Abstract
Transformation as an adaptive response to climate change opens a range of novel policy options. Used to describe responses that produce non-linear changes in systems or their host social and ecological environments, transformation also raises distinct ethical and procedural questions for decision-makers. Expanding adaptation to include transformation foregrounds questions of power and preference that have so far been underdeveloped in adaptation theory and practice. We build on David Harvey’s notion of activity space to derive a framework and research agenda for climate change adaptation seen as a political decision-point and as an opportunity for transformation, incremental adjustment or resistance to change in development pathway. Decision-making is unpacked through the notion of the activity space into seven coevolving sites: the individual, technology, livelihoods, discourse, behaviour, the environment and institutions. The framework is tested against practitioner priorities to define an agenda that can make coherent advances in research and practice on climate change adaptation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adger WN, Quinn T, Lorenzoni I, Murphy C, Sweeney J (2013) Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 3:330–333
Béné C, Godfrey Wood R, Newsham A, Davies M (2012) Resilience: new utopia or new tyranny? Reflection about the potentials and limits of the concept of resilience in relation to vulnerability-reduction programmes. IDS Working Paper 405, Institute of Development Studies, UK
Bottrell D (2009) Understanding ‘marginal’ perspectives: towards a social theory of resilience. Qual Soc Work 8:321–339
Brand FS, Jax K (2007) Focusing the meaning(s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object. Ecol Soc 12(1):23–39
Brower RS, Magno FA (2011) A “third way” in the Philippines. Int Rev Public Adm 16(1):31–50
Calvin K, Edmonds J, Bond-Lamberty B, Clarke L, Kim SH, Kyle P, Smith SJ, Thomson A, Wise M (2009) Limiting climate change to 450 ppm CO2 equivalent in the 21st century. Energy Econ 31(2):107–120
Chambers R, Conway GR (1991) Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. institute of development studies DP 296. University of Sussex, Brighton
Cranton P (1994) Understanding and promoting transformative learning: a guide for educators of adults. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
DFID (2011a) Humanitarian emergency response review: UK government response. Department for International Development, London
DFID (2011b) Defining disaster resilience, A DFID approach paper. Department for International Development, London
Dow K, Berkhout F, Presnton BL, Klein RJT, Midgley G, Shaw MR (2013) Limits to adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 3:305–307
Easterly W (2006) The white man’s burden: why the west’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much Ill and so little good. The Penguin Press, New York
Foresight (2012) Reducing risks of future disasters: priorities for decision makers, Final Project Report. The Government Office for Science, London
Freire P (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum, New York
Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multilevel perspective and case study. Res Policy 31(8/9):1257–1274
Giddens A (1984) The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Polity, Cambridge
Glavovic BC (2008) Sustainable coastal communities in the age of coastal storms: reconceptualising coastal planning and ICM as ‘new’ naval architecture. J Coast Conserv 12(3):125–134
Handmer J, Dovers SR (1996) A typology of resilience: rethinking institutions for sustainable development. Organization Environ 9(4):482–511
Harvey D (2008) On the deep relevance of a certain footnote in Marx’s Capital. Hum Geogr 1(2):26–31
Harvey D (2010) The enigma of capital: and the crisis of capitalism. Profile Books, London
Huq S, Roberts A, Fenton A (2013) Loss and damage. Nat Clim Chang 3:947–949
IPCC (2012) In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation, a special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge
IPCC (2014) In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. part a: global and sectoral aspects. contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ (2012) Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. PNAS 109(19):7156–7161
Kegan R (1994) In over our heads: the mental demands of modern life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Kegan R, Lahey L (2009) Immunity to change. Harvard Business Press, Boston
Krishnamurti J (1996) Total freedom: the essential Krishnamurti. Harper, San Fransisco
Loftus A (2012) Everyday environmentalism. University of Minesota Press, London
