Sustainability transitions in Los Angeles’ water system: the ambivalent role of incumbents in urban experimentation

Tessa Mauw; Shaun Smith; Jonas Torrens

doi:10.1080/1523908X.2022.2156487

Sustainability transitions in Los Angeles’ water system: the ambivalent role of incumbents in urban experimentation

Tessa Mauw
, Shaun Smith
, Jonas Torrens

Eindhoven University of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Growing urban populations, climate change, drought, and ageing infrastructures increase pressure on water delivery. This prompts the search for innovations, with incumbents increasingly attempting to enable and steer ‘experimental’ approaches. Historically, incumbents were assumed to be largely resistant to potentially disruptive innovations. However, their strategic orientations may be changing due to the urgency of sustainability challenges leading to increased experimentation. This change raises a question about how incumbents influence experiments in particular directions while neglecting or discouraging others. This research centers on the ‘La Kretz Innovation Campus’, and three experiments therein, partly established by the incumbent water utility in Los Angeles. It explores how creating an internal ‘protective space’ for experimentation generates struggles over institutional changes necessary for such experiments to thrive. Conceptualizing ‘incumbent-enabled experimentation’ as a set of practices nested within novel institutional, organizational, and political arrangements reveals the internal tensions incumbents face when seeking more sustainable directions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	368-385
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
Volume	25
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2022.2156487
Publication status	Published - Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

Such actors enroll many actors in their experiments. For instance, DWP has partnered with various city departments and external stakeholders (such as NGO’s) to develop experimental projects. For example, DWP, various city departments, and the NGO ‘TreePeople’ collaborated to create the ‘StormCatcher’ Project. This project has created retrofitted pilot homes with cisterns and rain gardens to demonstrate stormwater capture systems, reducing demands on the central network (TreePeople, ). Besides stimulating technological innovation, DWP stimulates social innovations through ‘pitching programs’ where NGO's and non-profits can pitch ideas to qualify for funding. Thus, partnering and funding programs are common ways in which experimentation is encouraged in LA’s water sector. The third opportunity relates to economic and financial factors. Funding is available for organizations within the campus. For example, Rain Systems drew financial support from the MWD and the Mayor’s office for pilot projects. Moreover, LACI has facilitated conneections between Rain Systems and actors such as the LA Unified School District and The City of LA Recreation Parks, resulting in pilot project funding. This is consistent with the observation that financial support and labelling projects as ‘pilots’ are key success factors in this sector (Farrelly & Brown, ). Generally, it appears much more difficult for external organizations to receive fuding, especially for smaller experimental projects. Partnering between private companies and NGOs is one strategy that can enhance funding opportunities for both internal and external organisations, but in general funding opportunities in the water sector are sparse due partly to how capital budgets are tightly tied to cost-recovery, and how funding available is more likely to go to means-tested solutions.

Funders
DWP stimulates social innovations
MWD

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

experimentation
water
incumbencies
incumbent
sustainability
Los Angeles

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10.1080/1523908X.2022.2156487Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Sustainability transitions in Los Angeles water system the ambivalent role of incumbents in urban experimentationFinal published version, 2.04 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Sustainability transitions in Los Angeles{\textquoteright} water system: the ambivalent role of incumbents in urban experimentation",

abstract = "Growing urban populations, climate change, drought, and ageing infrastructures increase pressure on water delivery. This prompts the search for innovations, with incumbents increasingly attempting to enable and steer {\textquoteleft}experimental{\textquoteright} approaches. Historically, incumbents were assumed to be largely resistant to potentially disruptive innovations. However, their strategic orientations may be changing due to the urgency of sustainability challenges leading to increased experimentation. This change raises a question about how incumbents influence experiments in particular directions while neglecting or discouraging others. This research centers on the {\textquoteleft}La Kretz Innovation Campus{\textquoteright}, and three experiments therein, partly established by the incumbent water utility in Los Angeles. It explores how creating an internal {\textquoteleft}protective space{\textquoteright} for experimentation generates struggles over institutional changes necessary for such experiments to thrive. Conceptualizing {\textquoteleft}incumbent-enabled experimentation{\textquoteright} as a set of practices nested within novel institutional, organizational, and political arrangements reveals the internal tensions incumbents face when seeking more sustainable directions.",

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Sustainability transitions in Los Angeles’ water system: the ambivalent role of incumbents in urban experimentation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this