Identifying Entry Points for Adaptive Governance in Periurban Chennai (India): A multi-dimensional, multi-level, and multi-scalar approach

摘要: Governing transitions has assumed increasing significance in managing change with respect to formidable challenges of upscaling and multilevel governance. In this respect, evidence from sustainability transitions research in India stipulates the need for institutional innovations that are suitable to the Indian context, which is characterised by a fuzzy field of ‘speculative frontiers’, and strong hierarchically structured, top-down governance mechanisms. Periurban regions pose both formidable challenges but may as well open up opportunities for innovative transformation. The paper presents a multi-scalar classification of the Chennai metropolitan region within the context of a multi-level governance system. By applying the multi-dimensional ‘adaptive governance’framework that was developed during the Peri-cene research project, this paper seeks to contribute to the debates of formulating solution-oriented systemic interventions in transition governance by way of identifying ‘adaptive development pathways’ in a peri-urban region of a country of the Global South. Findings of the case study are presented with regards to the generic classificatory framework that was developed by the project partners for periurban regions and, in a similar way, applying the lens of ‘adaptive governance’to understand and analyse dynamics of agency. While a number of barriers, bottlenecks and constraints of adaptive governance exist, there are also noteworthy indications of adaptive governance practices that demonstrate diverse potentials for enhancing this trend in a more strategic and conscientious manner.