Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Urban Transformations pp 21–44Cite as

Linking Transition Theories with Theories of Institutions – Implications for Sustainable Urban Infrastructures Between Flexibility and Stability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Future City ((FUCI,volume 10))

Abstract

The water, energy, telecommunication, and transport services that are provided through infrastructure systems impact considerably on the quality of life, resilience, and resource efficiency and, thereby, also on the overall sustainability of urban areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Arthur WB (1994) Increasing returns and path dependence in the economy. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bates BC, Kundzewicz ZW, Wu S, Palutikof JP (eds) (2008) Climate change and water. Technical paper of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. IPCC Secretariat, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedtke N, Gawel E (2015) Flexibilität von Wasserinfrastruktursystemen – Konzepte und institutionelle Ansatzpunkte. In: Gawel E (ed) Die governance der Wasserinfrastruktur – Vol. 2. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, pp 77–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Bijker WE, Law J (eds) (1992) Shaping technology/building society – studies in sociotechnical change. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Bijker WE, Hughes TH, Pinch TJ (eds) (1987) The social construction of technological systems. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanchet T (2015) Path dependence and change in the governance of organized systems: the case of water services in three German municipalities (1990–2010). Free University Berlin, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolton R, Foxon TJ (2015) Infrastructure transformation as a socio-technical process – Implications for the governance of energy distribution networks in the UK. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 90(Part B):538–550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand U (2016) “Transformation” as a new critical orthodoxy – the strategic use of the term “Transformation” does not prevent multiple crises. Gaia 25(1):23–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown RR (2005) Impediments to integrated urban stormwater management: the need for institutional reform. Environ Manag 36(3):455–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown R, Farrelly MA (2009) Delivering sustainable urban water management: a review of the hurdles we face. Water Sci Technol 59(5):839–846

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown R, Keath N (2008) Drawing on social theory for transitioning to sustainable urban water management: turning the institutional supertanker. Aust J Water Resour 12(2):73–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown RR, Keath N, Wong THF (2009) Urban water management in cities: historical, current and future regimes. Water Sci Technol 59(5):847–855

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown R, Ashley R, Farrelly M (2011) Political and professional agency entrapment: an agenda for urban water research. Water Resour Manag 25(15):4037–4050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell D, Rosemarin A, Schröder JJ, Smit AL (2011) Towards global phosphorus security: a systems framework for phosphorus recovery and reuse options. Chemosphere 84(6):747–758

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Denzau AT, North DC (1994) Shared mental models: ideologies and institutions. Kyklos 47(1):3–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolata U (2011) Socio-technical change as gradual transformation. Berl J Soziol 21(2):265–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EEA - European Environment Agency (2012) Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe. EEA Report 2/2012. EEA, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrelly M, Brown R (2011) Rethinking urban water management: experimentation as a way forward? Glob Environ Chang 21(2):721–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finger M, Allouche J, Luís-Manso P (eds) (2007) Water and liberalisation – European water scenarios. IWA Publishing, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantzeskaki N, Loorbach D (2010) Towards governing infrasystem transitions: reinforcing lock-in or facilitating change? Technol Forecast Soc Chang 77(8):1292–1301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuenfschilling L, Truffer B (2014) The structuration of socio-technical regimes – conceptual foundations from institutional theory. Res Policy 43(4):772–791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furubotn EG, Richter R (2005) Institutions and economic theory: the contribution of the new institutional economics. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gawel E (2016a) “Great transformation” towards sustainability and behavioral economics. In: Beckenbach F, Kahlenborn W (eds) New perspectives for environmental policies through behavioral economics. Springer, Berlin/New York, pp 127–145

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gawel E (2016b) Environmental and resource costs under article 9 of the water framework directive. challenges for the implementation of the principle of cost recovery for water services. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gawel E, Bedtke N (2015) Efficiency and competition in the German water sector between “Modernization” and “Regulation”. J Public Nonprofit Serv 38(2/3):97–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawel E, Bedtke N (2016) Große Transformationen aus Sicht der Institutionenökonomik und der Neuen Politischen Ökonomik. In: Held M, Kubon-Gilke G, Sturn R (eds) Politische Ökonomik großer Transformationen. Metropolis, Marburg, pp 287–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawel E, Lehmann P, Korte K, Strunz S, Bovet J, Köck W (2014) The future of the energy transition in Germany. Energy Sustain Soc 4(1):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Res Policy 31(8/9):1257–1274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels FW (2004) Socio-technical systems: insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory. Res Policy 33(6/7):897–920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geels FW, Schot J (2007) Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Res Policy 36(3):399–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham S, Marvin S (2001) Splintering Urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilites and the urban condition. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagemann N (2016) Understanding institutional persistence in Ukrainian water service provision sector. Shaker, Aachen

