A Transformations Transect as Social Innovation: COBALT Network Forms in the Gulf of Maine to Develop the Concept
Keywords:
transformation transect, social inequity, rural-urban divide, anthropocene era, wicked problemsAbstract
The global pandemic has demonstrated that our most pressing issues are interrelated in multiple, hard to define ways. Governments alone are ill-equipped to deal with the complex array of issues presented by the Earth of the Anthropocene, such as social inequity; rural-urban divide; disruption of food systems and supply chains; disintegration of natural ecosystems; and the sheer magnitude of climate change. A new research network known as COBALT (Collaborative for Bioregional Action Learning & Transformation) will use a novel Transformation Transect that follows a road network from the tip of Cape Cod to Nova Scotia’s Cape Sable Island. This transect offers a lens into the nested nature of ecosystem governance across an urban to rural region that can illuminate how government, civil society and market forces can create positive momentum to respond to ecosystem change in coastal regions of the Gulf of Maine.
The research network will take the novel approach of visualizing governance transformations along the Gulf of Maine transect through a bioregional macroscope lens. We will address the following research questions:
- When have crises along the Gulf of Maine transect become windows of opportunity for innovation and novelty?
- When have societal and ecological transitions along the transect been mishandled and led to today’s wicked problems?
- What insights can be applied from these past crises and transitions to inform how the examined bioregions can successfully move from preparation for to navigation of governance transformation in response to the Gulf of Maine’s rapidly changing ecosystem?
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