Jill H. Slinger

Pilot projects in Water Management

Pilot projects appear in many forms in policy making and management. In an effort to understand the nature and use of pilot projects and improve their effectiveness, we undertake a practice-based and theoretical study of the pilot project phenomenon. First, we examine the roles assigned to pilot projects in the policy development literature and explore their use in a Dutch water innovation platform. Second, we determine characteristics of pilot projects to deepen insights into the nature of the pilot project phenomenon and the dimensions useful in the design of pilot projects. Third, we identify three pilot types and nine ways to use a pilot project and we develop a Pilot Project Nonagon that can be used to assess pilot projects’ uses and to compare stakeholders’ perspectives on these uses. Fourth, we identify hurdles to diffusion of the knowledge developed from pilot projects and suggest strategies to overcome these. Lastly, we formulate a research agenda aimed at addressing the identified knowledge gaps.

Pilot projects and their diffusion: a case study of integrated coastal management in South Africa

Pilot projects are policy instruments mainly applied to introduce or test new practices, concepts or technologies. Pilot projects can lead to a broader policy transition. However, the diffusion process associated with the pilot projects is not well understood. In this paper, we investigate the diffusion of pilot projects, focusing on the nature of the diffusion (the innovation itself, cooperation, methodologies or institutional designs), the channels of diffusion (internal and external) and the patterns of diffusion (dissemination, expansion and institutionalisation). The analytical framework developed for pilot project diffusion is applied to the Saldanha Bay project in South Africa, yielding additional insights on the functioning of the pilot, its contribution to the diffusion of the innovation and so to a policy transition in South African coastal zone management. Finally, we identify types of pilot project and the accompanying design choices that are most suitable for transition management.

From impact assessment to effective management plans: learning from the Great Brak Estuary in South Africa

In 1990, the environmental impacts of an upstream dam on the Great Brak town and estuary were assessed and a management plan and monitoring programme were devised. In a recent review of the monitoring results, planned water releases and interventions in the form of timely mouth breaching were found to have ensured that, although the estuarys abiotic functioning has altered, its biotic health has not deteriorated over the last ten years. The lessons learned are captured in the revised management plan of 2004, which exhibits a clear shift to explicit communication plans and operational procedures, indicating that the initial environmental impact assessment (EIA) products were rudimentary. We argue that learning-through-doing and active public participation in the Great Brak case are essential ingredients in the adaptive management that is fundamental to successful EIA follow-up.

The Influence of Scale Preferences on the Design of a Water Innovation: A Case in Dutch River Management

The debate on scale use in river management focuses primarily on the (lack of) fit between the bio-geophysical and institutional systems. However, in this article we focus on the ‘subjective’ aspect of scale preferences in water governance. We apply an adapted version of the Integrated Scale Hierarchy for Rivers to determine the degree of fit between the scale preferences of the actors involved in a Dutch case study and the scale requirements of the innovative river management concept. This allows us to understand which riverine processes and characteristics are regarded as important by the different actors and to identify mismatches in scale perspectives as they manifest themselves in water management practice. We discover that inflexibility in scale use on the part of the involved actors places bounds on the design and quality of interventions and demonstrate that a more flexible use of scales in the design phase of a river management intervention has the potential to lead to more effective solutions.

The usefulness of game theory as a method for policy evaluation

Most of today’s public policies are formulated and implemented in multi-actor networks. Game theory has long been around as a method that supports a careful analysis of interaction processes among actors. So far, it has not been widely applied in the evaluation field. Hence, questions regarding the usefulness of game theory as an evaluation method remain pertinent. This article addresses these questions, based on a review of literature on evaluations and game theory, and a case where game theory was used in an evaluation of coastal policy implementation in the Netherlands. The results suggest that game theory can help to open up the ‘black-box’ of policy implementation, when implementation depends on the actions of several interdependent actors. This potential lies not so much in ‘hard’ mathematical uses, but in the use of game theory as a formal modeling approach that adds structure and rigour to the study of social processes.

Criteria for Evaluating the Design of Implementation Models for Integrated Coastal Management

Despite the emphasis placed on the contextual nature of integrated coastal management (ICM) implementation in the literature, many uniformities are encountered in ICM implementation worldwide. In this article the tangled threads of ICM practice are unravelled and a theoretically founded set of criteria for evaluating the design of ICM implementation models is provided. First, paradigms in integrated environmental management (IEM) implementation, the broader domain within which ICM practice is nested, are characterized in terms of their key concepts. Next, the paradigms are used as a mechanism to distill uniformities in ICM practice as reported in review articles. Finally a set of fourteen building blocks against which the scientific credibility of contextual, country-specific ICM implementation models can be validated, is generated by translating the theory-based characterization into evaluation criteria readily accessible to practitioners.

Adapting scale use for successful implementation of Cyclic Floodplain Rejuvenation in the Netherlands

The adaptive management concept of Cyclic Floodplain Rejuvenation (CFR) has been implemented at the operational level in Dutch river management. The floodplains of Beuningen, situated to the west of Nijmegen functioned as a pilot study. Current river management formed the reference framework within which the CFR approach. By comparing and contrasting processes of importance within different floodplain management disciplines on a bio-geomorphological scale classification, differences in the scale preferences of involved actors were identified and understood. The tool developed to distinguish these different preferences in scales is the Integrated Scale Hierarchy. We concluded that the ability of river managers and conservationists to scale up for the purpose of CFR was a necessary condition for the success of operational CFR. The constraining arguments for focusing at the current floodplain level of management as opposed to the river reach level more suitable for the implementation of CFR measures, were then subjected to validation. We found the concerns for navigational safety and increased managerial complexity to be valid whereas the arguments relating to hydraulic effectiveness and conservation appeared to be ill-founded. Consequently, scaling up to the reach level remains a challenge for managers of the restrained lowland rivers of The Netherlands.

A narrative perspective on institutional work in environmental governance – insights from a beach nourishment case study in Sweden

Institutional work offers a promising lens for understanding institutional change, focusing on the efforts of actors in creating, maintaining or disrupting institutions. In this paper, we explore the capacity of a narrative approach to provide insights on institutional work, using a case study from the coast of Sweden. We identify four narratives that compete in the policy discourse regarding erosion and beach nourishment in the coastal province of Scania. The narratives reveal that actors hold different beliefs concerning the magnitude of the erosion problem, the division of responsibilities and the suitability of sand nourishment as a coastal protection measure. The narrative competition is considered reflective of past institutional discussions and ongoing institutional work in coastal management in Scania, confirming that narratives are used as sense-making and meaning-giving devices in institutional discussions.

Planning support tools and their effects in participatory urban adaptation workshops

In the face of a changing climate, many cities are engaged in adaptation planning and are using participatory workshops to involve stakeholders in these initiatives. Different tools are being used to structure the process and content of participatory planning workshops, but it is unclear what effect the tools have on the workshops and their results. We evaluated three different tools (Group Model Building, the Adaptation Support Tool, and the Stress Test Guideline) and a tool-free approach in repeated simulated workshops, to observe and compare (1) the way workshops played out, and (2) the direct outcomes that were achieved. Tools appear to influence both aspects. Specifically, we measured differences in the learning effects in groups, in the development of shared understanding within groups, in the types of plans that are developed by groups, and in the nature of participation during the workshops. Further research is needed to translate these results into practice, but this is a first step in advancing knowledge about the influence of tools in participatory planning activities.

Matching of resources and the design of organisations for project management

This paper addresses a problem common to many high-technology firms. How can firms balance the needs of management as well as technologists in resourcing projects when both material and knowledge are needed for project success? The union between material and engineering knowledge in the form of projects within a firm is viewed as a matching, and the established literature on matching is brought to bear on the issue. In particular, the project resourcing problem is related to the well-known ‘problem of stable marriage’. A formal argument demonstrates that a range of potential choices for project resourcing exists and that such choices are anchored and routinised by the different organisational designs of the firm. Efficient outcomes of project resource matching are related to several well-known organisational forms including the functional form, the project matrix, and the project-based organisation. The paper reveals that the project matrix organisation pays a heavy cost for its compromise between resourc...