Industrial-commercial and tourist ports areas are spaces of difference, rich in potential opportunities but also in contradictions and conflicts. The conservation of their particular landscape is very important for the city/region development, founded on a new metabolism. Port areas will become...

Implementing decentralisation of public policies requires adequate governance devices, but local actors also need new competencies to get involved in the new devices. What are the competencies required, and how can they be built? This paper analyses a Farmer University in Brazil to see how the...

This paper is concerned with the development of the fishery sector in Guinea. The well-targeted purpose was to provide stakeholders with adequate knowledge items favouring their self-determination of a sustainable sector structure. The approach was to identify and implement an appropriate...

In this concluding editorial, we present the central observations regarding the theoretical, empirical and methodological explorations of the various articles that make up this special issue on the governability of societal transitions towards sustainability. We elaborate on the specific...

The British Government is attempting, through metagovernance, to encourage a transition to a low carbon electricity generation industry by promoting a revival of nuclear power. This paper considers the barriers that the British Government might encounter by analysing its metagovernance efforts...

The debate about peak oil has been raging for the last 40 years, yet, the fact remains that oil is not a sustainable resource and will eventually run out. It is unclear whether the consumer has accepted this fact. In the meantime, preparation is needed to find truly 'alternative' fuels; however,...

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how to relate scientific supply to demand regarding sustainable management indicators. This discussion is based on coastal zone management in Reunion Island, for which socioeconomic indicators have been developed. This research allows us to establish...

This editorial introduces this special issue on the governance and governability of societal system transitions towards sustainability. This debate recently seems to be dominated by a wave of studies that more or less are inspired by the ideas of the so-called transition management approach. In...

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...

This paper concerns situations similar to the ones occurring in the city of Naples, which result in a continuous degradation that destroys resources and detracts from their future usability. The main difficulties are to be found in terms of organisational and managerial skills in integrated...