Our paper addresses the inherent tension between the open-ended and uncertain process of sustainability transitions and the ambition for governing such a process. We explore this tension from two theoretical angles: the sustainability and the governance angles; by showing the implications of...

Transition management has become an important topic in scientific research on sustainable development over the last decade. A recurring question is whether, and if so how, transitions towards sustainability can be governed. In this paper we address this question by theoretically comparing...

In this paper we examine and elaborate on the central elements of sustainable development and governance, considering their interrelations as they have emerged from the core themes in sustainable development discourses over the past decade and a half. We argue that sustainability is best viewed...

In the context of the conceptual and analytical discussion of operationalising sustainable development, institutional sustainability has so far not played a major role. The UN Commission for Sustainable Development decided in 1995 to develop indicators for assessing the progress which UN members...

Governance is defined as a process allowing actors to contextualise the regulatory system and, as a result, to transform sustainable development (SD) into an instrument of action. It will be all the easier for actors to familiarise themselves with SD and its implementation measures if these...

There has been scholarly criticism that transition theory has hitherto largely neglected the politics involved in transition governance. This article offers an analytical framework for understanding powering and legitimisation in a way that does not a priori assume that such politics is bound to...

Territorial governance has become a major issue for public authorities. Studying the information generated by implementing sustainable agricultural contracts (SAC) on Reunion Island (Ile de la Reunion) has contributed to the development of new types of territorial governance projects. The...

New technologies are needed to address sustainability issues through emerging forms of governance. These will be concerned with agency, performance and citizenship as much as with traditional biophysical concerns. The governance of water is a complex and critical issue where sustainability...

Sustainable development represents a major governance challenge of the 21st century. If societal development trajectories are to be realigned on to more sustainable pathways major changes will be required to existing processes and practices of governance. This essay considers the nature of these...

The sustainability concepts of the "Brundtland-Report" and the "Rio documents" call for a combination of ecological, economic, social and institutional aspects of social development. This paper describes briefly, several models of sustainability and discusses social sustainability as...