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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATION,
TRANSITION AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Transformative
Climate Governance
A Capacities Perspective to
Systematise, Evaluate and Guide
Climate Action

Edited by
Katharina Hölscher · Niki Frantzeskaki
Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation,
Transition and Accountability

Series Editor
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School of Arts
Federation University
VIC, Australia
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Katharina Hölscher · Niki Frantzeskaki
Editors

Transformative
Climate Governance
A Capacities Perspective to Systematise,
Evaluate and Guide Climate Action
Editors
Katharina Hölscher Niki Frantzeskaki
Dutch Research Institute Dutch Research Institute
for Transitions for Transitions
Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland
The Netherlands The Netherlands
Centre for Urban Transitions
Faculty of Health, Arts and Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

ISSN 2523-8183 ISSN 2523-8191 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability
ISBN 978-3-030-49039-3 ISBN 978-3-030-49040-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49040-9

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 Foreword

How we innovate our governance approach to address climate change in

the city of Rotterdam.
Adapting to climate change and achieving resilience is not an easy jour-
ney. In Rotterdam, we now work for a decade on climate adaptation and
have built an international profile on that topic. We were able to become
leaders in climate adaptation because our politicians and civil servants rec-
ognised the urgency and the opportunities for making our city climate
resilient, liveable, safe and equitable. We have created a good story (an
impactful narrative), which does not only talk about climate change but
paints a vision of a better city, a better Rotterdam. People can visit us and
see ‘real things’ (‘real applications’ for dealing with climate change pres-
sures) such as the Benthemplein water square and the Floating Pavilion.
Many cities that face similar struggles call us in Rotterdam to learn about
and from what we did.
There are many reasons why to look at cities as key arenas for com-
batting climate change. The obvious one is that more than half of the
world population lives in cities, by 2050 this will be more than 70%. At
the same time, many challenges come together in cities. Cities are places
where we feel the immediate impacts of climate change, especially con-
sidering that many cities are situated at coastlines. Cities around the
globe already feel the urgency to respond to (the impacts of) climate
change, and that is an important driver of climate action. For exam-
ple, in the USA after New York City and New Orleans now the city of
Houston faced severe destruction after super storm Harvey. These events

v
vi FOREWORD

demonstrate how the impacts of climate change interact with many other
changes like the energy transition, digitalisation and equity.
It is easier for cities to act efficiently and faster than national govern-
ments for climate change and many other challenges. For example, cities
are mostly responsible for spatial planning, and the majority of solutions
for dealing with climate change in cities are spatial. Our experiences in
Rotterdam taught us to abandon existing assumptions and working pro-
cedures when thinking about how to deal with climate change. This ties
in with the main ideas presented in this book: with our efforts to tackle
climate change, we innovated our approach to govern our city. These
changes do not only reside inside the city government of Rotterdam, but
also extended to making many new partnerships with stakeholders in our
city, with our national government and with global city networks.
A key starting point in Rotterdam was the paradigm shift to emphasise
the opportunity we gain from water in our city rather than viewing water
as our enemy that we have to fight. What we mean to say when we speak
of ‘water as opportunity’ is that climate adaptation that enables us to live
with water also allows us to become a better city. Water has literally a
value. As a port city, we are familiar with the economic value of water. In
the urban realm, water is a driver of urban quality and in turn results in
increasing the value of real estate.
We therefore define resilience as a broad, cross-cutting issue that com-
bines climate adaptation with the ambition to make Rotterdam more
green, liveable, equitable and healthy. And these are goals that everyone
wants. This approach to climate adaptation opens up many opportu-
nities for tackling the impacts of climate change while adding value. It
reveals choices: investing money in a sewer pipe or in a new design of
a public space like the water square. We now developed 400.000 m2 of
green roof space that also improves the air quality of the city and miti-
gates flood risk. This approach has also made it possible to develop new
business models for companies in Rotterdam especially to export these
innovations. For example, local companies are now involved in the devel-
opment of water squares in Surat, India. Additionally, Rotterdam became
the hosting city for the Global Centre on Climate Adaptation.
We still face many challenges in bringing our ambitious goals to
realisation. A critical next step will be to mainstream our approach to
climate adaptation and resilience and translate our long-term visions
­
into s­hort-term action plans. The challenge to achieve city-wide imple-
mentation is not about money: rather, it is about getting a grasp of the
 FOREWORD vii

complexity of our urban system and to get everybody, including citizens

and key stakeholders such as housing corporations, to contribute and col-
laborate for climate adaptation. In Rotterdam, we recognise that climate
resilience is not anymore about flood risks: rather, it is about drought and
heatwaves. We thus integrated heatwaves as an urgent matter in our 2019
update of the climate adaptation strategy. This also demands new knowl-
edge, since the urban effects of heatwaves and droughts are yet not well
understood. We need to better understand how to link physical measures
with social challenges, or cyber resilience: even if we are able to develop
the right infrastructure to become climate resilient, we have to check
whether we are cyber proof. We also need to find ways to measure how
climate adaptive and resilient we are to show the value and progress of our
efforts. We already search for specific indicators to deal with these trade-
offs. For example, we identified 42.000 houses that are vulnerable to per-
ennial flooding and in the coming years we aim to reduce this number.
Looking beyond Rotterdam, it is inspiring to see other cities around
the world work on similar challenges. Cities are growing together as a
community to join forces, exchange ideas and learn from one another.
More and more cities experience the value of peer-to-peer exchange,
which is one of the benefits of being a member of a network like the 100
Resilient Cities. Paris visited Rotterdam to learn about our water square
as an idea to combine water storage and social resilience. In turn, we
are going to apply Paris’ programme to make schoolyards and schools
­climate-resilient, green and open them up to people from the district so
they can go there for cooling during heatwaves. There are also many con-
nections between Rotterdam and New York City: New York City learns
about our resilient design principles for combining multiple functions.
We will apply their participatory Rebuild By Design process to integrate
social resilience into one of our neighbourhoods. My dream is that the
knowledge institutes of the partnering cities would work together to
intensify knowledge exchange, for example by exchanging students.
Finding the right solutions and processes to address climate change is
an ongoing challenge, not only in Rotterdam, and cities more generally,
but also on national and international levels. In Rotterdam, we realised
that we are essentially learning-by-doing about climate change and resil-
ience because both issues are difficult to grasp and involves many differ-
ent goals and values, and our knowledge about them is ever developing.
Next to this, driving climate action on global levels requires prioritisation
viii FOREWORD

of climate change. So far, the cities that are active in climate action have
faced some urgency like big storms or heatwaves. It is more difficult for
cities to be prioritise action on climate adaptation without such urgency.
To accelerate urban climate resilience, we need a balance between both
bottom-up approaches and top-down regulations. Additionally, it is
important to facilitate exchange of best practices and direct support for
cities to develop holistic climate adaptation strategies, such as done by
the Climate Adaptation Academy in Rotterdam. Knowledge develop-
ment for anchoring climate adaptation in city planning, the resilience
dividend and monitoring are topics that need support in the near future.
As a last note but not to overlook is that we need to enable the availabil-
ity and accelerate the dissemination of knowledge, including best prac-
tices, to help the vulnerable citizens of our cities as risks increase rapidly.

Rotterdam, The Netherlands Arnoud Molenaar

November 2019

Arnoud Molenaar is Chief Resilience Officer, Municipality of Rotterdam, The

Netherlands and he is Affiliate Expert Cities at the Global Centre on Adaptation
(GCA) in Rotterdam.
 Preface

2019 was a both hopeful and disappointing year for global climate
action. We saw bottom-up pressures intensifying, spearheaded by Greta
Thunberg’s Fridays-For-Future movement, citizens around the globe ris-
ing voices and protests about extinction crisis, and almost 1.000 cities
worldwide declaring climate emergency. The European Commission’s
Green Deal marks a stepping stone that lays ground for the enforcement
of the Paris Agreement, making the net-zero emissions target legally
binding. In the Netherlands, the Urgenda Foundation won a court
case against the Dutch Government, in which citizens established that
their government has a legal duty to prevent dangerous climate change.
However, in 2019, global emissions have hit an all-time high and the
COP25 meeting in Madrid in December 2019 concluded with disap-
pointing results. The negotiations backslided into a little ambitious nar-
rative, without political agreement for taking the bold and transformative
action needed to reach the Paris Agreement. Scientific results unequivo-
cally show the dangerous paths global development is moving along, yet
any action to combat climate change continues to compete not only with
powerful and vested interests of the high-carbon industry, but also with
entrenched values and lifestyle choices of individuals.
We write this book to give a positive vision and structuring approach
for governance for climate change, to shift the narrative from the apa-
thy and stalemate to action and transformation. We aim to show that
interdisciplinary science has produced approaches and evidence that
can systematise, evaluate and guide the design of climate action and

ix
x PREFACE

its governance. Our vision contrasts existing climate governance and

associated lock-ins that signify the institutional resistance to change
and become manifest in the inability to substantially reduce emissions
and maintain human and environmental well-being on this planet.
Specifically, we introduce transformative climate governance as an inte-
grative, learning-based and inclusive governance approach that addresses
climate change in synergy with long-term sustainability and resilience
goals. It rests in the belief that in order to effectively address climate
change, climate governance itself needs to be transformed. In other
words: any attempt on climate mitigation and adaptation should be part
of the quest for deep societal transformations towards sustainability and
resilience.
We aim to contribute to an understanding about what transforma-
tive climate governance could look like and how it can be strengthened
­vis-à-vis existing governance regimes. To this end, our central contribu-
tion is a framework of capacities for transformative climate governance.
The capacities framework responds to the lack of overarching insights
into how diverse governance mechanisms and conditions can be inte-
grated within a theory of governance for transformation under climate
change. Starting from the question of ‘what needs to happen’ to facil-
itate transformative climate governance, the framework allows to sys-
tematically investigate the dispersed climate governance landscape as a
conglomerate of dynamic and systemic conditions and actor-related pro-
cesses at multiple levels and in multiple settings (‘how’ and ‘by whom’
this is made to happen). In this sense, the capacities framework provides a
basic frame and direction for questioning existing governance structures
and practices and for developing conditions that enable governance in
line with long-term sustainability and resilience goals, and in this way to
replace the short-term modus operandi of existing (climate) governance.
By investigating capacities for transformative climate governance
at multiple scales in this book, we can respond to the following ques-
tions: What are key overarching conditions, actors and activities that
facilitate governance for transformation under climate change? Given
insistent climate governance lock-ins, what needs to happen in research
and policy to build-up the capacities that transform climate governance
and ensure the decisive implementation of systemic and integrated cli-
mate action? We zoom in on urban climate governance in Rotterdam
(The Netherlands) and New York City (USA) to explain and eval-
uate the role of cities in delivering effective climate action. We also
 PREFACE xi

show how the capacities framework can be used for supporting climate
action at European, regional and local levels in inter- and transdiscipli-
nary research settings that develops transition pathways in the context of
high-end climate and socio-economic scenarios. The case studies show
the varieties and levels at which climate governance is taking place and
how capacities for transformative climate governance can be developed
consistently across scales and sectors.
We want to emphasise that—as the 1.5°C goal is on the brink of
becoming impossible—decisive changes in climate governance need to
happen quickly. Our concluding research agenda signposts promising
conditions and activities for building capacities at multiple levels as well
as capacity gaps and barriers that persist in (climate) governance. The
main future challenge we highlight is about formalising the capacities: so
far, we only see them emerging in ad hoc and informal ways. As such, the
capacities are not able to counter the tendency to favour short-term wins
and business-as-usual. As discussed by the contributors to this volume,
ultimately, investing in the capacities means to change the cultures, types
of knowledge and networks that guide decision-making and planning.
Developing capacities for transformative climate governance turns atten-
tion to process in as much as outcome, including how inclusive policy
and planning processes are or what they feed back to policy and process
learning. In particular, it implies a more inwardly looking and reflexive
approach to how to set up urban governance structures and conditions
so as to allow desirable governance processes.
We suggest the capacities framework as a tool to derive more in-depth
and generalisable results on how and what new forms of climate gov-
ernance are emerging and how effective these are. The application of
the framework to different contexts and scales can yield generalisable
results on activities, opportunities and challenges and thus reveal path-
ways for transforming (climate) governance in relation to different con-
textual needs, institutional conditions and resources. These case studies
also illustrate the utility of the capacities framework for transdiscipli-
nary research approaches, in combination with transition management,
to co-create capacities in practice, with diverse stakeholders, and thus to
shift towards more solution-oriented climate change research.
This book compiles previous research on urban climate govern-
ance and transformative climate governance in Europe. The research
resulting in this book has been supported by the EU FP7 project
IMPRESSIONS (www.impressions-project.eu) [grant number 603416].
xii PREFACE

The case study in New York City was additionally supported by the Prins
Bernhard Cultuurfonds, The Netherlands; the Konrad von Moltke Fund,
Germany; and the Stichting Erasmus Trustfonds, The Netherlands. We
want to thank our colleagues of the IMPRESSIONS project who con-
tributed to the collective work on advancing understanding about
climate and socio-economic risks and climate governance for transforma-
tion. We also thank the interviewees for both Rotterdam and New York
City case studies and all participants, translators and facilitators of the
three series of workshops realised during the IMPRESSIONS research
project. We especially want to thank Dr. Jill Jäger for her experience,
support, insight and passion to look for ambitious vision for our future.