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek FA (1968) Competition as a discovery procedure (trans: Snow MS, 2002). Q J Aust Econ 5(3):9–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman AO (1970) Exit, voice and loyalty. Responses to decline in firms, organizations and states. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshleifer, J, de Haven JC, Milliman JW (1960) Water supply: economics, technology, and policy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoque SF, Wichelns D (2013) State-of-the-art review: designing urban water tariffs to recover costs and promote wise use. Int J Water Resour Dev 29(3):472–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hug T, Dominguez D, Maurer M (2010) The cost of uncertainty and the value of flexibility in water and wastewater infrastructure planning. Proc Water Environ Fed 2:487–500. doi:10.2175/193864710798284832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP (1983) Networks of power: electrification in western society, 1880–1930. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP (1987) The evolution of large technological systems. In: Bijker WE, Hughes TP, Pinch T (eds) The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 51–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Hummel D, Lux A (2007) Population decline and infrastructure: The case of the German water supply system. Vienna Yearb Popul Res 5:167–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabisch S, Kuhlicke C (2014) Urban transformations and the idea of resource efficiency, quality of life and resilience. Built Environ 40(4):497–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingston C, Caballero G (2009) Comparing theories of institutional change. J Inst Econ 5(2):151–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiparsky M, Sedlak DE, Thompson BH, Truffer B (2013) The innovation deficit in urban w: the need for an integrated perspective on institutions, organizations, and technology. Environ Eng Sci 30(8):395–408

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Klinkenberg A (2007) Organisationsveränderungen in der kommunalen Wasserversorgung und Abwasserentsorgung. PhD dissertation, University of Duisburg-Essen

    Google Scholar 

  • Koop SHA, van Leeuwen CJ (2016) The challenges of water, waste and climate change in cities. Environ Dev Sustain 1–34. doi:10.1007/s10668-016-9760-4.

  • Koziol M (2004) The consequences of demographic change for municipal infrastructure. German J Urban Stud 44(1)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kretschmer S (2006) Der institutionelle Wandel der EDEKA-Gruppe. Shaker, Münster

    Google Scholar 

  • Kümmerer K (2009) Antibiotics in the aquatic environment – a review – part I. Chemosphere 75(4):417–434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen TA, Gujer W (1997) The concept of sustainable urban water management. Water Sci Technol 35(9):3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen TA, Alder AC, Eggen RIL, Maurer M, Lienert J (2009) Source separation: will we see a paradigm shift in wastewater handling? Environ Sci Technol 43(16):6121–6125

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Londong J, Hartmann M (2014) Angepasste Einzelfalllösungen unter wegweisenden politischen Rahmenbedingungen statt detaillierter administrativer Vorgaben – ein Plädoyer für die Ingenieur- und Rechtskunst. In: Pinnekamp J (ed) 47. Essener Tagung für Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft “Ist unsere Wasserwirtschaft zukunftsfähig”. ISA, Aachen, pp 29/1–29/14

    Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach D (2007) Transition management: new mode of governance for sustainable development. International Books, Utrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach D (2010) Transition management for sustainable development: a prescriptive, complexity-based governance framework. Governance 23(1):61–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach D, Frantzeskaki N, Thissen W (2010) Introduction to the special section: Infrastructures and transitions. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 77(8):1195–1202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach D, Rotmans J (2006) Managing transitions for sustainable development. In: Olsthoorn X, Wieczorek A (eds) Understanding industrial transformation. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 187–206

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie D, Wajcman J (eds) (1999) The social shaping of technology, 2nd edn. Open University Press, Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • Markard J (2011) Transformation of Infrastructures: sector characteristics and implications for fundamental change. J Infrastruct Syst 17(3):107–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markard J, Truffer B (2006) Innovation processes in large technical systems: market liberalization as a driver for radical change? Res Policy 35(5):609–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayntz R, Hughes TP (eds) (1988) The development of large technical systems. Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag

    Google Scholar 

  • Milly PCD, Betancourt J, Falkenmark M, Hirsch RM, Kundzewicz ZW, Lettenmaier DW, Stouffer RJ (2008) Stationarity is dead: whither water management? Science 319:573–574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moss T (2008) ‘Cold spots’ of urban infrastructure: ‘Shrinking’ processes in Eastern Germany and the modern infrastructural ideal. Int J Urban Reg Res 32:436–451. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00790.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson RR, Winter SG (1977) In search of a useful theory of innovation. Res Policy 6(1):36–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson RR, Winter SG (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman P (2001) Sustainable urban water systems in rich and poor countries: steps towards a new approach. Water Sci Technol 43(4):93–100

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1994) Economic performance through time. Am Econ Rev 84(3):359–368

    Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1995a) Five propositions about institutional change. In: Knight J, Sened I (eds) Explaining social institutions. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, pp 15–26

    Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1995b) The Adam Smith address: economic theory in a dynamic economic world. Bus Econ 30(1):7–12

    Google Scholar 

  • North DC (2005) Understanding the process of economic change. Princeton University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • NRC – National Research Council (2013) Underground engineering for sustainable development. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2010) Pricing water resources and water and sanitation services. OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi K (1944) The great transformation. Farrar & Rinehart, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rip A, Kemp R (1998) Technological change. In: Rayner S, Malone EL (eds) Human choice and climate change, 2nd edn. Battelle Press, Columbus, pp 327–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell S, Lux C (2009) Getting over yuck: moving from psychological to cultural and sociotechnical analyses of responses to water recycling. Water Policy 11(1):21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneidewind U, Singer-Brodowski M (2014) Transformative Wissenschaft. Metropolis, Marburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Schönefuß S (2005) Privatisierung, regulierung und Wettbewerbselemente in einem natürlichen Infrastrukturmonopol. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schramm E, Felmeden J (2012) Towards more resilient water infrastructures. In: Otto-Zimmermann K (ed) Resilient cities 2. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 177–186

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Scott WR (1995) Institutions and organizations. Sage Publications, London/New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon MA, Bohn PW, Elimelech P, Georgiadis JG, Marinas BJ, Mayes AM (2008) Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades. Nature 452(7185):301–310

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sieker F, Sieker H (2009) Reformschritte zu einem Paradigmen- und Systemwechsel bei der Regenwasserbewirtschaftung – Teil 2: Reformschritte bei Begriffen, Anschluss- und Benutzungszwang, Technischen Regeln und Honorarordnung. Gwf-Wasser/Abwasser 150(11):919–926

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith MR, Marx L (eds) (1994) Does technology drive history? The dilemma of technological determinism. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA/London

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth R (1998) New institutional economics in the post-socialist transformation debate. J Econ Surv 12(4):361–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tauchmann H, Hafkesbrink J, Nisipeanu P, Thomzik M, Bäumer A, Brauer A et al (2006) Innovationen für eine nachhaltige Wasserwirtschaft: Einflussfaktoren und Handlungsbedarf. Physica, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Tauchmann H, Clausen H, Oelmann M (2009) Do organizational forms matter? Innovation and liberalization in the German wastewater sector. J Policy Model 31(6):863–876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas DA, Ford R (2005) The crisis of innovation in water and wastewater. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiebout C (1956) A pure theory of local expenditures. J Polit Econ 64(5):416–424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN – United Nations (2015) World population prospects, vol 2. Demographic profiles. http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2015_Volume-II-Demographic-Profiles.pdf. Accessed 1 Juli 2016

  • Unruh GC (2000) Understanding carbon lock-in. Energy Policy 28(12):817–830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Brugge R, Rotmans J (2007) Towards transition management of European water resources. Water Resour Manag 21(1):249–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WBGU – German Advisory Council on Global Change (2011) World in transition – a social contract for sustainability. Report. German Advisory Council on Global Change, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilby RL (2007) A review of climate change impacts on the built environment. Built Environ 33(1):31–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Norman Bedtke & Erik Gawel

Authors
  1. Norman Bedtke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Erik Gawel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norman Bedtke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban and Environment Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Sigrun Kabisch

  2. Department of Urban and Environment Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Florian Koch

  3. Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Erik Gawel

  4. Department of Urban and Environment Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Annegret Haase

  5. Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Sonja Knapp

  6. Department of Urban and Environment Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Kerstin Krellenberg

  7. Centre for Environmental Biotechnology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Jaime Nivala

  8. Centre for Environmental Biotechnology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Andreas Zehnsdorf

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bedtke, N., Gawel, E. (2018). Linking Transition Theories with Theories of Institutions – Implications for Sustainable Urban Infrastructures Between Flexibility and Stability. In: Kabisch, S., et al. Urban Transformations. Future City, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59324-1_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59324-1_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59323-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59324-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation