Making the case for self-organisation: Understanding how communities make sense of sustainability and climate change through collective action

Atkinson, Rob; D�rfler, Thomas; Hasanov, Mustafa; Rothfu�, Eberhard; Smith, Ian

Abstract

Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Understanding how community groups take on the challenge of climate change is key to understanding the capacity of society as a whole to adapt in the face of climate change in ways that acknowledge a broader need for a sustainable societal transition. In order to show this it is important to identify what distinguishes self-organised responses to the climate change challenge from other responses. Through critically evaluating the existing literature on self-organisation and on locally based responses to climate change, the paper clarifies what we mean by self-organised response and then demonstrates how the concept would enhance the scope of research about local-level responses to enhance societal sustainability. Furthermore, the article presents an agenda for identifying self-organised responses to climate change and distinguishing self-organised responses from other forms of 'community-led' response.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 12, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 14, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2017
• Journal: International Journal of Sustainable Society
• Print ISSN: 1756-2538
• Electronic ISSN: 1756-2546
• Publisher: Inderscience
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 193-209
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSSOC.2017.088300
• Keywords: self-organisation, climate change, sustainability, collective action, communities
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/881935
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSSOC.2017.088300
• Contract Date: Jul 17, 2017