Rotterdam, The Netherlands Katharina Hölscher

Niki Frantzeskaki
 Contents

Part I Towards Transformative Climate Governance:

What Governance Capacities Do We Need?

1 A Transformative Perspective on Climate Change

and Climate Governance 3
Katharina Hölscher and Niki Frantzeskaki

2 Capacities for Transformative Climate Governance:

A Conceptual Framework 49
Katharina Hölscher

Part II Capacities for Transformative Climate

Governance in Cities

3 Transforming Cities and Science for Climate

Change Resilience in the Anthropocene 99
Timon McPhearson

4 Navigating Transformations Under Climate

Change in Cities: Features and Lock-ins
of Urban Climate Governance 113
Katharina Hölscher and Niki Frantzeskaki

xiii
xiv CONTENTS

5 Transforming Urban Water Governance in Rotterdam,

the Netherlands 163
Katharina Hölscher, Niki Frantzeskaki, and Derk Loorbach

6 Capacities for Transformative Climate Governance

in New York City 205
Katharina Hölscher, Niki Frantzeskaki,
Timon McPhearson, and Derk Loorbach

7 Transforming Urban (Climate) Governance: What

Do We Learn from Pro-actively Experimenting Cities? 241
Katharina Hölscher

Part III Capacities for Transformative Climate Governance

Under High-End Scenarios in Europe

8 Climate Governance and High-End Futures in Europe 285

Ian Holman, Pam Berry, Katharina Hölscher,
and Paula A. Harrison

9 Operationalising Transition Management

for Navigating High-End Climate Futures 315
Niki Frantzeskaki, Katharina Hölscher, Ian Holman,
and Paula A. Harrison

10 Capacities in High-End Scenarios in Europe:

An Agency Perspective 359
Simona Pedde, Katharina Hölscher, Niki Frantzeskaki,
and Kasper Kok

11 Agency Capacities to Implement Transition

Pathways Under High-End Scenarios 381
Katharina Hölscher, Niki Frantzeskaki, Simona Pedde,
and Ian Holman
 CONTENTS xv

Part IV The Future of Transformative Climate Governance

12 Sustainable Climate Development: Transforming

Goals into Means 419
J. David Tàbara

13 Transforming Climate Governance? Why Climate

Governance Is Failing and What to Do About It 431
Derk Loorbach

14 Conclusions: Bridging and Weaving Science and Policy

Knowledges for a Research Agenda to Transform
Climate Governance 447
Katharina Hölscher and Niki Frantzeskaki

Appendix A: T
 ransformative Climate Governance Capacities
in Rotterdam and New York City 477

Appendix B: S
 tep-by-Step Description of the IMPRESSIONS
Methodology to Co-produce Pathways Under
High-End Scenarios 495

Appendix C: Visions and Pathways to Shift to Low-Carbon,

Resilient and Sustainable Futures in Europe 511

Index 691
 Notes on Contributors

Pam Berry is a Senior Research Fellow at the Environmental Change

Institute, University of Oxford, UK.
Niki Frantzeskaki is Professor and Director at Centre for Urban
Transitions, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of
Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Paula A. Harrison is Professor of Land and Water Modelling and
Principal Natural Capital Scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology &
Hydrology, Lancaster, UK.
Ian Holman is Professor of Integrated Land and Water Management at
Cranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, UK.
Katharina Hölscher is Senior Researcher at the Dutch Research
Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Kasper Kok is Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental
Sciences at Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
Derk Loorbach is Professor and Director at the Dutch Research
Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

xvii
xviii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Timon McPhearson is Director of the Urban Systems Lab and

Associate Professor of Urban Ecology at The New School in New
York City, USA. He is Senior Research Fellow at The Cary Institute
of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, USA, and Associate
Research Fellow at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University,
Sweden.
Simona Pedde is a Post-doctoral Researcher at Wageningen University
and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
J. David Tàbara is an Associate Senior Researcher at the Institute of
Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University
of Barcelona, Spain, and at the Global Climate Forum, Berlin, Germany.
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Governance capacities: connecting ‘what’ to ‘who’

and ‘how’ (Adapted from Hölscher 2019) 56
Fig. 2.2 Conceptual framework: capacities for transformative
climate governance 65
Fig. 3.1 Multi-hazard risk including from heat risk, coastal
flood risk, and inland flood risk combined
for New York City (Adapted from Depietri et al. 2018) 102
Fig. 3.2 The social-ecological-technological systems (SETS)
conceptual framework emphasizes the social-economic,
­ecological-biophysical, and technological-infrastructural
interactions that drive systems processes and patterns
in an increasingly interconnected world at local and global
scales (Adapted from McPhearson et al. 2016a; Depietri
and McPhearson 2017) 104
Fig. 5.1 The Benthemplein water square in May 2015 (Source Private
2015) 172
Fig. 6.1 Land cover and Flooding in New York City.
Land cover data elaborated in 2017 by the Department
of Information Technology and Telecommunication
of New York City. Floodplain data refers to the 100-year
floodplain used to define the currently effective Special
Flood Hazard Area, mapped by the Federal Emergency
Management, last updated in 2007 209
Fig. 8.1 Schematic of the IMPRESSIONS approach 288

xix
xx LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 8.2 Schematic illustration of how the scenario context

constrains adaptation within the IMPRESSIONS IAP2 293
Fig. 8.3 Schematic illustrating the relationship between
the IMPRESSIONS integrated scenarios, pathways
and vision 294
Fig. 8.4 The IMPRESSIONS vision for Europe in 2100 296
Fig. 8.5 Overview of the IMPRESSIONS methodological
approach to the qualitative and quantitative assessments
of the pathways’ efficacy in achieving the vision 297
Fig. 8.6 Illustrative cross-sectoral interactions and competition
within the IMPRESSIONS Integrated Assessment
Platform 2 that lead to complex trade-offs and synergies
across Europe 299
Fig. 8.7 The European pathway to shift to sustainable lifestyles
in SSP3 scenario 301
Fig. 8.8 Spider diagrams showing, for two contrasting
scenarios, the state of the vision element indicators
within the scenario (blue line), after the initial pathways
(red lines) and after the final pathways (green lines).
A value of 100 implies the desired state of the vision
element indicator is likely to be reached. The vision
element labels are colour coded according to the main
pathways that are likely to influence them: sustainable
lifestyles pathways (Blue), sustainability pathways (Orange)
and integrated resource management pathways (Purple) 306
Fig. 9.1 The three activity cycles of the IMPRESSIONS project:
the adapted Transition Management Cycle (co-creation
activities performed with stakeholders), the Knowledge
Translation Cycle (analytical activities performed by
IMPRESSIONS’ experts) and the Knowledge
Consolidation Cycle (synthesis activities performed
both with stakeholders and by IMPRESSIONS’ experts) 320
Fig. 9.2 The Transition Management Cycle (co-creation cycle)
along with the inputs and outputs through
the Knowledge Translation Cycle activities 322
Fig. 9.3 Illustration of IMPRESSIONS’ backcasting steps 336
Fig. 10.1 Conceptualisation of scenarios as context to develop
mitigation and adaptation pathways to reach a desired
vision in 2100. The actions to develop sustainable
pathways towards the vision build from the scenario
and are ­scenario-contextualised in time (Adapted from
Pedde et al. 2019) 364
 LIST OF FIGURES xxi

Fig. 10.2 Interpretation of challenges to adaptation (inequality)

and mitigation (carbon intensity) of the European SSPs
(Adapted from Pedde et al. 2019) 365
Fig. 10.3 Analysis of the potential to transform society towards
the sustainability vision under each Shared Socioeconomic
Pathway (SSP)-based IMPRESSIONS scenarios.
The potential is the result of combining different levels
of capitals and capacities in each case study in 2100.
The capacities assessed are stewarding (S), unlocking (U),
transformative (T) and orchestrating (O). Their position
on the y-axis depends on the combined level of human
and social capital (Adapted from Pedde et al. 2019) 370
Fig. 11.1 Suite of three robust pathways across IMPRESSIONS
case studies and scenarios 386
Fig. 11.2 A perspective on agency capacity in transition pathways
(Adapted from Hölscher, Chapter 2, this volume) 389
Fig. 12.1 Aiming to achieve transformative sustainability goals
requires profound transformations in the existing political,
economic and socio-cultural structures and mechanisms—
otherwise the means and capacities—that we currently
use to attain them. Different relations between desired or
existing goals and means—whether they are conventional
or significantly s­ ustainability-oriented—yield different
types of learning capacities and situations 428
Fig. 13.1 Transition dynamics ‘X-curve’ (Loorbach et al. 2017) 437
Fig. 14.1 Key research themes for developing transformative
climate governance capacities 452
Fig. B.1 The process steps to co-produce pathways
in IMPRESSIONS 498
Fig. B.2 The collection of actions in response to the socio-economic
scenario SSP5 in the Hungarian case study, before clustering 502
Fig. B.3 An example of making time-dependent strategies
by putting all responses in a cluster on a timeline from
today until 2100 during the IMPRESSIONS workshops #2 502
 List of Tables

Table 1.1 Characteristics of transformations and climate

change as a transformation challenge: implications
for climate governance 10
Table 1.2 Attributes of sustainability and resilience in the context
of transformations 17
Table 1.3 Climate governance features and related challenges 20
Table 1.4 Chapters in this book 33
Table 2.1 Overview of sustainability transitions and resilience
approaches 61
Table 2.2 Transformative climate governance functions
and related governance concepts 64
Table 2.3 Stewarding capacity 69
Table 2.4 Unlocking capacity 72
Table 2.5 Transformative capacity 74
Table 2.6 Orchestrating capacity 76
Table 2.7 Insights generated from the capacities framework 78
Table 5.1 Capacities for sustainable and resilient water governance
in Rotterdam 189
Table 6.1 Transformative climate governance capacities
(conditions and activities) in New York City 229
Table 7.1 Transformative climate governance capacities
in Rotterdam and New York City 249
Table 7.2 Actors and actor networks enacting urban climate
governance in Rotterdam and New York City 257
Table 7.3 Shortcomings and related capacity gaps and challenges 264

xxiii
xxiv LIST OF TABLES

Table 8.1 Details of the exploratory climate scenarios selected

for use in IMPRESSIONS in order of declining European
temperature increase (adapted from Holman et al. 2017)
and their linked Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP).
European change in temperature (ΔT) and precipitation
(ΔPr) are relative to 1961–1990 290
Table 8.2 IMPRESSIONS pathways and strategies across
case studies and scenarios 302
Table 9.1 Contrasting the wildcards with the IMPRESSIONS’
input scenarios to assess compatibility, applicability
and redundancy 346
Table 10.1 Interpretation of capacities to measure enabling
and disabling conditions in IMPRESSIONS scenarios 368
Table 11.1 Capacities to shift to sustainable lifestyles 391
Table 11.2 Capacities to set up good governance systems
for sustainability 395
Table 11.3 Capacities to promote integrated and sustainable
resource management 398
Table 11.4 Key agency capacity features, conditions and activities
to implement transition pathways 403
Table A.1 Stewarding capacity in Rotterdam and New York City 478
Table A.2 Unlocking capacity in Rotterdam and New York City 482
Table A.3 Transformative capacity in Rotterdam and New York City 485
Table A.4 Orchestrating capacity in Rotterdam and New York City 489
Table B.1 Overview of stakeholder participation steps
in all case studies 499
Table B.2 Steps for assessing the efficacy of pathways
in achieving the vision 505
Table C.1 European pathways in SSP1 515
Table C.2 European pathways in SSP3 528
Table C.3 European pathways in SSP4 539
Table C.4 European pathways in SSP5 547
Table C.5 Scottish pathways in SSP1 557
Table C.6 Scottish pathways in SSP3 568
Table C.7 Scottish pathways in SSP4 578
Table C.8 Scottish pathways in SSP5 590
Table C.9 Hungarian pathways in SSP1 607
Table C.10 Hungarian pathways in SSP3 615
Table C.11 Hungarian pathways in SSP4 624
Table C.12 Hungarian pathways in SSP5 633
 LIST OF TABLES xxv

