Tanya Heikkila

A Social‐Ecological‐Infrastructural Systems Framework for Interdisciplinary Study of Sustainable City Systems

Summary Cities are embedded within larger-scale engineered infrastructures (e.g., electric power, water supply, and transportation networks) that convey natural resources over large distances for use by people in cities. The sustainability of city systems therefore depends upon complex, cross-scale interactions between the natural system, the transboundary engineered infrastructures, and the multiple social actors and institutions that govern these infrastructures. These elements, we argue, are best studied in an integrated manner using a novel social-ecological-infrastructural systems (SEIS) framework. In the biophysical subsystem, the SEIS framework integrates urban metabolism with life cycle assessment to articulate transboundary infrastructure supply chain water, energy, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission footprints of cities. These infrastructure footprints make visible multiple resources (water, energy, materials) used directly or indirectly (embodied) to support human activities in cities. They inform cross-scale and cross-infrastructure sector strategies for mitigating environmental pollution, public health risks and supply chain risks posed to cities. In the social subsystem, multiple theories drawn from the social sciences explore interactions between three actor categories—individual resource users, infrastructure designers and operators, and policy actors—who interact with each other and with infrastructures to shape cities toward sustainability outcomes. Linking of the two subsystems occurs by integrating concepts, theories, laws, and models across environmental sciences/climatology, infrastructure engineering, industrial ecology, architecture, urban planning, behavioral sciences, public health, and public affairs. Such integration identifies high-impact leverage points in the urban SEIS. An interdisciplinary SEIS-based curriculum on sustainable cities is described and evaluated for its efficacy in promoting systems thinking and interdisciplinary vocabulary development, both of which are measures of effective frameworks.

Developing sustainable and replicable water supply systems in rural communities in Brazil

This article examines the challenges and opportunities for developing rural water supply programs that can meet multiple sustainability criteria (including social, technical/administrative and environmental criteria) and can be replicated beyond individual communities. It draws lessons from a water supply development project in Northeast Brazil, identifying how environmental and community assessments, community engagement in planning, as well as training, capacity building and monitoring can help meet sustainability criteria. The article further explores how an institutionalized planning process and partnerships with public agencies and donors are integrated into the project design to support replicability.

Capturing Structural and Functional Diversity Through Institutional Analysis The Mayor Position in City Charters

City charters affect the governance of municipal systems in complex ways. Current descriptions and typologies developed to study city charter structures simplify the diverse types and configurations of institutional rules underlying charter designs. This research note demonstrates a more detailed approach for studying the design of city charters using analytical methods based on the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework. This approach is illustrated with a pilot study of institutional rules in municipal charters that define the roles and duties of mayors. The findings reveal that city charters exhibit great institutional diversity, particularly within strong mayor cities. We conclude with a research agenda that could generate a more precise and rigorous understanding of the relationship between the different configurations of institutions of city charters and the politics, governance, and performance of municipalities.

Investigating Collaborative Processes Over Time A 10-Year Study of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force

Collaboration is commonly used to deliver public services that reach beyond the capacities of independent organizations. Much of the literature has been concerned with understanding the types of collaborative processes that are associated with successful collaboration. Yet, few scholars have studied how these design features unfold or evolve over time. We fill this gap through a study of a collaborative environmental management process—the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force—over a 10-year period. Using data coded from the Task Force’s meeting minutes, we examine three key elements of successful collaborative processes in the literature, including internal governance and administration, internal communication, and external communication. To complement our coded data, we also rely on interviews with collaborative participants and contextual information from news media and secondary sources. From our 10-year analysis, we develop propositions about the evolution of collaborative processes, which can provide a foundation for theory development and testing in other cases.

Policy Debates on Hydraulic Fracturing. Comparing Coalition Politics in North America and Europe

This edited volume compares seven countries in North America and Europe on the highly topical issue of oil and gas development that uses hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” The comparative analysis is based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and guided by two questions: First, in each country, what are current coalitions and the related policy output? Second, based on the current situation, what are the chances for future policy change? This book is the first to use a social science approach to analyze hydraulic fracturing debates and the first application of the ACF that is deliberately comparative. The contributions in this book advance our understanding about the formation of coalitions and development of public policy in the context of different forms of government and economically recoverable natural resources.

