Patrick Huntjens Towards a Natural Social Contract Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation for a Sustainable, Healthy and Just Society Foreword by René Kemp Towards a Natural Social Contract Patrick Huntjens Towards a Natural Social Contract Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation for a Sustainable, Healthy and Just Society Foreword by René Kemp Patrick Huntjens Research and Innovation Centre Agri, Food and Life Sciences (RIC-AFL) Inholland University of Applied Sciences Delft, The Netherlands ISBN 978-3-030-67129-7 ISBN 978-3-030-67130-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67130-3 # The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Nicole, Talin, and Matteo. Foreword by Prof. Dr. René Kemp As a sustainability transition researcher, I am truly excited about this book. The book shows how the social fault lines of our times are deeply intertwined: how the social and natural world linkages raise existential concerns of security as well as justice, which call for a new social contract and transformative social-ecological innovation. Two unique aspects of the book are that it considers bigger transformation issues (such as societies’ relationship with nature, purpose, and justice) than those studied in transition studies and offers analytical frameworks and methods for taking up the challenge of achieving change on the ground. This is achieved by drawing on theories of structuration, power, governance, institutional design, and business models. The cases of nature-inclusive and regenerative agriculture, climate resilient and healthy cities, and feeding and greening megacities (in which the author is involved) are interesting cases for transition research and action research. In taking an actor-centric institutional perspective, the book addresses two mistakes: a too structuralist point of view (common in political economy) and voluntarism (common in actor-centric research of specific innovations). The author’s background in con- flict resolution and cooperation is a great asset. It helps to consider the political in a constructive way, through attention to justice, power, and governance. The writing is exceptionally clear and lucid on a wide range of issues which include complex systems, reflexive and deliberative governance, transformative learning, effective cooperation, security and justice challenges, well-being, transfor- mation literacy, and transdisciplinary research. On those issues, the writing never gets obscure or plain. This is a remarkable achievement. With the notions of transformative socio-ecological innovation and natural social contract, the book makes an original contribution to the nature of transformative change that is needed (which goes beyond socio-technical change) and possibilities for bringing this on, through innovation, new partnerships, changes in governance, and attention to multiple value creation that jointly (in combination) make up a transition to a sustainable, healthy, and just society. If you liked the books The Great Mindshift of Maja Göpel and Doughnut Economics of Kate Raworth, you will also like this book. The same holds true if you liked the book Transitions to Sustainable Development by John Grin, Jan Rotmans, and Johan Schot. Anyone interested in transformative change will find the book interesting, but I think the following readers will be particularly attracted by the book: researchers vii viii Foreword by Prof. Dr. René Kemp interested in doing multi-, inter-, or transdisciplinary research on transformative social-ecological innovation, reflective practitioners involved in transformative change projects, and students from universities of applied sciences who have no patience for mono-disciplinary academic research and who find the transition frameworks unduly schematic. Students of political science, political philosophy, and economics will like the discussion of transformative change (going beyond ideas and institutions) and the discussion of ‘institutional design principles’ for governing the commons and supporting processes of transformative socio-ecological innovation. On the last issue, the author is able to stroll further than others (Paul Mason, Paul Collier, and Mariana Mazzucato), thanks to his collaboration with Elinor Ostrom and his multidisciplinary background (which includes complex systems science, policy science, political science, biology, ecology, and environ- mental management). United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) René Kemp Maastricht, Netherlands Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI) Maastricht University Maastricht, The Netherlands Acknowledgements My research group ‘Social Innovation and Governance for Sustainability’ is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, as part of the ‘Impact Programme: Transition in the green sector’, a research programme including five research groups at four universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. This book is a further development of my original publication (in Dutch: Sociale Innovatie voor een Duurzame Samenleving: Op weg naar een Natuurlijk Social Contract), which was published in 2019 on the occasion of my inaugural address and inauguration as a Professor of Social Innovation and Governance for Sustainability, which took place on 20 June 2019 in Rotterdam, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands. I am grateful to Hasan Aloul (HALO Communications) and Maxime de Jong for the design and layout of the figures and tables in this book, as well as the editorial team of Springer International Publishing. ix Contents Part I The Quest for a Natural Social Contract 1 Introduction ........................................... 3 1.1 Reader’s Guide ..................................... 7 2 Sustainability Transition: Quest for a New Social Contract ....... 9 2.1 Paradox of Prosperity . ............................... 9 2.2 Ecological Limits of Our Planet ......................... 10 2.3 Emerging Security and Justice Challenges . 14 2.4 The Sustainability Transition: Humankind’s Quest for a New Social Contract . ........................... 19 2.5 What’s Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals? ......... 24 3 Towards a Natural Social Contract .......................... 27 3.1 What Is a Social Contract? ............................ 27 3.2 Human Progress Without Economic Growth? ............... 29 3.3 Redesigning Economics Based on Ecology . 34 3.4 Debate on Role and Scope of the Free Market . ............ 37 3.5 Anglo-Saxon Model Versus Rhineland Model . 40 3.6 Looking for a New Social Contract . 43 3.7 A Natural Social Contract . 45 3.8 Dimensions and Crossovers Within a Natural Social Contract . 49 3.9 TSEI-Framework for Understanding and Advancing the Process Towards a Natural Social Contract . ..................... 67 3.10 Development of a Natural Social Contract at Multiple Governance Levels .................................. 76 Part II Theories and Concepts 4 Conceptual Background of Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation ............................................. 83 4.1 Definition of Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation (TSEI) ........................................... 84 4.2 Transition Studies . 87 4.3 Institutional Design Principles for Governing the Commons . 90 xi xii Contents 4.4 Design Principles from Nature: Benchmarks for a Natural Social Contract . 93 4.5 Complex (Adaptive) Systems ........................... 96 4.6 Adaptive, Reflexive, and Deliberative Approaches to Governance . .................................... 102 4.7 Social Learning, Policy Learning, and Transformational Learning ......................................... 104 4.8 Shared Value, Multiple Value Creation, and Mutual Gains . 107 4.9 Effective Cooperation ................................ 110 4.10 Transdisciplinary