Table C.13 Iberian pathways in SSP1 648

Table C.14 Iberian pathways in SSP3 658
Table C.15 Iberian pathways in SSP4 663
Table C.16 Iberian pathways in SSP5 674
Table C.17 Robust pathways across case studies and scenarios 680
 PART I

Towards Transformative Climate

Governance: What Governance
Capacities Do We Need?
 CHAPTER 1

A Transformative Perspective on Climate

Change and Climate Governance

Katharina Hölscher and Niki Frantzeskaki

1.1  Introduction
Anthropogenic climate change unequivocally embodies one of human-
ity’s defining challenges of the twenty-first century with severe and
far-reaching societal implications (IPCC 2014; Steffen et al. 2018;
WBGU 2011). The Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the urgency for fast and radi-
cal changes to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target as well as for
adapting to non-revocable impacts of climate change (IPCC 2018).

K. Hölscher (*) · N. Frantzeskaki

Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University
Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
e-mail: holscher@drift.eur.nl
N. Frantzeskaki
Centre for Urban Transitions, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design,
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
e-mail: n.frantzeskaki@drift.eur.nl; nfrantzeskaki@swin.edu.au

© The Author(s) 2020 3

K. Hölscher and N. Frantzeskaki (eds.), Transformative
Climate Governance, Palgrave Studies in Environmental
Transformation, Transition and Accountability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49040-9_1
4 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

As we finalise this book and reason for a new lens and frame-
work to shape governance actions for climate change, the COP25
meeting in Madrid in December 2019 concluded in a disappointing
stalemate: no agreement on action. Specifically, COP25 in Madrid ended
with no political agreement for taking the needed bold and transform-
ative action required to rise up to the amounting challenge of climate
change despite the efforts of activists like Greenpeace, Greta Thunberg’s
movement Fridays-For-Future and many citizens worldwide rising voices
and protests about extinction crisis, cities around the globe declaring cli-
mate emergency, as well as the pressing voices of scientists about climate
emergency (see Ripple et al. 2019). This further underscored that com-
bating climate change is a tenacious task: while climate change is a scien-
tifically proven and societally acknowledged problem for more than three
decades, global emissions are still on the rise and societies struggle to
adapt to the impacts of climate change (Roberts et al. 2018).
Over the past years, and in part in response to the disappointing inter-
national progress, climate governance has taken a turn to ­decentralised
and multilateral relations and agreements outside of the realm of
nation state commitments alone (Jordan et al. 2018; Ostrom 2014;
van Asselt et al. 2018). Climate governance by now builds on an exten-
sive international regime centred on the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement’s
goal of holding “the increase in the global average temperature to well
below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C” (UN 2015: p. 3). Around this regime,
multiple subnational and non-state actors started to take climate action
at international, transnational, national and subnational levels (Burch
et al. 2016; Hildén et al. 2017; Wurzel et al. 2019). Especially cities have
been recognised as ideally placed for responding to calls for co-shaping
global urban agendas. Cities are also seen as agents of change with the
potential to deliver effective climate action dealing directly with the
sources of emissions while strengthening local communities and restor-
ing urban nature (Elmqvist et al. 2018a; WBGU 2016; Castán Broto
2017). Climate change objectives have been increasingly integrated
with broader policy priorities and goals, including the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 13 explicitly addresses the goal to
take “urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” (UN
2016: p. 23). and SDG 11—“the urban target”—positions resilience
alongside liveability and sustainability highlighting the importance of an
integrated approach to dealing also with climate change.
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 5

However, the mechanisms and effectiveness of this type of ‘climate

experimentation’ (Hoffmann 2011; van Asselt et al. 2018) are still
poorly understood (Jordan et al. 2015). For example, while the Paris
Agreement is widely lauded for formalising bottom-up and decentral-
ised approaches to reducing emissions (Chan et al. 2015; Huitema et al.
2018), the pledges made by national governments are thus far insuffi-
cient to stay well below 2°C (Rogelj et al. 2016). Some scholars interpret
this as a ‘lowest-common-denominator governance’, a ‘downloading of
responsibility’ from nation states to private actors and a weakened differ-
entiation in international environmental law (McGee and Steffek 2016).
Van Asselt et al. (2018) conclude from an examination of the global gov-
ernance architecture post-Paris that key challenges relate to a lack of clear
coordination as well as metrics‚ monitoring and review of progress.
In our view, these decentralised developments of mobilised new net-
works, agents and institutions respond to a governance deficit for cli-
mate responses at local, regional, state and global levels. Looking
beyond the climate governance regime and structures across levels, it
seems that climate change is still often addressed as an add-on priority.
As a result, climate governance commitments and negotiations—besides
producing results far too slowly—are not able to counter the negative
effects of conventional policy-making and planning that perpetuate
business-as-usual (e.g. investments in fossil fuels) (Maor et al. 2017).
­
Any action to address climate change is toppled by the negative impacts
of globalisation, economic growth and urbanisation.
In this book, we put forth a change of perspective in evaluating and
even surfacing climate governance action. The emerging paradigm
of climate change as a transformation challenge in scientific and policy
discourses—especially post-COP21 in Paris in 2015—frames the cli-
mate debate as a much broader social, political and cultural challenge
(Hermwille 2016; Gillard et al. 2016). Climate change is no longer
regarded as a clear-cut environmental problem that acts as an isolated
force with detached implications for societal well-being and that can be
addressed by substituting technologies, or, through market mechanisms.
Rather, it is conceptualised and positioned as “a collectively produced
(although variable) and deeply socio-political phenomenon” (O’Brien
and Selboe 2015: p. 13). As such, it is viewed as a symptom of contempo-
rary unsustainable production and consumption processes, resource and
land use, design patterns and individual values and behaviours, as well as
an amplifier of existing vulnerabilities and risks caused by mal-adaptation
(Tàbara et al. 2018).
6 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

Our premise is that viewing climate change as a transformation chal-

lenge has profound implications for climate governance—ultimately it
even challenges what ‘climate change’ as the object to be governed actu-
ally means. On the one hand, the transformative perspective makes clear
that any attempt on climate mitigation and adaptation should be part of
the quest for deep societal transformations towards sustainability and resil-
ience, which enhance and maintain social and environmental w ­ ell-being
under climate change (Tàbara et al. 2018; Gillard et al. 2016; WBGU
2016). Climate governance therefore ideally supports and reinforces
other sectors become more sustainable and resilient besides developing
more systemic climate policies and actions that produce co-benefits for
multiple priorities and goals.
On the other hand, the transformative perspective draws attention
to the complex dynamics, deep uncertainties, disruptions and contesta-
tions implied in the radical changes emerging from climate change and
other social, economic and environmental risks and pressures (IPCC
2018; Wise et al. 2014; Kates et al. 2012). This means that transforma-
tions under climate change cannot be controlled by narrow, short-term
and optimisation-oriented governance approaches (cf. Loorbach 2014).
Rather, they can merely be influenced through long-term approaches
that foster multi-actor, cross-sectoral and cross-scale collaborations and
learning (Rink et al. 2018).
Our main objective with this book is to contribute to an understand-
ing about what the type of climate governance that addresses the need
for sustainability and resilience transformations under climate change
could look like, and how existing climate governance institutions, mech-
anisms and practices can be strengthened along these lines. To do so,
we first take a step back in thinking about climate governance: Rather
than looking at specific governance configurations and structures (e.g.
polycentric governance), governance processes (e.g. experimentation,
mainstreaming), or, governance actions (e.g. policies, policy mixes,
monitoring schemes and programs) and discussing their effectiveness,
we start by conceptualising transformative climate governance as an
ideal-type and normative approach. This means that we derive the cli-
mate governance conditions, processes and actions that make up effec-
tive transformative climate governance by looking at the characteristics
of climate change as a transformation challenge. In doing so, we can
identify governance capacities to address climate change and contribute
to sustainability and resilience transformations. We thus contend that
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 7

effective climate governance lies in collective governance capacities for

supporting, mobilising and dealing with societal change patterns, and
for building these capacities, a transformation of climate governance is
paramount.
Our perspective on transformative climate governance builds on
research approaches that have emerged in the last decades to understand,
analyse and support societal transformations (Hölscher et al. 2018; Feola
2015; Patterson et al. 2016). Particularly, sustainability transitions and
resilience approaches have come of age in studying and theorising trans-
formative societal change and how governance and agency can support
and deal with it (Loorbach et al. 2017; Olsson et al. 2014; Folke 2016).
There have been constructive debates about complementarities of both
approaches (Olsson et al. 2014; Smith and Stirling 2010; Patterson et al.
2016; Pereira et al. 2015; Chaffin et al. 2016), and both approaches
have also started to permeate climate governance literature (Gillard et al.
2016). In climate governance, ‘transformative adaptation’ has developed
as a perspective to address the growing likelihood of crossing tipping
points and to address vulnerability and equity concerns (Pelling et al.
2015; O’Brien 2012; Wise et al. 2014). However, so far these debates
hardly extend beyond a fairly uncritical comparison of both approaches
and shy away from identifying concrete and synthesised governance
implications, which would allow both better design and evaluation of cli-
mate governance.
In the remainder of this introductory chapter, we first introduce our
transformative perspective on climate change and formulate key impli-
cations for climate governance (Sect. 1.2). We then trace and describe
the emergent features of climate governance at multiple levels including
related challenges and research questions (Sect. 1.3). After outlining our
key theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions to climate
governance research (Sect. 1.4), we provide an outlook on the chapters
enclosed in this book (Sect. 1.5).

1.2  Reframing the Problem: Climate

Change as a Transformation Challenge
and Governance Implications

The last years have seen an increasing broadening of the climate change
discourse due to the recognition that climate change drivers and vulner-
abilities to impacts lie within the deep structures of our societies, and is
8 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

thus a much broader social, political and cultural challenge (Hermwille

2016; Gillard et al. 2016; WBGU 2011). The paradigm of transforma-
tions under climate change emerged mainly from scientific discourses,
e.g. on planetary boundaries within which safe human development is
possible (Rockström et al. 2009; Steffen et al. 2015, 2018). It is becom-
ing increasingly acknowledged also in policy-making that achieving the
Paris Agreement’s 1.5–2°C target and adapting to the impacts of climate
change requires radical changes in production and consumption patterns,
market structures, institutions, infrastructures, land use and individual
values and behaviours (IPCC 2018; Tàbara et al. 2018; Rockström et al.
2017).
The notion of transformation has been gaining ground in science and
policy debates (WBGU 2011; O’Riordan and Le Quére 2013; Future
Earth 2014; UNEP 2012). This is motivated by the burgeoning sci-
entific and political consensus that business-as-usual is insufficient for
keeping humanity within a safe operating space (Steffen et al. 2018).
A rich research field around questions of transformations has started to
emerge, combining multiple scientific disciplines, ontologies and meth-
ods (Wittmayer and Hölscher 2017; Köhler et al. 2019; Loorbach et al.
2017; Wiek et al. 2012).
The concept of transformation conveys a notion of fundamental, mul-
tidimensional and radical structural change of a societal (sub-)system,
including cultures, values, technologies, production, consumption, infra-
structure and politics (Loorbach et al. 2017; Patterson et al. 2016; Brand
2016). It starts from the premise that complex adaptive systems are never
static: rhythms of stability, collapse and renewal, driven by complex inter-
actions and feedbacks between system elements that produce persistence,
systemic uncertainties, surprise and thresholds, characterise their evo-
lution over long-time horizons (Olsson et al. 2014; Smith and Stirling
2010; Chaffin et al. 2016). On the one hand, it helps to explain and in
result, understand the various processes, interactions and dynamics shap-
ing societal development (Hölscher et al. 2018). This enables position-
ing climate change in the context of transformations—i.e. how climate
change is driven by existing development trends and dynamics and how
climate change impacts add considerable pressure, risk and uncertainty
to transformation dynamics. On the other hand, the transformation per-
spective provides a normative orientation for overcoming persistent sus-
tainability problems and purposefully moving towards sustainability and
resilience.
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 9

Viewing climate change as a transformation challenge facilitates a bet-

ter understanding of the complex interactions between climate change
and other societal and environmental dynamics and trends, and it helps
to derive implications for climate governance in the context of transfor-
mations (Table 1.1). Firstly, it helps to describe and understand what
changes over the course of a transformation and which factors, processes
and interactions shape that development trajectory (Transformation of
what?). Secondly, the transformative perspective draws attention to the
complex, cross-scale and cross-sectoral characteristics of driving forces
and dynamics involved in transformations under climate change, which
are long-term, produce deep uncertainties and threshold effects (How do
transformation processes occur?). Finally, the endeavour to influence trans-
formations towards sustainability and resilience provides a long-term ori-
entation for addressing climate change in synergy with other priorities
and goals related to social and environmental well-being, also highlight-
ing the political dimension and contestation between multiple, partially
competing, interests and goals (Transformation for what, and whom?).

1.2.1   Transformation of What: Climate Change

Drivers and Impacts in Perspective
Transformations are generally understood as a radical change of the
identity of a specific system including its fundamental components and
feedback mechanisms (Göpel 2014; Loorbach et al. 2017). This involves
multidimensional changes in cultures, values, technologies, production
and consumption patterns, politics and individual behaviours. The sys-
temic perspective helps to describe and understand what changes over
the course of a transformation and which factors/drivers, processes and
interactions shape that development trajectory. It addresses questions
such as: Where are transformations located? What is it that changes and
to what degree, i.e. what are starting and end situations (Wittmayer and
Hölscher 2017)?
The definition of a specific system focus is critical when studying
objects of transformation. Transformations span different sizes and scales
in relation to a particular system focus—for example, in specific s­ocietal
subsystems (e.g. energy, mobility, cities) or in relation to large-scale
changes in whole societies at global, national or local levels and involv-
ing human and biophysical system components (Hölscher et al. 2018;
Loorbach et al. 2017). The system focus has implications on the system
Table 1.1 Characteristics of transformations and climate change as a transformation challenge: implications for climate
governance
Characteristics of transformations
a. Transformation of what?
Systemic Radical changes of multiple
societal systems (e.g. economy,
energy, transport, food, health,
governance) including functions,
interactions and outcomes
(Hölscher et al. 2018; Loorbach
et al. 2017)
Multi-dimensional Multi-dimensional changes of
cultural, behavioural, institu-
tions, technologies, economic,
environmental and political
system elements (Loorbach et al.
2017)
b. How do transformation processes occur?
Complexity Transformations are driven by
the complex patterns of inter-
actions across sectors and scales
(Folke et al. 2010; Coenen et al.
2012)
Climate change as transfor-
mation challenge
Climate change is propelled
by and affects multiple
societal and social-ecological
systems, including economy,
agriculture, water, health
and transport (IPCC 2018;
Meadowcroft 2009)
Climate change is propelled
by and affects land-use,
infrastructures, design and
lifestyles (Seto et al. 2016;
Meadowcroft 2009; O’Brien
and Selboe 2015)
Climate change drivers and
impacts are cross-sectoral
and cross-scale, causing
e.g. cross-border impacts
(Fröhlich and Knieling 2013;
Harrison et al. 2016)
10
Implication for climate governance
Systemic perspective: Position and understand climate mitigation
and adaptation in relation to interactions with multiple systems
and dimensions (Rink et al. 2018; Fröhlich and Knieling 2013)
System insight: Generate system insight on the social and eco-
nomic root causes driving high emissions, mal-adaptation and
vulnerabilities to climate change impacts (Ürge-Vorsatz et al.
K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI
2018; Seto et al. 2016; Tàbara et al. 2018)
Cross-sectoral integration: Integrate sectoral expertise needs into
climate strategies and solutions and mainstream climate issues
in different sectors to make them integral aspects of sectoral
policies (Wamsler 2015; Fröhlich and Knieling 2013)
Multi-scale: Coordination of decentralised action Coordinate
and align climate mitigation and adaptation across multiple
scales of governance while developing fit-to-context and fit-for-
purpose solutions through polycentric networks (Fröhlich and
Knieling 2013; Jordan et al. 2018; Hodson et al. 2018)
(continued)
Table 1.1 (continued)
Characteristics of transformations
Long time horizon Transformations unfold over
long time horizons—commonly
over a minimum of 25 years
(Loorbach 2010; Wittmayer
et al. 2018)
Co-evolution of Co-evolution leads to build-up
driving forces: and break-down patterns
build-up and break- of transformation. Break-
down patterns down means that established
structures, practices etc. are
increasingly put under pressure
for change. Build-up refers to
the emergence of alternatives
that might replace the dominant
modus operandi in a system (cf.
Loorbach 2014)
Uncertainty High level of uncertainty about
the effects and impacts of
interactions, causing high levels
of unpredictability and surprise
(Köhler et al. 2019; Folke et al.
2010)
Climate change as transfor-
mation challenge
Long periods of time pass
between the emission of
GHGs and the impacts of
a changing climate; climate
change impacts have a time
frame of several decades
(Fröhlich and Knieling 2013;
Meadowcroft 2009)
Mutually reinforcing
physical, economic and
social constraints (e.g. long
infrastructure lifetimes, insti-
tutions, behaviours, large
capital costs) constrain the
rate and magnitude of emis-
sions reductions and climate
adaptation (Seto et al. 2016;
Meadowcroft 2009)
A lot of uncertainties
girdle climate impacts, e.g.
concerning the sensitivity
of the climate system (how
much warming will result
from a certain increase of
GHG concentrations),
regional climate impacts and
consequences for ecosystems
(Meadowcroft 2009; Carter
et al. 2015)
Implication for climate governance
Long-term goals for short-term action: Formulate long-term
climate mitigation and adaptation goals to orient short-term
incremental climate action, which anticipate future scenarios and
ensure intergenerational equity (Wittmayer et al. 2018; Fröhlich
and Knieling 2013; Biermann et al. 2009)
Dismantling path-dependencies and mal-adaptation: Existing
institutions, market patterns, technologies, values and behav-
iours that drive path-dependencies and mal-adaptation need to
be strategically phased out (Kivimaa and Kern 2016; Seto et al.
2016)
Space for innovation: Create space for experimentation to
facilitate innovation that challenges existing assumptions and
reconfigures problem solving to overcome existing path-depend-
encies (Wittmayer et al. 2018; Turnheim et al. 2018; Kivimaa
et al. 2017)
Flexibility and adaptation for risk management: Support and
maintain self-organisation and learning to ensure the societal
ability to adapt to continuous changes and risks (Fröhlich and
Knieling 2013; Tanner et al. 2009)
1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE …
11
(continued)
Table 1.1 (continued)
Characteristics of transformations
Threshold effects Long phases of relative stability
and incremental change and
rapid phases of non-linear
change once critical thresholds
are crossed (Jacob et al. 2015,
Andraschuk and Armitage 2015)
c. Transformation for what, and whom?
Contestation Transformations are highly
contested because they affect
different actors in different ways,
touch on conflicting interests
and challenge existing power
structures (Avelino et al. 2017;
Köhler et al. 2019; Patterson
et al. 2016)
Adapted from Hölscher (2019)
Climate change as transfor-
mation challenge
Climate-related uncertain-
ties are exacerbated by the
likelihood of surprises and
unexpected shocks—as illus-
trated by Hurricanes Sandy
and Katrina—which can lead
to radical discontinuities
(Alberti et al. 2018; IPCC
2018)
While responsibilities for
climate change are unequally
distributed, climate change
will impact vary across dif-
ferent geographical locations
and different groups (Gillard
et al. 2016; IPCC 2018)
12
Implication for climate governance
Preparation and timing: Make use of crisis as opportunities for
overcoming system inertia by immediate and effective interven-
tions, while ensuring effective coping and incremental responses
that contribute to radical change in the long-term (Wittmayer
et al. 2018; Tàbara et al. 2018)
Normative orientation: Co-define a shared normative orientation
for sustainability and resilience in the long-term (Wittmayer
K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI
et al. 2018; McPhearson et al. 2017)
Good governance and co-creation: Ensure participatory and
co-creative decision-making processes that are inclusive, trans-
parent, accountable and sensitive to existing power structures,
foster social justice and provide a broad variety of approaches
and solutions building on discussions about the allocation of
responsibilities and duties among diverse public and private
actors (Rink et al. 2018)
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 13

objects and subjects that are taken into consideration for analysing the
starting and end situation of a transformation. As system boundaries are
recognised as highly arbitrary, the focus on a specific system warrants
‘back-coupling’ of insights on dynamics and interactions to other systems
(Wittmayer and Hölscher 2017).
This systemic perspective enables positioning climate change in the
context of transformations—i.e. to identify the societal root causes driv-
ing high-emission trajectories and vulnerability to climate change impacts
alongside other unsustainability trends, as well as how climate change
impacts add considerable pressure, risk and uncertainty to existing trans-
formation dynamics. It draws attention to the social and economic root
causes driving high-emission trajectories and vulnerabilities to climate
change impacts, including individual values, human behaviours, incentive
structures, institutions and economic opportunity (Gillard et al. 2016;
Tàbara et al. 2018; Seto et al. 2016). For example, in urban systems cur-
rent patterns of urban land use, infrastructures, transportation systems
and resource consumption drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in
cities (Sharifi and Yamagata 2015; Ürge-Vorsatz et al. 2018). Similarly,
the ways cities are currently designed to undermine their ability to adapt
to the impacts of climate change. Many cities are located on ­ flood-
plains, in dry areas or on coasts, but existing water management sys-
tems are not able to store excessive storm water, thus exacerbating flood
risk (Carter et al. 2015; Romero-Lankao and Dodman 2011; Bai et al.
2018). Vulnerabilities to climate change impacts in cities result from and
are reinforced by interactions between residential choices, infrastructure
policies, structural inequalities and land and real estate markets (Alberti
et al. 2018; Rosenzweig et al. 2015). Risks and hazards brought about
by climate change (e.g. changing temperature patterns, heatwaves,
drought, sea-level rise and heavy storms) will increase in severity and
frequency, and they will fundamentally challenge urban infrastructures,
the built environment, ecosystems and living patterns (IPCC 2014; Revi
et al. 2014; Carter et al. 2015; Rosenzweig et al. 2015).
The key implications from this perspective are that climate change
mitigation and adaptation need to be understood in relation to the
interactions within multiple systems, which requires attention to the
social and economic root causes driving high emissions, ­mal-adaptation
and vulnerabilities (Tàbara et al. 2018; Rink et al. 2018; Seto et al.
2016). The systemic perspective suggests problem-based and systemic
approaches to addressing climate change that deploy solutions that are
14 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

fitted to specific contexts and problems (rather than scales and sectors)
(Tàbara et al. 2018; Chelleri et al. 2015). In addition to this, systemic
perspective also implies a balanced focus between problem dynamics and
systemic solutions to address the problem to its core (see, for example,
Elmqvist et al. 2018b; Lam et al. 2019).