Catalyzing frontiers in water-climate-society research: A view from early career scientists and junior faculty

AMEriCAN METEOrOlOGiCAl SOCiETY | 477 AffiliAtions: McNeeley, TesseNdorf, aNd lazrus—NCAR, Boulder, Colorado; lazrus—University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; Heikkila—University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado; fergusoN—Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado; arrigo—East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina; aTTari—Columbia University, New York, New York; ciaNfraNi— Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts; dilliNg aNd kircHoff—University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado; gurdak— San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California; kaMpf—Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; kauNeckis—University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada; lee—San Jose State University, San Jose, California; liNTNer—Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey; MaHoNey—UCAR, Boulder, Colorado; opiTz-sTapleToN— Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Boulder, Colorado; ray—University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii; souTH—University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom; sTubblefield—Humboldt State University, Arcata, California; brugger—University of California—Davis, Davis, California CoRREsPonDinG AUtHoR: Shannon M. McNeeley, Advanced Study Program, Research Applications Laboratory/Integrated Science Program, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 E-mail: smcneele@ucar.edu

Contours of Coalition Politics on Hydraulic Fracturing Within the United States of America

This chapter analyzes coalition politics and public policy in the USA. The data are based on an online survey of policy actors in Texas, New York, and Colorado. Two coalitions are identified based on respondents’ positions on hydraulic fracturing, problem perceptions, and interaction patterns. One coalition consists of proponents of hydraulic fracturing and they prefer to see it expanded or continued. The second coalition consists of opponents of hydraulic fracturing and they prefer to see it stopped or limited. The two coalitions have moderate differences in their resource capacities, interaction patterns, and strategies. Public policy in the three states reflects the characteristics of the two coalitions with a ban in New York and the passage of regulations in Colorado and Texas.

An Institutional and Opinion Analysis of Colorado’s Hydraulic Fracturing Disclosure Policy

Abstract Hydraulic fracturing and oil and natural gas development are possibly the most contentious energy and environmental issues to face the USA in the twenty-first century. One point of contention is the disclosure of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process. This paper analyses the Colorado 2011 policy requiring disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluid information, considered one of the first comprehensive hydraulic fracturing disclosure policies in the country. We conduct an institutional analysis of the disclosure policy to understand how the policy establishes information flows and grants and restricts choices by targeted actors. We then analyse the opinions of people actively involved in hydraulic fracturing debates in Colorado to assess whether they view the disclosure policy as resolving problems. The institutional analysis illustrates how the policy allocates responsibilities in sending and receiving information and the opinion survey shows divergence in perceptions of its potential to resolve problems associated with chemical use or disclosure. Most respondents are in agreement that the new policy failed to build public trust of the hydraulic fracturing process.

Comparing human and automated coding of news articles on hydraulic fracturing in New York and Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT Understanding how the news media portray controversial natural resource issues is an important area of environmental policy research due to the media’s ability to influence public opinion and policymaking. Automated media coding is becoming increasingly used as an alternative or supplement to the human coding of these portrayals. However, the comparability of human versus automated coding of the news media has not been well documented. This research note provides a comparison of an automated method to human coding of newspaper articles on the controversial issue of hydraulic fracturing. It describes the methods and results of coding 1,037 articles from four newspapers in New York and Pennsylvania. This research note compares the automated method to a human coding method and describes the proportion of coverage of New York and Pennsylvania newspapers on economic, environmental, and social topics related to hydraulic fracturing.

Assessments and Aspirations

The conclusion of this book highlights the major insights surrounding the comparative study of advocacy coalitions and public policies on hydraulic fracturing across seven countries. Based on the chapter findings, it discusses insights into factors influencing the structure and functioning of policy subsystems, the characteristics of advocacy coalitions, and the nature of public policies on hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, the conclusion presents critical challenges to the comparative study of policy processes and public policy. Finally, it offers a discussion of the contributions to hydraulic fracturing politics and three recommendations for future advocacy coalition framework research: the incorporation of subsystem contexts, the development of methodological best practices, and a focus on coalition resources and strategies.