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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
Transformative adaptation through nature-based solutions: a comparative case study analysis in China, Italy, and
Anna Scolobig1,2, JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer1, Mark Pelling3
1International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria.
Assessing transformative adaptation requires evaluating vision, planning, and interventions, but institutional frameworks often lag. Public sector governance can support equitable and sustainable societal changes through targeted interventions and policy mainstreaming.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Public Policy
- Sociology
Background:
- Transformative adaptation is crucial for achieving equitable and sustainable societies.
- Assessing the transformative potential of adaptation initiatives is complex.
- Existing frameworks often overlook the role of governance in adaptation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and test a framework for assessing transformative adaptation.
- To identify how governance systems enable or constrain transformative adaptation choices.
- To analyze the transformative elements within government-led nature-based solutions (NBS) projects.
Main Methods:
- A theoretical framework based on the public-sector adaptation lifecycle (vision, planning, institutional frameworks, interventions).
- Case study analysis of three government-led NBS projects: river restoration (Germany), forest conservation (China), and landslide risk reduction (Italy).
- Data collection through desktop studies and open-ended interviews.
Main Results:
- Transformation in adaptation is a dynamic, evolving process, not an abrupt change.
- NBS cases showed transformative elements in vision, planning, and interventions, but institutional frameworks were a deficit area.
- Collaborative and inclusive stakeholder engagement mechanisms were often ad hoc and lacked long-term stability.
Conclusions:
- Public sector governance plays a critical role in enabling or hindering transformative adaptation.
- There is a need for more permanent, formalized institutional frameworks to support upscaling of adaptation efforts.
- Recommendations include establishing cross-competing priorities, formal cross-sectoral mechanisms, dedicated institutions, and mainstreaming adaptation into policy and regulation.
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