1.2.2   How Do Transformation Processes Occur: Complexity,

Uncertainty and Longevity of Drivers and Impacts
Transformations are complex and uncertain processes of systemic
change, but they follow specific patterns and mechanisms such as
path-dependency, emergence and thresholds (Feola 2015; Hölscher et al.
2018). Such change dynamics are conditioned by the co-evolution of
interdependent system elements that influence, reinforce or weaken each
other (Rotmans and Loorbach 2010; Köhler et al. 2019; Folke et al.
2010). Every system is open, i.e. dynamics and interactions take place
across sectors and scales (Folke et al. 2010; Coenen et al. 2012). The
complexity of interactions and dynamics cause deep uncertainty and sur-
prise and might lead to tipping points, which can threaten the survival of
a system—e.g. when planetary and social boundaries are crossed (Steffen
et al. 2015, 2018; Raworth 2012)—but they can also open up oppor-
tunities for overcoming lock-in and navigating desirable change (Tàbara
et al. 2018).
The perspective on change dynamics advocated in transformations
perspective and thinking draws attention to the complex, cross-scale and
cross-sectoral driving forces and dynamics involved in transformations
under climate change. These are long-term and produce deep uncer-
tainties and threshold effects. Complex and uncertain interactions and
interdependencies across scales, sectors and time cannot be addressed
through short-term oriented and narrow (e.g. sectoral) approaches, but
require cross-sectoral and multi-scale coordination and collaboration
(Fröhlich and Knieling 2013; Jordan et al. 2018; Hodson et al. 2018).
In other words, besides more systemic climate action that considers these
cross-sectoral and cross-scale dynamics, climate mitigation and adapta-
tion need to be aligned alongside sector-specific perspectives on varied
policy areas (Fröhlich and Knieling 2013; Wamsler 2015). A challenge
for climate governance is to facilitate context-specific decision-making, in
line with local needs and opportunities, and an explicit consideration of
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 15

synergies and trade-offs across scales and sectors resulting from action in
one particular locality or sector (Chelleri et al. 2015).
The co-evolution patterns resulting from driving forces and impacts
of the transformation dynamics highlight different types of interven-
tion points for climate governance. Co-evolution leads to build-up and
break-down patterns that are driven by the emergence of innovations,
large-scale pressures and trends and internal tensions within the existing
modus operandi in a system (Loorbach 2014; Geels and Schot 2007;
Holling et al. 2002). In the context of transformation, governance is
not so much about controlling rather than creating the conditions for
mobilising, influencing and responding to these dynamics. These condi-
tions in turn, pave the way and enable disruptive innovation and stra-
tegic phase-out of existing unsustainable path-dependencies and lock-ins
driving high-emissions, unsustainability, mal-adaptation and vulnerability
(Bosman et al. 2018; Loorbach et al. 2015; Kivimaa and Kern 2016).
At the same time, these conditions enable and allow strengthening ­self-
organisation to respond to the outcomes of transformation dynamics in
terms of disturbances and uncertainty (Folke 2016; Berkes 2017). Deep
uncertainties require that planners and policy officers have the ability to
anticipate surprises, respond to and cope with crises, and for putting in
place ‘safe-to-fail’ (rather than ‘fail-safe’) responses (Tanner et al. 2009;
Fröhlich and Knieling 2013).

1.2.3   Transformation for What, and for Whom:

Contestation and Co-creation of Transformations Under
Climate Change Towards Sustainability and Resilience
The unsustainability of current societal systems is contrasted with a col-
lectively defined sustainability and resilience orientation for desirable
transformations (Loorbach et al. 2017; Folke 2016; Raworth 2012).
However, desirability depends on perceptions, values and cognition
(Patterson et al. 2016). This makes transformations highly contested,
because they affect different actors in different ways, touch on conflicting
interests and challenge existing power structures (Avelino et al. 2019;
Köhler et al. 2019).
Science and policy communities have taken up sustainability and resil-
ience as complementary key concepts for assessing transformation pro-
cesses and orienting them towards desirable directions (Elmqvist et al.
2019). While there are still some ambiguities and shortcomings in how
16 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

they are defined and operationalised in practice—for instance, sustaina-

bility seems to be often narrowly interpreted as increased resource effi-
ciency and resilience as the ability to recover from disasters—taken
together both concepts capture and highlight important aspects for guid-
ing transformations (ibid.).
Sustainability and resilience are complementary concepts provid-
ing holistic, process-oriented and normative orientations for navigating
transformations (Table 1.2). Sustainability is a socially negotiated, nor-
mative set of goals for achieving environmental integrity, social equity,
human well-being and economic feasibility in urban systems now and
in the future (O’Riordan 2009; Leach et al. 2010). However, decisions
about what sustainability means in specific contexts need to stem from
an understanding of the workings of these systems, which address bio-
physical hazards, social vulnerabilities and institutional inertia (Anderies
et al. 2013; Pickett et al. 2016). Rather than seeking a set of desirable
end goals, resilience keeps at its core the acceptance and management of
constant change, uncertainty and surprise and focuses on the ability to
evolve, adapt to and learn from change dynamics (Folke 2016; Meerow
et al. 2016). Resilience thus also embodies the recognition that seek-
ing development pathways free of crises can no longer be the goal and
must be discarded as illusionary (Garschagen et al. 2018; Folke 2016).
The concept particularly draws attention to the less visible roots of vul-
nerability, such as social, cultural, economic and political factors (Rink
et al. 2018). Anderies et al. (2013) therefore define resilience as the
underlying mechanisms by which sustainability operates: resilience indi-
cates the phenomena and interactions that determine how systems can
adjust to radical and surprising change, thereby facilitating or inhib-
iting the achievement of sustainability. While resilience is in essence a
­non-normative system property (Elmqvist et al. 2019), decisions about
resilience ‘for whom, what, when, where, and why’ is a contested pro-
cess touching on different motivations, power dynamics and trade-offs
(Meerow et al. 2016).
The normative perspective on transformations towards sustainability
and resilience provides a long-term orientation for addressing climate
change in synergy with other priorities and goals related to social and
environmental well-being. It makes clear that climate mitigation and
adaptation are no end goals in themselves. Sustainability and resilience
cannot be met without explicitly recognising the adverse effects of global
GHG emissions and the vulnerabilities of populations, infrastructures,
Table 1.2 Attributes of sustainability and resilience in the context of transformations
Attribute Sustainability
Systems’ perspective Sustainability encompasses inter-
linked social, environmental and
economic goals for societal systems
across sectors and scales (O’Riordan
2009; Leach et al. 2010)
Process thinking Sustainability is an on-going pro-
cess or trajectory rather than a fixed experiencing change, resilience
state or end point (Anderies et al.
2013; Pickett et al. 2014)
Normativity Sustainability defines the compro-
mises and values of peoples and
institutions, and it has different
meanings in different places
(Anderies et al. 2013; Wittmayer
et al. 2015)
Adapted from Hölscher (2019)
Resilience Implication for sustainability and
resilience transformations
Resilience stresses the interdepend-
Sustainability and resilience
encies and dynamics in societal demand holistic thinking and
systems across sectors and scales action that relates goals to system
(Folke 2016; Chelleri et al. 2015; processes and does not export
Meerow et al. 2016) negative effects to other sectors or
distant places
As societal systems are constantly Sustainability and resilience are
future-oriented concepts and
draws attention to change dynamics require understanding trajectories
and emergent risks and distur- of change and long-term impacts
bances (Folke 2016; Meerow et al.
2016)
Enacting resilience—in terms of Sustainability and resilience are
resilience “for whom, what, when, contested and context-dependent.
where, and why”—is a contested They have to be socially negoti-
process touching on different ated, recognising the diversity of
motivations, power dynamics and pathways towards sustainability and
trade-offs (Meerow et al. 2016) resilience
1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE …
17
18 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

ecosystems and economic systems to the impacts of climate change

(Elmqvist et al. 2019). Conversely, climate change cannot be addressed
without understanding the larger context of transformation processes
and how they affect sustainability and resilience. For example, climate
change impacts are but one of many types of shocks and stresses that
societies face, and climate change-related shocks typically occur in com-
bination with other environmental, social and economic stresses (IPCC
2018). For example, there is a strong relationship between social strati-
fication and vulnerability to climate change impacts in cities as economi-
cally disadvantaged groups and ethnic and racial minorities tend to live in
more hazard-prone, vulnerable and crowded parts of cities (Rosenzweig
et al. 2015; Reckien et al. 2017). The embedding of climate change mit-
igation and adaptation within the endeavour to achieve sustainability and
resilience transformations opens up opportunities for creating synergies
between actions to reduce GHG emissions and increase resilience while
enhancing quality of life and equity.
Formulating climate mitigation and adaptation goals alongside sus-
tainability and resilience involves decisions about what should change
and how to deal with trade-offs across multiple policy domains and a
diverse, and sometimes contradictory and competing, bundle of goals
such as air pollution, social equity and economic development (Rink
et al. 2018; Fröhlich and Knieling 2013). For example, transform-
ing a city’s energy system raises questions of affordability and accepta-
bility (Rink et al. 2018). While responsibilities for climate change are
unequally distributed, climate change impacts vary across different
geographical locations and different groups, and so does the ability to
adapt (Gillard et al. 2016; Castán Broto 2017). This requires critical
interrogations about whose visions are being pursued, who bears costs
and who is considered as vulnerable in view of climate change (Gillard
et al. 2016). Critical for climate governance are therefore participatory
and ­co-creative decision-making processes that are inclusive, transpar-
ent, accountable and sensitive to existing power structures, foster social
justice and provide a broad variety of approaches and solutions build-
ing on discussions about the allocation of responsibilities and duties
among diverse public and private actors (Rink et al. 2018; Fröhlich and
Knieling 2013).
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 19

1.3  Which Shift in Climate Governance?

On a basic level, climate governance refers to the intentional actions and
interventions by which diverse actors collaborate to reduce emissions
(climate mitigation) and prepare for and cope with the impacts of cli-
mate change (climate adaptation) (Fröhlich and Knieling 2013; Berry
et al. 2015; Bulkeley 2015). ‘Governance’ recognises the importance
of diverse types of actors—next to governments also from civil society,
economy, research—and their interactions, partnerships and collabora-
tions to deliberate between contested solutions and navigate their insti-
tutional, socio-economic and political contexts (Jessop 1997; Rhodes
1997; Kooiman 1993). Governance thus is about the patterns that
emerge from both the formal and informal structures, processes and
rules that determine how people in societies make decisions and share
power, as well as to the ways multiple actors performing acts of govern-
ance and their instruments (e.g. spatial planning, laws, communication,
self-regulation) to realise societal aims (Biermann et al. 2009).
By now, climate governance has been in the making for more than
three decades (Jordan et al. 2018). While climate change initially has
been approached as a global issue, to be negotiated by nation states,
and a relatively clear-cut environmental problem, it is now recognised
as a systemic, cross-sectoral and cross-scale challenge. The scale of cli-
mate governance has been decentralising from global and national levels
to regional and local levels, and climate mitigation and adaptation have
become explicitly linked to broader sustainability and resilience goals
(Jordan et al. 2018; van Asselt et al. 2018; Hermwille 2016). We trace
and describe the emergent features of climate governance at multiple lev-
els and discuss key governance questions and challenges (Table 1.3).

1.3.1   (The Politics of) Climate Change as a Challenge

for Sustainability and Resilience
Approaches to understand and deal with climate change have changed
substantially since scientists have first come to recognise anthropogenic
climate change in the 1960s and since it entered public debates in the
1980s and, more widespread, in the 1990s (Hermwille 2016; van Asselt
et al. 2018). Originally, climate change was framed and approached as
a relatively clear-cut environmental problem through environmental
20 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

Table 1.3 Climate governance features and related challenges

Feature of climate governance Climate governance challenges

a. Climate governance of what?

Shift from isolated focus on climate mitiga-
tion and adaptation to embedded sustaina-
bility and resilience focus
b. Climate governance by whom?
Proliferation of diverse actors at multiple
governance levels
c. Climate governance how?
Multi-level and polycentric governance
landscape
Climate governance experimentation as
open-ended, voluntary and bottom-up
processes
d. Climate governance for what and whom?
Political contestation about conflicting
interests, needs and policy priorities
Mainstreaming climate change across
sectors and scales
Mobilising synergies and avoiding trade-
offs across priorities, goals and interests
Suitable (mix of) governance instruments
and mechanisms
Defining responsibilities and roles of actors
(e.g. governments vis-à-vis citizens)
Coordination and collaboration across
sectors, scales and societal spheres
Legitimacy, effectiveness and ‘becoming’ of
climate innovation and action
Monitoring, evaluation and motivating
climate action
Inclusive co-creation of climate governance
action
Politics of climate governance

policies, including information instruments (e.g. GHG inventories),

planning (mitigation programmes) and market-based instruments (e.g.
Emissions Trading Schemes) (Hermwille 2016). The accumulating evi-
dence of climate impacts already unfolding started to draw increasing
attention to climate adaptation in the early 2000s. Climate mitigation
and adaptation were from the beginning highly debated, and it has been
argued that solely focusing on reducing emissions and climate impacts
will be unable to address climate change as a development issue. In addi-
tion, questions of vulnerability to climate change impacts highlight the
disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South to climate impacts,
while the bulk of emissions so far stems from the North (ibid.; Adger
2001; Moomaw and Papa 2012).
 1 A TRANSFORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE … 21

The last years have seen an increasing broadening of the climate

change discourse due to the recognition that climate change drivers and
vulnerabilities to impacts lie within the deep structures of society, and
climate mitigation and adaptation thus relate to much broader social,
political and cultural challenges (Hermwille 2016; Gillard et al. 2016;
WBGU 2011; O’Brien and Selboe 2015). Along these lines, it has been
argued that the 1.5–2°C target and adapting to the impacts of climate
change requires radical societal changes (Rockström et al. 2017; Gillard
et al. 2016; Tàbara et al. 2018). In the political discourse, this position-
ing of climate change within the broader discourse on achieving global
sustainability broader is, for example, visible in the climate-specific SDG
13 (UN 2015) and in the acknowledgement of the need for decarbon-
isation of the global economy by leaders of the G7 in their 2015 dec-
laration (Hermwille 2016). The UNFCCC is not anymore only about
climate change mitigation and adaptation: The Paris Agreement aims
to “strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in
the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty”
(UN 2015, article 2). Also on local levels climate mitigation and adapta-
tion have become increasingly linked to broader sustainability and resil-
ience agendas (Shaw et al. 2014).
Climate change is not anymore viewed in isolation but as a
cross-cutting, cross-sectoral and cross-scale issue. Climate mitigation
­
and adaptation make it possible to leverage synergies across multiple
goals, interests and domains, while they may also result in trade-offs,
such as between bioenergy schemes and food security (Berry et al.
2015; Bäckstrand et al. 2017). One central way forward to leverage syn-
ergies and avoid ­trade-offs has been to scrutinise the mainstreaming of
climate change across sectors and scales so as to align and integrate cli-
mate change alongside sector-specific perspectives on varied policy areas
(Fröhlich and Knieling 2013; Wamsler 2015; Runhaar et al. 2018).
However, neither climate change nor sustainability or resilience have not
been meaningfully integrated into different policy sectors and sectoral
planning. This is evidenced by the varied contradicting developments
and the inability of climate governance to counter the amplification
effects of globalisation, economic growth and urbanisation (Jordan
et al. 2018; Maor et al. 2017). In addition, much of the disagreement
22 K. HÖLSCHER AND N. FRANTZESKAKI

lies on prioritising goals that have varied perceived costs and bene-
fits for different groups of society (Maor et al. 2017). This is why the
goals of addressing transformations under climate change have to be
defined in deliberative governance processes, to ensure that trade-offs
and side-effects are considered rather than overlooked (Rink et al. 2018;
Bulkeley 2015).

1.3.2   Hybridisation of Climate Governance Actors

Climate change has been initially viewed as main purview of nation
states and global collaboration through agreements (Jordan and
Huitema 2014; Wurzel et al. 2019). The UNFCCC is an international
treaty adopted in 1992 to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in
the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system” (UN 1992: Article 2). The Kyoto
Protocol was an international treaty adopted in 1997 to extend the
UNFCCC and enforce quantified emission limitation and reduction obli-
gations (van Asselt et al. 2018).
Concerns about the ability of multilateral agreements to achieve
meaningful progress on climate change have reinvigorated discussions
about the role of other actors next to nation states and the UNFCCC—
including cities, NGOs, businesses—in governing climate change
(Gordon and Johnson 2017; Hildén et al. 2017). In fact, climate gov-
ernance has always been more than interstate diplomacy and interna-
tional negotiations: a myriad non-state and sub-state climate activities
have sprouted across the globe in direct response to the inadequate
national and multilateral actions and taking multiple forms from private
carbon reporting, labelling to local grassroots mobilisation for low car-
bon lifestyles (Jordan et al. 2015; Hoffmann 2011; Bulkeley et al. 2014).
Climate adaptation has from the beginning been approached on more
local levels due to the recognition that this is where climate change
impacts are felt and need to be responded to (Adger et al. 2007). After
former US President George W. Bush declared in 2001 that the USA
would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, several bilateral climate partner-
ships such as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and
Climate and the Major Economics Forum were formed (Bäckstrand
et al. 2017). Particularly after the debacle at the COP in Copenhagen
in 2009, where no substantive agreement was reached, there has been a
‘Cambrian explosion’ of transnational climate initiatives and experiments
Another random document with
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"In that case," Herndon said. "I consider myself in your employ. I'm
ready to leave tonight. As soon as the conditions I state have been
fulfilled to my complete satisfaction, I will submit my body to the
hands of your surgeon."

CHAPTER III
He bound himself over to the surgeon later that afternoon, after
money to the amount of ten thousand, nine hundred thirty golden
stellors had been deposited to his name in the Royal Borlaam Bank
in Galaxy Square, and after he had seen the neuronic mesh that was
embedded in the bodies of Benjin, Oversk, Dorgel, and Razumod.
Greater assurance of good faith than this he could not demand; he
would have to risk the rest.
The surgeon's quarters were farther along the Avenue of Bronze, in
a dilapidated old house that had no doubt been built in Third Empire
days. The surgeon himself was a wiry fellow with a puckered ray-
slash across one cheek and a foreshortened left leg. A retired pirate-
vessel medic, Herndon realized. No one else would perform such an
operation unquestioningly. He hoped the man had skill.
The operation itself took an hour, during which time Herndon was
under total anesthesia. He woke to find the copper operating-dome
lifting off him. He felt no different, even though he knew a network of
metal had been blasted into his body on the submolecular level.
"Well? Is it finished?"
"It is," the surgeon said.
Herndon glanced at Benjin. The little man held a glinting metal object
on his palm. "This is the control, Herndon. Let me demonstrate."
His hand closed, and instantaneously Herndon felt a bright bolt of
pain shiver through the calf of his leg. A twitch of Benjin's finger and
an arrow of red heat lanced Herndon's shoulder. Another twitch and
a clammy hand seemed to squeeze his heart.
"Enough!" Herndon shouted. He realized he had signed away his
liberty forever, if Benjin chose to exert control. But it did not matter to
him. He had actually signed away his liberty the day he had vowed
to watch the death of the Seigneur Krellig.
Benjin reached into his tunic-pocket and drew forth a little leather
portfolio. "Your passport and other travelling necessities," he
explained.
"I have my own passport," Herndon said.
Benjin shook his head. "This is a better one. It comes with a visa to
Vyapore." To the surgeon he said, "How soon can he travel?"
"Tonight, if necessary."
"Good. Herndon, you'll leave tonight."

The ship was the Lord Nathiir, a magnificent super-liner bound on a

thousand light-year cruise to the Rim stars. Benjin had arranged for
Herndon to travel outward on a luxury liner without cost, as part of
the entourage of Lord and Lady Moaris. Oversk had obtained the job
for him—second steward to the noble couple, who were vacationing
on the Rim pleasure-planet of Molleccogg. Herndon had not objected
when he learned that he was to travel in the company of Lord—and
especially Lady—Moaris.
The ship was the greatest of the Borlaam luxury fleet. Even on Deck
C, in his steward's quarters, Herndon rated a full-grav room with
synthik drapery and built-in chromichron; he had never lived so well
even at his parents' home, and they had been among the first people
of Zonnigog at one time.
His duties called for him to pay court upon the nobles each evening,
so that they might seem more resplendent in comparison with the
other aristocrats travelling aboard. The Moarises had brought the
largest entourage with them, over a hundred people including valets,
stewards, cooks, and paid sycophants.
Alone in his room during the hour of blastoff, Herndon studied his
papers. A visa to Vyapore. So that was where the starstones came
from—! Vyapore, the jungle planet of the Rim, where civilization
barely had a toehold. No wonder the starstone trade was so difficult
to control.
When the ship was safely aloft and the stasis generators had caused
the translation into nullspace, Herndon dressed in the formal black-
and-red court garments of Lord Moaris' entourage. Then, making his
way up the broad companionway, he headed for the Grand Ballroom,
where Lord Moaris and his lady were holding court for the first night
of the voyage outward.
The ballroom was festooned with ropes of living light. A dancing bear
from Albireo XII cavorted clumsily near the entrance as Herndon
entered. Borlaamese in uniforms identical to his own stood watch at
the door, and nodded to him when he identified himself as Second
Steward.
He stood for a moment alone at the threshold of the ballroom,
watching the glittering display. The Lord Nathiir was the playground
of the wealthy, and a goodly number of Borlaam's wealthiest were
here, vying with the ranking nobles, the Moarises, for splendor.
Herndon felt a twinge of bitterness. His people were from beyond the
sea, but by rank and preference he belonged in the bright lights of
the ballroom, not standing here in the garment of a steward. He
moved forward.
The noble couple sat on raised thrones at the far end, presiding over
a dancing-area in which the grav had been turned down; the couples
drifted gracefully, like figures out of fable, feet touching the ground
only at intervals.
Herndon recognized Lord Moaris from the auction. A dour, short,
thick-bodied individual he was, resplendent in his court robes, with a
fierce little beard stained bright red after the current fashion. He sat
stiffly upright on his throne, gripping the armrests of the carven chair
as if he were afraid of floating off toward the ceiling. In the air before
him shimmered the barely perceptible haze of a neutralizer field
designed to protect him from the shots of a possible assassin.
By his side sat his Lady, supremely self-possessed and lovely.
Herndon was astonished by her youth. No doubt the nobles had
means of restoring lost freshness to a woman's face, but there was
no way of recreating the youthful bloom so convincingly. The Lady
Moaris could not have been more than twenty-three or twenty-five.
Her husband was several decades older. It was small wonder that he
guarded her so jealously.
She smiled in sweet content at the scene before her. Herndon, too,
smiled—at her beauty, and at the use to which he hoped to put it.
Her skin was soft pink; a wench of the bath Herndon had met
belowdecks had told him she bathed in the cream of the ying-apple
twice daily. Her eyes were wide-set and clear, her nose finely made,
her lips two red arching curves. She wore a dress studded with
emeralds; it flowed from her like light. It was open at the throat,
revealing a firm bosom and strong shoulders. She clutched a
diamond-crusted scepter in one small hand.
Herndon looked around, found a lady of the court who was
unoccupied at the moment, and asked her to dance. They danced
silently, gliding in and out of the grav field; Herndon might have
found it a pleasant experience, but he was not primarily in search of
pleasant experiences now. He was concerned only with attracting
the attention of the Lady Moaris.
He was successful. It took time; but he was by far biggest and most
conspicuous man of the court assembled there, and it was
customary for Lord and Lady to leave their thrones, mingle with their
courtiers, even dance with them. Herndon danced with lady after
lady, until finally he found himself face to face with the Lady Moaris.
"Will you dance with me?" she asked. Her voice was like liquid
gossamer.
Herndon lowered himself in a courtly bow. "I would consider it the
greatest of honors, good Lady."
They danced. She was easy to hold; he sensed her warmness near
him, and he saw something in her eyes—a distant pinched look of
pain, perhaps—that told him all was not well between Lord and Lady.
She said, "I don't recognize you. What's your name?"
"Barr Herndon, milady. Of Zonnigog."
"Zonnigog, indeed! And why have you crossed ten thousand miles of
ocean to our city?"
Herndon smiled and gracefully dipped her through a whirling series
of pirouettes. "To seek fame and fortune, milady. Zonnigog is well
and good to live in, but the place to become known is the City of
Borlaam. For this reason I petitioned the Heitman Oversk to have me
added to the retinue of the Lord Moaris."
"You know Oversk, then? Well?"
"Not at all well. I served him a while; then I asked to move on."
"And so you go, climbing up and over your former masters, until you
scramble up the shoulders of the Lord Moaris to the feet of the
Seigneur. Is that the plan?"
She smiled disarmingly, drawing any possible malice from the words
she had uttered. Herndon nodded, saying in all sincerity, "I confess
this is my aim. Forgive me, though, for saying that there are reasons
that might cause me to remain in the service of the Lord Moaris
longer than I had originally intended."
A flush crossed her face. She understood. In a half-whisper she said.
"You are impertinent. I suppose it comes with good looks and a
strong body."
"Thank you, milady."
"I wasn't complimenting you," she said as the dance came to an end
and the musicians subsided. "I was criticizing. But what does it
matter? Thank you for the dance."
"May I have the pleasure of milady's company once again soon?"
Herndon asked.
"You may—but not too soon." She chuckled. "The Lord Moaris is
highly possessive. He resents it when I dance twice the same
evening with one member of the court."
Sadness darkened Herndon's face a moment. "Very well, then. But I
will go to Viewplate A and stare at the stars a while. If the Lady
seeks a companion, she will find one there."
She stared at him and flurried away without replying. But Herndon
felt a glow of inner satisfaction. The pieces were dropping into place.
The ladder was being constructed. Soon it would bring him to the
throneroom of the Seigneur Krellig. Beyond that he would need no
plans.