Loorbach D (2007) Transition management: new mode of governance for sustainable development. International Books, Utrecht
Marshall NA, Park SE, Adger WN, Brown K, Howden SSM (2012) Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity. Environ Res Lett 7:9pp
Matyas D, Pelling M (2015) Positioning resilience in the post-2015 disaster risk management policy landscape: integrating resistance, persistence and transformation. Disasters (in press)
Mezirow J (2000) Learning to think like an adult: core concepts of transformative theory. In: Mezirow J et al (eds) Learning as transformation. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 3–33
Mustafa D (2005) The production of an urban hazardscape in Pakistan: modernity, vulnerability and the range of choice’. Annals Assoc Am Geogr 95(3):566–586
Nelson DR (2009) Conclusions: transforming the world. In: Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien K (eds) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge
Nelson D, Adger WN, Brown K (2007) Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework. Annu Rev Environ Resour 32:395–419
O’Brien K (2012) Global environmental change (2): from adaptation to deliberate transformation. Prog Hum Geogr 36(5):667–676
O’Brien K, Hayward B, Berkes F (2009) Rethinking social contracts: building resilience in a changing climate. Ecol Soc 14(2):12
O’Neill S, Handmer J (2012) Responding to bushfire risk: the need for transformative adaptation. Environ Res Lett 7:1
Park SE, Marshall NA, Jakku E, Dowd AM, Howden SM, Mendham E, Fleming A (2012) Informing adaptation responses to climate change through theories of transformation. Glob Environ Chang 22:115–126
Pelling M (2011) Adaptation to climate change: from resilience to transformation. Routledge, London
Pelling M, Dill C (2010) Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of socio-political regimes. Prog Hum Geogr 34:21–37
Pelling M, Manuel-Naverrete D (2011) From resilience to transformation: exploring the adaptive cycle in two Mexican urban centres. Ecol Soc 16(2):11
Pelling M, High C, Dearing J, Smith D (2007) Shadow spaces for social learning: a relational understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change within organisations. Environ Planning A 40(4):867–884
Redclift MR, Manuel-Navarrete D, Pelling M (2011) Climate change and human security: the challenge to local governance under rapid coastal urbanization. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Roberts D (2010) Prioritizing climate change adaptation and local level resilience in Durban, South Africa. Environ Urban 22(2):397–413
Schlitz MM, Vieten C, Amorok T (2007) Living deeply: the art & science of transformation in everyday life. New Harbinger Publications and Noetic Books, Oakland
Schlüter M, Herrfahrdt-Pähle E (2011) Exploring resilience and transformability of a river basin in the face of socioeconomic and ecological crisis: an example from Amudarya river basin, Central Asia. Ecol Soc 16(1):32–51
Shove E (2010) Beyond the ABC: climate change policy and theories of social change. Environ Planning A 42:1273–1285
Teschl M, Comim F (2005) Adaptive preferences and capabilities: some preliminary conceptual explorations. Rev Soc Econ 63(2):229–247
Thomson AM, Calvin KV, Smith JS, Kyle PG, Volke A, Patel P, Delgado-Arias S, Bond-Lamberty B, Wise MA, Clarke LE, Edmonds JA (2011) RCP4.5: a pathway for stabilization of radiative forcing. Clim Chang 109:77–94
Tschakert P, van Oort B, St. Clair AL, LaMadrid A (2013) Inequality and transformation analyses: a complementary lens for addressing vulnerability to climate change. Climate Dev 5(4):340–350
USAID (2012) Building resilience to recurrent crisis: USAID policy and program guidance. US Agency for International Development, Washington
Warren M (1992) Democratic theory and self-transformation. Am Polit Sci Rev 86(1):8–23
Wilson S, Pearson LJ, Kashima Y, Lusher D (2013) Separating adaptive maintenance (resilience) and transformative capacity of socio-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 18(1):22. doi:10.5751/ES-05100-180122
Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davies I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disaster. Routledge, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of a Special Issue on “Advancing Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management” edited by Joern Birkmann and Reinhard Mechler.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pelling, M., O’Brien, K. & Matyas, D. Adaptation and transformation. Climatic Change 133, 113–127 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1303-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1303-0