Work

Enacting neutrality or enabling change? The contested role of city administration in socio-ecological transformation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: With this paper, we aim at a deeper understanding of the influential role of public administration in socio-ecological transformation processes. In the context of sustainable transition research, the focus is often on informal niche actors and non-institutionalised networks. Our aim is to contribute to filling this research gap with an exploratory qualitative case study in three cities.The findings of the study shed light on the everyday work of change agents within the administration. Although daily practice necessarily involves the exercise of discretion and therefore opens up a room of manoeuvre for municipal employees, there is a strong bias within the system of public administration to act according to a paradigm of organisational neutrality. This performance of neutrality poses a double challenge: It obscures power processes and, at the same time, underutilises the transformative administrative potential, because relevant knowledge isn't explicitly discussed, developed, and shared.

Source: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2025.101073

Authors: Marie Graef, Cordula Kropp

Institution: University of Stuttgart

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,610