Viewplate A, on the uppermost deck of the vast liner, was reserved

for the first-class passengers and the members of their retinues. It
was an enormous room, shrouded at all times in darkness, at one
end of which a viewscreen opened out onto the glory of the heavens.
In nullspace, a hyperbolic section of space was visible at all times,
the stars in weird out-of-focus colors forming a breathtaking display.
Geometry went awry. A blazing panorama illuminated the room.
The first-class viewing-room was also known to be a trysting-place.
There, under cover of darkness, ladies might meet and make love to
cooks, lords to scullery-maids. An enterprising rogue with a nolight
camera might make a fortune taking a quick shot of such a room and
black-mailing his noble victims. But scanners at the door prevented
such devices from entering.
Herndon stood staring at the fiery gold and green of the closest stars
a while, his back to the door, until he heard a feminine voice whisper
to him.
"Barr Herndon?"
He turned. In the darkness it was difficult to tell who spoke; he saw a
girl about the height of the Lady Moaris, but in the dimness of the
illumination of the plate he could see it was not the Lady. This girl's
hair was dull red; the Lady's was golden. And he could see the pale
whiteness of this girl's breasts; the Lady's garment, while revealing,
had been somewhat more modest.
This was a lady of the court, then, perhaps enamoured of Herndon,
perhaps sent by the Lady Moaris as a test or as a messenger.
Herndon said, "I am he. What do you want?"
"I bring a message from—a noble lady," came the answering
whisper.
Smiling in the darkness Herndon said, "What does your mistress
have to say to me?"
"It cannot be spoken. Hold me in a close embrace as if we were
lovers, and I will give you what you need."
Shrugging, Herndon clasped the go-between in his arms with
feigned passion. Their lips met; their bodies pressed tight. Herndon
felt the girl's hand searching for his, and slipping something cool,
metallic into it. Her lips left his, travelled to his ear, and murmured:
"This is her key. Be there in half an hour."
They broke apart. Herndon nodded farewell to her and returned his
attention to the glories of the viewplate. He did not glance at the
object in his hand, but merely stored it in his pocket.
He counted out fifteen minutes in his mind, then left the viewing-
room and emerged on the main deck. The ball was still in progress,
but he learned from a guard on duty that the Lord and Lady Moaris
had already left for sleep, and that the festivities were soon to end.
Herndon slipped into a washroom and examined the key—for key it
was. It was a radionic opener, and imprinted on it were the numbers
1160.
His throat felt suddenly dry. The Lady Moaris was inviting him to her
room for the night—or was this a trap, and would Moaris and his
court be waiting for him, to gun him down and provide themselves
with some amusement? It was not beyond these nobles to arrange
such a thing.
But still—he remembered the clearness of her eyes, and the beauty
of her face. He could not believe she would be party to such a
scheme.
He waited out the remaining fifteen minutes. Then, moving
cautiously along the plush corridors, he found his way to Room 1160.
He listened a moment. Silence from within. His heart pounded
frantically, irking him; this was his first major test, possibly the
gateway to all his hopes, and it irritated him that he felt anxiety.
He touched the tip of the radionic opener to the door. The substance
of the door blurred as the energy barricade that composed it was
temporarily dissolved. Herndon stepped through quickly. Behind him,
the door returned to a state of solidity.
The light of the room was dim. The Lady Moaris awaited him,
wearing a gauzy dressing-gown. She smiled tensely at him; she
seemed ill-at-ease.
"Would I do otherwise?"
"I—wasn't sure. I'm not in the habit of doing things like this."
Herndon repressed a cynical smile. Such innocence was touching,
but highly improbable. He said nothing, and she went on: "I was
caught by your face—something harsh and terrible about it struck
me. I had to send for you, to know you better."
Ironically Herndon said, "I feel honored. I hadn't expected such an
invitation."
"You won't—think it's cheap of me, will you?" she said plaintively. It
was hardly the thing Herndon expected from the lips of the noble
Lady Moaris. But, as he stared at her slim body revealed beneath
the filmy robe, he understood that she might not be so noble after all
once the gaudy pretense was stripped away. He saw her as perhaps
she truly was: a young girl of great loveliness, married to a
domineering nobleman who valued her only for her use in public
display. It might explain this bedchamber summons to a Second
Steward.
He took her hand. "This is the height of my ambitions, milady.
Beyond this room, where can I go?"
But it was empty flattery he spoke. He darkened the room
illumination exultantly. With your conquest, Lady Moaris, he thought,
do I begin the conquest of the Seigneur Krellig!

CHAPTER IV

The voyage to Molleccogg lasted a week, absolute time aboard ship.

After their night together, Herndon had occasion to see the Lady
Moaris only twice more, and on both occasions she averted her eyes
from him, regarding him as if he were not there.
It was understandable. But Herndon held a promise from her that
she would see him again in three months' time, when she returned to
Borlaam; and she had further promised that she would use her
influence with her husband to have Herndon invited to the court of
the Seigneur.
The Lord Nathiir emerged from nullspace without difficulty and was
snared by the landing-field of Molleccogg Spacefield. Through the
viewing-screen on his own deck, Herndon saw the colorful splendor
of the pleasure-planet on which they were about to land, growing
larger now that they were in the final spiral.
But he did not intend to remain long on the world of Molleccogg.
He found the Chief Steward and applied for a leave of absence from
Lord Moaris' service, without pay.
"But you've just joined us," the Steward protested. "And now you
want to leave?"
"Only for a while," Herndon said. "I'll be back on Borlaam before any
of you are. I have business to attend to on another world in the Rim
area, and then I promise to return to Borlaam at my own expense to
rejoin the retinue of the Lord Moaris."
The Chief Steward grumbled and complained, but he could not find
anything particularly objectionable in Herndon's intentions, and so
finally he reluctantly granted the spacerogue permission to leave
Lord Moaris' service temporarily. Herndon packed his court costume
and clad himself in his old spacerogue garb; when the great liner
ultimately put down in Danzibool Harbor on Molleccogg, Herndon
was packed and ready, and he slipped off ship and into the thronged
confusion of the terminal.
Bollar Benjin and Heitman Oversk had instructed him most carefully
on what he was to do now. He pushed his way past a file of vile-
smelling lily-faced green Nnobonn and searched for a ticket-seller's
window. He found one, eventually, and produced the pre-paid travel
vouchers Benjin had given him.
"I want a one-way passage to Vyapore," he said to the flat-featured,
triple-eyed Guzmanno clerk who stared out from back of the wicker
screen.
"You need a visa to get to Vyapore," the clerk said. "These visas are
issued at infrequent intervals to certified personages. I don't see how
you—"
"I have a visa," Herndon snapped, and produced it. The clerk blinked
—one-two-three, in sequence—and his pale rose face flushed deep
cerise.
"So you do," he remarked at length. "It seems to be in order.
Passage will cost you eleven hundred sixty-five stellors of the
realm."
"I'll take a third-class ship," Herndon said. "I have a paid voucher for
such a voyage."
He handed it across. The clerk studied it for a long moment, then
said: "You have planned this very well. I accept the voucher. Here."
Herndon found himself holding one paid passage to Vyapore aboard
the freight-ship Zalasar.
The Zalasar turned out to be very little like the Lord Nathiir. It was an
old-fashioned unitube ship that rattled when it blasted off, shivered
when it translated to nullspace, and quivered all the week-long
journey from Molleccogg to Vyapore. It was indeed a third-class ship.
Its cargo was hardware: seventy-five thousand dry-strainers, eighty
thousand pressors, sixty thousand multiple fuse-screens, guarded by
a supercargo team of eight taciturn Ludvuri. Herndon was the only
human aboard. Humans did not often get visas to Vyapore.
They reached Vyapore seven days and a half after setting out from
Molleccogg. Ground temperature as they disembarked was well over
a hundred. Humidity was overpowering. Herndon knew about
Vyapore: it held perhaps five hundred humans, one spaceport,
infinite varieties of deadly local life, and several thousand non-
humans of all descriptions, some of them hiding, some of them doing
business, some of them searching for starstones.
Herndon had been well briefed. He knew who his contact was, and
he set about meeting him.

There was only one settled city on Vyapore, and because it was the
only one it was nameless. Herndon found a room in a cheap
boarding-house run by a swine-eared Dombruun, and washed the
sweat from his face with the unpleasantly acrid water of the tap.
Then he went downstairs into the bright noonday heat. The stench of
rotting vegetation drifted in from the surrounding jungle on a faint
breeze. Herndon said at the desk, "I'm looking for a Vonnimooro
named Mardlin. Is he around?"
"Over there," said the proprietor, pointing.
Mardlin the Vonnimooro was a small, weaselly-looking creature with
the protuberant snout, untrustworthy yellow eyes, and pebbly brown-
purple fur of his people. He looked up when Herndon approached.
When he spoke, it was in lingua spacia with a whistling, almost
obscene inflection.
"You looking for me?"
"It depends," Herndon said. "Are you Mardlin?"
The jackal-creature nodded. Herndon lowered himself to a nearby
seat and said in a quiet voice, "Bollar Benjin sent me to meet you.
Here are my credentials."
He tossed a milky-white clouded cube on the table between them.
Mardlin snatched it up hastily in his leathery claws and nudged the
activator. An image of Bollar Benjin appeared in the cloudy depths,
and a soft voice said, "Benjin speaking. The bearer of this cube is
known to me, and I trust him fully in all matters. You are to do the
same. He will accompany you to Borlaam with the consignment of
goods."
The voice died away and the image of Benjin vanished. The jackal
scowled. He muttered, "If Benjin sent a man to convey his goods,
why must I go?"
Herndon shrugged. "He wants both of us to make the trip, it seems.
What do you care? You're getting paid, aren't you?"
"And so are you," snapped Mardlin. "It isn't like Benjin to pay two
men to do the same job. And I don't like you, Rogue."
"Mutual," Herndon responded heartily. He stood up. "My orders say
I'm to take the freighter Dawnlight back to Borlaam tomorrow
evening. I'll meet you here one hour before to examine the
merchandise."

