniques, to assess different industry configurations according to their life cycle environmental impacts. Rather than evaluating a specific technology, our methodology searches for the feasible configuration with the minimum impact. This approach allows us to address some basic policy-relevant questions regarding technology choice, investment priorities, industrial structures, and international trade patterns. We demonstrate the methodology in the context of the European pulp and paper industry. We are able to show that current environmental policy's focus on maximizing recycling is optimal now, but that modest improvements in primary pulping technology may shift the optimal industry configuration away from recycling toward more primary pulping with incineration. We show that this will have significant implications for the amount and type of environmental damage, for the location of different stages in the production chain, and for trade between European member states. We caution policy makers that their single-minded focus on recycling may foreclose investment in technologies that could prove environmentally superior. Finally, we hint that member state governments may be fashioning their environmental policy positions at least in part on some of the trade and industrial implications we find.
The needed science is referred to variously by different groups and communities as Sustainability... more The needed science is referred to variously by different groups and communities as Sustainability Science, RD4SD, and Interdisciplinary and Integrative Science, among others, but it has, as a common theme the reconciliation of societies' development goals with planetary limits over the long term and the harnessing of science and technology in the quest for sustainability (see: Jäger, 2009).
International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Mar 20, 2015
ABSTRACT This paper explains why learning, especially social learning, and evaluation are essenti... more ABSTRACT This paper explains why learning, especially social learning, and evaluation are essential and integral parts of Integrated Sustainability Assessment (ISA). This is linked to the intent and purpose of ISA as a process that seeks to achieve transformative outcomes, including through issue reframing. The goals of ISA require a participatory process, adaptability and an iterative architecture with, at the end of each ISA cycle, a phase of purposefully structured evaluation of learning achieved. The paper explains how the evaluation of learning outcomes has been structured in the MATISSE project and reports findings from the first round of evaluation.
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Papers by Paul Michael Weaver