He made one other stop that day. It was a visit with Brennt, a
jewelmonger of Vyapore who served as the funnel between the
native starstone-miners and Benjin's courier, Mardlin.
Herndon gave his identifying cube to Brennt and said, once he had
satisfactorily proven himself, "I'd like to check your books on the last
consignment."
Brennt glanced up sharply. "We keep no books on starstones, idiot.
What do you want to know?"
Herndon frowned. "We suspect our courier of diverting some of our
stones to his own pocket. We have no way of checking up on him,
since we can't ask for vouchers of any kind in starstone traffic."
The Vyaporan shrugged. "All couriers steal."
"Starstones cost us eight thousand stellors apiece," Herndon said.
"We can't afford to lose any of them, at that price. Tell me how many
are being sent in the current shipment."
"I don't remember," Brennt said.
Scowling, Herndon said, "You and Mardlin are probably in league.
We have to take his word for what he brings us—but always, three or
four of the stones are defective. We believe he buys, say, forty
stones from you, pays the three hundred twenty thousand stellors
over to you from the account we provide, and then takes three or
four from the batch and replaces them with identical but defective
stones worth a hundred stellors or so apiece. The profit to him is
better than twenty thousand stellors a voyage.
"Or else," Herndon went on, "You deliberately sell him defective
stones at eight thousand stellors. But Mardlin's no fool, and neither
are we."
"What do you want to know?" the Vyaporan asked.
"How many functional starstones are included in the current
consignment?"
Sweat poured down Brennt's face. "Thirty-nine," he said after a long
pause.
"And did you also supply Mardlin with some blanks to substitute for
any of these thirty-nine?"
"N-no," Brennt said.
"Very good," said Herndon. He smiled. "I'm sorry to have seemed so
overbearing, but we had to find out this information. Will you accept
my apologies and shake?"
He held out his hand. Brennt eyed it uncertainly, then took it. With a
quick inward twitch Herndon jabbed a needle into the base of the
other's thumb. The quick-acting truth-drug took only seconds to
operate.
"Now," Herndon said, "the preliminaries are over. You understand the
details of our earlier conversation. Tell me, now: how many
starstones is Mardlin paying you for?"
Brennt's fleshless lips curled angrily, but he was defenseless against
the drug. "Thirty-nine," he said.
"At what total cost?"
"Three hundred twelve thousand stellors."
Herndon nodded. "How many of those thirty-nine are actually
functional starstones?"
"Thirty-five," Brennt said reluctantly.
"The other four are duds?"
"Yes."
"A sweet little racket. Did you supply Mardlin with the duds?"
"Yes. At two hundred stellors each."
"And what happens to the genuine stones that we pay for but that
never arrive on Borlaam?"
Brennt's eyes rolled despairingly. "Mardlin—Mardlin sells them to
someone else and pockets the money. I get five hundred stellors per
stone for keeping quiet."
"You've kept very quiet today," Herndon said. "Thanks very much for
the information, Brennt. I really should kill you—but you're much too
valuable to us for that. We'll let you live, but we're changing the
terms of our agreement. From now on we pay you only for actual
functioning starstones, not for an entire consignment. Do you like
that setup?"
"No," Brennt said.
"At least you speak truthfully now. But you're stuck with it. Mardlin is
no longer courier, by the way. We can't afford a man of his tastes in
our organization. I don't advise you try to make any deals with his
successor, whoever he is."
He turned and walked out of the shop.

Herndon knew that Brennt would probably notify Mardlin that the
game was up immediately, so the Vonnimooro could attempt to get
away. Herndon was not particularly worried about Mardlin escaping,
since he had a weapon that would work on the jackal-creature at any
distance whatever.
But he had sworn an oath to safeguard the combine's interests, and
Herndon was a man of his oath. Mardlin was in possession of thirty-
nine starstones for which the combine had paid. He did not want the
Vonnimooro to take those with him.
He legged it across town hurriedly to the house where the courier
lived while at the Vyapore end of his route. It took him fifteen minutes
from Brennt's to Mardlin's—more than enough time for a warning.
Mardlin's room was on the second story. Herndon drew his weapon
from his pocket and knocked.
"Mardlin?"
There was no answer. Herndon said, "I know you're in there, jackal.
The game's all over. You might as well open the door and let me in."
A needle came whistling through the door, embedded itself against
the opposite wall after missing Herndon's head by inches. Herndon
stepped out of range and glanced down at the object in his hand.
It was the master-control for the neuronic network installed in
Mardlin's body. It was quite carefully gradated; shifting the main
switch to six would leave the Vonnimooro in no condition to fire a
gun. Thoughtfully Herndon nudged the indicator up through the
degrees of pain to six and left it there.
He heard a thud within.
Putting his shoulder to the door, he cracked it open with one quick
heave. He stepped inside. Mardlin lay sprawled in the middle of the
floor, writhing in pain. Near him, but beyond his reach, lay the
needler he had dropped.
A suitcase sat open and half-filled on the bed. He had evidently
intended an immediate getaway.
"Shut ... that ... thing ... off ..." Mardlin muttered through pain-twisted
lips.
"First some information," Herndon said cheerfully. "I just had a talk
with Brennt. He says you've been doing some highly improper things
with our starstones. Is this true?"
Mardlin quivered on the floor but said nothing. Herndon raised the
control a quarter of a notch, intensifying the pain but not yet bringing
it to the killing range.
"Is this true?" he repeated.
"Yes—yes! Damn you, shut it off."
"At the time you had the network installed in your body, it was with
the understanding that you'd be loyal to the combine and so it would
never need to be used. But you took advantage of circumstances
and cheated us. Where's the current consignment of stones?"
"... suitcase lining," Mardlin muttered.
"Good," Herndon said. He scooped up the needler, pocketed it, and
shut off the master-control switch. The pain subsided in the
Vonnimooro's body, and he lay slumped, exhausted, too battered to
rise.
Efficiently Herndon ripped away the suitcase lining and found the
packet of starstones. He opened it. They were wrapped in shielding
tissue that protected any accidental viewer. He counted through
them; there were thirty-nine, as Brennt had said.
"Are any of these defective?" he asked.
Mardlin looked up from the floor with eyes yellow with pain and
hatred. "Look through them and see."
Instead of answering, Herndon shifted the control switch past six
again. Mardlin doubled up, clutching his head with clawlike hands.
"Yes! Yes! Six defectives!"
"Which means you sold six good ones for forty-eight thousand
stellors, less the three thousand you kicked back to Brennt to keep
quiet. So there should be forty-five thousand stellors here that you
owe us. Where are they?"
"Dresser drawer ... top...."
Herndon found the money, neatly stacked. A second time he shut off
the control device, and Mardlin relaxed.
"Okay," Herndon said. "I have the cash and I have the stones. But
there must be thousands of stellors that you've previously stolen
from us."
"You can have that too! Only don't turn that thing on again, please!"
Shrugging, Herndon said, "There isn't time for me to hunt down the
other money you stole from us. But we can ensure against your
doing it again."
He fulfilled the final part of Benjin's instructions by turning the control
switch to ten, the limit of sentient endurance. Every molecule of
Mardlin's wiry body felt unbearable pain; he screamed and danced
on the floor, but only for a moment. Nerve cells unable to handle the
overload of pain stimuli short-circuited. In seconds, his brain was
paralyzed. In less than a minute he was dead, though his tortured
limbs still quivered with convulsive post-mortuary jerks.
Herndon shut the device off. He had done his job. He felt neither
revulsion nor glee. All this was merely the preamble to what he
regarded as his ultimate destiny.
He gathered up jewels and money and walked out.
 CHAPTER V
A month later, he arrived on Borlaam via the freighter Dawnlight, as
scheduled, and passed through customs without difficulty despite the
fact that he was concealing more than three hundred thousand
stellors' worth of proscribed starstones on his person.
His first stop was the Avenue of Bronze, where he sought out Benjin
and the Heitman Oversk.
He explained crisply and briefly his activities since leaving Borlaam,
neglecting to mention the matter of the shipboard romance with the
Lady Moaris. While he spoke, both Benjin and Oversk stared eagerly
at him, and when he told of intimidating Brennt and killing the
treacherous Mardlin they beamed.
Herndon drew the packet of starstones from his cloak and laid them
on the wooden table. "There," he said. "The starstones. There were
some defectives, as you know, and I've brought back cash for them."
He added forty-five thousand stellors to the pile.
Benjin quickly caught up the money and the stones and said, "You've
done well, Herndon. Better than we expected. It was a lucky day
when you killed that proteus."
"Will you have more work for me?"
Oversk said, "Of course. You'll take Mardlin's place as the courier.
Didn't you realize that?"
Herndon had realized it, but it did not please him. He wanted to
remain on Borlaam, now that he had made himself known to the
Lady Moaris. He wanted to begin his climb toward Krellig. And if he
were to shuttle between Vyapore and Borlaam, the all-important
advantage he had attained would be lost.
But the Lady Moaris would not be back on Borlaam for nearly two
months. He could make one more round-trip for the combine without
seriously endangering his position. After that, he would have to find
some means of leaving their service. Of course, if they preferred to
keep him on they could compel him, but—
"When do I make the next trip?" he asked.
Benjin shrugged lazily. "Tomorrow, next week, next month—who
knows? We have plenty of stones on hand. There is no hurry for the
next trip. You can take a vacation now, while we sell these."
"No," Herndon said. "I want to leave immediately."
Oversk frowned at him. "Is there some reason for the urgency?"
"I don't want to stay on Borlaam just now," Herndon said. "There's no
need for me to explain further. It pleases me to make another trip to
Vyapore."
"He's eager," Benjin said. "It's a good sign."
"Mardlin was eager at first too," Oversk remarked balefully.
Herndon was out of his seat and at the nobleman's throat in an
instant. His needler grazed the skin of Oversk's adam's-apple.
"If you intend by that comparison to imply—"
Benjin tugged at Herndon's arm, "Sit down, rogue, and relax. The
Heitman is tired tonight, and the words slipped out. We trust you. Put
the needler away."
Reluctantly Herndon lowered the weapon. Oversk, white-faced
despite his tan, fingered his throat where Herndon's weapon had
touched it, but said nothing. Herndon regretted his hasty action, and
decided not to demand an apology. Oversk still could be useful to
him.
"A spacerogue's word is his bond," Herndon said. "I don't intend to
cheat you. When can I leave?"
"Tomorrow, if you wish," Benjin said. "We'll cable Brennt to have
another shipment ready for you."

This time he travelled to Vyapore aboard a transport freighter, since

there were no free tours with noblemen to be had at this season. He
reached the jungle world a little less than a month later. Brennt had
thirty-two jewels waiting for him. Thirty-two glittering little starstones,
each in its protective sheath, each longing to rob some man's mind
away with its beckoning dreams.
Herndon gathered them up and arranged a transfer of funds to the
amount of two hundred fifty-six thousand stellors. Brennt eyed him
bitterly throughout the whole transaction, but it was obvious that the
Vyaporan was in fear for his life, and would not dare attempt
duplicity. No word was said of Mardlin or his fate.
Bearing his precious burden, Herndon returned to Borlaam aboard a
second-class liner out of Diirhav, a neighboring world of some
considerable population. It was expensive, but he could not wait for
the next freight ship. By the time he returned to Borlaam the Lady
Moaris would have been back several weeks. He had promised the
Steward he would rejoin Moaris' service, and it was a promise he
intended to keep.
It had become winter when he reached Borlaam again with his
jewels. The daily sleet-rains sliced across the cities and the plains,
showering them with billions of icy knife-like particles. People
huddled together, waiting for the wintry cold to end.
Herndon made his way through streets clogged with snow that
glistened blue-white in the light of the glinting winter moon, and
delivered his gems to Oversk in the Avenue of Bronze. Benjin, he
learned, would be back shortly; he was engaged in an important
transaction.
Herndon warmed himself by the heat-wall and accepted cup after
cup of Oversk's costly Thrucian blue wine to ease his inner chill. The
commoner Dorgel entered after a while, followed by Marya and
Razumod, and together they examined the new shipment of
starstones Herndon had brought back, storing them with the rest of
their stock.
At length Benjin entered. The little man was almost numb with cold,
but his voice was warm as he said, "The deal is settled, Oversk! Oh
—Herndon—you're back, I see. Was it a good trip?"